Watch Light/Night Service

The Greeting & Occasion

The Call to Worship

TODAY AND TONIGHT, BELOVEDS, WE ARE KEEPING WATCH. TONIGHT WE SAY GOODBYE TO THE

OLD YEAR AND LOOK HOPEFULLY INTO THE NEW YEAR. THOUGH THE DARKNESS IS DEEP, THE

LIGHT OF THE WORLD GUIDES OUR WAY. EVEN THOUGH WE DON’T REALLY KNOW WHAT IS TO

COME, WE KNOW THAT GOD IS WITH US. QUIETLY AND REVERENTLY, YOU’RE INVITED NOW TO OPEN

YOUR HEARTS TO GOD. PRAISE BE TO GOD, WHO WAS AND IS AND IS TO BE. AMEN.

The Opening Prayer of Confession

Lord, you have asked us to feed and give drink to those who hunger, to

clothe those who are naked, to welcome the stranger, to visit those

who are sick and imprisoned. When we look back on this year we might

be able to say we did some of those things. We remember the

enthusiasm with which we started out this waning year, ready to do

your work and witness to your love. But you know how things got in

our way. We allowed ourselves to be swallowed up by worries and fear.

We placed comfort of self before service to others. We took the ‘easy

way out’ whenever we could. And you wept for us. Now we are on the

brink of the New Year. We cannot change what we did not do, but we

can make a covenant with you to be your witnesses in our words,

thoughts, and deeds to your people so that when you say, “Have you

given food and drink to those who hunger and thirst, have you clothed

the naked, welcomed the stranger, visited the sick and imprisoned?”

We can respond with a joyful “Yes! Lord, we have done these things

with joy and love!” Forgive us for what we have not done. Inspire us to

do what you would have us to do. In Jesus’ holy name, we pray. Amen.

The Scriptural Assurances

The Hebrew Lessons: Isaiah 43: 16,18-21

Isaiah 43:18–21 NRSV

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Ecclesiastes 3:1–9 NRSV

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What gain have the workers from their toil?

The Epistle Lessons: 2 Corinthians 5:16-20

2 Corinthians 5:16–20 (NIV)

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Philippians 3:13–14 NRSV

Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

The Gospel Lesson: Luke 5:36-39

Luke 5:36–39 NRSV

He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’ ”

Pastor’s Meditation: A Watch Night Poem by Charyn D. Sutton

ends with “Remembering that we were not always free. LORD GOD, WE THANK YOU FOR ALL THE

SACRIFICES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE SO WE CAN LIVE IN FREEDOM IN OUR TIMES........”

The Testimonies of God’s People

OUR NEW YEAR’S PRAYER OF RE-DEDICATION TO CHRIST

OUR CLOSING SONG “SPIRIT SONG”

THE BENEDICTION