NEW YEAR’S EVE WORSHIP
G E L C T , A D 31, 2024
OPENING HYMN—Across the Sky the Shades of Night
Please stand
INVOCATION
Minister: In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Congregation: Amen.
PSALM 90
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
God Is Eternal
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity you are God.
Man Is Mortal
You grind people to dust, and you say, “Return, children of Adam.”
For a thousand years in your sight are like a day, like yesterday that has gone by, or like a watch in the night.
You sweep them away like a flood. They are like sleep in the morning, like grass which changes quickly.
In the morning it sprouts and grows. By evening it is cut down, and it withers.
Surely, we are consumed by your anger, and by your wrath we are terrified.
You have laid out our guilty deeds in front of you. Our hidden sins are revealed in the light of your face.
For all our days pass away under your fury. We finish our years like a sigh.
The days of our lives add up to seventy years, or eighty years if we are strong. Yet the best of them are trouble and sorrow, for they disappear quickly, and we fly away.
Who can understand the power of your anger?
But your fury is consistent with the fear that is owed to you.
Mortal Man Needs God’s Grace
Teach us to number our days in such a way that we bring a heart of wisdom.
Turn, O L ! How long!
Change your mind toward your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your mercy, so that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
Let your deeds be seen by your servants and your majesty by their children.
May the kindness of the Lord our God rest upon us. Establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Eternal Father, before whom all generations rise and fall, teach us to think earnestly on the brevity of our lives and on the immensity of your goodness. Help us to enter the new year trusting in the name of your Son and walking in the way of his peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Please be seated
I lift my eyes up to the hills; from where does my help come? My help comes from the maker of the heavens and the earth. He will not let my foot be moved; he keeps my journey safe.
He is the shade at my right hand, my shelter in the storm; no sun by day, nor moon by night shall ever bring me harm. He will not slumber, will not sleep; he watches all my ways.
O my soul, praise the Lord most high; strong to save, he upholds my life. Forevermore he will be my light; I lift my eyes up to the Lord most high.
I lift my eyes up to the hills; from where does my help come? My help comes from the maker of the heavens and the earth. The God of Israel is my guide wherever I may go; and in his strength I will abide until he leads me home.
O my soul, praise the Lord most high; strong to save, he upholds my life. Forevermore he will be my light; I lift my eyes up to the Lord most high.
27 Why do you speak, O Jacob?
O Israel, why do you say,
“My way is hidden from the L , and justice for me is ignored by my God”?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The L is the eternal God. He is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired, and he will not become weary. No one can find a limit to his understanding.
29 He is the one who gives strength to the weak, and he increases the strength of those who lack power.
30 Young men grow tired and become weary. Even strong men stumble and fall.
31 But those who wait for the L will receive new strength. They will lift up their wings and soar like eagles. They will run and not become weary. They will walk and not become tired.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
SECOND LESSON
Philippians 3:12–20
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus also took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it yet, but there is one thing I do: Forgetting the things that are behind and straining toward the things that are ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore, let all of us who are mature continue to think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this to you too. 16 Only let us think the same thing and walk in line with what we already have attained.
17 Brothers, join together in imitating me and in paying attention to those who are walking according to the pattern we gave you. 18 To be sure, many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. I told you about them often, and now I am saying it while weeping.
19 Their end is destruction, their god is their appetite, and their glory is in their shame. They are thinking only about earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. We are eagerly waiting for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
HYMN RESPONSE
25 “For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27 “Which of you can add a single moment to his lifespan by worrying? 28 Why do you worry about clothing? Consider how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin, 29 but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not clothe you even more, you of little faith?
31 “So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the unbelievers chase after all these things. Certainly your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise be to you, O Christ.
It’s Time to Move On Exodus 14:13-15
13 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm, and see the salvation from the L , which he will perform for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The L will fight for you. You must wait quietly.” 15 The L said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to set out.”
