Bulletin – Sunday, December 5, 2021

Sunday, December 5, 2021
Advent 2 / Communion
Our Deepest Gifts–Peace

Approach

Lighting the Candle

As the days get shorter and darkness gets longer we enter into this Advent time of waiting, as we wait for the coming of Light and Love Incarnate. Advent is often called a time pf preparation when we are “preparing the way,” preparing our hearts for the coming of Emmanuel “God with us.” As we enter this time we open our hearts to the presence of God with us and the gifts that God gives us and in turn the gifts we are called to share with the world. This day we light the candle of Peace. Peace in our hearts, peace in our lives, and peace in our world. As we light this candle today, let us open our hearts to the peace of God and let us be instruments of that peace in the world. May the light from this candle instill in us that peace that surpasses understanding, the peace the only God can give.

Response – “Light a Candle”

Light a candle for peace in the darkness,
Souls content, we know you are near,
Advent watching and waiting for Jesus,
God with us, resolving our fears,
Emmanuel, peace is here,
Peace is here!

Call to Worship

One:   The day that God has made brings grace and blessing.
All:      We come to this day with hearts prepared for praising, with hearts longing for peace.

One:   The day that God has made brings forgiveness and assurance.
All:      We come to this day with souls set on praying, with voices for singing, with hearts ready for peace.

One:   The day that God has made brings wisdom and light.
All:      We come to this day with minds eager to listen for God’s will.

One:   In our praising, praying, listening, and responding,
All:      we come to worship God.

(adapted from Harry Disher)

Hymn – “There’s a Voice in the Wilderness”

There’s a voice in the wilderness crying, a call from the ways untrod:
Prepare in the desert a highway, a highway for our God!
The valleys shall be exalted, the lofty hills brought low,
Make straight all the crooked places where God, our God, may go!

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up to the heights and sing!
Proclaim to a desolate people the coming of their king.
Like the flowers of the field they perish, like grass our works decay;
The power and pomp of nations shall pass, like a dream, away.

But the world of our God endureth, whose arm is ever strong;
God stands in the midst of nations, and soon will right the wrong.
God shall feed the flock like a shepherd, the lambs so gently hold;
To pastures of peace will lead them, and bring them safe to fold.

There’s a voice in the wilderness crying, a call from the ways untrod:
Prepare in the desert a highway, a highway for our God!
The valleys shall be exalted, the lofty hills brought low,
Make straight all the crooked places where God, our God, may go!

Prayer of Approach and Confession

The voice of one comes crying out in the wilderness…prepare the way of the Lord. A messenger prepares the way, transforming us like the refiner’s fire…calling us to account. For the prophets of old have spoken, announcing the breaking open of the dawn…guiding our feet in the way of peace.

Merciful God forgive us…Forgive us when we are quick to point the finger at someone else. Forgive us when we put our heads down and ignore the cries of injustice. Forgive us when we presume to understand the complexity of issues that divide and distract the peoples of the land your feet once walked.

Merciful God…forgive us, heal us, encourage us, and speak through us, that we may be transformed through the refiner’s fire, and the offerings of our hands and our hearts may prepare the way for the Christ child to be welcomed among us in peace. Amen.

Words of Assurance

Time for All Ages

Response

Peace is a ribbon that circles the earth,
Giving a promise of safety and worth.
When God is a child there’s joy in our song.
The last shall be first and the weak shall be strong,
And none shall be afraid.

The Word

Scripture Reading:           Luke 1:68-79

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
⁶⁹ He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David,
⁷⁰ as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
⁷¹ that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
⁷² Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant,
⁷³ the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us ⁷⁴that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
⁷⁷ to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.
⁷⁸ By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,
⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Hymn – “Blest Be the God of Israel”

Blest be the God of Israel, who comes to set us free;
Who visits and redeems us and grants us liberty.
The prophets spoke of mercy, of freedom and release;
God shall fulfill the promise and bring the people peace.

Now from the house of David a child of grace is given;
A Saviour comes among us to raise us up to heaven.
Before him goes the herald, forerunner in the way,
The prophet of salvation, the harbinger of Day.

On prisoners of darkness the sun begins to rise;
The dawning of forgiveness upon the sinner’s eyes,
To guide the feet of pilgrims along the paths of peace;
O bless our God and Saviour with songs that never cease!

Scripture Reading:           Luke 3:1-6

¹ In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, ² during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³ He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. ⁵ Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; ⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God!

Meditation – “To Live in Peace”

Anthem – “Where is He, Immanuel”

The Response

Communion

One:   The Lord be with you.
All:      And also with you.

One:   Lift up your hearts.
All:      We lift them to the Lord.

One:   Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All:      It is right to give our thanks and praise.

One:   God of our salvation, we do not deserve your love and yet you lavish it upon us. Not being content to be apart from us, you came to us in human form, donning flesh and becoming one of us. You are not a God that is removed from our reality but is intimately present in our lives and our struggles. We lift up to you our thanks for your presence among us. We lift up in prayer those whom we hope feel your presence with them this day…We give thanks for your son, Jesus Christ, the very incarnation of your being on this earth. With all of creation, with all peoples in every time and place we join the ever-lasting chorus:
All:      Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power of might,
            Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
            Hosanna in the highest.
            Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
            Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.

One:   We remember how you called your servant Mary to bear your son, how you called your servant Joseph to accompany her, how you called the wise men to search and the shepherds to ponder, how you called John to proclaim and Jesus to be baptized, how you called Peter and the disciples to follow and serve.

One:   With them, we gather on the night on which Jesus was betrayed, when, after having dinner with his friends, he took the bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, take, eat, do this in remembrance of me.

One:   Likewise, he took the cup and, pouring it, said, this is the cup of the salvation, shed in my blood, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.

One:   For as long as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the resurrection of our living savour until he comes again. As we wait, during this blessed rest known as the season of Advent, we proclaim the mystery of faith.
All:      Christ has died, Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

One:   We give thanks for your gifts of grace, and ask that your Holy Spirit would come to bless this sacrament, that we might preside with you and you in us. Hear us as we pray the prayer you taught us to pray, saying:
All:      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.

(adapted from Stephen M. Fearing)

Prayer after Communion

At this table, Christ is the host, welcoming all who hunger. At our tables, may Christ be our guest this day and always, that we might welcome hope, peace, joy, and love into our lives, and become hosts to God’s presence and people. God of Love, guide us to the stables of our world, where the lonely and longing gather. Lead us to the mangers of our time, where hope and renewal are born again. Make us heralds of your love and joy. Amen.

Hymn – “Christmas Peace”

Lord, be born in our hearts this day.
Christ-child spirit bring peace we pray.
Make the wars of the world to cease,
Bring us Lord, Christmas peace.
Christmas peace, Christmas peace,
Bring us Lord, Christmas peace.

Lord, the world cries for unity.
Bind our hearts in community.
From all hatred our souls release,
Bring us Lord, Christmas peace.
Christmas peace, Christmas peace,
Bring us Lord, Christmas peace.

Lord, be born in us every day.
Keep the world in your peace always.
Christ-child spirit in us increase.
Bring us Lord, Christmas peace.
Christmas peace, Christmas peace,
Bring us Lord, Christmas peace.

Benediction

Can you be a voice crying in the wilderness? Can you proclaim that God is active in the world? Maybe?

The time is near, of the crowning of the year.

We sing with angels, setting the roadways and the buildings humming as people who are being changed, we go into a world that is being changed. Ready to share the Good News that the long-expected Jesus is coming, that we are being freed from whatever binds us.

Glory be to God! Who walks with us, sings with us, and struggles with us, each and every day. Amen.

Response

There’s a song of peace in my heart;
Peace is a gift from Jesus.
There’s a song of peace in my heart;
Peace is a gift from God.
Alleluia! Peace in my heart is singing praises.
Alleluia! Peace is a gift from God.