Worship December 4, 2020

Let us worship!

Opening words:  The Advent of Our God

The Advent of our God

With eager hearts we greet;

And we must praise Him in this hour

With hymns and anthems sweet.

All glory to the Son,

Who comes to set us free;

With Father, Spirit, ever One

Through all eternity.

TEXT:  Charles Coffin; translated by John Chandler, altered

Welcoming Prayer

Holy God,

We come to you in this time of waiting,

to focus more deeply on you and the hope that you give.

In these times of sinking darkness—

we cling to your light.

We come to you worn and weary—tired from the year behind us.

May we pause in this Advent season to wait with anticipation on you—to find strength from our hope in your coming.

May your light shine brighter within us and may we cling more tightly to your promises,

Oh, precious God.

Amen

Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort,

O comfort my people, says your God. 

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 

A voice says, “Cry out!”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;

surely the people are grass. 

The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 

See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 

He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

Reflection:

I don’t know about you, but as I look back over the past year, as this time of year tends to have us do, I can see how draining it all has been—the toll that it has taken on my mind and on my spirit.  All of the unease this year, the not knowing, the worry, the lack of predictability…it has worn on me. Each new hill I have had to climb making my soul more weary.  As I walked through it, I climbed the mountains that grew before me. I did what needed to be done—what choice did we really have.  I handled each twist and turn as it was thrown at me, each hill and valley I conquered as best I could, with as much spring in my step as I could muster.  The spring break that turned into summer all too soon, the birthdays that had to be made special without any guest, the online schooling, the working from home, the 24 hours/ 7 days a week of family time, the lack of restaurants and added amount of dishes (oh the dang dishes). I adapted. I bent. I swayed with the times. I tried my hardest to make the best of things.  But looking back at it…I am tired—I am worn. 

It has been a year of hurdles and barriers—for all of us. 

This Scripture today, in the midst of Advent, in the middle of this time to slow down and wait—gives me exactly what it’s first words say—comfort.  “Comfort, O comfort my people.”

And comfort is what my soul has been seeking for the past 9 months. I did not even realize it was needed until I read that wonderful word…Comfort!

This Advent season—this count down to Christ coming—like no other before it, leaves me longing for the comfort of level ground. I find myself yearning for mountains to be made low and rough places to become a plain.  I find myself hoping for a few steps on level and known ground.

This Advent season, like no other, I find myself crying out, because this Advent season, like no other I feel the weight of the withered grass.  I know more deeply the tiredness of a flower as it fades. My soul feels the strain of the past year and the withered tiredness and the fading beauty that humanity faces.  From that withered tiredness though this Advent season, more so than any other, I have come understand the hope of God’s everlasting word. I cling to those promises even more so this year.  It is all that we have to cling to in these difficult times.

In last weeks Advent study, the group talked about how THIS Advent season we have had to reprioritize what was important, what traditions we felt we must keep and which ones could change.  While that is a difficult task, it does help us to see what is important in our life and our families. We have not just had to do that with Advent this year—we have had to do it with everything.  We have had to strip away so many things in our lives—social get togethers, regular worship, regular work schedules.  We have had to decide what was essential and what was less important.  We have had to evaluate what really mattered to us and get to the core of what was meaningful enough to us to stay. 

In the midst of this difficult year, unlike any other, the importance of God’s promises have stood strong.  Unlike any other year, the hope that we find in Scripture has taken on new meaning, becoming even more important, more vivid, more essential.  Other things have faded away but God’s word has stood firm and has given me the hope and courage to move through these times.

So as we enter this time of waiting to celebrate Christ’s birth, I cling to the hope of the Scripture that stands forever.  I will lift my voice with strength and herald the good news…”do not fear…here is your God!”

Your God is here with you--even in the difficult and the dark.  Your God is here with you--through the struggle and the strain.  Your God is here with you-- helping make the mountains and hills low and the uneven ground level.  Your God is here-- walking beside you, carrying you in God’s bosom.   

Friends, this year has not been an easy one, but God is with you, now and forever more.

Amen

Let us pray…

Holy God, we have been given much by your might hand.

Help us now to give back to those around us.

Help us to see those who have been overlooked and ignored in our society

and help us to reach and care for them.

Help us to see in the faces around us, your face.

Help us to love those around us, with your love.

Help us to be the light in the darkness that you call us to be.

As we count our blessings and give thanks this week,

Help us to see how we can be a blessing to others.

Help us to reach out, to feed the hungry, to give shelter to those in need, to comfort the sick, not matter their illness and help those who are imprisoned, whatever their bars may be.

You loved us with unfathomable love.

Helps us to reflect that love to all those that we can.

Give us courage.

Give us strength.

Give us hope.

Amen

Going out.

Go out to love the Lord

and in all that you do, may the Lord our God guide you and uphold you

Let all God’s people say: AMEN