Advent Midweek 2 12/10
Advent Midweek 2 12.10.25 vespers PDF
MIDWEEK ADVENT WORSHIP
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
IN THE NAME OF JESUS, WELCOME TO ST. PAUL’S!
VESPERS
7:00 p.m.
✠ ✠ ✠
PRELUDE O Savior, Rend the Heavens Wide Setting: Benjamin M Culli
ENTRANCE VERSE (Stand) LSB 229
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare Your praise.
Make haste, O God, to deliver me;
make haste to help me, O Lord.
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.
Praise to You, O Christ, King who comes to save us.
ADVENT HYMN O Savior, Rend the Heavens Wide LSB 355
1 O Savior, rend the heavens wide;
Come down, come down with mighty stride;
Unlock the gates, the doors break down;
Unbar the way to heaven’s crown.
2 O Father, light from heaven send;
As morning dew, O Son, descend.
Drop down, you clouds, the life of spring:
To Jacob’s line rain down the King.
3 O earth, in flow’ring bud be seen;
Clothe hill and dale in garb of green.
Bring forth, O earth, a blossom rare,
Our Savior, sprung from meadow fair.
4 O Fount of hope, how long, how long?
When will You come with comfort strong?
O come, O come, Your throne forego;
Console us in our vale of woe.
5 O Morning Star, O radiant Sun,
When will our hearts behold Your dawn?
O Sun, arise; without Your light
We grope in gloom and dark of night.
6 Sin’s dreadful doom upon us lies;
Grim death looms fierce before our eyes.
O come, lead us with mighty hand
From exile to our promised land.
7 There shall we all our praises bring
And sing to You, our Savior King;
There shall we laud You and adore
Forever and forevermore.
FIRST READING (Be seated) 2 Kings 21:1-9
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
RESPONSORY (Stand)
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a
righteous Branch.
This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.
This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
SECOND READING Luke 1:5-25
The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the 1st chapter
Glory to You, O Lord.
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to You, O Christ
SERMON (Be seated)
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen. Dear friends in Christ:
Last week at our service we looked at Jesus’ family tree, as detailed for us in Matthew chapter one. As we did this, we noted the sins and troubles of many of his ancestors, and we concluded that no person is ever too messed up, broken, or lost to be included in God’s family. God used imperfect people to bring forth the world’s Savior. And this should reinforce his commitment to saving sinners today, including us. Jesus came to make a place in God’s family for all who turn to him in faith.
Today we look at the part of Jesus’ family which is described in the first chapter of Luke. There we meet Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth – older relatives of his mother Mary. They lived in a town near Jerusalem, where Zechariah served as a priest.
In this home, like all homes, there were certain hurts. Our sermon this evening will explore and ponder these under the theme “home hurts” – a title reflecting the sad fact that even our beloved homes include times of pain and suffering.
Regarding these hurts in the home, some happen simply by nature, meaning they come about through an action or event we can’t control. We think here of a loved one with a prolonged illness, or a parent or sibling battling addiction, or the breadwinner of a family losing their job, or a wedded couple dealing with infertility.
Other hurts, however, happen by acts of “nurture,” meaning they are things a person should be able to control. Here we think of things such as favoritism, neglect, forms of abuse, rivalry, abandonment, absenteeism, unfair expectations, and lack of support or loneliness. One thinks here of scenarios such as the parent who crushes their child through trying to relive their own sports dreams, or the one who cheats on their spouse and causes a divorce.
Such nurtured hurts can also have a cyclical aspect, meaning that unhealthy patterns, behaviors, choices, communications, words and attitudes get passed down from one generation to the next. This is why phrases like “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” or “Like father, like son” can have an uncomfortable truth to them.
The scriptures give some vivid examples of such generational hurt caused by sin. One of these is found in our First Reading, where King Manasseh’s awful sins were detailed. The generational impact of those sins is seen when we read further in the chapter. There we hear of Manasseh’s son Amon: “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them. He abandoned the Lord, the God of his [earlier] fathers, and did not walk in his way” (2 Kings 21:20-22).
As for Zechariah and Elizabeth’s home, we see that their hurts come from events of both nature and nurture. There may have been cyclical components to them too.
But what we mostly want to note is the three Gospel truths contained in their story. Each of these gives an important lesson and can serve as a guide for when our own homes hurt.
Luke begins by saying, “Zechariah and Elizabeth were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years” (Luke 1:6-7).
Here we see Gospel truth #1: faithful believers live in brokenness too. Luke notes that both spouses were righteous and walked in God’s ways. Nevertheless, they were still unable to conceive a child. And this no doubt pained them greatly, because most couples want children, and because in Zechariah and Elizabeth’s day the absence of children brought a measure of reproach and shame.
Yet, here’s the power of faith. Even with their home hurting, Zechariah and Elizabeth still walked obediently with God. When life was broken and didn’t seem fair, this husband and wife resolved not to be victims. They didn’t wallow in self-pity or dwell upon all the ways they had been wronged in life. Nor did they blame each other or angrily turn away from God. Rather, they continued to walk with their Lord by faith.
Their steadfastness reminds us of Paul’s words in Romans 8:37. There, after listing many challenges and threats, Paul states his refusal to give up hope by saying: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Paul knows that God’s children are not merely survivors in life’s school of hard knocks but rather triumph over them, in and through Christ. We are more than conquerors, no matter what our hurt, because of him who loves us.
Luke continues his story about Zechariah and Elizabeth by telling how an angel appeared to Zechariah as he was serving in the temple one day. The angel said: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”
Here we see Gospel truth #2: God is with people in their hurts and hears their prayers. This truth is seen as the angel says to Zechariah: “Your prayer has been heard.”
The scriptures don’t tell us the specific content of Zechariah’s prayers. But as a priest serving duty at the temple, we know that he would be expected to pray for everyone’s needs and well-being. The burning of incense mentioned in the text cues us that Zechariah was following prescribed orders. Among these prayers would have been ones for the coming of the Messiah.
Zechariah might have been offering prayers for his own needs too. But even if he wasn’t praying for those needs in the temple, he had certainly prayed for them many times before. And these requests no doubt included the receiving of a child.
The angel’s statement that the Lord had heard Zechariah’s prayers probably refers to both prayers of his – his ongoing faithful prayer for everyone and his own personal prayer request. God heard them both. And this is a reminder to us that we are to pray in both ways too. We are to pray for ourselves; and we are to pray for others.
The message of Elizabeth bearing a child was very good news of course! But Zechariah had trouble believing it. And that’s because even God’s people tend to be surprised when God overcomes the odds as we see them.
As a lesson against his unbelief, the angel told Zechariah that he would not be able to speak until his son was born. And here the scriptures prompt us to put away our unbelief and trust in God’s promises. God has promised to hear the prayers of his people and act upon them. The message delivered to Zechariah assures all of us that God loves his people and delights to hear their prayers.
Some years ago, I heard a story about a couple who moved to a new state and found that they needed new tires on their van to pass the state inspection. Sadly, they were hurting financially and did not have the $500 it would cost them, not even close. They didn’t want to ask their families or new employers for help, but they did go to their heavenly Father and poured out their need to him in prayer. Within one week, they received a surprise letter in their mailbox from a very distant family member with a short note that read: “We just feel like we should send you this.” Inside the folded note was a check for $500 – exactly what they needed. They had never received a gift like this before, and all they could conclude was that God in his faithfulness had heard and answered their prayer.
God is with us in our times of hurt too. And his ears are always attentive to our prayers. God gave a child to Zechariah and Elizabeth in their advanced age, and he will do amazing things for us as well.
But here we should note that Zechariah and Elizabeth’s receiving of a child was not the only prayer God was answering that day. For as the angel said in the temple: “He [your son] will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him [meaning the Messiah] in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
This was much bigger than just an announcement of a child to be born to a long-waiting couple. This was an announcement that the much-longer-awaited Messiah was about to break into world history. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s coming child was going to serve as that Messiah’s forerunner, preparing his arrival. This was an answer to everyone’s prayers.
Still, even with this great and amazing news, there would also be some hurt. And that’s because the Messiah who appeared would experience opposition, pain, and loss. Some of this hurt would even occur in his own home.
From his very first days, Jesus the Messiah was on the run from murderous Herod and had to spend years of his childhood in a foreign place. And while he had years of peace when he moved to Galilee, that all ended when he began his public ministry. Jesus was opposed by many at that time, even his own family. And thereafter he had no place of refuge to serve as a home. His days consisted, instead, of traveling here and there, with “no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58).
Near the end of his ministry, the opposition increased. Soon Jesus was arrested, convicted, and executed. The Son of God, who came to dwell with men, was scorned and discarded by his own people. He was, as Isaiah said: “despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Is. 53:3).
But this gets us to the third and greatest Gospel truth in this text. We’re told that John’s ministry would take place so that we might be “a people prepared” (Lk. 1:17). And this reminds us that while John’s ministry prepares us for Jesus, Jesus’ ministry prepares us for life with God.
Jesus’ preparation comes as our sins are forgiven and we are healed. Isaiah explains that the Messiah “was despised and rejected,” but also that “he bore our griefs and carried our sorrow…with his wounds we are healed” (Is. 53:4, 5).
Yes, Jesus bore all our sins, including those which contribute to the hurts in our homes. And because he has done this, we can bear the hurts which come from others, knowing that they will only last so long. There is a better day ahead – the day when he takes us from this place and into the joys of the life to come. And there will be better days in this life too, as we put his message into practice, align ourselves with his people, and experience his help and healing.
Jesus both knows and carries our hurt. And we can trust him fully whenever and however home hurts for us. In him we are always loved, fully received, never forsaken, given rest, and showered with grace and peace. He has saved us, and in him we are safe.
So, whatever hurt you might be carrying today, know that Jesus is well aware of it, hears your prayers, extends his help, and is on your side. Jesus listens, Jesus cares, and Jesus carries our burdens. Jesus is God’s answer to all of our hurting homes, now…and for the life to come.
Blessed be his name forever! Amen.
MAGNIFICAT (Stand) My Soul Magnifies the Lord LSB 934
1 My soul now magnifies the Lord;
My spirit leaps for joy in Him.
He keeps me in His kind regard,
And I am blest for time to come.
2 For He alone who shows such might
Has done amazing things to me.
His mercy flows; His name like light
Remains in time perpetually.
3 His arm is strong; His strength is great.
He scatters those of proud intent
And casts them down from high estate,
Then gives the low His nourishment.
4 He feeds the hungry as His own;
The wealthy leave with empty hands.
He gives His help to Israel;
His gracious promise always stands.
OFFERING (Be seated)
Offerings support the church’s mission work – both here and through our many partners. Offerings may be placed in the box at the sanctuary entrance or sent to the church through our website or the mail. Fellowship Cards help us welcome new people and track participation. Please fill one out and place it in the offering box following the service.
PRAYERS (Kneel) LSB 233-234
KYRIE LSB 233
Lord, have mercy;
Christ, have mercy;
Lord, have mercy.
LORD’S PRAYER
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.
COLLECT FOR PEACE
O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
SENDING HYMN LUTHER’S EVENING PRAYER Setting: John A. Behnke
Choir:
I thank you, my heav’nly Father,
through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son,
that You have kept me this day.
I pray that You forgive me
for all the wrong that I have done this day.
For into Your hands I commend myself,
my body and soul, and all things.
Let Your holy angel be with me,
that the evil foe may have no power over me.
Congregation and Choir:
I thank you, my heav’nly Father,
through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son,
that You have kept me this day.
I pray that You forgive me
for all the wrong that I have done this day.
For into Your hands I commend myself,
my body and soul, and all things.
Let Your holy angel be with me,
that the evil foe may have no power over me.
I thank you, my heav’nly Father
through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son,
that You have kept me this day,
I pray that you forgive me
for all the wrong that I have done this day.
Choir: Keep me this night. Amen
Those serving:
Greeter: Charles Fisher
Reader: Dan Buuck
AV/Streaming: Richard Irwin
Acknowledgments
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2025 Concordia Publishing House.
355 O Savior, Rend the Heavens Wide Text: Friedrich von Spee, 1591–1635; tr. Martin L. Seltz, 1909–67, alt. Tune: Rheinfelssisch Deutsches Catholisches Gesangbuch, 1666, Augsburg Text: © 1969 Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110005326 Tune: Public domain
934 My Soul Now Magnifies the Lord Text: Luke 1:46–55; adapt. Stephanie K. Frey, 1952 Tune: Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert, 1535, Wittenberg, ed. Joseph Klug Text: © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110005326 Tune: Public domain
290 Luther’s Evening Prayer Text: Martin Luther, 1483–1546; Luther’s Small Catechism, alt. Tune: John A. Behnke, b. 1953 Text: © 1986 Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission: OAR Hymn License no. 110005326 Tune: © 2018 Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission: OAR Hymn License no. 110005326
ADVENT & CHRISTMAS AT ST. PAUL’S
WORSHIP SCHEDULE
MIDWEEK ADVENT SERVICES
December 10, 17 at 7:00 p.m.
******************************************************
Christmas Eve Worship – Wednesday, December 24
5:00 p.m. Candlelight service for families
7:30 p.m. Pre-service Music
8:00 p.m. Candlelight service with Holy Communion
Christmas Day Worship – Thursday, December 25
10:00 a.m. Celebration of Christ’s Birth
with Holy Communion
