Welcome to a Gathering of EChurch@Wartburg

Grand illumination – Colonial Williamsburg

Here is our order of worship

Our Father
Move our hearts with the calm, smooth flow of your grace.
Let the river of your love run through our souls.
May my soul be carried with the current of your love,
towards the wide, infinite ocean of heaven.
Stretch out my heart with your strength, as you stretch out the sky above the earth.
Smooth out any wrinkles of hatred or resentment.
Enlarge my soul that it may know more fully your truth.
Amen
Gilbert of Hoyland-died 1170  The Complete Book of Christian Prayer. p.64

Oh Come, Emmanuel! He has come and He will yet come. This song celebrates both.

If you are new to EChurch, please click on this link for an explanation

Scripture Reading:  II Thessalonians 3:5 (NASB Bible Gateway)
 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

A wonderful prayer by Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
The Complete Book of Christian Prayer. p.35 
O Lord Jesus Christ
Make me worthy to understand the profound mystery of your holy incarnation,
which you have worked for our sake and for our salvation.
Truly there is nothing so great and wonderful as this,
that you, my God, who are creator of all things,
should become a creature, so that we should become like God.
You have humbled yourself and made yourself small that we might be made mighty.
You have taken the form of a servant, so that you might confer upon us a royal and divine beauty.
You, who are beyond our understanding, have made yourself understandable to us in Jesus Christ.
You, who are the uncreated God, have made yourself a creature for us.
You, who are the untouchable One, have made yourself touchable to us.
You, who are most high, make us capable of understanding your amazing love
and the wonderful things you have done for us.
Make us able to understand the mystery of your incarnation,
the mystery of your life, example and doctrine,
the mystery of your cross and Passion, 
the mystery of your resurrection and ascension.
Blessed are you, O Lord, for coming to earth as a man.
You were born that you might die. and in dying that you might procure our salvation.
O marvellous and indescribable love!
In you is all sweetness and joy!
To contemplate your love is to exalt the soul above the world and to enable it to abide alone in joy 
and rest and tranquility.
Amen

This version of We 3 Kings is sung by the incomparable Mario Lanza. The three kings (or wise men) are said to have arrived to worship Jesus more than one year after his birth. Read more here.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen. (KJV)

A Christmas Benediction by Ray Pritchard
"May you be filled with the wonder of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the determination of the magi, and the peace of the Christ child. Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you now and forever."link