Spiritual Formation
Spiritual Formation is on a holiday break this week. We will re-gather on January 2 for an Epiphany series on the life of Jesus. All are welcome! Bring your experiences and your imagination, in person or on Zoom.
Prelude
Greeting and Announcements
For celebrations and prayer concerns, please text Pastor Ken at 480-263-3308.
For All Things Shadow Rock, check out our weekly e-newsletter, Rock the Week. If you're not getting Rock the Week, email the church staff to subscribe.
Call to Worship
One: God of Life, through the gift of Jesus, you have prepared our hands for a different touch.
All: A touch of encounter, a touch of awakening.
One: A touch of hope, a touch of feeling.
All: Give us daring to create new titles of community and new links of affection.
One: Help us break away from the old ways of relating and encourage true, meaningful ways to move into fellowship and community.
All: This is the reason for the season. Let us celebrate the gift of love to the world in Jesus’ birth.
Singing Our Faith - Christmas Bells
Angels sing of peace to all people.
Justice is born in the heart of a child.
Love and Joy have come now among us.
Let Christmas bells ring out loud and wild!
Chorus
Peace among us! Justice living!
Joy comes to us in the light of a star.
Let us sing out Christmas blessing;
God loves all people, whoever they are.
Shepherds heard the angels singing
Songs to include them in love’s great joy.
Snuck to the stable to see the new Christ child;
Ran through the streets singing loud and wild.
Chorus
We still come with hearts full of longing,
Hoping to hear words of healing for all;
At the manger, reach for each other,
Lift up our hearts and hear the bells call.
Chorus
Gathering and Centering Prayer
A Word About Life - Rev. Ken Heintzelman
Colossians 3:12-21
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart.
Celebrations and Celebration Song - Celebrate
Celebrate your heart and your spirit.
Celebrate your life while you live it.
Even when it’s hard to do,
celebrate the best of you.
Celebrate your dreams and your vision.
Celebrate the love you’ve been given.
Cherish all that you’ve been through,
celebrate the best of you.
