God of newness,
we want to be ready…
we want to make room for you…
we want our lives to be changed by your advent.
So speak to us in our busy-ness and our quietness…
our uneven-ness and our level-ness…
our roughness and our smoothness…
so that, either way, your glory might be revealed to us.
Amen.
Advent
call to worship: make room
Make room for the advent of God!
Make room for unforgettable transformation!
Make room to see the world turned upside-down…
Valleys will touch the sky…Mountains will be flattened…
And we will all see it together!
So let’s make room for something new…and let’s worship God!
confession: speechless
We are filled with words;
and yet, it often seems as if we have nothing to say.
We like to speak when it serves our own purpose…
but we clam up when we’re asked to be prophetic.
We make excuses about disrupting the status quo…
or not wanting to risk our safe reputations.
The truth is…we are encouraged to speak out…
but all we can manage to say is, “What should I say?”
So give us transforming words…and empower us to speak them…
Sunday’s Coming: working toward December 4
How is it already time to think about the second Sunday of Advent? It seems like it was summer just a few minutes ago.
Maybe this week you’re preparing the way with John the Baptizer, who’s been in the wilderness what seems like a short time before he starts looking to the next big thing. Maybe you’re proclaiming tidings of comfort and joy. Or maybe you’re pondering just how we can affirm that the Lord is not slow about the promises–how much patience do we need, anyway?
There’s been a lot of news this past week that makes some of these hard themes to work with–waiting, preparing, comfort are not exactly the order of the day in the US during the weekend after Thanksgiving. How are you working in the realities of the season this week? What will you be praying, affirming, calling, naming, singing?
Share your ideas here, prime the pump with a few words or a phrase or a whole liturgy ready to go!
Longing for comfort: call to worship, confession & assurance for Advent 2
From Rev. Melissa DeRosia, Pastor of Gates Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY
Call to Worship (Isaiah 40:1-11, 2 Peter 3:8-15a)
Leader: We are people longing for comfort.
People: Longing for the stones of anxiety to be cleared from our hearts.
Leader: We don’t know when or how,
People: God’s comfort is patient with our uneasiness.
Leader: So we wait with the promise,
People: God’s glory revealed for all creation.
Prayer of Confession
Comforter of the lost, you call out to us but we are too busy right now to listen. We lose our way and fool ourselves into believing that many of our rough ways and crooked paths are justified. We tell ourselves that we don’t have enough time to get everything done, but can’t ever say “no.” We scoff at people who can’t seem to control themselves, but indulge to fill the emptiness we feel. Lead us back to the level plains of your comfort that provides us the space and time to change and be the people you call us to be.
Silent Prayers of Confession
Assurance of Grace
Leader: “Comfort, O comfort my people,” says our God. In Jesus Christ the good news of God’s promises proclaim “Here is your God.”
All: Our sins are forgiven! Thanks be to God. Amen.
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