sunday december 21, 2025 4th advent sunday

Fruitland United Methodist Church
December 21, 2025

*(Please stand if you are comfortably able.)

Prelude: “Angel Suite by Philip Keveren”
Welcoming the Light of Christ and inviting the neighborhood to worship.

Welcome and Announcements
*Call to Worship Letha Essinger
In the midst of uncertainty, God speaks a word of promise.
We come to listen and to trust.
In the middle of interrupted plans, God offers presence.
We come to receive God’s love.
A child is promised, a sign is given.
Emmanuel – God is with us!
Let us worship the God who comes near.
*Sharing the peace of Christ.

*Sing: “Song of Hope” TFWS 2186
​
We Light the Fourth Candle of Advent: The Candle of Love.
Reader 1: Today, we light the fourth candle of Advent, the candle of love.
Love that comes not as power, but as presence.
Love that enters our broken plans and makes all things new.

Reader 2: The prophet Isaiah spoke of a sign of hope:
A child born to remind us that God does not abandon God’s people.
* God of love, as this candle burns, light our hearts with your presence.
Help us to trust your promises and to welcome Emmanuel
into our lives. Amen

Scripture: Isaiah 7: 10-16 Letha Essinger

Time With Young Christians – Pastor Jorge
(Please write prayer concerns and celebrations on yellow notepads, to be collected.)

Time of Community Expressions
     Hymn: “Holy, Holy, Holy” TFWS 2007
     Thanksgiving and Celebration
     Prayers for Healing and Wholeness, Our Community and the World
And now, let us pray in the way Jesus taught us to pray: Our Father, who art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name . . .

Invitation to Generosity – Pastor Jorge
Offertory “Venite Adoremus”
*Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow . . . UMH 95

Scripture Reading: Matthew 1: 18-25

*Hymn: “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” UMH 240

Sermon: “Joseph and the Plans God Rewrites” Pastor Jorge
Matthew 1:18–25

Joseph had a plan.

It wasn’t a complicated or ambitious plan. It was a simple, honest one—the
kind most good people have: to marry Mary, to build a family, to work with his
hands, to live with dignity. Everything was already in motion. Agreements had
been made, expectations were set, the future seemed more or less clear. The
plan was signed, sealed, and underway.

And then, the plan fell apart.

Matthew tells it with a sentence that sounds almost cold, but must have struck
like lightning: “Mary was found to be with child.”

This was not a small setback. It was not a misunderstanding that could easily
be explained. It was a dead end. Something impossible to make sense of.

Joseph’s Plan A simply no longer worked.

So, like all of us when life derails our plans, Joseph sat down to think about
Plan B.

We are not told how he found out. Maybe Mary told him, her voice trembling.
Maybe it was the whispers of the village—the rumors that always arrive before
the truth. Maybe someone came to him with those words no one ever wants to
hear: “I hate to be the one to tell you, but...”

We don’t know. What we do know is that Joseph knew—and he had to decide.
Matthew says Joseph was a righteous man.

And here lies the dilemma. Because righteousness, according to the law,
required exposure, accusation, public shame. The law protected Joseph’s
name but destroyed Mary’s life. Legal righteousness demanded punishment;
the righteousness of the heart demanded mercy. And Joseph chose the harder
path: not to shame her.

Plan B was to dismiss her quietly.

To break the engagement without explanation. To protect her as much as he
could. To lose everything without making noise. It was not the ideal plan, but it
was the only one that seemed possible. Having made his decision, Joseph
went to sleep carrying a burden no one should have to carry alone.

And then, God dreamed with Joseph.

An angel appeared in his dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be
afraid.”

Do not be afraid to stay when everything tells you to run.
Do not be afraid to love when love seems unreasonable.
Do not be afraid to trust when you do not understand.

In that dream, God did not offer easy explanations, but a deep invitation: to
take part in something greater than all his plans. The child to be born was not a
mistake or a scandal, but God with us.

This was Plan C, which was actually God’s true Plan A.

Joseph would still marry, still raise a family, still work with wood. Everything
would look the same... and yet nothing would be the same. Because now
Joseph knew that his life was woven into the redemption of the world.
When Joseph woke up, he obeyed.

Not because he understood everything, but because he trusted.
Not because fear disappeared, but because love was stronger.

And here is the good news for us today:
God still interrupts plans.
God still speaks in the middle of exhaustion.
God still invites us into a faithfulness that is not comfortable, but deeply human.

The angels are still singing. Still proclaiming that God is near.

But too often we are busy making lists, searching for the perfect gift, planning
the perfect Christmas—while quietly dismissing Christ.

The angel is still saying to us today:
“You do not have to make this Christmas special. It already is. God is
already here.”

There is only one thing left to do:
to pause,
to listen,
and to dare to trust the God who rewrites our plans to give us life.

*Prayer of Confession:
Loving God, we confess that we often resist your
interruptions. We cling to our plans and fear the unknown.
Forgive us when we fail to trust your presence. Open our
hearts to receive Emmanuel, and teach us to live with love
and courage. Amen

*Words of Assurance:
Hear the good news: God is with us.
God forgives, restores, and invites us into new life.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
Glory to God. Amen.

Sing: “The King of Glory Comes” TFWS 2091

Pastoral Benediction:
Go forth into the world in love. Trust the God who walks with you.
Carry the light of Emmanuel – God with us – today and always.
Amen

*Song of Blessing: “We are Marching in the Light of God” TFWS 2235

Postlude: “Joy to the World”