New Year Sunday, Jan 02, 8&10AM. Online/In-Person

Very unusual gifts to give to a baby, yet perfectly suited for One who is King, Intercessor and Savior.
Come let’s discover the significance of the three gifts from the magi and
be reminded of why Jesus is the perfect gift for us in the New Year.

This Sunday we partake of Holy Communion in remembrance of Jesus.

Both of our 8 & 10AM services continue to be livestreamed https://www.facebook.com/LodiUMC

Order of Worship
January 2, 2022

CALL TO WORSHIP   Liturgists: Nada Zeimet (8AM), Dennis Crow (10AM) & Pastor Peace
ending with an invitation, “Come into God’s presence. We know ourselves to be recipients of God’s gifts.”

* OPENING PRAYER
Lord of yesterday, today and tomorrow,
we gather here this first Sunday of the New Year,
in a mixture of hope, anticipation, fear, excitement, and expectation.
We do not know what the year holds for us.
There are things we are afraid of. There is also much to look forward to.

In the new year that is full of uncertainty and hope, whatever the year holds for us, we trust You
and we place every day of this year in your care
knowing that, as in the past, You are with us, caring for us with constant love.

And so Lord, we place ourselves into your keeping and dedicate our lives to your service
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior. Amen.

* HYMN OF ENTRANCE    On This Day of Celebration (to the tune of the hymn Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee)
On this day of celebration, at this time when hopes are new,
God, we gather as your people, called to put our trust in you.
You have made the world we live in; you have worked through history.
In your plan we find our purpose, in your love, our unity.

Long ago, you sent our Savior to this world in deep despair.
In your Word made flesh you came, our life to know, our sins to bear.
Christ has died and Christ is risen! At this new year we proclaim:
Yesterday, today, forever — Jesus Christ is still the same!

Through two thousand years of changes, through these passing centuries,
You have called your church to witness to Christ’s love that claims and frees.
Each new generation hears you, each must find a fresh new way
To make known the life you offer, to the people in their day.

On this day, we pause and wonder what the future years will bring,
Yet we know you clothe each flower and you make each sparrow sing.
How much more will you protect us with your guiding, caring hand!
By your Spirit, lead us boldly in the future you have planned.

Text: Copyright © 1999 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. Copied from Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today’s Worship by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Geneva Press, 2000).

SHARING JOYS AND CONCERNS   Please share your prayer requests and joys. Type them in the comment section.

PRAYER THROUGH SONG (to the tune of Noel Nouvelet)
1 As the old year passes, we look back, reflect: times of joy and promise, times we’d best forget.
God of the ages help us walk your way. Help us greet your future, seize tomorrow’s day

2 As the old year passes, we cry for our world: struggling and suffering, broken and hurting.
God of compassion, heal each ailing heart. Guide us to your future where life is made whole.

3 As the new year dawns now, we would give you praise. Faithful God, come lead us onward in new ways.
We’ll love and serve you in the faith of Christ, in your Spirit’s future; people of new life.

TIME OF DEDICATION  Thank you for living your faith by sharing your gifts with God’s world through your church. Online Giving: www.LodiUMC.org/Give
O God, you have given us the gift of your grace that we might share with others the boundless riches of Christ, and also the resources we hold in trust. Receive now, we ask, what we have given today. Use these offerings and use us for your plans and purposes in the new year. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING    Matthew 2:1-11

SONG FOR ILLUMINATION   We Three Kings (Hymnal #254, 4)
Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom
sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
Refrain O star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.

MESSAGE

SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.
… … around your eternal throne, singing their hymn of unending praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
God of wonder… … Great is the mystery of faith. Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
… … With confidence of God’s beloved people, we say the prayer the Lord has taught us: The Lord’s Prayer
Receiving the Bread and Cup

HYMN OF FAITH   When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (United Methodist Hymn #298)
1 When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

2 Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.

3 See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?

4 Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING

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