Children's Choir Cantata 2022

Psalmic Praise from the Mouths of Children

To see you here. We hope that you've come, not just to see the little kids put on a performance, but hear what God has to say through the mouths of children. One of the Psalms says, out of the mouths of children come these praises.

And so that's what we're hoping that'll happen tonight. So before we begin, let's pray and ask God to bless our time together. Father, we're thankful for these children. We're thankful for all the work they've put in.

And Lord, we can't help but think that they've been taught so much about the Lord Jesus as they practice and as their leaders instruct them in what the Word of God says. We're thankful that you can use little children to lead us in worship.

So tonight we pray that you would communicate this great story of salvation through them. And we will thank you as we see them, as we hear them, as we listen to what your Word has to say through them.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Zechariah, John the Baptist, and the Promise of the Forerunner

To the altar and scared Zechariah so much that he began to shake. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. You will name him John. Joy and gladness will come to you and many will rejoice at his birth.

He will make a path level and smooth, leading us to Christ. But Zechariah didn't believe it. He said to the angel, I cannot be sure of this, for I am an old man and my wife is old as well. The angel answered him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news.

But now and since you do not believe my words, you will be silent, unable to speak until the day these things take place. The following year Elizabeth had a son, and on the eighth day they took him to the temple to be circumcised.

And all their friends and family thought they would name the boy after his father. But Elizabeth said, No, he must be named John. Zechariah agreed, but because he could not speak, he wrote on a tablet his name is John.

And they were all amazed. Immediately, Zechariah's mouth was opened and his tongue released, and he spoke, Blessed is the Lord.

The Annunciation to Mary and the Conception of the Messiah

When that same angel, Gabriel, appeared to a young girl named Mary, who lived in the town of Nazareth.

In Galilee. She happened to be engaged to a man named Joseph, who lived in the same town. When that angel appeared, Mary was also afraid, so he said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

You have been chosen to give birth to the long-awaited Messiah. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and many will in the time to be born will be holy. He will be called the Son of God. Yes, I am certain that the Lord that does happen to me according to your word.

Mary saw the angel appear to Joseph, this time in a dream. He said,.

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will name him, because he will save his people from their sins.

When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord told him.

The Shepherds, the Magi, and Worshiping the Child

If he saw, he believed. The shepherds said to one another, Do you see what I saw? Do you believe what we heard?

Lord, bless for him the strangest thing that has taken place, that the Lord may know to us. They found Mary, Joseph, and the baby, and told the family what had happened to them. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

Everything was just as they had been told. Back from the east, who studied the skies,.

Believed that this new star had special meaning. It must have been said to announce the birth of a great king. So they got a rich gift and made the journey to Jerusalem, saying, Where is the one who is born to you of the Jews?

When they saw the star on the earth, this star they saw bled from until it stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they shouted joyfully. As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they bowed down and worshipped him.

They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Which I saw, they believed, they worshipped. The time came for Mary and Joseph to present Jesus to the Lord at the temple, according to the law of Moses.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, named Saman, who was righteous and devout, looking for a restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

So Simeon, directed by the Spirit, came into the temple courts, and when the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law, Simeon took him in his arms and blessed God, saying, To depart in peace, for my eyes have seen the salvation that you have prepared for the fallen peoples, a light for the resurrection of the Gentiles.

Then Anna, a prophetess, having spent most of her life as a widow, fasting and praying, came up at that very hour and gave thanks to God for the redemption that had come to Israel.

Thanksgiving, Fellowship, and a Prayer of Dismissal

We invite everyone to enjoy a meal with us at the back. So after I pray, that's what we'll.

Engage in and talk about how good our little ones did. So let us pray to our God. Great God in heaven, I am so thankful, Lord, that you have given us the word of God, the truth that these little ones have expressed to us through this play, God.

And I'm so thankful that as they saw, as they believed and worshiped, so you call us to that great treasure to hear the word, to believe the word, and to worship in light of the word that Jesus Christ truly has taken on flesh, truly God, truly man, and has died for sinners like us.

Lord, how can we not but worship in light of this truth? So I pray, God, that like them, like these great heroes of the faith, we would too respond to the word with hearts full of gratitude and thanksgiving, especially this Christmas season.

Again, Lord, we're so thankful for children, how we can teach them the word in this way and they can minister to our hearts in the way that they have tonight. God, may we be extra appreciative of them even today, even tonight, even as we enjoy this meal with them.

Lord, we thank you that we can engage in a meal together. Bless this food to our body and let our hearts and our lips be ever full of Jesus Christ as we consider the majesty, the wonders, the beauty that Jesus Christ has came down and done such a great work for us.

Thank you, Lord, for all that you are. In Jesus' name, amen. You are dismissed. Thank you.