Our call to worship comes to us this morning from Isaiah 42, where our God says, I will lead the blind by a road they do not know. By the paths they have not known, I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them. These are the words of our God to us this morning. Please stand with me. We begin our service by making a declaration that we're not here in our own strength, but rather in the strength of the God who made us and redeemed us. We make this declaration using the words of Psalm 124, which are printed in your bulletin. I ask you, congregation, in whom is your help? Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth. Let us pray. God of timeless grace, you fill us with joyful expectation. Make us ready for the message that prepares the way, that with uprightness of heart and holy joy, we may eagerly await the kingdom of your Son, Jesus Christ, who reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, now and forever, amen. Now lift up your hearts and receive God's blessing. Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and all God's people said, amen. Let's lift up our hearts and our voices in song by turning in our Trinity Psalter hymnals to number 318. You'll find a copy of this hymnal, it's the burgundy book in the rack in front of you. Number 318, Angels We Have Heard on High, and we'll sing together all the stanzas. Angels we have heard on high, they have sang in all the ways. They have made earth and heaven mine, and brought back the joyous strains. in excelsis Deo. If the Lord's will is to be, why not join the strength of one who is in the name of the Father and of the Son? O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, Please be seated. Our call to confession this morning comes to us from Mark chapter four, the familiar story of Jesus calming the storm at sea. And as we hear this story, we think about the fear that the disciples felt. And as we examine our hearts this Christmas season, we realize that so much of our lives is motivated by fear. The way we live in our relationships with others, the decisions we make, the way we think about our future, It's all motivated by fear, worry, and anxiety. We see ourselves in these disciples as they accuse Jesus of not caring for them. So often we think, well, if this is happening in my life, God must not care for me. And this fear can lead us into sin. And so here, our call to confession from Mark chapter 4. On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling with water. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Let us pray together. Faithful Father, we confess to you our fearful hearts, our fretful prayers. We look around us and see a world that feels dangerous and out of control. There are storms on all sides, waves that are ready to swamp our little boats and drown us and those whom we love. How easily we forget that You are the Creator God who rules the wind and the waves. We panic. We accuse You of leaving us in danger when all along Your sovereign power is at work for good in our lives, even in the most painful and distressing circumstances. You hold in Your hands our health, our money, our careers, our relationships, our children, everything that we have and everything that we are. Lord Jesus, Thank you for entering the storms of life with us. Thank you for enduring exhaustion, pain, sickness, broken relationships, and betrayal for us. The circumstances that so easily cause us to doubt God's love and care, you committed confidently into the hands of your sovereign Father. Thank you that you trusted perfectly, even in the darkest situations, you trusted perfectly in our place. So Holy Spirit, teach us to put our faith to work and to learn that we have a good and almighty Father who orchestrates our lives perfectly. Help us to be content in weakness, failure, suffering, and brokenness, recognizing that even these come to us from your hand. Through them, may we see more and more clearly our own weakness and inability, along with the fact that your grace is always sufficient for us. Amen. Penitent Christian, hear God's word of pardon spoken for you. These powerful words of Jesus, he stilled that storm for the disciples and he can speak into the fear and anxiety and worry of your life as well. Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was great calm. He said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Praise God for the gospel of his son. Praise God that this Jesus is our Lord and Savior and cares for us with all that great power. Let's turn together in our Trinity Psalter hymnals to Psalm 116B. Psalm 116, selection B. I love the Lord, the fount of life and grace. This psalm is a response to being delivered out of a time of fear. It's a beautiful Old Testament psalm, and it's set to a Genevan tune. And at this time, we will remain seated as we sing the first four stanzas, stanzas one, two, three, and four of Psalm 116B. O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him Amen. As a people who have been favored by God, even in our distress, we have the privilege of coming to Him in prayer with all of our needs, all of our burdens. As we come to our God in prayer this morning, there's just a few things I want to draw to your attention. First, we suffered two losses this past week. We express our sympathy to Aaron and Holly Root and their family. In the passing of Erin's father, Dave, the funeral service for Dave was held yesterday. Please keep the Root family in your prayers as they mourn. We also express our sympathy to Jim and Nikki Payer. Nikki's mother, Lorraine, also passed away this past week. There will be a private service for the family this coming week, but definitely keep this family in your prayers as they are grieving the loss of their beloved mother, mother-in-law, and a good friend. Also, some of you may know about our sister Sandy Engenberg. She was on vacation in Mexico and started suffering extreme pain. They diagnosed it as a gallbladder issue, and she had to have an emergency gallbladder removal surgery. So that was done this past week in Mexico. She is recovering well and hopes to fly home tomorrow. So please keep Sandy in your prayers as she recovers, as she returns home. Pray for safe travel and a full recovery. Let us pray together. Our Father, what beautiful words we just sang from Psalm 116, that you are a God who preserves us tenderly, even when we feel that we're on the brink of death, we find in you our salvation. You are just, you are gracious, your loving kindness is as wide as the ocean, your mercy is boundless, and we thank you. For we are a people driven by fear, We are people driven by worry, anxiety. Many of us carry around with us baggage and trauma that infects everything that we do. Our Father, we come to you this morning, some of us feeling very heavy burdened, and we lay these things at your feet. knowing that you are a God who cares. Even when our lives are tempest-driven, even when we see these waves threatening to overwhelm us, we know that you are the one who calms the storm. You are the one who holds power over the wind and the waves. You hold power over every detail of our lives. So teach us to trust in you. As the psalmist learned in Psalm 116, teach our souls to rest. and find relief in You. Give us confidence. Give us peace. Help us to be still before You. Our Father, it's very hard to be still at this time of year. We look around and we see the hustle and bustle of this holiday time, crowded stores, rude shoppers, impatient drivers. Sometimes it feels like our nerves are frayed. So remind us of the story of Christmas, that amid the hustle and bustle of this world, you became incarnate. You are the God for whom all people wait and search even when they don't realize it. You are the answer to our questions. You will fulfill the longings of our hearts. And so we cry out to you. We cry out to you in the midst of our discontent, in the midst of our fear and alarm. We pray that you would speak to us in the graceful ways that you know best. Open our eyes, eyes that have been closed by fear, blinded by self-pity. that we may see you even amid our anxieties and uncertainties. Pierce the clouds of darkness and come in your light. Sanctify the smallest tasks of love, generosity, and kindness that we are enabled by your grace to perform. We think of the needs of others at this time, O Lord, and as we think of those who suffer, as we think of those who are in need, we are embarrassed by our selfishness. Help us to redeem our time. Bring to all those who are in need the alleviation of their poverty. Comfort their minds and spirits. Enable us to do what we can to help them. To share our own happiness and prosperity. To provide a listening ear or a friendly word. To do errands for another or to perform acts of kindness in your name. Help us not to be content. when painful conditions exist in this world, when we see human distress from generation to generation, when we see ignorance, filth, and disease. Teach us to take a stand in the name of Christ. We pray that the promise of Christ's birth, that peace shall be on earth, may soon be fulfilled, both in our own troubled hearts and in our troubled world. Come to us, Lord, for we need your presence in our own lives. We pray especially for those who are dear to us, who are sick, or troubled, or unsure. We pray for those who near the hour of their death, comfort, comfort your people, fill each heart with your love. Our Father, we pray this morning for those who mourn. We pray for Jim and Nikki Payer. We pray for Aaron and Holly Root and their children. We pray for these families who have been touched by grief in this last week. give them comfort, give them grace, and enable them to turn their eyes to you, the source of all hope. Teach them in their time of mourning to trust in you. We pray for those who are mourning the loss of loved ones who passed away a long time ago. The holidays can especially bring to mind the empty places at the table. It can reopen old wounds. And so we pray for those who are mourning, those to whom grief is never that far away. We pray that you'd be near to them, and we pray that you would make us sensitive. Teach us to think, to realize, to sympathize, to go out of our way to speak words of comfort, Help us not to so easily think, oh, they've gotten over it. Oh, so much time has passed. Teach us not to be callous or hurtful in our words. Teach us to be sensitive and kind. We pray for those who care for loved ones, perhaps an elderly parent. or a hurting friend. We pray for the caregivers in our midst. We pray that you'll give them patience and joy in their work, that even in the mundane tasks of serving, they would know that they are reflecting our servant King Jesus Christ. We pray for Gert Hoekstra and those who care for her. We pray for Pat Kuyper and those who care for her. We pray for Santa Olivo and those who care for her. We pray for Elizabeth Sade and those who care for her. We pray for Rich Terpstra and Janet as she cares for him. We pray for these and many more who need attention, who need care, who need love in their lives, and we thank you that you have provided people for them. We pray that you will bless these families and encourage them in this Christmas season. Our Father, we pray for this world, the world into which Christ came, the world that you still love. Touch us anew with hope for our world, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. We pray especially for the gospel to go forward powerfully, We pray especially this morning for James and Esther Folkerts as they move to Uganda, as they begin an exciting ministry there. Our Father, we thank you that we can partner with them, that we can encourage them through our prayers and through financial support. We do pray that their move would go well, that all the traveling would be smooth. And that as their family adjusts to a new country and a new life, you would encourage them that they would make friends and that very soon they would form relationships in which the gospel can be spoken. We pray that as they begin their ministry in Uganda that they would be encouraged, that they would have a great zeal, that they would be effective in preaching the gospel. Our Father, we do pray all of these things through Jesus Christ. He is the joy of those who are happy. He is the comfort of those who mourn. And so we join together and pray this in his name. He's the one who taught us to pray together saying, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. At this time, let's turn together in our Trinity Psalter hymnals to number 300. Number 300, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus. And we'll stand together as we sing number 300. ♪ God is one in all that's in me ♪ ♪ Great is his name and mighty is his glory ♪ ♪ God of all the earth and of all the world ♪ ♪ In his word my faith hath been made true ♪ ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Jesus Christ, King of glory and might, Thine is the kingdom, Jesus Christ, the King! you. Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Please be seated. And please take your Bibles and turn with me to Luke chapter 2.