Sunday December 3, 2025 | First Wednesday of Advent
“Prepare!” is often the watchword of the season as the world gets ready for another celebration of Christmas. An integral part of any preparation is decoration. We see decorations everywhere this time of year. The world may not comprehend the real meaning of Christmas, but even secular preparations use many of the same decorations beloved by Christians—an appropriation we shouldn’t mind at all, because these decorations point us to Christ. This year, as we look forward again to the coming of the Messiah, we take a fresh look at how the adornments of the season draw our eyes to Jesus,…
PINNACLE LUTHERAN CHURCH | Evergreens
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OPENING HYMN: People Look East
HYMN: Holly and Ivy
CLOSING HYMN: #357 vs 1 & 4 – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
PINNACLE LUTHERAN CHURCH
Online Church at Home Service & Bulletin
Wednesday, December 3, 2025 – 7:00 PM
FIRST WEDNESDAY OF ADVENT
Evergreens
+AS WE GATHER+
“Prepare!” is often the watchword of the season as the world gets ready for another celebration of Christmas. An integral part of any preparation is decoration. We see decorations everywhere this time of year. The world may not comprehend the real meaning of Christmas, but even secular preparations use many of the same decorations beloved by Christians—an appropriation we shouldn’t mind at all, because these decorations point us to Christ. This year, as we look forward again to the coming of the Messiah, we take a fresh look at how the adornments of the season draw our eyes to Jesus, that we may more richly behold the love, peace, joy, and hope He comes to bring as this beauty is set before us.
Tonight, we focus on evergreens. Perhaps the most innocuous decorations in the eyes of the world, their prickles remind us of the crown of thorns, and the berries of the holly evoke the blood-stained brow of our crucified Lord. Above all, the steadfastness of their green in the midst of death symbolizes life amid death—and the life eternal Jesus won for us on the cross.
OPENING HYMN: People Look East
INVOCATION – p. 167
P In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
VERSICLES AND GLORIA PATRI – Isaiah 40:3b, c, 5; Psalm 118:26
P Prepare the way of the Lord;
C make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
P Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
C We bless you from the house of the Lord.
P And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
C and all flesh shall see it together.
C Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
SALUTATION
P The Lord be with you.
C And also with you.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
P Let us pray.
Lord of all beauty, You made the heavens and the earth; the world and all its fullness are Yours. Thank You for giving us life and filling creation with signs that declare Your glory. As we behold beautiful evergreens this season, fix our eyes on their thorny leaves and red berries that we may give thanks for the crown Your Son wore and the cross He bore for us. Abide in us always, as we abide in Your Word and take heart in the promise of eternal life with Jesus, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end.
C Amen.
FIRST READING – Hosea 14:4-8
P A reading from Hosea, the fourteenth chapter.
4I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely,
for My anger has turned from them.
5I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
6his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
😯 Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
from Me comes your fruit.
P O Lord, have mercy on us.
C Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING Revelation 22:1–5
P A reading from Revelation, the twenty-second chapter.
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. 4They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
P O Lord, have mercy on us.
THIRD READING – John 11:17–27
P A reading from John, the eleventh chapter.
17Now when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
P O Lord, have mercy on us.
RESPONSORY FOR ADVENT – LSB, p. 230
P Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch.
C This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
P In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.
C This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
P Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
C This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
HYMN: #Holly and Ivy
SERMON
OFFERING
LORD’S PRAYER
P Lord, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:
C Our Father who art 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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
ADVENT LITANY
After each petition:
P let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
CLOSING PRAYER
P Lord of life,
C You sent Your Son to bring back to life all the children of Adam.
P Grant that we may view the evergreens of this season through the eyes of faith
C so that in a world still filled with death we may be of good courage, knowing that, just as the evergreen prevails over death in winter, we prevail over the winter of our sin and will rise to life eternal on the Last Day;
P through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C Amen.
BENEDICTION John 15:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:16–17
P These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you,
C and that your joy may be full.
P Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
C Amen.
CLOSING HYMN: #357 vs 1 & 4 – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Creative Worship for the Lutheran Parish, Series C, Quarter 3. Copyright © 2022 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
