GATHERING
GREETING AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful; by him we were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. –based on 1Corinthians 1:3, 9
PRELUDE Patty Bell
LITANY for ADVENT
Call: Into the stillness of a Bethlehem night, God came. Into the silence of verdant pastures, God spoke.
Response: Restore us, O God.
Call: The quietude of the past is broken by the crackle of weapons, to the peace of the past:
Response: Restore us, O God.
Call: God came so the disenfranchised might find hope; the despairing might find safety.
Response: Restore us, O God.
Call: God came so that love might win over hatred and revenge, that we might be restored to the ways of peace by the Prince of Peace.
Response: Restore us, O God.
Call: Underserving, we kneel at the manger. New life is ours for the asking.
Response: Restore us, O God.
Call: A grace beyond comprehension is given. To the peace which passed all understanding.
All: Restore us, O God. Amen.
*OPENING HYMN: “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” UMH 196
TIME WITH THE YOUTH: LIGHTING THE ADVENT CANDLES
Reader 1: For a child has been born to us, who shall be called Prince of Peace.
Reader 2: His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace.
All: Thanks be to God!Christ came down that we might have peace and hope.Light the second candle PEACE
PROCLAMING GOD’S WORD
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Isaiah 40:1-11 (Jerusalem’s sins are forgiven)
PSALM 85:1-2, 8-13
MESSAGE Pastor Vicki Lerdahl
HYMN: “People, Look East” UMH 202
PRAYERS AND OFFERING
CONFESSION
O Surprising One, we confess that we continually look for you in the ordinary places: on the front of Christmas cards, in the plastic nativity scenes on our neighbor’s lawns, in familiar carols, in the church we call home. We watch for the blanketed babe with omniscient smile and heavenly glow. So sure are we of how you will appear to us that we miss your incarnation where we do not expect it. We have failed to see you enfleshed in our enemies. We have not recognized you in faces that do not look like our own in color and shape and age. We confess that we have refused to acknowledge your incarnation in ourselves for fear that to have Christ in us would be too costly.
Forgive our narrowness. Help us to watch. Teach us to recognize. Surprise us even today, even this hour. By breaking into the ordinariness of our worship so that we might see you anew. O come, o come Emmanuel.
PARDON: Hear the good news! Christ is coming! With or without our recognition, God is becoming flesh. Even when we see no need for God, God sees our need and comes—
again and again. Thanks be to God you are forgiven!
OFFERING
*PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERING “Emmanuel” UMH 204
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, His name is called Emmanuel. God with us, revealed in us, His name is called Emmanuel.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
PASTORAL PRAYER
THE LORD’S PRAYER
HYMN: “Take Our Bread” UMH 640
COMMUNION
PRAYER FOR THE BREAD AND CUP Pastor Vicki
Come, All are welcome at the Lord’s Table!
SENDING FORTH
*CIRCLE SONG: “Shalom To You” UMH 666
Shalom to you now, Shalom, my friends. May God’s full mercies bless you, my friends. In all your living and through your loving, Christ be your Shalom, Christ be your Shalom.
*BLESSING