https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQkvmpWB_5A

The Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 21, 2025

ZION EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH – LCMS

700 Main St.  P.O. Box 220   Clyman, WI  53016  

Rev. Daniel L. Bohn & Church 1(920) 341-2025  – shepherdatzion@gmail.com

Worship Times: Sundays – 8:30am & Wednesdays – 7:00pm

To View Past Services & Other Information: Website – zionclyman.org or Facebook – zionclyman

Watch Live on Sunday @ 8:30am: YouTube – zionclyman

Music – Dee Dee Wille       Elder – Greg Schwartz

Bulletin Announcements: Email: zionclyman@gmail.com

Congregation Information: Neal Kohlhoff Email: neal.kohlhoff50@gmail.com

Altar Guild for December: Nancy Basol                 Thank you.

 Guests.  Welcome to Zion.  We are happy to have you worship with us.  Please sign our guestbook located in the Narthex.  About Holy Communion:  We welcome to the Lord’s Table all who have repented of their sins and seek to amend their sinful life; all who believe that Jesus is truly present in, with, and under the bread and the wine; and all who believe that through the words “given and shed for you” forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given.  If this is your confession and you are a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, then come with a thankful heart and join us.   If you are a visitor and would like to commune, please talk with Pastor Dan before the service.  To help in preparing to receive Holy Communion open the front cover of the Burgundy hymnal or turn to pages 329 & 330.  Gluten free wafers are available, please talk with an Elder or Pastor before the service if you would appreciate them.

As We Gather  It is still Advent, but today we hear an account of what happened on the first Christmas.  The Son of Mary by the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, Jesus, who saves us from our sins fulfills the promise as Immanuel: God is with us.  The details of Luke’s account can distract us from the message God wants us to hear.  The Savior has come to keep His Word, to save us from our sins, and to keep us in His hand so that we may be His eternally.  None of this was obvious to either Mary or faithful Joseph, and yet the Lord was at work through it all to deliver to us His Son to be our Savior.  We will still worry when things do not go as we plan, and we will still struggle with doubts and fears, but the one who came is not a messenger sent in God’s place.  No, the one sent, the one who has arrived is God’s only-begotten Son, whose name is Jesus and what He came to do was bring about our salvation.

Ringing of the Bell and Welcome

Hymn “The Advent of our King”   LSB 331

 The Lighting of the Fourth Advent Candle

Invocation – In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.      Amen.

Opening Sentences – Psalm 130:7-8 – O Israel, hope in the Lord!  For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.  And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

 Confession and Absolution – As Children of God, we are called to confess our sin, trusting in the one true God who is faithful and just and who will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Let us confess our sin to God our Heavenly Father.  All:  Almighty God, our maker and redeemer, we poor sinners confess unto You that we are by nature sinful and unclean and that we have sinned against You by thought, word, and deed.  Wherefore we flee for refuge to Your infinite mercy, seeking and imploring Your grace for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.  By Your Holy Spirit increase in us true knowledge of You and of Your will and true obedience to Your Word, to the end that by Your grace we may come to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen    Almighty God, our heavenly Father, has had mercy upon us and has given His only Son to die for us and for His sake forgives us all our sins.  To those who believe on His name He gives power to become the children of God and has promised them his Holy Spirit, He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.  Grant this, Lord, unto us all.  Amen

Psalm of the Day – Psalm 24 – The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.  Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?  And who shall stand in his holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.  Lift up your heads, O gates!  And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!  Lift up your heads, O gates!  And lift them up, O ancient doors,  that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen

Kyrie      LSB 186

Salutation – The Lord be with you.      And also with you.

 Prayer of the Day – Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come and help us by Your might, that the sins which weigh us down may be quickly lifted by Your grace and mercy; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

 Old Testament Reading – Isaiah 7:10-17 – Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”  But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.”  And he said, “Hear then, O house of David!  Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?  Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.  For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.  The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

The Epistle or New Testament Reading – Romans 1:1-7 – Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse – Alleluia.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.  Alleluia.

 Holy Gospel – Matthew 1:18-25 – The Holy Gospel according St. Matthew, the first chapter.       Glory to You, O Lord.       Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.  When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.  But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).  When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.  And he called his name Jesus.  This is the Gospel of the Lord.   Praise to You, O Christ.

Nicene Creed – I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.  And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.  And I believe in the Holy Spirit,   the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life X of the world to come.    Amen.

Hymn  “O Little Town of Bethlehem”      LSB 361

Sermon

Prayers of the Church

We Gather our Tithes and Offerings

X Service of the Sacrament X 

Preface and Proper Preface   The Lord be with you.  And also with you.  Lift up your hearts.  We lift them to the Lord.  Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.  It is right to give Him thanks and praise.  It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, whose way John the Baptist prepared, proclaiming Him the promised Messiah, the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and calling sinners to repentance that they might escape from the wrath to be revealed when He comes again in glory. Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and singing:

Sanctus  LSB 195

Prayer of Thanksgiving   When the peace of perfection was broken by the voice of rebellion and death became our end, You looked upon us in love, O merciful Father, and You sent forth the promise of a new day made possible by a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  He fulfilled Your Word, was incarnate of the virgin by the Holy Spirit, and was delivered in flesh and blood as one of us, yet without sin.  He fulfilled Your saving will and offered up Himself in our place unto death, paying the price of our redemption and forging a path through earthly death to life everlasting.  In this Holy Supper He established, He placed His promise, that by our communion in His flesh and blood, we might be forgiven of our sins and strengthened in the new life granted to us in Baptism.  Now, by His own Word and testament, we gather to set aside this bread, that it may be to us His flesh for the life of the world, and this cup, that it may be His blood to cleanse us from all our sin, as He Himself has said.                       Amen and Amen.

The Words of Our Lord – Consecration of the Elements

Proclamation of Christ  1 Corinthians 11:26; Revelation 22:20 – As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.      Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.     O Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, in giving us Your body and blood to eat and to drink, You lead us to remember and confess Your holy cross and passion, Your blessed death, Your rest in the tomb, Your resurrection from the dead, Your ascension into heaven, and Your coming for the final judgment. So remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:

The 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.

Pax Domini        LSB 197 – The peace of the Lord be with you always.

Agnus Dei   LSB 198

Distribution Hymns:

“Lift Up Your Heads Ye Mighty Gates”     LSB 341

“Savior of the Nations Come”                   LSB 332

“Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord”        LSB 352

Nunc Dimittis  LSB 199

Post-Communion Thanksgiving – We give thanks to You, gracious Father, that Your grace is timeless and Your mercy is for all people.  As we heed the call of Christ and follow Him`, strengthen us in faith toward You and in fervent love toward one another; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.     Amen.

 Benediction      Numbers 6:24–26 – The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and X give you peace.   Amen.   

Hymn **vs 1 & 2**  “Comfort, Comfort Ye My People”   LSB 347

ANNOUNCEMENTS

YES IN CHRIST        Saying Yes With Our Treasures

 Weekly Budget Needed: $3279

Attendance/Communed:     12/14/2025 = 39 / 36       12/17/2025 = 35

Giving:         12/14/2025: Envelopes = $1410   Plate = $101                               

Memorial:    Cemetery:     $25 for Theodore Olson III from Neal & Kris Kohlhoff

Please keep the following in your Special Prayers:

The family of Theodore (Ted) Olson who was given his crown of life on December 11^th.

Prayers for Ralph Kohlhoff as he heals from cataract surgery.

We keep in our prayers all in our congregation who recently had surgery, waiting for test results, and are in need of healing and comfort.

Handbell Choir Practice on Sunday following the worship service.    All are welcome to attend.

Quilters meet on Thursdays from 11am to 2pm. Please check with Caroline Jeffers as they do not meet every week. Donations of fabric, sheets (flat or fitted), and yarn are always appreciated. You do not have to know how to sew as there are many non-sewing tasks to be completed. All are welcome to join us for the quilting fun!

 Wish these members a Blessed Birthday Wish

Karen Huber 12/25     Riley Matson 12/26     Doug Schlender 12/28     Carl Foege 12/30

Wish these members a Happy Anniversary!

               Jim & Erica Goehl Jr 12/23      Kevin & Sandra Schultz 12/29     Felix & Janet Ortega 12/29

      A blessed Christmas and New Years to all of our members at Zion. 

Thank you for the well wishes, cards and gifts. 

Theresa and Pastor Dan