LiturgyLink

a community creating for the relentless return of Sunday

You are here: Home / Archives for Advent / Year A

Year A

confession: forgotten prophets

By Leave a Comment

Your Prophets call us!
Your Promises invite us!
And yet we have forgotten our prophets and we no longer believe so many of Your promises.  Have mercy upon us O Lord of Love…
(Silence is kept)
Be with us as we journey through Advent.  We confess to you our doubts, worries and fears that hold us back….
(Silence is kept)
Be with us as we prepare for the birthing of the Christ Child into this world.  We confess to you our failings as we seek to follow him alone….
(Silence is kept)
O Lord our God, hear our prayers of confession this day.  Remind us of your love and the high calling you place on the live of discipleship we seek.
Have mercy upon us this day and send us out from this place refreshed and renewed.
Submitted by Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo, Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church, North Plainfield, NJ

CTW: wonderful things

By Leave a Comment

The Lord has done wonderful things for us,
offering us new life when we were in the wilderness…
Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!  O my soul!
The Lord has done wonderful things for our community,
offering us the gift of new opportunities, new vistas in ministry…
Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!  O my soul!
The Lord has done wonderful things for us,
offering us the challenge of changing paths…
Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!  O my soul!
Praise the Lord!  Let us gather to praise our God!
Let us gather for worship in this Advent Season
of waiting, of preparation, of new life, and new possibilities!
Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!  O my soul!  Amen.  
submitted by Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampon, Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church, North Plainfield, NJ

Advent 2: The Path to the Holy Mountain

By Leave a Comment

Call to Worship/Lighting Advent Candles

The Advent journey has begun.
We have started getting ready for Christmas.
The light of one candle has guided us this little way.

The hope we have for something new is not enough to show us the way.
We need more light for the journey
if we are to find our way to God’s holy mountain,
the place where beloved community becomes real,
where all creation can dwell together without fear.

As we light this second Advent candle and continue on the journey to this holy place,
we remember that God’s light shows us that things can and will be different.
When things are at their most broken,
God can and will make all things new.

Friends, let us share our hope for this journey together:
Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Prayer of Confession

God of hope,
you promise a new and different way of life,
and you invite us to join you on the path to get there.

Yet we usually prefer to stay on our own path.

We put ourselves before others
and so destroy the gift of life in each of us.

We fill our days with human pessimism,
assuming that nothing will ever get better
rather than welcoming your deep divine hope.

Forgive us, Lord.

Show us your hope anew in Jesus this Advent,
that we might see your branch sprouting anew in our midst
and fill our lives and the whole earth with our embrace of you.

 

submitted by Rev. Andy James, First Presbyterian Church, Whitestone, New York
part of The Path to the Holy Mountain series

confession: strange economy of grace

By Leave a Comment

Call to Reconciliation
God has a vision of a time and place where enemies
become best friends, where the world is a playground
for all children.  But we know how we resist living in
such a kingdom, for our eyes are blinded by sin.
Let us confess to our God, as we pray, saying,

Unison Prayer of Confession
On this day we confess, God of righteousness, how we have not been your
people.  When we are offered the opportunity to get between the poor and
those who would shove them aside, we too easily step out of the way.  When
we could stand up for those in need, we prefer to sit on the sidelines.
When we are called to be servant leaders, we choose to act as if others
should wait on us.
Have mercy on us, Blessing God.  As we repent, we would see the kingdom
which is in our midst.  By your grace, we discover that in your strange
economy of grace, all people matter; by your love, we can bear fruit of
compassion and hope; by your peace, we can clothe others in your justice,
even as Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, wraps us in justice.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon
L:  We confess, and so we rejoice, for God has accepted us for who we are,
and claimed us as God’s own children.
P:  We lift our praise to God, who fills us with hope and grace.  Thanks be
to God, we are forgiven!  Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies

prayer of the day: Advent 2

By Leave a Comment

You come,
so the poor might
get a fair shake
(not a shakedown);
so faithfulness and righteousness
might be the suspenders
we put on each morning;
so we might listen
to the voiceless
without judgment.

When we long for a
leader beyond our imagining,
you show us a
picture
of a dusty-footed
itinerant preacher,
with a ragamuffin
group of followers
and say to us, ‘here’s who
you are looking for.’

In the midst of bigger and brighter,
louder and flashier ad campaigns,
you offer a vision of
cows given milk to wolf cubs,
snakes charming little kids,
lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my!)
playing hide and seek
on our front lawns.

God in Community, Holy in One,
bring this kingdom closer to us,
even as we pray as we have been taught,
Our Father . . .

 

Submitted by Rev. Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies.