re:Worship: Advent 1 C

Showing posts with label Advent 1 C. Show all posts

Prayer: Facing the desert places

Here’s a prayer from Rev Karla. It was inspired by Psalm 25:4-5, and posted on the RevGalBlogPals website.

Prayer

(inspired by Psalm 25: 4-5)

Make us to know your ways, O Lord; teach us your paths.

Lead us in your truth, and teach us,

for you are the God of our salvation; for you we wait all day long.

We will wait for you, O God.

Your Spirit compels us

to go into the wilderness,

and we ask for the courage to examine

the desert places in our hearts,

and to be be willing to

face the adversaries in our lives—

that which lures us away

from being who you have created us to be.

We pray for the courage to face our wild beasts and fears.

Relieve the troubles of our hearts,

and the devastation of our distress.

Turn your love towards us

that we may we know your grace in our loneliness and afflictions.

We pray this prayer,

knowing that you watch over us, and deliver us.

We wait for you, O God.

In the name of our brother Jesus we pray,

Amen.

~ excerpted from a longer prayer by Rev Karla. Posted on RevGalBlogPals. http://revgalblogpals.org/category/revgalblogpals/

Opening Prayer: Seeking Light

Here’s a responsive opening act of worship for the Advent season. It comes from Grace Church in Ealing, London.

Opening Call to Worship and Prayer:

Seeking Light

In this season of waiting, of longing,

of looking for you to come into our world

We are seeking light

[Light candles]

In our own lives

We are seeking light

In our neighbourhoods

We are seeking light

In our families

We are seeking light

In our work

We are seeking light

In Grace

We are seeking light

In our nation

We are seeking light

In our world

We are seeking light

In… [add your own longings]

We are seeking light

Seek and you shall find

Knock and the door will be opened

Ask and it will be given to you

Jesus Christ you are the light of the world

May we have eyes to see you

And ears to hear you

Come into our world today

Amen

~ from the website of Grace Church in Ealing, London. http://www.freshworship.org/

Call to Worship for the Start of Advent

Here’s a call to worship for the start of the Advent season. It was written by Ann Siddall and posted on the website of the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre and Faith Community (see link below).

Ann writes: “This call to worship requires the communion table to be empty as worship begins. During the prayer, purple material, a Bible, a candle, and a wrapped gift are laid on the table. And during the worship that follows a few moments of quiet space are left after the Bible reading, after the prayers of intercession, and before the Benediction and people are invited to stay in the silence with the words ‘And now in a few moments of quietness, let us watch and wait to honour the Christ who comes.’”

Advent Call to Worship

In the midst of frenzied shopping

and end-of-year weariness,

we spread out a purple cloth,

(a purple cloth is spread over the communion table)

read again the ancient stories,

(a Bible is placed on the table)

and light a candle in the darkness,

(a candle or an Advent wreath is placed and lit)

to celebrate a visitation.

Gathered here we declare our intention to live

as if the greatest gift in the world

were about to be placed into our hands

(a wrapped parcel is laid on the table),

and as if the Giver has understood

our deepest needs, our most heartfelt prayers.

Like Mary,

may we be surprised by our calling;

like Simeon and Anna,

may the years increase our faith;

like sleepy shift workers on a hillside,

may our eyes be opened;

like Joseph may we listen to our dreams;

for this season requires our creative imagination.

There is a Presence in our world that asks to be seen,

who will stay awake?

There is a coming to our world that seeks a welcome,

who will offer hospitality?

Even now Jesus Christ is moving towards us.

~ written by Ann Siddall, Stillpoint Spirituality Centre and Faith Community. Free for use in corporate worship, as long as the author and source are credited. Posted on the Stillpoint website. https://stillpointsa.org.au/

Advent Calls to Worship

Here are a series of calls to worship for the Advent season from Harry Disher in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. They were inspired by the lectionary texts for Advent C, but you may find them useful for Years A and B, too. The were posted on the United Church of Canada’s website. (See below for link.)

Calls for Worship for the Advent Season

Advent 1

November ends. December begins.

We find our beginning and our ending in God.

Month after month, our God attends us and supports us.

For God’s company, we offer thanks and praise.

Let us worship the God who gives us Jesus Christ:

God who is the Alpha and the Omega,

the beginning and the end,

the Living One and our Redeemer, now and forever.

Advent 2

The day of the Lord brings grace and blessing.

We come to this day with hearts prepared for praising.

The day of the Lord brings judgment and pardon.

We come to this day with souls set on praying.

The day of the Lord brings wisdom and light.

We come to this day with minds eager to listen for God’s will.

In our praising, praying, listening, and responding,

we come to worship God.

Advent 3 (based on Isaiah 12:5–6)

Sing praises to God on high, for glorious are God’s works.

Sing praises to the ends of the earth.

Shout and sing for joy, O people of God,

for great is the Holy One in our midst,

blessed is the One who comes to dwell among us.

Advent 4

Seasons come and seasons go,

but our God endures forever.

Our faith exhibits ebb and flow,

but our God endures forever.

Our lives may freeze up or may grow,

but our God endures forever.

So let our souls magnify the Lord our God this day.

~ written by Harry Disher, Grand Bend/Greenway P.C., Etobicoke, Ont. Published in Gathering, Advent/Christmas/Epiphany, 2004–2005, produced by the United Church of Canada. Please credit the author. https://www.united-church.ca/worship

Advent Blessing: Rewriting the Headlines

Here’s an Advent Blessing from Roddy Hamilton, and the New Kilpatrick Parish Church website.

Advent Blessing

darkness still grows
(but the light is gathering)

bread has been broken
(but justice is slipping through)

economists are today's oracles
(but the word is now ready to speak)

blood has been spilled
(but the moment is turning)

the journey is lonely
(but the angels stir)

the handmaid labours
(but the child waits)

go into advent
with expectation

the headlines are being rewritten

~ written by Roddy Hamilton, and posted on the New Kilpatrick Parish Church website. https://www.nkchurch.org.uk/original-liturgy

Prayer: On the Edge of Advent

Here’s a prayer for the start of the Advent season from Rev. Deborah Vaughn, hospice chaplain and minister in Maryland. The prayer was posted on RevGalBlogPals.

Advent Prayer

silently and gently
falling and failing
changing and resting
seeking you, Lord…

we watch
we wait
we dream
we pray…

for the earth to renew
for our hearts to soften
for your grace to cover us
for your justice to pour out
for time and space to listen
for courage to act

on the edge of Advent,
we sit with you…
we pause…
we hurt…
we repent…
we rage…

When will it be?

Will it ever be?

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

~ written by Rev. Deborah Vaughn, a hospice chaplain endorsed by the Alliance of Baptists, and Assistant Minister at Twinbrook Baptist Church in Rockville, MD. She blogs at An Unfinished Symphony. This prayer was posted on RevGalBlogPals. https://revgalblogpals.org/2017/12/01/friday-prayer-on-the-edge-of-advent/

Call to Worship: Prepare ye the way

Here’s an Advent call to worship from Roddy Hamilton and the New Kilpatrick Parish Church website. He writes: “Six news headlines were printed across daily newspapers. Six people at the front lifted them and opened the newspaper at the appropriate verse. Each newspaper had one word of the phrase: PREPARE - THE - WAY - OF - THE – LORD.”

Call to Worship: Prepare ye the way

(inspired by Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Isaiah 40:3)

Have you heard the news:

Get the news writers ready.
Rearrange their headlines
with words of hope and expectation

Get the economists excited.
Give them news of upturns and renewal
in people’s values rather than market value

Get the politicians lobbied.
Inform them it is time to measure
their new index of the nation’s gross national happiness

Get the poor prepared.
Invite them to find their place at table
and help themselves to a banquet shared with the rich

Get justice underway.
Get busy crushing the darkness
and countering the now exposed half-truths of those in power

Get the bread of life baked.
Get the wine of truth poured
and bring on the advent of God

Prepare ye

the way of the Lord

~ written by Roddy Hamilton, and posted on the New Kilpatrick Parish Church website. https://www.nkchurch.org.uk/original-liturgy

Invitation into Advent

Here’s a call to worship for Advent from Cheryl Lawrie. It was posted on [hold this space].

Advent Call to Worship

It doesn’t matter whether or not you can have faith;

whether or not you are cynical or despairing,

hope-filled or hope-less:

what matters to God is simply that you are here.

We are entering the time of Advent,

in preparation for Christmas.

Advent reminds us that if God is to be born again

in the most ordinary parts of our world and our lives

that we need prepare for it.

We need to make the space in our lives

where love might be born.

Welcome to this tiny corner of a harsh and dark world.

Together, let us practice being ready

in the faith that Christ will come.

~ written by Cheryl Lawrie and posted on [hold this space]. http://holdthisspace.org.au/all-of-who-we-are/

Advent Poem: Let Advent Begin Again

Here’s a poem for Advent from David A. Redding. It was posted on Journey with Jesus.

Advent Poem

O Lord,
let Advent begin again
in us,
not merely in commercials;
for that first Christmas was not
simply for children,
but for the
wise and the strong.

It was
crowded around that cradle,
with kings kneeling.

Speak to us
who seek an adult seat this year.

Help us to realize,
as we fill stockings,
Christmas is mainly
for the old folks —
bent backs
and tired eyes
need relief and light
a little more.

No wonder
it was grown-ups
who were the first
to notice
such a star.

~ written by David A. Redding, in If I Could Pray Again (1965). Posted on Journey with Jesus. http://www.journeywithjesus.net/

Advent Call to Worship: Upside-Down Kingdom

Here’s a simple call to worship for the start of the Advent season. It comes from the Third Space website.

Call to Worship for Advent

This Advent, we hope and pray for:

Joy as we journey together,

Sight for the blind and healing for the sick,

Freedom for the prisoners and good news for the poor,

Release for the oppressed with justice for all

and love for each other.

And the coming of God’s topsy-turvy,

inside out,

upside-down Kingdom.

~ posted on Third Space. http://third-space.org.uk/

Advent Prayer: We Await Your Coming

Here’s a prayer for Advent from Christine Sine, and the GodSpace website.

Advent Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, we await your coming,
We wait filled with hope,
Knowing your light will shine in the darkness.
We wait anticipating your peace,
Believing that one day it will fill our world.
We wait embracing your love,
May we reach out to share it with our neighbours.
We wait with joy,
Bubbling us in expectation of your birth.
Lord we wait,
Come soon and fill us with your life.

~ written by Christine Sine (2012), and posted on GodSpace. http://godspace.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/prayers-for-the-journey-advent-prayers-for-the-week/

Call to Worship: Advent Awaits

Here’s an advent call to worship from Ann Siddall, and the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre and Faith Community.

Call to Worship for the Start of Advent

What will set us journeying in search of the Christ this Advent?

How far are we prepared to go out of our way

to look for the signs of His coming,

and to prepare a path?

How will we travel through this season?

will we be burdened by responsibilities and tasks,

loaded with others’ expectations, overwhelmed by their needs?

Will we be full of joy or weary of grief?

What will guide our steps in these weeks?

Will we follow a thread of longing,

the hint of an alternative pathway,

the words and music of the gathered community?

Sisters and brothers in Christ, Advent awaits us.

Let us place our feet on the road and begin the journey.

May we find in familiar words, rituals and customs

the birth of the new thing that awaits us.

~ written by Ann Siddall, and posted on the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre and Faith Community website. http://stillpointsa.org.au/prayer/prayers-and-liturgies/

Call to Worship as Advent Begins

Here’s an advent call to worship from Ann Siddall, and the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre and Faith Community.

She writes, “This call to worship requires the communion table to be empty as worship begins. During the prayer, purple material, a Bible, a candle, and a wrapped gift are laid on the table.”

Call to Worship at the Beginning of Advent

In the midst of frenzied shopping and end-of-year weariness,

we spread out a purple cloth,

(a purple cloth is spread over the communion table)

read again the ancient stories,

(a Bible is placed on the table)

and light a candle in the darkness,

(a candle or an Advent wreath is placed and lit)

to celebrate a visitation.

Gathered here we declare our intention to live

as if the greatest gift in the world

were about to be placed into our hands

(a wrapped parcel is laid on the table),

and as if the Giver has understood

our deepest needs, our most heartfelt prayers.

Like Mary, may we be surprised by our calling;

like Simeon and Anna, may the years increase our faith;

like sleepy shift workers on a hillside, may our eyes be opened;

like Joseph may we listen to our dreams;

for this season requires our creative imagination.

There is a Presence in our world that asks to be seen,

who will stay awake?

There is a coming to our world that seeks a welcome,

who will offer hospitality?

Even now Jesus Christ is moving towards us.

Our worship this morning will include some quiet spaces,

space after the Scripture is read,

space during the offering of our prayers,

and space before the Benediction.

In the spaces you are invited to watch and wait, look and listen.

Christ comes.

~ written by Ann Siddall, and posted on the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre and Faith Community website. http://stillpointsa.org.au/prayer/prayers-and-liturgies/

Advent Prayer: God's Timing

Here’s a prayer for the season of Advent (or a Longest Night/Blue Christmas service) from Ted Loder. (See link below.)

Prayer: God’s Timing

O God of all seasons and senses,
grant us the sense of your timing
to submit gracefully and rejoice quietly in the turn of the seasons.

In this season of short days and long nights,
of grey and white and cold,
teach us the lessons of endings;
children growing, friends leaving, loved ones dying,
grieving over,
grudges over,
blaming over,
excuses over.

O God, grant us a sense of your timing.
In this season of short days and long nights,
of grey and white and cold,
teach us the lessons of beginnings;
that such waitings and endings may be the starting place,
a planting of seeds which bring to birth what is ready to be born—
something right and just and different,
a new song, a deeper relationship, a fuller love—
in the fullness of your time.

O God, grant us the sense of your timing.

~ written by Ted Loder, in Guerrillas of Grace. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014ENRR4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

Advent in the Dark

Here’s a prayer meditation for Advent on the theme of darkness. It comes from the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and was posted on Sunday Papers.

Advent in the Dark

We wait in the darkness,

expectantly, longingly, anxiously, thoughtfully.

The darkness is our friend.

In the darkness of the womb,

we have all been nurtured and protected.

In the darkness of the womb

the Christ-child was made ready for the journey into light.

It is only in the darkness

that we can see the splendour of the universe –

blankets of stars, the solitary glowings of the planets.

It was the darkness that allowed the Magi to find the star

that guided them to where the Christ-child lay.

In the darkness of the night,

desert people find relief from the cruel relentless heat of the sun.

In the blessed desert darkness

Mary and Joseph were able to flee with the infant Jesus

to safety in Egypt.

In the darkness of sleep,

we are soothed and restored, healed and renewed.

In the darkness of sleep, dreams rise up.

God spoke to Joseph and the wise men through dreams.

God is speaking still.

Sometimes in the solitude of the darkness

our fears and concerns, our hopes and visions

rise to the surface.

We come face to face with ourselves

and with the road that lies ahead of us.

And in that same darkness

we find companionship for the journey.

In that same darkness

we sometimes allow ourselves to wonder and worry

whether the human race is going to survive.

And then, in the darkness

we know that you are with us, O God,

yet still we await your coming.

In the darkness that contains both our hopelessness and our hope,

we watch for a sign of God’s hope.

For you are with us, O God,

in darkness and in light.

~ from the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand (abridged). Posted by James Hawes, on Sunday Papers. http://www.sundaypapers.org.uk/

Advent Prayer: Seeking Shalom

Here’s an advent prayer from Joanna Harader’s Spacious Faith website.

Advent Prayer

Holy God of Peace,
We seek your peace in these darkening days.

We seek a calm within, yes.

And an absence of conflict between people and nations.

But more deeply, we seek your shalom –

the deep and abiding peace

that will come only through the justice of your kingdom. Amen.

~ written by Joanna Harader, and posted on Spacious Faith. http://spaciousfaith.com/

Call to Worship: Psalm 25

Here’s a call to worship based on Psalm 25. It comes from Amy Loving’s The Worship Closet.

Call to Worship

(based on Psalm 25)

We lift up our souls to you, Holy God.

We trust the Lord with our past, present, and future.

Teach us, Lord, that we may know your ways.

Guide our every move, Holy One,

that we may walk in your paths of love and mercy.

Let us worship the One who leads us in what is right.

Together, let us worship God!

~ written by Amy Loving, and posted on The Worship Closet: The Place for Creative Worship Ideas. http://worshipcloset.com/baptism-of-the-lord-sunday-year-b-words-for-worship/

Advent Prayer: Awaken Us to Action

Here’s a prayer for the start of Advent from lutheranjulia. It was posted on RevGalBlogPals.

Prayer for the Start of Advent

Lord,

we have pulled out the Advent wreath,

the Christmas tree, the poinsettias.

We dusted off the hymns, unsung for a year,

and unearthed the words of your prophets.

Yet, in your eyes,

these efforts are for nothing

without the regular, persistent, deep pursuit

of justice for all people.

Our efforts are hollow without consistent work

toward peace, reconciliation,

and participation in your mission for creation.

In our hearts, we do long to be your people,

to carry out your mission,

to be lights in the darkness—

proof that no darkness can overcome your truth.

Awaken us to action.

Stir us to courage.

Rouse us to prepare a way in the wilderness for your coming,

clearing the brush of oppression, racism,

injustice, and hopelessness—

so that all may see your light and perceive your coming.

Amen.

~ written by lutheranjulia and posted on RevGalBlogPals.