Leader: Have you noticed? Are you paying attention? God is doing a new thing.
People: We watch and wait in the joy of the coming Messiah.
Leader: You know the captives? God is bringing freedom. You know the brokenhearted? God is bringing healing.
People: We watch and wait in the joy of the coming Messiah.
Leader: Beloved, listen. God is calling you. To be freed and to free your neighbors. To be healed and to heal your community. To testify to the Light among us.
People: We watch and wait in the joy of the coming Messiah.
Leader: So, let us join our voices and our hearts as we proclaim the story of the one whose coming we anticipate and yet is already as close as our own breath.
People: We come to watch, to wait, and to worship in the fierce joy of Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah. Amen.
Opening Hymn:
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus UMH 196
The Lighting of the Advent Candle
Reader 1: On the third Sunday of Advent, we light three candles. Our hope grows stronger, and our joy grows brighter as we prepare to celebrate Christ's coming. We remember also in this time of shadows those whose tears still water the ground with sadness, and we pray that God will bring all people home with shouts of joy.
Congregation: Come, Lord Jesus. In your light we will trust and not be afraid.
Reader 2: In God's promised new heaven and new earth: "The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it."(Revelation 21:23-24)
Congregation: Come, Lord Jesus. In your light we will trust and not be afraid.
Sung Response:
O Come, O Come, Emanuel UMH 211 Vs. 5,6
Gracious God, it was with joy that you brought us into being. You created the world and called it good. And yet we have done so much to quell that goodness: we have fought with one another and failed to live in peace; we have shut out the stranger and disparaged the immigrant; we have ignored the needy and judged the poor; we have fallen short of your command to be the Beloved Community. Forgive us, Merciful God, and bring us back to the joy we find in you. This we pray in your holy name. Amen.
Beloved, hear this good news: God’s love never fails, and is always at work to bring us back to God and one another. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! May God restore us to the joy of our common life now and always.
Amen.
In the Bleak Midwinter UMH 221 Vs. 4
Why This Song:
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb,
if I were a wise man I would do my part,
yet what I can I give him: give my heart.
We give thanks t you, O Lord, and call on your name. We proclaim your deeds among hte nations by sharing our gifts, for we area people whom the Lord has blessed. In Jesus' name. Amen.