Welcome Message
HELLO! WELCOME TO WPC
from WPC – Get Sermon
Westminster Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles invites you to experience Virtual Worship. Scroll the page to participate in Virtual Sunday Worship and join us on Sunday’s at noon for the Video Chat Coffee Hour on Zoom. See you soon.
Shhh, Virtual Worship is Starting
Opening Prayer:
Loving God, we welcome you and invite you to be present in our worship. Yes, we were not ready to welcome your Son into our world on that night in Bethlehem so long ago. But today, on this side of Bethlehem, the Cross, and the Empty Tomb, we are more than ready to listen to your voice, to be obedi-ent to your Son, and to be empowered by your Spirit. Thank you for your tri-une presence today made possible because you came to live among us.
Amen.
Opening Praise:
“The First Noel” – Maverick City Music (feat. Majesty Rose)
CHURCH NEWS & GIVING
Announcements:
FELLOWSHIP COFFEE HOUR via Zoom
Sunday, January 10th at 12:00 p.m. / Noon
No Fellowship, Sunday, January 3rd due to Drive-In Worship
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
~ DRIVE-IN COMMUNION SERVICE ~
Sunday, January 3rd, 2021 at 11:00 a.m.
PLEASE ARRIVE 10:30-10:45 A.M.
On Sunday, January 3rd we will be having a special drive-in Communion service in our parking lot. Please pay close attention to upcoming emails this week about instructions for the service. So hold the first Sunday date at 11am and join us in the WPC parking lot for our Westminster drive-in Communion service.
PREVIEW
DRIVE-IN COMMUNION SERVICE TODAY
~ Click Here ~
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
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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. (Check for Holiday Hours)
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
Prayers of the People:
Lord of Light and Life,
To you even the darkest nights of our souls are as bright as noonday, for you are able to see where our sin-dimmed sight cannot. Help us then to trust you to lead us through the times of thick shadows,
when vision fails and reason stumbles,
when what we thought was certain cannot be found,
when that which we thought was forever turns out to be fleeting,
when that which we thought of as security turns out to be empty of hope.
Illumine our waking and working with the light of your Presence so that we can see the path to which your purpose calls us.
As your birthing star once revealed your Presence to the world, work through your church to
shine the revealing light of your truth into every dark corner of injustice, bigotry, greed and deceit
until everyone knows that the Son of God has come to reclaim the earth.
Amen.
Offering Song:
“Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee” – Maverick City Music (feat. Majesty Rose)
Prayer for the Offering:
Most gracious and loving God, author of all that is good and just, we present this offering as our way of saying thank you. Thank you for not turning your back on us. Thank you for watching over us and our loved ones. Thank you for your patience when we are struggling through life. So, we ask you today to accept this offering of thanksgiving, and transform it into your love, felt throughout the globe.
Amen.
Tithes and offerings:
SERMON MESSAGE
Sermonic Songs:
“Best Stuff In The World Today Cafe” – Take 6
Sermon:
“Two Little Words”
~ 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 ~
By Pastor Carlton Rhoden
SCRIPTURE READING
SERMON by Pastor Carlton Rhoden
Did you miss any of the Virtual Worship today? If so, Click Here and start from the top.
And we’d love to here your thoughts. Leave a comment below for our moderator to approve.
HOLY COMMUNION
Call to Confession:
Friends, we are in the presence of the ineffable and holy God. Let us humbly confess our neediness and ask for grace and mercy. Let us pray.
Prayer of Confession:
Lord God of Christmas, we stand on the threshold of another year. We thank you for giving us another year of life. You have given us many gifts during the last year; and yet we realize that we have often failed to use those gifts or our lives as creatively and constructively as we might have.
Now give us the care to shape the moments of this next year into tender, gentle expressions of concern. May the year be fulfilled with achievements: wrongs corrected, friendships deepened, the disheartened encouraged. Help us to energize your love, even as you became love to us. For we ask these things in his name. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon:
As Mary, Joseph and Jesus settled in Nazareth, help us, God, to let you take up residence in each one of our hearts. Forgive us our failures, our weaknesses, our fears and our doubts. In the name of the babe of Bethlehem, the Prince of Peace, we are now made new and whole.
Communion Song:
“The Old Rugged Cross” – Fountainview Academy
Communion to the People:
Holy Communion with Westminster Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles
Closing Song:
“Go Tell It on The Mountain” – Lynda Randle
“All of Our Tomorrows” – Sovereign Grace Music (feat. McKenzie Fuller)
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us go into the new year confident and full of faithfulness. Let us go forth celebrating the great good news that Jesus Christ is born. Let us go forth now with the mighty blessings of the eternal Gods.
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, January 10th.
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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