10_Advent_Cover

Advent 2010 – Looking for the Good News

10_Advent_CoverGATHERING

 

ENTRANCE

REFLECTION

And when we learn to read

the landscape of our fears,

and when we come to know

the terrain of every sorrow,

then will we turn

our fences into bridges

and our borders

into paths of peace.


CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:            Days pass and the years vanish

                        and we walk sightless among miracles.

 

Voice 1:            In faith we ask the Holy One,

                        Fill our eyes with seeing

                        and our minds with knowing.

 

Voice 2:            In hope we cry out to God,

                         let there be moments

                         when your presence, like lightning,

                         illumines the darkness in which we walk.

 

Leader:            And we, though clay,

                        when touched by God,

                        will reach out for holiness

                        and exclaim in wonder,

 

All:                   How filled with awe is this place

                        and we did not know it!

 

INVOCATION

 

HYMN

 

WORD FOR THE CHILDREN

 

SILENCE

 

PRAYERS

COMMON CONFESSION

Leader:            God of Promise, we come before you
                        in fear and doubt.

People:            Every day we come face to face
                        with our limits and our failures.

Leader:            We are blinded by greed, lust and selfishness.

People:            We blink before the frightful stare of our frailty.

Leader:            We can not see the Good News.

 

All:                   Forgive us for our willful blindness to your grace.

INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

 

ASSURANCE

Leader:            The Advent of Christ opens the eyes of our hearts

                        to God’s promise of forgiveness and compassion.

 

All:                   Amen.

 

PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION

 

PRAYER OF COMMITMENT

All:   O Holy One, we come today

        to claim our relationship with you.

        We pray for the commitment to grow together,

        sharing the gifts you give us with others

        here and in the wider world.

        Forgive us for the hurt we have inflicted,

        and help us forgive those who have hurt us.

        Give us strength and discipline

        to nurture our relationship with you;

        to care for every part of your creation;

        to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need;

        to work to end all war, and violence, and discord;

        and to respond joyfully when you call,

        freely giving our selves as you have shown the way.

 

       We open our hearts to you and your creation

       in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ.  Amen.

 

HYMN

 

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE

SERMON

SILENT REFLECTION

 

OFFERING


SHARED REFLECTIONS


ANNOUNCEMENTS


HYMN

 

BENEDICTION

Leader:   As we take our worship beyond these walls,

               let the landscape of our fears

               and the terrain of our sorrow

               become the ground of healing for the world.

               Casting your lot with Christ,

               turn your fences into bridges,

               and let your borders be paths of peace.

 

All:    Amen.

 

WORSHIP RESOURCES

Reflection and Benediction: Jan Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas, Pilgrim Press, page 47. Used with permission from Jan Richardson at www.janrichardson.com

Call to Worship: Adapted from Rachel Naomi Remen, Quoted in inward/outward, June 22, 2006

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