Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteousness and having salvation,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jersusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah 9:9-10
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally
begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us
and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated
at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son
he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic
and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Next Sunday our service will begin with a call to worship that was adapted from a prayer written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is a beautiful reminder to us that we are never alone as we walk the path that our life brings us along. I would love for you to take some time to reflect on this prayer during the week ahead.
I Cannot Do This Alone
O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you;
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me….
Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and before men.
Lord whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.
Amen
Every Sunday we meet together and for much of our gathered time we do something that from a certain angle can seem strange. We sing together. Not only that, we sing songs that have been written last year and we sing songs that have been written 3000 years ago. Why do we do this? This is something we will be exploring together on some future Sunday. But for now I would love for you to listen to this important message from Rob Bell and Troy Hatfield.
Isaiah 63:15-64:12
15 Look down from heaven and see,
from your lofty throne, holy and glorious.
Where are your zeal and your might?
Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us.
16 But you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us
or Israel acknowledge us;
you, LORD, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 Why, LORD, do you make us wander from your ways
and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes that are your inheritance.
18 For a little while your people possessed your holy place,
but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.
19 We are yours from of old;
but you have not ruled over them,
they have not been called by your name.
1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to [d] our sins.
8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
10 Your sacred cities have become a wasteland;
even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire,
and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
12 After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back?
Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
The following resources come from the blog of Christine Sine from Mustard Seed House in Seattle, Washington. My hope is that we as a church family will be enriched by the wealth and breadth of our great Christian traditions. If this is your first time considering using lectionary readings as times of prayer I ask that you approach with an open heart. It is a tremendous experience to read and pray in chorus with others following the lectionary all over the globe. These readings are intended to prepare us for the coming of Christ.
Many of the following are available as email subscriptions that will appear in your inbox daily. There are a great variety of readings presented here, but remember that this is but a small taste of what is available. If you know of any other helpful prayer and devotional resources for Advent please post them in the comments.
Readings from the Book of Common Prayer
Readings from United Church of Christ based on revised Common Lectionary
Presbyterian USA daily readings
Readings from the New Zealand Prayer book
Northumbria Community Daily Offices
Advent Sunday is this weekend. Consider this location to be Advent Central during the weeks leading up to Christmas. The Advent messages that Pastor Shawn gives will be presented here in some form and I will interject many, many a thought, video, etc. along the way as well. If you have any thoughts, comments, prayers, or whatever please feel free to post them in the comments.
Here is a short presentation by the wonderful folks from the Advent Conspiracy on how we can give better this Christmas. Please prayerfully consider the message from the film.
Advent Sunday is historically the beginning of the church’s worshipping year. I hope this short video will inspire you to slow down and take the time to live the patience of Israel as we prepare to enter this incredible season. Prepare yourselves for the coming of our Messiah Christ – the Liberating King. Jesus.
It looks like everything is set for this Sunday’s baptismal service. We will be meeting at the Best Western on Holiday Inn Drive after our morning service.
We encourage everyone to come out and be a part of this very special day as we witness three of our brothers and sisters making a public proclamation of their decisions to be followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
SUNDAY UPDATE:
This morning was especially awesome. Thanks to everyone who came out to the baptism after the service. It was an incredible turnout and I know that your presence really meant a lot.
If anyone has photos they would like to share please email me here.
-David