December 2, 2007 – January 6 2008

GATHERING
          
ENTRANCE

REFLECTION

God saw the world falling into ruin because of fear and immediately acted to call it back with love.  God invited it by grace, preserved it by love, and embraced it with compassion.

Peter Chrysologus

Fifth Century

An Advent Sourcebook pg.64

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:    Restore us, Holy One;

                let your face shine,

                that we may be saved.

            
People:    We will never turn back from you;

                you give us life, and we call on  your power.

             

 Leader:    We have eaten the bread of tears;

                we have drunk tears by the bowlful.

All:        We wait for the coming of Christ

                into the world,

                into our midst,

                into our hearts.

INVOCATION

HYMN

WORD FOR THE CHILDREN

SILENCE

RESPONSIVE READING

Leader:    O God, the sounds of Advent stir a longing in your people.

Voice 1:    Come again to set us free from the dullness of routine and the poverty of our imaginations.  

Voice 2:   Break the patterns which bind us to small commitments

                and to the stale answers we have given to questions of no importance.  

Leader:    Let the Advent trumpet blow, let the walls of our defenses crumble,

All:            and make a place in our lives

                for the freshness of your love,

                well-lived in Jesus Christ,

                and still given to all who know their need

                and dare receive it.  Amen

 

SILENCE

PRAYERS

COMMON CONFESSION

Leader:    Holy Mystery, we do not know how to wait.

                                    
Voice 1:   Holy Lover, we want to set the day and the hour.

               
Voice 2:   Holy Sovereign, we want to be in control and fear submission.

            
Leader:     Holy Parent, we would have you come close, but we push away.

All:            Holy One, we want the power, even as we say it is yours.

 

INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

 

ASSURANCE

Leader:     God is ever present,

                 finding us when we are lost,

                 comforting us in sorrow,

                 healing our brokenness.

                 God is with us, even as we wait.

            
All:            Amen

 

PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION

 

UNISON PRAYER

All:           O Holy One, we come today

                to claim our relationship with you.

                We pray for the commitment to grow together,

                sharing the gifts you give us with others

                here and in the wider world.  

                Give us strength and discipline

                to nurture our relationship with You;

                to care for every part of Your Creation;

                to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need;

                to work to end all war, and violence, and discord;

                and to respond joyfully when you call,

                freely giving our selves as you have shown the way.

                We open our hearts to you and your Creation

                in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ.  

                Amen.

 

HYMN

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE

SERMON

SILENT REFLECTION

OFFERING

SHARED REFLECTIONS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HYMN

BENEDICTION

Leader:    Go out from this place in the power of God.

                Say hello to an unknown neighbor.

                Love someone you think of as your enemy.

                Listen for the sound of music in conversation.

                Ask questions that have no answers.

                Be joyful in your faith though the world is wounded.

                Swear allegiance to your highest thoughts.

                Love the whole world and every pers
on and thing on it.

                Love God with all your heart.  

                Christ is coming!

               
People:    Amen

 

 

 

Worship Resources

Call to Worship adapted from Psalm 80

Responsive Reading adapted from comments by Diane Forte Jones in Inward/Outward

Benediction adapted from Wendell Berry’s "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer’s Liberation Front

 

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