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A cornucopia of liturgy for Advent 1!

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Liturgies from Rev. Ross Reddick, Pastor First Presbyterian Church, Sylacauga, Alabama

First Sunday of Advent – Liturgies based on Isaiah 64:1-9

Responsive Call to Worship:
(based on Isaiah 64:1-9)

Leader: O that You would tear open the heavens and come down.
People: We expect quakes to announce your arrival. Instead, we see a stable in the distance.
Leader: O that You would tear open the heavens and come down.
People: We expect your arrival in fire and flame. Instead, we follow a star on a cold night.
Leader: You meet us in this place, as we remember your curious way.
People: As we wait, cleanse us. As we wait, mold us.
Leader: Our ears and eyes perceive no other god besides You, and so we worship this day.
People: We are all your people and we will wait for You.

Prayer of Confession:
(based on Isaiah 64:1-9)

Almighty God, how often you explode our expectations. Our arrogance convinces us that we can understand where and how you will show up in the world. Our excessive confidence is not centered in you, but in ourselves. We utter words of judgment against our adversaries; but we readily forget the ways we sin against you. We have all become unclean in your most Holy eyes. Even our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth when compared to the pure swaddle of the Babe of Bethlehem. If left to our own devices, our sins would take us away like a leaf in the wind. Forgive us, O God. Remind us of the ways you enter our lives and bind us to your sovereign love.

Assurance of Pardon / Declaration of Forgiveness
(based on Isaiah 64:1-9)

The prophet Isaiah reminds us that God meets those who gladly do right, those who remember God’s ways. We deserve to be handed over to our sins. “Yet, O Lord, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Friends believe the Good News; in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.
First Sunday of Advent – Liturgies based on 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
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Responsive Call to Worship:
(based on 1 Cor. 1:3-9)

Leader: We give thanks to God! For the expressions of grace both far and near.
People: For the grace embodied in the expected Christ child.
Leader: For the ways we know of your presence, for the vocabulary of faith.
People: We give thanks to God! For the ways we are strengthened by fellow worshippers.
Leader: For the multitude of testimonies that rival the heavenly host.​
People: For gifts received not in packages, but spiritual gifts.
Leader: God is faithful! God is faithful!
People: We are invited into this fellowship, and called to worship with thanksgiving!​

Prayer of Confession:
(based on 1 Cor. 1:3-9)

Gracious God, though we enjoy the blessings of comfortable lives, we forget to give thanks. We accept graces offered, but refuse to be enriched. We think we can understand your love, but our collective testimony suffers atrophy. We need your strength, O God. Remind us of the gifts you’ve given, and the ways you offer yourself to a struggling humanity. Strengthen us to the end that we might be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Assurance of Pardon / Declaration of Forgiveness
(based on 1 Cor. 1:3-9)

Paul reminds the congregation at Corinth that the Lord will strengthen them until the time Jesus returns. Though we are not faithful, God is! God who is faithful and just will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Friends, believe the Good News; in Jesus Christ we are forgive.
First Sunday of Advent – Liturgies based on Mark 13:24-37

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Responsive Call to Worship:
(based on Mark 13:24-37)

Leader: Your Word tells us that we will see the Son of Man coming in clouds.
People: Your arrival will be one of power and glory.
Leader: The heavens will shake as your word rings forth, “Keep awake!”
People: Keep awake! For no one knows the day.
Leader: Keep awake! For no one knows the hour.​
People: Though heaven and earth pass away, Your word is eternal.
Leader: We keep awake, and we worship!
People: In the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn; we worship our Lord!

Prayer of Confession:
(based on Mark 13:24-37)

Merciful Lord, you have entrusted us with your creation, and commanded us to keep watch. But our eyes have become heavy, and our weary bodies ache. We fall asleep. We slumber through the cries of oppression; we slumber through the moans of hunger. We turn from your will because we don’t want to give up our own control and comfort. You’ve given us work to do, but as soon as you are out of sight or mind, we ignore our tasks. We opt to serve ourselves rather than others. Turn us from our ways to yours. Help stir us, O God. Awaken us to joyful obedience and the hope of your glorious return. Amen

Assurance of Pardon / Declaration of Forgiveness
(based on Mark 13:24-37)

Mark’s gospel makes it clear; the Son of Man is coming with great power and glory. When the time is fulfilled, He will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. God Almighty is in control; we rest our hope in God’s mercy and sovereignty. Friends believe the Good News; in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen

call to worship for Advent 1 – rip open the heavens

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Submitted by Rev. Daniel Hayward, Trinity Ingleside and Newington United Churches, South Stormont, Ontario, Canada.

Leader: O that God would rip open the heavens and come down, and make the mountains shudder.
People: But isn’t this season about tinsel decorations and Santa?

Leader: The sun will become dark, the moon won’t give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the planets will be shaken.
People: But isn’t this season about lights twinkling in the streets?

Leader: Then you will see the Christ coming in the clouds, with great power and splendour.
People: That sounds more like it – the hope we’re looking for, the promise of something better. We can’t wait!

Leader: But now we must wait. Keep watch! Stay alert! You don’t know when the time is coming.
People: Come, Lord Jesus!

Leader: Come, Lord Jesus. We wait for the arrival of this hope, we long for the return of Jesus, we look for the signs of God coming among us.

Call to Worship for Advent 1 – Restoration

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Submitted by Rev. Melissa DeRosia, Pastor of Gates Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY.

Advent Week One Theme: Restoration

Call to Worship (Isaiah 64:1-9, Psalm 80:1-7,17-19)

Leader: In the midst of our longing,

People: we wait for a sign.

Leader: God does the unexpected.

People: It is more than we can imagine;

Leader: rip open the heavens,

People: builds us anew.

Leader: We are your people longing.

People: Restore us God, Almighty that we might cry out your name.

Sunday’s Coming–and it’s Advent! Working Toward November 27

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Here we are, a mere 6 days from the First Sunday of Advent. Some of us run with the apocalyptic/second-coming theme…some of us run away from it, looking for a cute baby to look for instead. Some of us have full-season themes all ready to go, others of us are on the week-by-week (or even the day-by-day) plan. We’re all probably praying something like Isaiah–“tear open the heavens and come down.” Maybe you’re pondering God’s faithfulness as we come to yet another season of waiting. Whatever your style, you’re welcome here! What are you up to this week? What liturgy do you need? What words are waiting to be born? What music needs do you have? Let’s create together!

Looking Ahead–more advent candle ideas

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This week as we continue to look ahead to the fast approaching season of Advent (when did it get to be only 10 days away?) we offer a set of Advent Candle lighting liturgies from the Rev. Elsa Peters, who currently serves the First Congregational Church (UCC) of Portland Maine. This is an interactive candle lighting, with space for conversation amongst the congregation, looking for God’s breaking-in to this world.

Do you have Advent ideas to share, tweaks, comments, thoughts, sparks, or liturgies? Put them in the comments!

First Sunday in Advent: Hope

[Ask worshipers to be seated]

*Introductory Sentences
One: Today we begin the Advent journey in search of hope. We search for hope in the trees and the branches of our own lives. We look for that moment where we might proclaim as the prophet Isaiah did:

*Scripture: Isaiah 64:3
One: When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

*Lighting the Candle
One: O God, we light the first candle of Advent.
We light the candle of hope.

[First Candle is lit.]

We light this candle to illuminate those moments we’ve already seen the mountains quake, as we did… (name a vision of hope you’ve recently seen in your daily life, in your relationships or in the news).

*Unison Prayer
One: Let us pray together:
Light of our World, we hope for change in our own lives and in your world. We wait for war to end. We wait for violence to cease. We wait for your people to live with more love. In the warmth of your Light, we wait for hope to be revealed more fully. We wait together by the light of this candle, praying, Our Father…

~~~~~

Second Sunday in Advent: Peace

[Ask worshipers to be seated]

*Introductory Sentences
One: Today we continue our Advent search. We look for comfort in a broken world. We cry out for the peace we have not yet found. We find comfort as the prophet Isaiah did, when he remembered:

*Scripture: Isaiah 40:8
One: The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand forever.

*Lighting the Candle
One: O God, we light the second candle of Advent.
We light the candle of peace.

[Second Candle is lit.]

We light this candle to shine like the sun on the buds of peace, which we see blooming in… (offer an image of some little hint of peace that you see growing in a friendship that was broken, in a family feud that has eased or in some other illustration you can imagine).

*Unison Prayer
One: Let us pray together:
Light of our World, we hope for change in our own lives and in your world. We wait for relationships to heal. We wait for peace to come. We wait for your people to live with more love. In the warmth of your Light, we wait for hope to be revealed more fully. We wait together by the light of this candle, praying, Our Father…

~~~~~

Third Sunday in Advent: Love

[Ask worshipers to be seated]

*Introductory Sentences
One: Today we stoke the fires of God’s love. We rejoice that love is within is. It is revealed when we bind up the brokenhearted and comfort those who mourn. We hope that love will blossom in the justice we seek, as the prophet Isaiah imagined:

*Scripture: Isaiah 61:11
One: For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

*Lighting the Candle
One: O God, we light the third candle of Advent.
We light the candle of love.

[Third Candle is lit.]

We light this candle to spring up with love. In the light and the warmth of this candle, we hope that love continues to grow in… (Share a brief story about how love has grown in the love that you share.)

*Unison Prayer
One: Let us pray together:
Loving God, pour into our hearts this day the light of your love, warming us to one another, enlightening our understanding of others, and blooming abundantly as only your love can, in Jesus’ name we pray, Our Father…(debts, debtors)

~~~~~

Fourth Sunday in Advent: Joy

[Ask worshipers to be seated]

*Introductory Sentences
One: Today we celebrate joy. Even though we don’t feel ready, we praise God. We celebrate the wonder that something amazing is happening in our lives. We marvel with Mary that this joy turns the whole world upside down:

*Scripture: Luke 1:52-53
One: God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

*Lighting the Candle
One: O God, we light the fourth candle of Advent.
We light the candle of joy.

[Fourth Candle is lit.]

We light this candle with joy for what God is doing. We see the signs of promise in… (Share a brief story about a sign of God’s joy you see in the world right now, perhaps in something that has indeed turned everything upside down..)

*Unison Prayer
One: Let us pray together:
Eternal God, who magnifies each of our souls, help us to pay attention to your signs in these last few days before Christmas. Point us toward your joy. Orient us toward the joy that you offer to us now and always, in Jesus’ name we pray: Our Father…(debts, debtors)

~~~~~

December 24 – Christmas Eve: Christ is Come!

*Introductory Sentences
One: On this Christmas Eve, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. As we wonder what this birth means to us, we recall where we have come on the journey.

*Lighting the Advent Candles
One: We recall our experiences of hope, peace, love and joy. Tonight, we re light the candles that marked our journey.

(Reader pauses as each candle is lit in order.)

The light of hope … (Candle is lit.)
The light of peace … (Candle is lit.)
The light of love … (Candle is lit.)
The light of joy… (Candle is lit.)

On this journey, we have been born into a new hope as the prophet Isaiah recalls:

*Scripture: Isaiah 9:6
One: For a child has been born for us, a child is given to us; authority rests upon this child’s shoulders; which we call Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Creator, Prince of Peace.

*Lighting the Christ Candles
One: O God, we light the Christ candle. We light the candle of our Savior.

(Christ candle is lit.)

We light the Christ candle to remember that the miracle of birth didn’t happen just once, but happens every day we choose to see you in our world. God, we see you… (name a time, at Christmas or some other time, when you’ve been able to see God.)

* Unison Prayer
One: Let us pray together:
Holy God, we rejoice in your presence! The birth of your holy child is your answer to our unrest, our confusion and our sorrow. Tonight, we live in Hope, we pray for Peace, we share your Love, as we are filled with your Joy. Now, let us be your Hope, your Peace, your Love and your Joy in this world, as Christ Jesus grew to teach us all: Our Father . . . (debts, debtors)