HOPE – The Lord Is Coming - 11/29/2020
Call to worship:
L: Christ shall come, God’s gift to the world:
P: That desperate should find hope -
L: That the persecuted should find peace -
P: That the lonely should find love -
L: That the dejected should find joy.
A: O Christ of the world, your time is now! We wait, we watch, we wonder! Come!
Opening Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel #211
1 O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
(Refrain)
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
2 O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Refrain
3 O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.
Refrain
4 O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Refrain
5 O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Refrain
6 O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Refrain
7 O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.
Refrain
8 O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.
Refrain
Opening Prayer:
O God, in times past we looked for you in heavenly eclipses. We listened for you in howling winds. We learned of you in quaking mountains.
But now we know that you will be found among us. And you will be seen not in the glitter of a mall but in the shelter for the homeless. You will be heard not in the pitch of a commercial but in the whimper of a child. You will come, not clothed in the comforts of the privileged but swaddled in the needs of the neglected.
Open our eyes that we might witness the appearance of the angels. Open our ears that we might hear the testimony of the shepherds. Open our hearts that we might ponder the secrets of Mary. And open our mouths that we might shout the good news of the coming of the Lord! Amen.
Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9
³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— ⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— ⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Children's Message (video)
Hymn: Rejoice in God’s Saints #708
1 Rejoice in God's saints, today and all days;
a world without saints forgets how to praise.
Their faith in acquiring the habit of prayer,
their depth of adoring, Lord, help us to share.
2 Some march with events to turn them God's way;
some need to withdraw, the better to pray.
Some carry the gospel through fire and through flood;
our world is their parish; their purpose is God.
3 Rejoice in those saints, unpraised and unknown,
who bear someone's cross or shoulder their own.
They shame our complaining, our comforts, our cares;
what patience in caring, what courage, is theirs!
4 Rejoice in God's saints, today and all days;
a world without saints forgets how to praise.
In loving, in living, they prove it is true:
the way of self-giving, Lord, leads us to you.
Prayer of Dedication:
On this first Sunday of Advent, memories of Christmases past flood our souls. We recall the first time we heard the stories – the journey of Mary and Joseph, the praise of the shepherds, the music of the angels, and the lure of the star. These stories had an earthly ring, but they sounded a heavenly anthem. The words were spoken in human tongues, but they proclaimed a divine visitation. And like the shepherds, we praised you for revealing yourself in a manger.
We journey toward Bethlehem, O God, where you will reveal the glory of heaven and the hope of earth. May your light brighten our path to the future, and may the brilliance of your hope beckon us to new beginnings. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Mark 13: 24-37
²⁴“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
²⁶Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. ²⁷Then 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.
²⁸“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
³²“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. ³⁵Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”
Sermon Title: HOPE – the Lord is Coming (video)
Today we begin the season of Advent – a time of waiting in anticipation of something great and preparing to greet that same greatness. And on this first Sunday of Advent, we acknowledge our hope. Hope for the future; hope because of the past, and hope for the good news to be received by every ear.
I suppose that we have all heard the saying, “Good things come to those who wait.” But let’s face it; rarely does anyone want to wait, especially when it is something so grand as the Savior of the world. But the time was coming soon that this Savior would be born in Bethlehem and all who had heard the stories and saw the signs that foretold his coming were anxiously waiting for the day and it was almost here. The Lord is coming, but still – we wait.
In Isaiah 2: 1-5, we hear words of hope – “This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Have you ever been waiting on something, you know – something big, like a birthday, or a holiday or a promotion or whatever and the closer it got, the more time seemed to slow down and almost stop? Well this is what it felt like for the people who were waiting on the promised Savior; only like times a thousand. They had been waiting for centuries and now they were being told that it “was time to wake from their sleep” as it says in Romans 13: 11. The stories that had been told around campfires and in homes for all this time were finally going to come to fruition and while they were skeptical, they could not help but be excited as well.
This is where we are at today. Our salvation is nearer now than it ever has been before. So close that we want to reach out and grab it. Some inner void longs to be filled with it. But before you start grabbing, start preparing your heart. Listen to the age-old stories of Jesus coming to us in order to save us and embrace them. Know that while we are preparing to celebrate His first visit; we are also preparing for His second coming. He will come again and this is our HOPE; that the Lord is coming and He is coming to us with an invitation. And do not shy away from His invitation because you think that you are not worthy; Jesus has promised that He will meet us exactly where we are and He will love us so much that He cannot leave us there.
Psalm 122 says - I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. That is where the tribes go up— the tribes of the Lord—to praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel. There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity.
Friends, we have a longing for this kind of peace and the hope for that peace comes from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is and always has been God’s plan to redeem the world and all of the peoples in it. Prepare to celebrate the Babe lying in a manger. And prepare to receive your King with the purest love, the love of God.
Amen.
Closing Hymn: Whom Shall I Send #582
1 Whom shall I send? our Maker cries;
and many, when they hear God's voice,
are sure where their vocation lies;
but many shrink from such a choice.
2 For who can serve a God so pure,
or claim to speak in such a name,
while doubt makes every step unsure,
and self confuses every aim?
3 And yet, believing God who calls
knows what we are and still may be,
our past defeats, our future falls,
we dare to answer: Lord, send me!
4 Those who are called God purifies,
and daily gives us strength to bend
our thoughts, our skills, our energies,
and life itself to this one end.