“A Place at the Table (Peace)”
Second Sunday of Advent
PRELUDE
Erin Wolf (8:30am)
The Wexford Carol arr. by Mark Hayes
Rebecca Nelson, Piano (11:00am)
WELCOME FROM THE PULPIT
INTROIT O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Chancel Choir
WE OPEN THE DOOR
Liturgist: Like the childhood game of “musical chairs,” we are convinced that there are not enough places at the table. And so we shrink the guest list just in case there is not enough, and we scramble to occupy the chairs first. And yet our sacred texts invite us to imagine and make real the gathering of all people to the table, robed in the garments of a Peace that comes with justice. This is what really matters–this is the fruit of what is right and good.
[choir]
Peace waits for us at Advent. Peace waits for us to rest. Peace waits for our acceptance of the truth that we are blessed. In this time of preparation for the work of co-creation, for the birthing of a world of gentleness and play. Peace is born in us each day!
Ronesha Jackson and family: Today we offer the Light of Peace to illumine the Door of Welcome.
(Advent Candle lit)
May this light shine in our hearts, in our lives, and in our church. May Peace awaken us to possibilities and lead us to greater hospitality. There IS room in this Inn, a House for the Holy.
[All Sing]
Peace waits for us at Advent. Peace waits for us to rest. Peace waits for our acceptance of the truth that we are blessed. In this time of preparation for the work of co-creation, for the birthing of a world of gentleness and play. Peace is born in us each day!
SHARING THE PEACE
(We ask you share the peace with a friendly wave to those seated around you)
Pastor Mark: The Peace of Christ be with you!
People: And also with you!
FIRST READING Baruch 5: 1-5 (CEB)
Take off your mourning clothes
and oppression, Jerusalem!
Dress yourself in the dignity
of God’s glory forever.
Wrap the justice that comes from God around yourself like a robe.
Place the eternal one’s glory
on your head like a crown.
God will show your brilliance everywhere under heaven.
God will give you this name
by which to be called forever:
The Peace That Comes from Justice,
The Honor That Comes
from Reverence for God!
Get up, Jerusalem!
Stand on the high place,
and look around to the east!
See your children gathered
from the west to the east
by the holy one’s word,
as they rejoice that God has remembered them.
HYMN Peace for the Children (vs 1, 3, 5, 7) W&S #3125
Peace for the children, peace, peace. Peace for the children we pray. Following the path of One of peace, we work for healing, we work for peace; peace for the children today.
Peace for the people, peace, peace. Peace for the people we pray. Following the path of One of peace, we work for healing, we work for peace; peace for the people today.
Peace for the nations, peace, peace. Peace for the nations we pray. Following the path of One of peace, we work for healing, we work for peace; peace for the nations today.
Peace for our planet, peace, peace. Peace for our planet we pray. Following the path of One of peace, we work for healing, we work for peace; peace for the planet today.
CHILDREN’S TIME (11:00AM Pastor Mark)
SECOND READING Philippians 1:3-11 (CEB)
I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus. I have good reason to think this way about all of you because I keep you in my heart. You are all my partners in God’s grace, both during my time in prison and in the defense and support of the gospel. God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.
This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.
ANTHEM (11:00am) Blest Be the God of Israel [M Burkhardt]
Chancel Choir, Rebecca Nelson, Piano
GOSPEL READING Luke 3:1-6
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 rulerof Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 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.
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;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
SERMON Pastor Mark Cordes
RESPONSIVE PRAYER
[Sung]
Make of my heart a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for [peace] to live and grow.
In this moment we open the doors of our hearts to honesty before God…and out again with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].
[Sung]
Make of my life a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for [peace] to live and grow.
and out again, with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].
[Sung]
Make of our church a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for [peace] to live and grow.
In this moment we open the doors of this church, filling it with the compassion of Christ for all those who are struggling.
We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:
Our God 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 trepasses, 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.
A STORY OF INNKEEPING: OFFERING
OFFERTORY Every Valley [John Ness Beck]
Ric Campero, Tenor; Rebecca Nelson, Piano
DOXOLOGY Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow UMH #94
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise God, all creatures here below:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise God, the source of all our gifts!
Praise Jesus Christ, whose power uplifts!
Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit!
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
COMMUNION Great Thanksgiving
Leader: The Holy One be with you
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts
People: We lift them up to our God.
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Leader: It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you…..
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
All: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Leader: In the midst of a time of despair, oppression, division, and fear, and so, in remembrance of your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
All: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Leader: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here…Through your Son Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever.
All: Amen.
CLOSING CAROL It Came Upon a Midnight Clear UMH #218
It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth, to touch their harps of gold: “Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven’s all-gracious King.” The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled, and still their heavenly music floats o’er all the weary world; above its sad and lowly plains, they bend on hovering wing, and ever o’er its Babel sounds the blessed angels sing.
And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow, look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing. O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing!
For lo! the days are hastening on, by prophet seen of old, when with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling and the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.
BENEDICTION
May God’s Door of Welcome swing open in your heart and in your life. May Christ’s humble first dwelling remind you of the plenty you already know. And may the Spirit lead you into more possibility and hospitality than you can imagine, making room in The Inn for all. May it be so for you. May it be so for us. May it be so for this church. Amen.
POSTLUDE Erin Wolf (8:30am), Rebecca Nelson (11:00am)
FLOWERS
The Advent arrangement is given by Ric and Julie Campero in honor of the Campero and Freiria families.