We Need a Little Advent

It seems like the Christmas season starts a little earlier each year with many stores decorating in late October and running “early-bird” specials throughout November. The ubiquitous sounds of the season fill up our radios, our shopping centers, and our waiting rooms. Thanksgiving Day should be about spending time with friends, family, and football, but it is not even safe from the constant siren song to buy more, and many stores will be open long before the Turkey Day dishes are cleared. It might be the most wonderful time.

I am not ready for Christmas.

I do not think I am a Grinch, and I hope my heart isn’t two sizes too small. I love presents, egg nog, and carols, but I do not want them right now. The Scriptures remind us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, NRSV.) Before we get to Christmas, we need a little Advent (right this very minute.)

Advent does not have the popular cultural cache of stockings, tinsel, and St. Nick, but it is very important to our life of faith. It is the beginning of our liturgical calendar and a time of hopeful and patient expectation as we prepare for Jesus’ arrival at Christmas and his glorious and triumphant return in the future. At its core, Advent is a time of preparation for something bigger than just another holiday. Presbyterian pastor and author Frederick Buechner writes, “For outlandish creatures like us, on our way to a heart, a brain, and courage, Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning - not home but the place through which we must pass if ever we are to reach home at last.”

At this time of year, the world is getting darker, colder, and busier. We are called to do something different. We will gather at each December service to light candles and wait; to sing hymns and wait; to pray together and wait; to hear the Word of God and wait. Our culture says go, but our Lord calls us again and again to be still. We will celebrate the 12 days of the Christmas Season together when it begins on December 25. I know it will be worth the wait!

O Come, O come, Emmanuel.

In Hope and Confidence,
Pastor Dave

Advent Candle Lighting and Reading

The Worship Committee needs your help to enhance our worship experiences during Advent.  Please contact D. Schiro (or the church office at 636-394-2233) if you, you and your family, or you and your friends would like to assist in any of our weekend Worship services during Advent by reading specific liturgy accompanied with lighting particular Advent Candle(s) for that service.  Readings will be sent to you ahead of time.  This opportunity to serve has been very meaningful for those who have participated in the past.  Please consider this service to your church and your worshipping community.  Advent begins the weekend of November 26-27 and continues through the Christmas Eve services Saturday, December 24 (5, 7 and 9 PM).  If you have any questions you may speak to a member of the Worship Committee:  D. Schiro, S. Pfefferkorn, C. York, R. Vetter or J. Corlett.

Peace

Prayer of Preparation: O God, we continue to hope in your promise that your light will come to transform our lives and the life for the world. Your coming is neither past nor future, but the present, which has only to reach its fulfillment. Help us to be open to your shaping of our lives. Grant us the grace to live now, in the hour of your Advent, in such a way that we may be your light in the world. Amen.

Lighting of the Advent Candle

Voice 1: In Advent, we wait upon the Lord: awaiting signs of hope, peace, joy, and love. We gather this morning in hopeful expectation. We gather to give praise to God for the promise that the Christ child will be born to us again this year.

Voice 2: We gather this morning with anticipation, awaiting God’s light in our lives, awaiting God’s presence that comes to the dark places in our hearts and in our world. Yet, we confess that the ways of God sometimes overwhelm us. So we must turn to one another and share our stories to find the strength and courage to fulfill our calling.

Voice 1: Today, we light two candles as a reminder that we do not wait alone. We keep each other company, nurturing that which lies deep within each of us and remembering that God’s promise is closer than we realize, and that God’s promise is soon to be fulfilled.

Sat. Worship 2014

Call to Worship

We gather with anticipation of this Advent season.

We gather and watch, sharing our stories with one another.

We wait for Christ to enter our lives in a new way.

We watch for the signs of God’s light in our world.

We gather to hear the good news and to gather strength for the times to come.

We wonder at God’s work in the world, and wonder what God will do next.

Prayer of Confession

O Holy God, in your presence and in each other’s company, we confess that our lives and the life of the world are cast in shadow by what we do and by what we fail to do. But we know a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not over come it. Forgive us, O God. Heal our weakness and fears. Give us the strength to grow in the love we lack. Remind us that you are coming into our lives in a new way – illumine our souls with the first glimmers of the coming light of Christ. Amen.

Strengthen

1 Thessalonians 3:13New International Version (NIV)

¹³ May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Shout

St. Mark Holiday House Tour 2012

Isaiah 52:7-9New International Version (NIV)

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
    “Your God reigns!”
⁸ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
    they will see it with their own eyes.
⁹ Burst into songs of joy together,
    you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.

Wonder

Luke 1:26-33New International Version (NIV)

Annunciation

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Beginning

In principio erat verbum, Latin for At the beginning there was the Word.
John 1:1-18 from the Clementine Vulgate.

John 1: 1-2:  The Word Became Flesh

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning.

Advent means "coming."  The coming of Jesus to humankind and the coming of people to Jesus.  The

Days of preparation begin four Sundays before Christmas.  Christians in their churches give thanks and raise their

Voices in rich music of adoration.  Each Sunday a candle is lit.  Bright banners decorate the church and

Evergreens sparkle with stars.  Pageants by the young and the old pay homage to the symbol of the 

Nativity scene displayed upon the altar.  The human spirit catches a special warmth.  this is our Christian

Tradition in celebration of the birth of the Christ Child who brought new faith and new hope to the world.

Reprinted from St. Mark Presbyterian's "Thoughts on Advent" with permission of Vera Heard's heirs.

Promise

Jeremiah 33:14-16New International Version (NIV)

The oldest complete Jesse Tree window
 is in Chartres Cathedral, 1145.

¹⁴ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

¹⁵ “‘In those days and at that time

    I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;

    he will do what is just and right in the land.

¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved

    and Jerusalem will live in safety.

This is the name by which it^[a] will be called:

    The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’

As a genealogist, the Jesse Tree and genealogy of Jesus have always interested me.  The scripture today states that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise made to the people of Israel and Judah.  Re-reading that passage reminded me of a quote on Facebook I saw the other day. The Chickasaw poet Linda Hogan said, "Walking.  I am listening to a deeper way.  Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me.  Be still, they say.  Watch and listen.  You are the result of the love of thousands."

We are all the fulfillment of a promise made to our ancestors who struggled with a life not as comfortable as ours is.  Just knowing that their struggles, hardships, hopes and love brought me where I am, gives me the urge to be the right kind of fulfillment of their promise.  I may not save the world, but I can certainly "do what is just and right in the land."  I owe them.

Hope

Prayer of Preparation: O God, during this season of Advent, we wait upon you to lead us from death to life, from despair to hope. Lead us from hate to love, from unrest to peace. Let your promise of peace fill our hearts and world. Open our eyes to see beyond what is in front of us, to see you entering our world in a new way. May we live into your expectation that our lives will demonstrate your teachings, from the prophets to the present. Amen.

Lighting of the Advent Candle

Voice 1: Advent means “coming” or “arrival” – this is a time of hopeful expectation and preparation marked by waiting.

Voice 2: In Advent, we wait upon the Lord: awaiting signs of hope, peace, joy, and love. It is a time to remember the wonders of our faith as we await the new thing God is about to do.

Voice 1: God promises us a savior who acts with justice and righteousness. God promises us, wherever we are in our lives, whatever situations we are dealing with, whatever problems we face, God’s light will come to us.

Voice 2: God is about to do a new thing. God is entering our world in a new way. God is entering our lives in a new way. God will be with us in a new way. We light this first candle with the hopeful expectation that God is doing something new. Open your eyes to see the signs of God’s light in your life now.

Call to Worship

The days are surely coming when God’s promises shall be fulfilled.

When our love for one another and for all God’s children will increase.

The days are surely coming when God’s promises shall come true.

When God will strengthen our hearts, and heal the world.

The days are surely coming when God’s promises are realize in us.

When we will walk the paths of discipleship.

Prayer of Confession

Almighty God, You warn us to read the signs for the coming of you glorious light – in the sun, the moon, the stars, the roaring seas and the waves, the distress among the nations. We have seen it all before. Nothing seems to change. Forgive us, O God. Forgive our doubts and hopelessness, our sense that nothing ever really changes.

Help us to live with courage in this age of ambiguity. Teach us your ways when we have lost ours. Teach us to wait with patience, that we may be ready as our redeemer draws near. Amen.

Worship from Dec. 21

PRAYER IN PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP:  Who are we, Lord God, that You should come to us?  Yet, You have visited Your people and redeemed us in Your Son.  As we prepare to celebrate his birth, make our hearts leap for joy at the sound of Your word, and move us by Your Spirit to bless Your wonderful works.  Amen.

   LIGHTING THE ADVENT WREATH OF LOVE                                                    

L:     In this season of Advent, we celebrate God’s love.

P:    Soon we will welcome the beautiful and radical love of God as Jesus Christ comes to   live among us.

L:     We embrace our identity as beloved children and let this truth guide our decisions and       relationships.

P:    In our homes and in our church we offer warm hospitality by welcoming those we don’t    know, those who are in need, and those who are different from us.

L:     We demonstrate our care for creation in real and tangible ways through the products we buy, the food we eat, and the way we live every day.

P:    Together, we are a sign of God’s love in the world.

Unison Prayer

God of extravagant generosity, in Jesus we discover the depth of your care and the lengths you will go to save us.  Forgive us when we ignore the needy, trample your creation and refuse to share all that we receive from you.  Teach us to love our neighbors, caring for each other in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Lord, You have declared that you and your word are the light of the world, and you have entrusted this light to us so that it could illuminate our lives and shine forth into our dark world.  But Lord, we have hidden the light you have given us and not let it change our lives.  We have allowed it to shine only in the presence of others who possess your light and have not let it shine forth in the darkness around us.  Forgive us Lord.  Help us to let the light that you have given us shine brightly in the darkness so that others may be drawn to you, through us.  AMEN.

Worship from Dec.14

PRAYER IN PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP:  As the birth of any child is a miracle beyond our comprehension, O God, how much more so is the birth of Mary’s child.  We cry out in awe and wonder at the marvel of your love and the mystery of your Word made flesh.  May we, through all our days, bring honor to our Lord, who shared life in the flesh with us.  In Christ’s holy name we pray.  Amen.

  

   Lighting the Advent Wreath of Joy                                                                   

L:     In this season of Advent, we celebrate God’s joy.

P:    Knowing that Christ is coming, to bring healing and wholeness to the world, is a source of genuine delight!

L:     When we gather for worship it is a celebration, an opportunity to rejoice in all that God is doing among us and beyond us.

P:    Our lives are marked by laughter and friendship, as we love our neighbors with wide smiles and open arms.

L:     Even when we face difficulty and trouble we sing a song of faith, confident that Jesus is able to redeem our suffering world.

P:    Together, we are a sign of God’s joy in the world.

Unison Prayer

God of transformation, we rejoice that you lift up the lowly and fill the hungry with good things.  We marvel at your power to change hearts and lives.  Fill us with your Spirit this season so that our voices declare your goodness and our lives proclaim your mercy in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Almighty God, we have been selfish.  You have given us great news to share with our lost and dying world, but we have kept it to ourselves.  We have let the fear of rejection, among other things, keep us from speaking the truth about you to those we love.  Forgive us, Lord, and fill us with your Spirit.  Give us the courage and the words we need, to share Your Good News with the people that ask.  From the depth of our hearts we ask, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.