Dear Church family,

 

We will have In-person and Online Worship on Sunday, December 28, 2025, at 10 am.

 

Online Worship

Website: www.littlefallsumc.org

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@lfumc

 

Sunday Scriptures: Isaiah 63:7-9 and Matthew 2:13-23

 

The Title of Today’s Sermon is “Herod the Villain, Christ the Redeemer”

 

Paul Ossou (Lay Servant) will preach today!

 

 

If you have any concerns and joys and want to share them with the congregation and ask the church to pray on Sunday, please let Pastor Jin know! You can email, call, or text me. Or you can submit your prayer concerns and joys here: www.littlefallsumc.org/prayer 

 

Your generous financial support is significant and appreciated very much.

We have continued our ministries with your support.

 

You can support God’s ministry in three ways:

1. Put your offerings on the plates at the Offering Station at the in-person Worship

2. Mail your offerings and tithes to the church office: 139 Main St. Little Falls, NJ 07424

3. Make online donations at www.littlefallsumc.org/donation

 

Again, we appreciate your generosity very much.

  

Please see the bulletin for other announcements!

Have a good day! See you on Sunday!

 

Pastor Jin

Little Falls United Methodist Church

 

Sunday Worship Service

 

December 28, 2025 - 10 am

 

 

139 Main Street, Little Falls, NJ 07424

Office Phone: (973) 256-0993

Website: www.LittleFallsUMC.org

Email: Info@LittleFallsUMC.org

 

We are “A Welcoming Community of Faith, Hope,

Mission and Outreach Sharing Christ’s Love”

Our Mission is “Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World”

 

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)

 

 

Called to Praise

 

⭻Prepare your heart and body for Worship

 

Greeting & Announcements
 

• We have ‘In-Person’ & ‘Online Worship’ on Sunday, December 28, 2025, at 10am.

 

• You can join our Online Worship via YouTube or Facebook. Type “Little Falls United Methodist Church” in the search window on YouTube or Facebook. Please use the link below to join in Online Worship. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lfumc

 

• Paul Ossou (Lay Servant) will preach today and the title is “Herod the Villain, Christ the Redeemer”

 

• Upcoming Sundays:

  • Jan. 4, 2026 –

    • A Recorded Video Preaching by Bishop Moore-KoiKoi.

    • Epiphany Sunday

    • The Holy Communion

  • Jan. 11, 2026 – Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Service during Sunday Worship

  • Jan. 18, 2026 - Gratitude and Prayer for the Church Officials

 

• Prayer Concerns & Joys – If you would like to share your concerns and joys with the congregation, please email Pastor Jin (jkim@littlefallsumc.org) or complete the online form, www.littlefallsumc.org/prayer.

 

• Altar Flowers – Thank you, Ken Griffin, for providing the Altar Flowers, with your wish for a Merry Christmas and a healthy 2026 to our church family! If you would like to offer the altar flowers, please contact Janet (973) 896-8936 or ladyteddy@aol.com. 

 

• Fellowship Time after Worship – Thank you, Unity Circle for hosting the Coffee Hour! Let us enjoy a good fellowship time every Sunday after Worship. Please help us with hosting the coffee hour. The Sign-up board is on the table in the Narthex. Please contact Cheryle or Kathy F. if you have any questions about the coffee hour.

 

• Treasured Memories –The next meeting will be held at 7 pm on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. “Treasured Memories” is a grief group for those who have lost their loved ones. The ongoing meeting gathers every 2nd Wednesday of the month in Lee Lounge at 7 pm. Contact Allison for details (973) 800-4152.

 

• 2025-2026 Kids & Youths for Christ - ‘Kids & Youths For Christ’ is a fun Thursday night program for children (K-12th). We will have Christian education and fun activities such as games, crafts, cooking, biking, movies, mini sports, service projects, etc. The program will be held every first and third Thursday from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. The first day is September 18, 2025, and the last day will be June 4, 2026. This program is free of charge and open to all students. Everyone is welcome. Sign up now at the church website and spread the word to your neighbors!

 

• Online Donation – Online donation is available now. Please visit the church website and click ‘Donation.’ The link is https://www.littlefallsumc.org/donation.  Your financial support and generosity are greatly appreciated and essential for our church ministry and mission. Please consider sending your tithes and offerings to Little Falls UMC (139 Main St. Little Falls, NJ 07424). You can send your offerings and tithes to the church every week. Or you can send offerings and tithes for a month with a check. Thanks again for your generosity!

 

• Shoprite Gift Card – To purchase a Shoprite gift card, contact Pete (973) 595-5765 or detroit50@aol.com.

 

• LFUMC FOOD PANTRY ITEMS NEEDED - Many families depend on the Food Pantry on a regular basis. The Pantry needs the following non-perishable items; canned vegetables, peanut butter, jelly, adult/children’s cereal, pasta & sauce, instant potatoes/rice, tuna, chicken, sardines, fruit, apple sauce, juice, and granola bars.

 

• SOCKS FOR SOULS - Do your feet get cold? Please help Unity Circle to provide new or gently used socks to the homeless. There is a constant need. Please drop off your socks in the large white sock in the Narthex. 

 

• Ongoing Collection - UMW collects postmarked stamp and can pull tabs. Items are donated to different charities and organizations.

 

• Stewardship Campaign for the year 2026 – Thank you for your pledges for the 2026 Church ministry! You have participated in God’s mission through your pledge for the church ministry. You have committed to God to give God your first fruit not leftovers. If you didn’t give us your pledge card, do not worry. You are not late to participate in God’s ministry through your pledge. We are still accepting pledge cards. You can mail your card to the church or put it in the Stewardship Campaign box in the Narthex. Giving us your pledge cards helps us a lot to consider the 2026 ministry and budget. Thank you for your love and support for Little Falls UMC and God’s ministry again!

 

• Church Office will be Closed from December 23, 2024 (Tuesday) to January 2, 2025 (Friday) during Christmas Season and the beginning of the New Year.

 

†Call to Worship

Leader: We come together today, still standing in the light of the Manager, yet mindful of the shadows of the world.

People: We confess that the currencies of this world—titles, positions, and accolades—often pull at our hearts. 

Leader: We remember Herod, who clung to a rusting throne and a fleeting crown. 

People: Lord, forgive us when we act like Herod, protecting our own kingdoms instead of seeking yours. 

Leader: We look to Christ, whose destiny was not a worldly throne, but a wooden cross. 

People: His love has no limits; His grace covers even our worst moments. 

All: Let us lay down our schemes and pick up His peace. Let us worship the Redeemer who calls us home.

 

†Praise Song                      Angels We Have Heard on High                  UMH 238 

 

1 Angels we have heard on high 
sweetly singing o’er the plains, 
and the mountains in reply 
echoing their joyous strains. 

 

Refrain: 
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! 
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! 

 

2 Shepherds, why this jubilee? 
Why your joyous strains prolong? 
What the gladsome tidings be 
which inspire your heavenly song? (Refrain) 

 

3 Come to Bethlehem and see 
Christ whose birth the angels sing; 
come, adore on bended knee, 
Christ the Lord, the newborn King. (Refrain) 

 

4 See him in a manger laid, 
whom the choirs of angels praise; 
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid, 
while our hearts in love we raise. (Refrain) 

 

Children’s Time                                                                                                               Ken Griffin

 

Hymn of Prayer                                       Away in a Manger                                 UMH 217

 

1. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, 
   the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. 
   The stars in the sky looked down where he lay, 
   the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

 

1. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, 
   but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes; 
   I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky 
   and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh. 

 

1. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay 
   close by me forever, and love me, I pray; 
   bless all the dear children in thy tender care, 
   and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.

 

Pausing for Silent Prayer and Confession

 

Prayers of the People (Response: God, in Your Mercy, hear our prayers.)

Loving Gracious God, We thank You for the gift of Christ, whose love came into a fearful and broken world. We rejoice in the blessings You have given us— for family, for moments of joy, and for Your faithfulness among us. We also bring You our concerns. Forgive us when fear, pride, or the desire for power leads us away from Your will. Like Herod, we sometimes choose control over trust, and we ask for Your mercy and guidance. We lift up those who are hurting, grieving, or in need of healing. Surround them with Your peace and remind them that Your love has no limits. Teach us to follow Christ’s way— to forgive instead of scheme, to seek Your kingdom instead of earthly glory, and to trust in Your eternal promises. We offer to You all our joys and concerns, spoken and unspoken, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.

 

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. Amen.

 

Called to the Word

Prayer for Illumination   

 

Leader: Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that, as the Scriptures are read and your Word proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. 

All: Amen

 

OT Lesson                                                   Isaiah 63:7-9

 7 I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,
   the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
because of all that the Lord has done for us
   and the great favor to the house of Israel
that he has shown them according to his mercy,
   according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
8 For he said, “Surely they are my people,
   children who will not act deceitfully,”
and he became their savior
9     in all their distress.
It was no messenger or angel
   but his presence that saved them;
in his love and pity it was he who redeemed them;
   he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

 

This ends the OT Lesson. 
Let us turn to the Gospel Lesson. Please stand, if able.

 

†Gospel Lesson                                        Matthew 2:13-23

13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
   wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”

 

This is the word of God for the people of God. 

All: Thanks be to God.

 

Message       Herod the Villain, Christ the Redeemer               Paul Ossou (Lay Servant)

Good Morning Little Falls Church family. Welcome to the hangover. Today is two things. It is “Low Sunday” The Sunday after Christmas when for the first time we may feel that joy that Advent brings escaping. That deflating feeling of letting all the air out of the balloon. Like waking up the morning after a crazy party the reality of what we did, all the cookies we ate, all the money we spent, and all the presents we wrapped hits us. Now that the holiday is passed the grim realization that we’ve all been sentenced to 3-4 months “in the hole” of winter solitary confinement. Very little joy awaits us in this stretch. No cheerful national holidays, and even the season before Easter is somber and different in tone. We are in the long dark. That is why for today’s sermon I’m keeping it light and talking about Herod and his role in the Christmas story.

 

            That is also because today, literally the 28th of December, in western Catholic tradition is marked as the holy Feast of the Innocents. A day commemorating what, as read in our scripture lesson, was Herod’s great crime against the city of Bethlehem in Judea. Why talk about something so grim in the shadow of the happiest time in our Christian calendar? That is because I believe Herod has an important story to tell in our understand of God’s message to us. Those of us that made it to the book study this Advent got to read Rachel Billup’s Unlikely Advent an actually somewhat misleading title not about something unexpected about Advent, but rather a book that talked about the figures we read about in scripture in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We know these characters as being part of Christmas or the nativity, but do not spend much time thinking about what these figures add to the story. Billup’s book has one of it’s four chapters dedicated to Herod and his role in Christ’s birth and the turmoil he created in it’s wake.

 

            Who was Herod? A simple question really. We say his name every year during advent. But religion and history are two separate subjects in the way we experience them. Herod, the ruler of the region of Galilee during Jesus’s life is name some of us have probably said hundreds of times in our life, but few of us probably know who he was other then the bad guy in the Christmas story, and the man whose family’s secular power would run counter to his teachings and public ministry. Mathew recounts to us that at the time of Jesus’s birth, Herod is ruling over Israel. But the history of Israel is filled with several rules named Herod. The commonly accepted person, that aligns with other historical accounts of the Roman empire is Herod the Great, son of Antipater, who lived from around 72 BCE to somewhere around 4 BCE to 1 BCE. Herod has ruled over parts of Israel since he was named client-king by Marc Anthony in 40 BCE. His reign was a paradox of infrastructure improvements, security improvements and brutal intrigue. Historians view his reign with mixed feelings. He improved the level of civilization in his territory, ending mass banditry and upgrading the infrastructure required to support people living in his lands. He is the king that expanded and upgraded the temple in Jerusalem. He also lived in a world of fickle power. Where one’s hold on their kingdom was only as strong as the rulers grip. Herod is known to have had three of his sons killed for the threat they posed to his ruling authority. It has been anecdotally attributed that Caesar Augustus remarked of Herod that it was better to be one of Herod’s pigs then one of his sons. For a man willing to kill so many of his own children, would the crimes against the sons of others be that far off?

 

            The Gospels, specifically Matthew, tell us of an event called the Killing of the Innocents. When Herod ordered all the boys who were two years old or younger to be put to death in the district where Jesus had been born. We know of course that Joseph and Mary had fled the carnage having been warned that it would happen. However let us look for a moment at what we know of this event. This event, for the tragedy that it would have been, does not exist anywhere outside of Matthews telling of Jesus’s birth and early years. None of the other gospels recount this event. This can be for several reasons.

 

            One of the most common is attributed to the fact that Matthew tells his gospel with the intent of it resonating with a Jewish audience. One that knew of the story of the Exodus. When Pharaoh ordered the death of young Hebrew boys to stop Moses’s plan for his people. It is perhaps not a historical fact but an emphasis on the symbolism that the Messiah would lead the Jewish people out of the tragedy, suffering and persecution they had suffered to a permanent and peaceful kingdom.

 

            Secondly, this event does not appear in any secondary historical sources. There are several accounts by period chroniclers of both Jewish and Roman origin that allow us to match the events of the Gospels to a timeline of history because the same events are recorded in these non Biblical sources. When Matthew says Jesus was born in the time of Herod, we know what that is because those who recorded the history of the various rulers of Roman empire wrote down the facts and history of that rule including the times by the Roman calendar when it is believed that it happened. We have then since translated those events into our modern system of dating events. Now what about this horrible event? It may not have been recorded because of scale. Archaeological evidence points to the “city”, and we are using the term city here loosely, to have ranged in permanent population, those that actually dwelt in the city at between 300 people and up to 1000 people at the time we are talking about. If we follow population trend statistics that put the number of children between those two at an average of six to twenty. It may very well have been that this is not recorded anywhere else because to the Romans and other non Jews, the killing of a few children in a remote town who were not Roman citizens simply was not worth recording. This seems horribly callous, as the killing of any child is a terrible event, but we must also remember the general culture of this era.

 

            The scale of history and tragedy in this period, the classical period, is great. When cities or nations were conquered by empires and kings, an unfathomable number of people were killed, displaced or taken into bondage. The city of Tyre in present day Lebanon, 100 miles north of where our story in Bethlehem is taking place, had been besieged by Alexander’s army during it’s campaign against the Persian empire. Frustrated that the siege had stretched on for months Alexander sent a message to the city that if they did not surrender immediately none would be spared. When the city refused Alexander ordered not just it’s sacking, but at least 13,000 people from the region were taken as slaves and the road to the city which sits on a causeway on a peninsula that juts out into the ocean, was lined with 2000 people who were crucified. The Emperor Justinian, 500 years after the life of Jesus ordered his Byzantine legions to put down a riot in Constantinople. The ensuing bloodshed left 30,000 people dead. Tragedies like this are written into the history that stretched from the Old Testament to the final fall of the Roman Empire. So, it could just be that a handful of deaths in a corner of the far world were not important to any of the writers looking for great and large deeds to record.

 

            We see this same callousness in our own age. The news is filled every day with people dying tragically all over the world. It is easy when these people are far away, and especially when they are not like us in ethnicity, religion or other distinguishing factors to care about their plights less, than for our immediate neighbors. Sometimes we even grow cold to that suffering that may happen next door.

 

            The question still remains. Why would Herod do this? What could he have gained by killing small children? We humans are capable to doing terrible things with our free will. Even reasonable and kind people can “fly off the handle” when sufficiently agitated. In an Unlikely Advent, Rachel Billups reminds us of something. Sometimes even the worst behavior that we exhibit as a species happens not by choice, but by environment. In her book we meet a man who is invited to speak to her congregation. He had been in jail for murder. He had come to know Christ as the Messiah and repent for his actions. He does when talking about his life explain that much of his childhood had been spent in terrible social conditions that often lead him to trouble from an early age. We forget that some people do not have as much agency in their life as you and I. They are forced into a survival mode that sees them do bad things because the desire to live compels them to do what ever it takes. Herod may have just been one of these people.

 

            We must no forget, Kings are not fired. When a king, or emperor or other ruler looses their power it most often results in their death. For us here today thousands of years later this if hard to fathom. We elect new officials in government, they then go in and out of office as we decide. When the company you work for gets a new leader its often because the old one choose to leave their office and retire. That is not the mechanism of political power that involves a throne. Imagine a world were if a VP wanted to be the corporate president they simply murdered the current office holder? Herod lived in a world that saw the Roman empire slowly subjugating his people. His own accent to power came when he helped Marc Anthony put down the last free standing corners of Israel and fully incorporate them into the Roman empire. His reward for this was to be officially declared “King of the Jews”. However this was a title with a caveat. He was king of the Jews, so long as Rome was happy with him. That was the fine print.

 

            Herod was beset from childhood. His siblings, Antipater’s other sons also hitched themselves to the rising Roman power and held important positions. If Herod did not make his own political moves he could have been killed or pushed aside and never got to rule anywhere. Once in power, his own family became his new threat. His sons seemed to plot against him at every turn. His second wife who convinced him to cast aside his first was a manipulative woman. She convinced Herod to put John the Baptist to death. Surely she could be whispering in the ears of other powerful people as well. Paranoia and the urge to not be at the end of a palace coupe soaked every decision that a ruler like that makes. Herod had been friends with Julius Caesar, and Marc Anthony. As his life was coming to an end those men were gone. Caesar had met the fate he was trying to avoid, and his replacement, his nephew Caesar Augustus, had seen his own two political allies, one of whom was Marc Anthony killed. Herod’s power held by a perpetual thread. Rome seemed to be getting increasingly unhappy with him, his own people were irked that he was too Roman and not Jewish enough to be their king. Now comes a little boy who 3 royal strangers said is king of the Jews? What is Rome agreed? They did not care in a way who rules, so long as they were subservient to Roman authority. What if the people agreed? What if this boy who was born to a line of David, and much more Jewish then a man whose family were Arab converts generation before pleased the people with his wisdom more then Herod’s harsh stance on everything? When we frame this paranoia in these terms we can more easily see why Herod would act as he did. Still not in a just way, this was after all a world before Christ, but in a predictably sinful way of an un-redeemed man who thought the title King of the Jews could come from a throne in Rome.

 

            Enter Christ. The great Redeemer, God is with us. When we discussed the book in our study group we talked about how can some sin be forgiven? Christ however doesn’t bother to answer this question, we are reminded he came to die with the weight of everyone’s sin upon that cross. Even Herod’s. Christ does not have a limit. He did not stop at theft, or jay-walking. For him to be the ultimate lamb of God his payment had to cover it all. He is the absolute yang to Herod’s yin. Herod who was willing to kill children in order to hold on to his throne met his match in God incarnate who was willing to die in order to get crowns for us all. Men like Herod and Caesar could never understand that. Their focus on the power of this world would always blind them to what God actually calls us to do.

 

            Little Falls Church family, we should remind ourselves to evaluate our actions and not be a Herod, because the temptation of the currencies of this world lead us astray to sin. We are all Herod to some degree, because we have all sinned. At times we let the titles and positions and accolades of this world color our moral lenses. If Herod had accepted Gods will for the people of Israel our Christmas story would be very different. Christ’s destiny was the cross not the throne because we all needed that forgiveness. We must remember as Christ had no limit to his love of us, even when we are at our worst. Even for the worst among us. Instead of being a Herod, be like Christ, accept God’s will and love. Be a forgiver not a schemer and seek the crown and throne that we are promised for eternity, not one that will rust here in this life.

 

Called to Share

Response to Our Generous God 

 

 †Doxology                 Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow                   UMH 95

 

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

 

†Prayer of Dedication

All: Holy and Providing God, We acknowledge that we often cling to the "currencies" of this world, seeking security in what we can see and touch. Today, we choose to let go. We offer these gifts as a sign that we value Your will above our own. Forgive us for the times we have sought our own glory, and help us instead to seek the crown that never rusts. Use these offerings to extend Your limitless love to our neighbors and to build a kingdom that will last for eternity. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, Amen.

 

Called to the World

 

†Closing Hymn                             Joy to the World                                     UMH 246

 

1. Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

 

2. Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

 

3. No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

 

4. He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love.

 

†Benediction                                                                                                         Rev. Jin Kook Kim

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.  Amen.