On the first Sunday of the Christmas season, our them for worship is "A Substitute for Christmas". Pastor Leyrer's bible study "Behold Your Bethlehem Brother!" dives into Hebrews 2:10-18 focusing on two points: I. His Cradle Led to the Cross II. His Cross Helps Us Overcome Our Crosses. Christ’s incarnation aimed at founding a new priesthood; as a priest of this priesthood, Jesus could forever make intercession between God and humanity and secure a perfect propitiation for sin.
Our closing hymn "Go Tell It on the Mountain" is an African American spiritual with the verse lyrics credited to John Wesley Work II. The familiar chorus aptly combines the directive in Isaiah 40:9-11, "Go on up to a high mountain," with the result in Luke 2:17,"They made known the saying that had been told them." The song's verses reflect the nativity narrative of Luke 2:7-20, telling the story with simple directness, with the shepherds, the angels, and the lowly manger where Jesus, our Savior, was laid. The tune is at least as old as the text it accompanies. Numerous melodic and rhythmic variations exist from songbook to songbook, attesting to an earlier oral tradition in which, after hearing the song, one carried it away only in memory to be reproduced later.
