Christmas Eve Service, December 2020

Christmas Eve Service

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE

You are invited to join in an observance of Jesus’s birth in this special worship service! Our hope is that you will watch this video on Christmas Eve, or whenever you gather with your loved ones to celebrate Christmas this year.

In this service, Pastor David leads with scripture readings and Christmas carols as we light the Advent candles and the Christ candle.

Be sure to watch carefully during the last verse of the final Christmas carol, “O Holy Night,” for our virtual candlelight service! You’ll see pictures of many of our church members – both in Michigan and elsewhere – as well as pictures of our missionaries, including Lawrence and Jo Adams, and Bobby, Jenny, Moore, and Reese Mihsill.

At various points, you will be asked to pause the video so you can read several passages of scripture in your own home:

Isaiah 35
Luke 1:67-79
Luke 1:26-38
Luke 2:1-5
Luke 2:8-16
Matthew 2:1-12

The entire experience should last about an hour, including time for you to read the above passages.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Friday, December 18, 2020

Daily Scripture & Prayer from December 17, 2020

Scripture and Prayer on Thursday, December 17, 2020

Pastor David reads Isaiah 9:18-10:4 and offers a prayer from the Gelasian Sacramentary:

We ask you, O Lord, to purify our consciences by your daily visitation, that when your Son our Lord comes, he may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Thursday, December 17, 2020

Daily Scripture & Prayer from December 16, 2020

Scripture and Prayer on Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Pastor David reads Isaiah 9:8-17 and offers a prayer from the Gelasian Sacramentary:

Make us, we ask you, O Lord our God, watchful and alert in waiting for the coming of your Son Christ our Lord; that when he comes and knocks, he will not find us sleeping in sin, but awake and rejoicing in his praises; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Daily Scripture & Prayer from December 15, 2020

Scripture and Prayer on Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Pastor David reads Isaiah 9:1-7 and offers a prayer from the Mozarabic Breviary:

May the Lamb of God, who once came to take away the sins of the world, take away from us every stain of sin. Amen.
And may he who came to redeem what was lost, at his second coming not cast away what he has redeemed. Amen.
That, when he comes, we may have perpetual joy with him on whom we have believed. Amen.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Daily Scripture & Prayer from December 14, 2020

Scripture and Prayer on Monday, December 14, 2020

Pastor David reads Isaiah 8:16-9:1 and offers a prayer from Jane Deren:

Christ, we await your coming.
And we respond to your invitation
to journey to the holy mountain,
where there is “no harm or ruin,”
and where the lion can lie down with the lamb.

Help us to be like John the Baptist
so we may recognize and announce
your love to a world in darkness.
Spark our creativity so we may
create the way to your peace and justice,
working with our sisters and brothers
to open new vistas, to promote new ways
of being in community and in communion.

May the wings of the Holy Spirit open softly within us,
gracing us with inspiration
so our waiting itself becomes the place of a new creation.
Amen.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Monday, December 14, 2020

Worship Service on Sunday, December 13, 2020

Worship Service on Sunday, December 13, 2020

Join us for worship on this third Sunday of Advent! In this season of uncertainty and separation, it is important to remember that Jesus Christ is our source of joy. Our guest preacher this week is Rev. Shannon New Spangler, whose sermon is titled “The Promise: Presence of the Father.”

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Sunday, December 13, 2020

Daily Scripture & Prayer from December 11, 2020

Scripture and Prayer on Friday, December 11, 2020

Pastor David reads Luke 22:14-30 and offers a prayer from Daniel Lord:

Let me have too deep a sense of humor to be proud.
Let me know my absurdity before I act absurdly.
Let me realize that when I am humble I am most human,
most truthful,
and most worthy of your serious consideration.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Friday, December 11, 2020

Daily Scripture & Prayer from December 10, 2020

Scripture and Prayer on Thursday, December 10, 2020

Pastor David reads Luke 22:1-13 and offers a prayer from Thomas Merton:

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Thursday, December 10, 2020

Daily Scripture & Prayer from December 9, 2020

Scripture and Prayer on Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Pastor David reads John 7:53-8:11 and offers a prayer from Richard Rolle:

O holy God, whose mercy and compassion made you come from the high throne down into this world for our salvation: mercifully forgive us all the sins we have done and thought and said. Send us cleanness of heart and purity of soul; restore us with your Holy Spirit, that we may from now on live virtuously and love you with all our hearts; through Jesus Christ your Son.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Wednesday, December 9, 2020