hoping to be fed…our hands serving
Seekers Church
A Christian Community
In the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour
Advent 2004
hoping to be fed…our hands serving
CIRCLE TIME
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
In each of our lives Jesus comes as the bread of life – to be eaten, to be consumed by us. This is how he loves us. Then Jesus comes in our human life as the hungry one, the other, hoping to be fed with the bread of our life, our hearts loving, and our hands serving.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
an excerpt from An Advent Sourcebook, pg16
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Holy Beloved, bring us together
to join our voices in prayer and praise.
Voice 1: Our hearts are heavy with yearning
for justice for the poor
and peace for the afflicted.
Voice 2: With loving hearts and serving hands
we await the announcement
of the dawn of your kindom.
All: May our work and our worship
unite us in the Body of Christ.
INVOCATION
HYMN
WORD FOR THE CHILDREN
SILENCE
RESPONSIVE READING
Leader: In each of our lives
Jesus comes as the bread of life.
People: Then Jesus comes into our lives
as the hungry one, the other.
SILENCE
PRAYERS
CONFESSION
Leader: This is a season of waiting,
waiting again for the coming of Christ.
Voice 1: We have waited so many times,
and still the world boils over with violence.
Voice 2: God calls us to be peacemakers,
to feed those hungry for community.
Leader: Too often we can't get beyond our own pain
to reach out to others.
Voice 1: We know the promise that
Jesus is the Bread of Life.
Voice 2: We contribute to the oppression
of the many who are denied the means to live.
All: Forgive our selfish focus on our own hungers.
INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
ASSURANCE
Leader: As we walk with Christ,
our complacency becomes compassion,
oppression gives way to justice,
and conflict becomes a doorway
to acceptance of one another in Christ.
God promises healing even as we wait.
All: Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE COMMUNITY
JESUS PRAYER
All: Eternal Spirit, Father and Mother of us all,
Holy is your name.
Let justice and mercy fill all Creation
and let us recognize
that every thought and thing belongs to you.
Feed us with the bread we need for today.
Forgive our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Stand with us in trial and temptation.
Free us from the grip of all that is evil.
For you alone are creating our universe,
now and forever.
Amen.
HYMN
THE WORD
FIRST LESSON
SILENCE
GOSPEL
SERMON
SILENT REFLECTION
OFFERING
SHARED REFLECTIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
BENEDICTION
Leader: With loving hearts
and serving hands
let us go out
to await the new birth of Christ
in the world.
All: Amen.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
Call to Worship: from Philipp Nicolai, 16th c. in An Advent Sourcebook pg 36-37
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