Nov 29, 2015 -- First Sunday of Advent

Prelude

Welcome/Announcements

Call to Worship – O Come, O Come Emmanuel

            Congregation please join in verses 4 & 5

4. O come, thou Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home.

The captives from their prison free,

And conquer death’s deep misery

Refrain

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

5. O Come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer

Our spirits by thy justice here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Refrain

Call to Confession

Jesus said, Do not let your hearts be weighed down

By the sins and worries of this life,

But watch and pray for the grace of God,

Who will save you in your time of trial.

With confidence in God’s mercy,

Let us confess our sin.

Confession

Christ our Savior,

Save us from today’s captivities:

From the need to have more;

And from having our identity and self-worth

Defined by what we possess—

Savior Christ, forgive us, set us free.

From the need to be satisfied without waiting;

And from anxiety when material longings are deferred—

Savior Christ, forgive us, set us free.

From paralysis and confusion,

In the face of so many needs, so much information—

Savior Christ, forgive us, set us free.

From hyperactivism that denies our limitations,

And from apathy that denies our God-given powers—

Savior Christ, forgive us, set us free.

From trying to replace you as Savior,

By taking the world on our shoulders—

Savior Christ, forgive us, set us free.

From ignorance or denial of what drives us;

And from captivity to personal drives and needs—

Savior Christ, forgive us, set us free.

From embarrassment in speaking about your love;

From not knowing what to say;

And from shame of being misunderstood, scorned, or ignored—

Savior Christ, forgive us, set us free.

From captivity to anger, bitterness, and disappointment;

And from captivities we cannot speak about, or name—

Savior Christ, forgive us, set us free.

Pardon

Friends, believe the good news:

In Jesus Christ you are forgiven.

Thanks be to God.

May the Lord guide your way,

Strengthen you in all holiness

And make you abound in love for one another and for all.

Hymn of Praise – UMH #213 Lift Up Your Heads. Ye Mighty Gates

            Please pass the Peace of Christ between verses 3 & 4

1 Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates;
behold, the King of glory waits;
the King of kings is drawing near;
the Savior of the world is here!

2 Fling wide the portals of your heart;
make it a temple, set apart
from earthly use for heaven's employ,
adorned with prayer and love and joy.

3 Redeemer, come, with us abide;
our hearts to thee we open wide;
let us thy inner presence feel;
thy grace and love in us reveal.

+++Please pass the Peace of Christ+++

4 Thy Holy Spirit lead us on
until our glorious goal is won;
eternal praise, eternal fame
be offered, Savior, to thy name!

A Time with Young Disciples

First Reading – Jeremiah 33:14-16

Look! The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days, when the time is right, I will cause a fresh and true shoot sprout from the old stump of David’s lineage; He will do what is right and just in the land. In those days, Judah will be liberated, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And the city will be called by His name,‘The Eternal Is Our Righteousness’.

Response

This is the Word of God for the people of God, to which God’s people respond:

Thanks be to God.

Hymn – Rejoice, Give Thanks, verses 1 & 2 (Brian Wren)

Refrain:

Rejoice, give thanks for God is near us,

Loving, true, and kind,

And the peace of God in Jesus Christ

Will guard our heart and mind.

1. Turn on the porch light,

Dazzle the dark night.

God is coming soon.

God is coming soon

Through someone, somehow,

Next year, here and now,

Midnight, morning, noon.

     So don’t be tempted or distracted

     By the daily grind,

     And the peace of God in Jesus Christ

     Will guard our heart and mind.

Refrain

2. Just like a snowplow,

Scraping a road now,

Prophets clear the way.

Prophets clear away

Our shame and sadness,

Blame and business,

Calling us to pray.

     In love’s great furnace we’ll be burnished,

     Rescued and refined,

     And the peace of God in Jesus Christ

     Will guard our heart and mind.

Refrain

Lighting the Advent Candle

What are these candles for?

These Advent candles remind us of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

There are five candles.

We shall light a new candle each Sunday from now until Christmas.

What is the point of doing this?

Because the old proverb is true:

“What I hear, I forget.

What I see, I remember.

What I do, I understand.”

As we light our Advent candles,

May they bring us together

In the warm light of God’s love.

The Gospel of Luke speaks about the future:

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,

And on the earth, distress among the nations,

People will faint from fear and foreboding.”

Because our world is full of fear and distress,

We light our first candle,

Trusting that Christ is alive on earth

And that the Spirit of Christ lives among us.

(Light the first candle.)

Living Christ, give us faith to trust you.

We trust you, we love you, we praise you.  Amen.

Hymn – Rejoice, Give Thanks, verse 3

Refrain

3. Here is a newsbreak

Healing our heartache:

Christ will bring us home!

Christ will bring us home,

Where no one’s outcast,

And we’ll have at last

Freedom and shalom.

     In hope we’re living, let thanksgiving

     All our fears unwind,

     And the peace of God in Jesus Christ

     Will guard our heart and mind.

Refrain

Sharing Joys and Concerns

Pastoral Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

Hymn – TFWS #2091 The King of Glory Comes

Refrain:

The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices.

Open the gates before him, life up your voices.

1. Who is the King of glory; how shall we call him?

He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages.

Refrain

2. In all of Galilee, in city or village,

He goes among his people curing their illness.

Refrain

3. Sing then of David’s son, our Savior and brother;

In all of Galilee was never another.

Refrain

Second Reading – Luke 21:25-36

Jesus said to them, “There will be earth-shattering events—the heavens themselves will seem to be shaken with signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars. And across the earth the outsider nations will feel powerless and terrified in the face of a roaring flood of fear and foreboding, crashing like tidal waves upon them. “What’s happening to the world?” people will wonder. The cosmic order will be destabilized. And then, at that point, they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and blazing glory. So when the troubles begin, don’t be afraid. Look up—raise your head high, because the truth is that your liberation is fast approaching.”

Then, sharing a parable, he said, “Look over there at that fig tree—and all the trees surrounding it. When the leaves break out of their buds, nobody has to tell you that summer is approaching; it’s obvious to you. It’s the same in the larger scheme of things. When you see all these things happening, you can be confident that the kingdom of God is approaching. I’m telling you the truth: this generation will not pass from the scene before everything I’m telling you has occurred. Heaven and earth will cease to exist before My words ever fail.

So be careful. Guard your hearts. They can be made heavy with moral laxity, with drunkenness, with the hassles of daily life. Then the day I’ve been telling you about might catch you unaware and trap you. Because it’s coming—nobody on earth will escape it. So you have to stay alert, praying that you’ll be able to escape the coming trials so you can stand tall in the presence of the Son of Man.”

Response

This is the Word of God for the people of God, to which God’s people respond:
Thanks be to God.

Response Chorus – TFWS #2195 In the Lord I’ll Be Ever Thankful

In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful

In the Lord I will rejoice

Look to God, do not be afraid

Lift up your voices, the Lord is near

Lift up your voices, the Lord is near

Sermon

Today is the first Sunday of the Christian year—so happy new year.  In case the change in décor didn’t register, this is the first Sunday of Advent.  Last week we finished the Christian year by celebrating Christ as the King of the coming kingdom, ending our year by looking forward.  This week we begin the year by again looking forward.  As Christians we are often laser focused toward the future, and strangely oriented in time.  Think about it.  We celebrate the future coming of a king who not only has already been here, but who we affirm is always present.  And we anticipate the coming of a kingdom we claim is already in our midst.  In comparison to the orderliness of the way much of the rest of the world keeps time—weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds monitored and strictly accounted for—our measuring of time is a bit odd.  But this doesn’t stop us, and in fact, Advent is one of the particular seasons in which we revel in the strangeness of time.

Today’s text is proof of such strangeness.  As the rest of the world is officially celebrating the Christmas season, with its glitter and candy canes and emphasis on the birth of the baby Jesus, our Advent gospel reading offers us a startling contrast.  In today’s Luke reading, we meet a full grown Jesus, a man nearing the end of his ministry.  We read Mark’s telling of this same story—of Jesus predicting the temple destruction—a few weeks ago.  We talked about how Mark’s community was facing a choice to join in with security promising Jewish rebels against the Roman Empire.  In Mark’s telling Jesus reminds the disciples that seeking after security in any human institution is foolishness because security can only be found in the promises of God.

Luke’s account of this story is more dramatic and descriptive, and unlike in Mark’s account, Jesus seems here to shift from talking about the destruction of Jerusalem to a more wide-spread destruction that indicates the end of everything the disciples know—an ending of time.  Jesus tells the disciples of the upheaval of all of the created order—of stars and planets that will somehow fail to follow their normal courses through the sky, of wind and waves that will somehow disorient entire nations.  And this total upheaval is the sign that the Son of Man is coming—the heavenly ruler who will make all human rulers obsolete.

Jesus tells the disciples to look for these big signs, and ones that will be simple and small, like the budding of a fig leaf, to know that the coming kingdom of righteousness—of liberation and justice—is nearby. 

And it’s handy that Jesus tells his disciples to take note of the happenings in world around them, because we are a people built to not only pay attention to, but to absorb, the world we live in.  Think about it, we have five senses we use every single day.  Unless you’re a teacher or a parent in which case I’m convinced that God has given you have additional senses the rest of us just don’t have.  Additional senses are the only reasonable explanation for the fact that my mother could shout, “You don’t want to do that,” from the other room catching me as I was about to do whatever it was I shouldn’t be doing. And this was before we had open-concept houses—our house had interior walls and doors.

But barring mysterious parental senses, each of these basic senses, in their own way, help us read the signs around us.  Our sense of smell tells us when people we know are nearby, or when food isn’t safe for us to eat.  Our sense of hearing helps us perceive danger, or notice the beauty of birdsong.  Our sense of touch makes us aware of sharp items that might harm us, and conveys caring and comfort.  Taste and vision are equally useful to us.

Though we’re built to pay attention, we are also aware that we sometimes miss things.  And we’re smart. So in case our senses don’t tell us everything we need to know, we plaster signs everywhere.  We fill our world with awareness-enhancements. These signsrecognize that we may not be looking up all the time, and so all remind us that ice and snow hurt when they fall on us.   I saw this one when I was traveling in Turkey.  My Turkish isn’t good, but based on the sign’s location I assumed it meant, “it’s dangerous to push your friends off an embankment into an active archaeological dig”.  Now those two signs may be unusual, but I would bet that a few of you saw this next sign this last weekend.    We know what that sign means, right? – The turkey is done!  Or, it’s a sign that it’s time to put on your elastic-waist pants.  Your choice. 

We are built to pay attention to signs in the world around us.  Unlike the somewhat tongue-in-cheek signs I shared with you just now, the chaotic and life-altering signs Jesus names are probably as scary and shocking for us as they would have been to his disciples.  And it’s tempting to point to the things we see in the world and to put on our sandwich board signs and ring our bells and say “the end is nigh”. 

We cannot deny that there are a lot of rough things going on in the world.  I read that this week the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has passed beyond 400 parts per million, the threshold at which most in the scientific community agrees will signal massive temperature changes in our atmosphere, fundamentally changing the future of life on this planet.[1]  This week there have been stories in the news of people killing protesters, and of people affirming the sanctity of life by, ironically enough, killing other people.  We continue to struggle with racism.  We continue to struggle with poverty.  We continue to struggle with immigration.  With war.  With corporate greed.  With children who do not have loving homes.  With the abuse and neglect of the elderly.  And we wonder, if God’s kingdom is here, if it’s present and real, if Christ is the King who was, is, and will always be, how can all of this happen?  And we, like the people of Jeremiah, cry out from our captivity in Babylon—GOD WHERE ARE YOU?  And were we truly alone and imprisoned, fear and sandwich board signs would be appropriate.  But we are not left alone. 

Just as with the Israelites in Babylon, God says to us, “Don’t worry, I will not leave you in captivity.  I am the love that moves the universe, and I will fulfill my promises.  I will send you one who will make right all of the injustice you see, who will liberate you from all the things that weigh you down, who will liberate the world from greed and pain and make it a place of safety and belonging.”

And it’s God’s promises—to send to us the Son of Man, our resurrected Lord—that cause us to look forward.  And not only to look forward, but to look forward with hope.  And so we wait.  We wait with the faith that something better is about to break in—something that’s so different that the entire world as we know it will have to change and make room, something so different that even the sea and the stars will do new things. 

And we wait in this season of Advent knowing that this change, this new thing is not just about a newborn baby—that’s just a beginning sign, a “birth pang” to use Mark’s language.  We wait, preparing ourselves to receive the gift of eternal life.  We wait, in this strange collapsing of our past, present, and future, looking toward the resurrection and the second coming, knowing the end is only a beginning.  Because those are the things on which we pin all of our hope, those are the things that cause us to lift our voices and proclaim that the Lord is near!

And that really is the message of Advent.  The Lord is near, now, in the small everyday moments of life planting seeds for eternity.  And yes, the King is coming, bringing a reign of righteousness and abundant life.  We need not be afraid.  We have hope.  One of our church fathers, Tertullian, puts it beautifully,

“The kingdom of God, beloved brethren, is beginning to be at hand; the reward of life, and the rejoicing of eternal salvation, and the perpetual gladness and possession lately lost of paradise, are now coming, with the passing away of the world; already heavenly things are taking the place of earthly, and great things of small, and eternal things of things that fade away.  What room is there here for anxiety and solicitude?”

            I’ll leave you with one final story.  I did go home this weekend.  I went home and we cooked a traditional thanksgiving dinner.  And as so often happens when you’re trying to do a huge meal with one oven, the turkey wasn’t done on time.  So while we waited I sat down to the piano to try and teach my nephew the hymn “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” because my brother-in-law wants him to be able to sing at Christmas.  Now when you’re a three year old boy, learning a peaceful song about the baby Jesus is a lesser option compared to banging as hard and as rhythmically as you can on the big, loud, keys at the bottom of the keyboard.  So I gave up and did my thing in the middle of the keyboard while he did his thing at the bottom of the keyboard.  And I’m glad I did, because one of his things is making up songs.  And so I’ll leave you with one of his made up songs.  Now you have to imagine these lyrics screamed and accompanied by low rhythmic banging to really get the full picture, but nonetheless, the kid is a poet.  His song to me was:

Whenever you go away from me

And stay a long-time gone,

Don’t forget your glasses.

Friends, we don’t know when the Son of Man will come, but we know it will be something to behold and that we are to wait for it expectantly and with hope.  We know that despite what we see, the kingdom was, is, and will be.  The signs are all around us—in anticipated births, in gifts given, in meals shared.  The seeds of eternity sown in the past of our lives, only now beginning to bud.  The signs are all around us, if we will but look.  And so, when you leave this place, whether I see you again tomorrow, or not for a while, look around you, and don’t forget your glasses.

Hymn – UMC #626 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

1. Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly-minded,
for with blessing in his hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
our full homage to demand.

2. King of kings, yet born of Mary,
as of old on earth he stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
in the body and the blood;
he will give to all the faithful
his own self for heavenly food.

3. Rank on rank the host of heaven
spreads its vanguard on the way,
as the Light of light descendeth
from the realms of endless day,
that the powers of hell may vanish
as the darkness clears away.

4. At his feet the six-winged seraph,
cherubim, with sleepless eye,
veil their faces to the presence,
as with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

We Bring Our Gifts – Choral Anthem, We Wait for Thee

Offering Response – Doxology #94

Prayer of Dedication

God of righteousness,

You have saved us from the worst the world can do

And have promised to redeem the whole creation when

     Christ comes again.

In faith and hope we offer our gifts of money and self,

That we may be part of what you are doing in the world even now,

As we watch for Christ’s coming in glory.  Amen.

Holy Communion

Prepare the way of the Lord!
Straighten our crooked paths, O God!

The day of the Christ’s coming draws near.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

The Spirit of the Lord is in this place.
Pray through us now, Holy Spirit.

Pray through us now,
that we may praise you,
Holy, Triune God,
with angels and archangels,
with beings in heaven and all creatures on earth,
with all who have ever sung this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts,
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!

Blessed are you, Jesus Christ,
Word made flesh,
making all things new.

Blessed are you, Jesus Christ!

Blessed are you, Holy Spirit,
dissolving every chain of sin that binds us,
rebuking every power that enslaves,
purifying our hearts,
challenging every action not moved by love,
and setting all creation free.

Blessed are you, Holy Spirit.

Blessed are you, El Shaddai,
feeding your people,
gathering us like lambs in your arms,
and leading us to life eternal.

Blessed are you, El Shaddai!

We know the end that lies before us and all things:
The elemental powers of this universe shall be burned away,
the heavens vaporized,
the earth and all our doings exposed for all to see.

We know the end, and we tremble.

We also know your promise,
out of conflagration to re-create,
out of chaos to re-order,
out of such destruction to renew.

We know your promise, and we rejoice.

We rejoice, for you are with us,
coming to us in flesh long ago,
coming into our flesh in bread and cup at this, Christ’s table,
coming into this world through your Church
in the power of the Spirit,
and coming again to complete what you have begun,
and now feed us to continue.

Feed us, O God.

Feed us as Jesus fed his disciples
on the night he was betrayed,
taking bread, blessing you, breaking it,
saying to those to whom he gave it:
This is my body given for you. Take, eat, and remember me.

Quench our thirst now as Jesus did that night,
taking cup, giving thanks to you,
and saying to those to whom he gave it:
This is my blood poured out for you. Drink, and remember me.

Only you can feed us, God.
Only you can make us holy.
Only you can prepare us for the end to come.
Only you can purify our hearts.

So come, Holy Spirit,
on these gifts of bread and wine,
and on us.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Feed us with the bread that lasts forever,
the body of Christ.

Slake our thirst with the cup of immortality,
the blood of Christ.

Come, Holy Spirit.

And so nourish us in holy living,
today and all our days,
that on that day
when all things are recreated,
and on these days
as we wait for the fullness to come,
the world may see and know in us
the love that moves the universe
to its true end in new beginning
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

By him, with him, and in him,
united in the power of the Holy Spirit,
all honor and glory are yours,
seated upon the Throne,
one God, now and forever. Amen.

Receiving the Bread and Cup

Prayer of Response – check out the regular great thanksgiving

Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery

     In which you have given yourself to us.

By your Spirit, give us patience and perseverance as we wait,

     And prepare ourselves and your world for Christ’s return.

That all may shine with the light of your love.  Amen.

Hymn of Sending – TFWS #2172 We Are Called

1. Come! Live in the light!
Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!
We are called to be light for the kingdom,
to live in the freedom of the city of God!

Refrain:

We are called to act with justice.
We are called to love tenderly.
We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.

2. Come! Open your heart!
Show your mercy to all those in fear!
We are called to be hope for the hopeless,
so all hatred and blindness will be no more!
Refrain:

3. Sing! Sing a new song!
Sing of that great day when all will be one!
God will reign and we'll walk with each other as sisters
and brothers united in love!

Refrain:

Benediction

Postlude

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[1]http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/21/1453032/-This-week-will-be-the-last-time-anyone-alive-experiences-a-CO2-level-below-400