Welcome Message
HELLO! WELCOME TO WPC
Sunday, December 19th, 2021 – Get Sermon Text
Good morning, Thank you for choosing to join Westminster in our Zoom Worship service on the 3rd Sunday of December, December 19, the Sunday before Christmas. Would you bow your heads as I pray our Opening Prayer.
(Please keep yourselves muted.)
Shhh, Virtual Worship is Starting
Opening Prayer:
Come, Thou-Long Expected Jesus, Born to set Thy People Free. We have sung through our Advent-waiting and have arrived at this special day of Christmas, when we remember your birth, your incarnation, the Word Becoming Flesh. Savior and Friend, remind us this day that you became one of us. You were born like us, you walked this earth like us and you have risen from the dead as we will one day rise. Emmanuel, God with Us, remind us of your presence throughout the year, as sometimes we lose sight, we forget, and we feel alone, lost and forsaken. Remind us of your birth, your life, your death and your resurrection, as we walk the journey of our own lives. Remind us that we do not walk this journey alone. In the name of Christ, the Light of the World, the Incarnate God, we pray. Amen.
Opening Praise:
“Go Tell It On The Mountain” by Christmas Praise Team
CHURCH NEWS & GIVING
Announcements:
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Next FELLOWSHIP COFFEE HOUR via Zoom
on Sunday, December 19th at 12:00 p.m. / Noon
Fellowship with your Westminster Family. Let’s join one another for a check in and fellowship following the morning virtual worship service via zoom. Join the Zoom Coffee Hour Meetings – Let’s Chat! – CLICK HERE
Attention Westminster Family
~ ANNOUNCEMENT HIGHLIGHTS ~
- Wednesday Bible Study will return December 29 1:00 pm
- Prayer Meeting via phone 5:30 pm
- Thursday Food Give Away in Parking Lot 11:00 am
- 1st Sunday worship 10:00 am in the Parking Lot
PRAYER MEETING:
Wednesdays at 5:30pm
Please join us for the via conference call.
Phone: (339) 209-4324 – (no code is needed)
BIBLE STUDY
Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.
As of Wednesday, September 9th, we will meet for our Bible Study at 1pm as to not conflict with the food giveaway ministry. Join Pastor Rhoden for our weekly zoom virtual Bible Study. – CLICK HERE
NBPC-SC
BIBLE STUDY & PRAYER:
Wednesdays at 12 Noon
Interaction Based discussions/Scripture Translation will continue until the end of the summer. – GET DETAILS!
*** FOOD GIVE AWAY ***
Thursdays at 11:00 a.m.
We know that times are tough. Thanks to our partnership with Immanuel Presbyterian Church, we’re giving away FREE FOOD to the community. Come and get your free box of food in the parking lot of Westminster Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles on Thursdays.
LEARN MORE ~ Click Here
——— Break Out Rooms for meet and passing of the peace ——–
Prayers of the People:
Loving God: With holy joy we praise you for your promise that Mary would bear your divine Son and for your assurance that he would be IMMANUEL, “God with us.
“We thank you for having been with us from the very beginning in earth and air, water and fire, in all the forces of nature. We praise you for being with your chosen people, the Jews, and with your later choice of a people, the church, as a God present in their midst, caring deeply for them, for us.
We acknowledge with humble gratitude your presence in our hearts, which are restless until they find rest in you. We give you thanks for bringing us up short when we suddenly discover you in the face of a half-starved African child or of a homeless old woman pushing her grocery cart with all her belongings. We thank you, above all, for being “God with us” in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, through whom you shared your whole life with us from birth through death.
Be with us, O God, in sickness and in health. Heal us and keep us whole, that we may faithfully and effectively serve you. Be with us in joy and in sorrow. Let our thankfulness for your presence with us shine from our faces into the lives of all those about us. Let our courage in the face of grief persuade others of the strength and comfort we receive from you.
Be with us also, O God, for our protection, from others as well as from ourselves, when we are tempted to do evil. Be with us for our embarrassment when we are being unreasonable, stubborn, puffed up with pride, insensitive to the feelings of others, clumsily manipulative of them or generally a nuisance. Help us to take ourselves less seriously and to take you and your will for us far more seriously. And let us find ways to reveal to others, modestly and winsomely, the glorious difference having “God with us” makes in our lives.
We offer this prayer in the name of Immanuel, your Son Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Who taught us to pray:
Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy 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 Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Offering Song:
“Joy to The World/O Come” Piano Medley by Mr. Matt Daley
Offering Prayer:
God of love and power, we know that we have been called to live and abide in your love and grace. We know, too, that you trust us to live that word in our daily lives. Please receive now our gifts, our lives and our loyalty, and empower us anew to be your servants of love and ministry. Transform our lives and our offerings, so that we will be disciples of your grace and love. Abide in us always, O God, and through our gifts practice your actions of kindness, hope and peace in all the world. Amen.
Tithes and offerings:
SERMON MESSAGE
Sermonic Songs:
“Silent Night” by Christmas Praise Team
Sermon:
“Upside Down Christmas!”
~ Micah 5:2-5 ~
Closing Song:
“Heaven Has Come To Us” by Christmas Praise Team
CLOSING PRAYER
Friends, the light is shining, the angels are singing, the shepherds are telling the good news to everybody. Let us now go to shine, sing and tell the story ourselves, “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Amen.
We hope you enjoyed Virtual Sunday Worship.
ADD YOUR COMMENTS BELOW, SHARE THE WORSHIP,
& JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT COFFEE HOUR on ZOOM at NOON on Sunday, December 19th.
MEET PASTOR RHODEN
Rev. Carlton A. Rhoden
Westminster Presbyterian Church / Los Angeles
Rev. Carlton A. Rhoden became the Pastor/Head of Staff of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in April, of 2014. Rev. Rhoden comes with a wealth of experience, having formerly served as Senior Minister of the First Baptist of Los Angeles from 2006 until 2013. Rev. Rhoden earned a Masters of Divinity from the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley California in 2005. Upon graduation Rev. Rhoden was awarded “The J. Alfred Smith Sr. Award for Outstanding Ministry in the Black Church”. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School Summer Leadership Program class of 2005. Rev. Rhoden received a Bachelor of Science in Social Work with a minor in African American Studies from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in 1999. While at Stockton, Rev. Rhoden was a member of the Men’s Basketball team, a member of Student Government, and pledged Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
He is also active in community organization, most recently with Oakland Community Organizations. He is nationally recognized for his expertise in this field and has provided advice and consulting for community organization groups from coast to coast.
Carlton is married to Nikki Thomas-Rhoden. Nikki holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. They have two children, CJ and Maya. Nikki is a Social Worker who has a great concern for children in need. She is a graduate of Richard Stockton College of N.J. (B.A.), and a Master’s of Public Administration from Cal State Hayward. She is currently employed at Penny Lane Centers as a Site Director of Wrap Around. She is devoted to her family and the ministry of Westminster Presbyterian Church Los Angeles. Most importantly she is the best wife and mother a man and his children (Maya and C.J.) can have.
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