Today's Worship Service for Sunday, December 26, 2021

 

Worship Service for December 26, 2021

Click Here for the YouTube link when highlighted.

Prelude

Announcements: 

·        You can join us for in-person worship at Olivet Presbyterian Church in West Elizabeth, PA at 9:45 or at Bethesda United Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, PA at 11:15.

Call to Worship

L:      Arise, shine, for your light has come!

P:      The glory of the Lord has risen upon us!

L:      Like sages from afar, come and behold your Christ!

P:      Let us fall on our knees in His honor!  Let us lift up our voices in praise of His name!

 

Opening Hymn – Angels From the Realms of Glory #22  Blue Hymnal

Prayer of Confession

          All-glorious God, we have faith in Jesus Christ, and love towards Your people, yet we are not without blemish in Your sight, not full of love, wisdom, and other spiritual blessings You still have available for us.  Our love is not as inclusive as Yours, and there is still much we need to learn.  Give us clearer vision of all that we are meant to be, so that by becoming fulfilled, we may increase the glory that is properly revealed in Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      Friends, hear the Good News!  Christ has come to set us free.   He has come to show us the hope, joy, peace, and love of God.

P:      In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.  Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

 

Gloria Patri

Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  AMEN

 

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

We give thanks this morning, O God, for Your faithfulness through the many generations that have walked this earth – for You were the God of Job in his suffering.  You were the God of Jeremiah in the exile.  You were the God of David in his wealth, power, and rule.  You were the God of Ruth as she sought to find a place and a people to call home.  You were the God Anna in her old age and in her eagerness to see Your promises fulfilled.  You were the God of Luke, who sought to understand You as Savior and Lord.  You were the God and Mary and Joseph who put their trust in You.  You were the God of the shepherds who stood in amazement at the voices of the angels.  You were the God of the wisemen who sought truth in the signs and portents of their day.  You were the God of Mary Magdalene who found forgiveness and strength in You.  And You are our God, who seek guidance, wisdom, comfort and mercy in Your compassionate love.

We give thanks that Your people have found ways to worship You in various places of prayer with Cathedral Ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows, with dirt floors and tin roofs, with icons of saints or the cooing of doves.  We have sung Your praise in quiet circles under the stars or with the heavenly voices of trained choirs.  Along our vast pilgrim way through the eons, You have provided the sustenance and refreshment for both body and soul.  We are most blessed when we put our trust in You.  We ask that you continue to provide for us in our generation, be with us Lord and bless us with Your favor.

We pray for our loved ones…

In this moment of silence, hear the voices of our hearts…

And now with one voice, we pray…

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed by Thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  AMEN.

 

Hymn –  Gentle Mary Laid Her Child #27 Blue Hymnal

Scripture Reading(s): 

OT – Psalm 148

NT – Luke 2:41-52

Sermon –  Searching for Jesus!

Have you ever lost sight of your children?  A friend of mine tells this story:  He remembers his mother taking him shopping during the Christmas Season.  All he wanted to do was look at toys.  His mother was not interested in looking at toys.  She was interested in looking at shoes and clothes.  Needless to say he was bored to death.  To alleviate his boredom he wandered off on his own to find the toy department.  He didn’t bother to tell his mother that he was going to the toy department.  He just assumed she would know where he was.

Of course, his mother panicked as she began looking all over the store for him once she turned around and couldn’t find him.  After a frantic search she went to the information desk and asked someone to announce over the intercom for her son to come to the front of the store.  Hearing his name broadcast for the entire store to hear was bad enough, but at this point he wasn’t exactly sure where the front of the store was.  As he worked his way through one department and the next, hopefully towards the front of the store, his mother caught sight of him.  Immediately, the look of fear on her face turned into relief.  But then one second later, her relief turned into anger, and the lecture began: “Where have you been?  Do you know I’ve been searching all over this store for you?  Do you know what you’ve put me through?  Don’t you ever leave my sight again!”  He tried to defend himself as best he could, but to no avail and he got disciplined when they got home.

If you’ve ever lost sight of a child, I’m sure you can relate to Mary and Joseph in today’s Scripture passage, as well.  Our scripture begins with the family of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus travelling to Jerusalem from Nazareth to celebrate Passover.  The celebration of Passover required a pilgrimage once a year to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices.  This was about a 3-day journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem.  Luke tells us that Jesus was 12 years old at the time of this particular journey.  This is the age that a Jewish male moves from boyhood to manhood.  He and his family would celebrate this passage to adulthood in a ceremony we now call Bar Mitzvah, which means Son of the Law or Subject to the Law.  Being a Son of the Law meant that Jesus would be expected to know the difference between right and wrong.  And Jesus is eager to share his understanding of the Law with the teachers of the Law so he stays at the Temple without informing his parents, perhaps like my friend and his mother, assuming they’d know where he would be. 

Jesus astounds the religious leaders and scholars with his questions and knowledge of scripture.  In the meantime, Mary and Joseph had already packed up and begun the journey back to Nazareth.  At some point during their journey home they suddenly notice that Jesus is missing!  Think of what any mother might have felt.  He’s not just missing in a department store, he’s been missing on a traveling journey out of Jerusalem.  He could be anywhere.  Mary and Joseph immediately turn around and rush back to Jerusalem searching for Jesus along the way.

Notice that when they find him, they are astonished, but Mary nonetheless addresses him, “Child, why have you treated us like this?  Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”  Notice also in Jesus’s response that he did not consider himself lost.  “Why were you searching for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house.”  Mary and Joseph thought Jesus was lost and searched for him.  They were looking for a child instead of a man.  They searched the travelling caravan and all the places in between instead of the Temple.  They were looking in the wrong places.  They were surprised, in the end, to find Jesus in the Temple.  Perhaps, we too, are looking for God in all the wrong places? 

Parents often teach children this prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep.  I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  The angels watch me through the night until I wake in morning light, Amen.”  Do you remember that prayer?  Maybe you have taught it to your children.  It’s a great prayer for kids, but as we grow into adulthood, our prayer requests and our needs change, become a bit more mature.  If you’re still looking for the Jesus from your childhood that is self-centered and self-serving like in the childhood prayer, maybe it’s time to consider a more mature relationship with God. 

In our scripture reading today, I think it is significant that Luke tells us that Jesus is 12 years old, the time in Christ’s day when a child becomes a man.  I think it is also significant that Mary addresses him still as, “Child.”  Jesus was no longer a child.  He has moved on from childish things and is maturing into adulthood.  We need to do the same in our own faith, as well. 

1 Corinthians 13:11 says, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.”  The Lord’s Prayer is a very different prayer from our prayers as children.  When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we put God first.  We pray for God’s will not ours.  We pray for bread not just for us but for others.  We pray for forgiveness not just for us but for others.  We pray to God, for the ability to be like God, so we can forgive others.  The Lord’s Prayer takes us on a spiritual journey with God, by forming us, and shaping us to be mature disciples of Christ.

As our faith grows and matures our ability to see God and hear God grows.  During our journey we use our eyes and ears of faith to witness the many signs and wonders of God.  These can be found in keeping our eyes and ears open to the stories of others surrounding us, through serving others, by putting our lives in proper perspective.  Only then can we truly find God.  We are no longer children, but should be maturing in our faith. 

Mary and Joseph thought Jesus was lost, but he wasn’t.  He was right where he was supposed to be.  They were the ones who needed to turn around.  They were the ones who needed to re-direct their journey.  They were the ones who needed to search for Jesus—not because he was lost, but because they were lost without him. 

Becoming a disciple of Christ is our most important journey on earth.  It’s a journey we take each day towards and closer to God.  It’s a spiritual journey and it starts right here in church.  But it doesn’t start and stop there.  Some of us get stuck here as it becomes just a ritual, a place to be on Sunday morning.  Jesus didn’t stay in the Temple.  He went out.  He took the lessons he’d learned, the ways of faith into maturity and he lived them, bringing everyday life, everyday circumstances, everyday parables into teaching a spiritual truth.  Some of us, leave the Temple or Church and never find our way back, thinking that we’ve left behind our childish ways.  But Jesus also didn’t leave the Temple or Church altogether.  It was central to his entire ministry.  He worshipped there and taught there.  He was often called “Rabbi/Teacher.”

Today’s story is a reminder that our faith begins in childlike ways but should mature and grow.  It’s also a reminder that we are not to lose sight of Jesus along the way, although we might find ourselves going in the wrong direction, there is always a path back to God.

AMEN

Offertory – Bethesda’s Choir “Come, See”

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

          Heavenly Lord, we know that the gifts of our hands are no substitute for the loyalty of our lives.  In giving back these blessings, we pledge ourselves to Your service.  In Christ’s name, AMEN.

Closing Hymn –  It Came Upon a Midnight Clear #38  Blue Hymnal

Benediction

Just as people of faith from past generations sought to honor and obey God, seeking moments of truth and clarity for their own destiny, God invites you into the story as well.  Go, find your own path, and serve the Lord.

Postlude

Tonight's Christmas Eve Service - December 24, 2021

 

Worship Service for Christmas Eve December 24, 2021

Click Here for YouTube video

Prelude(s)

Christ Be Our Light - Choir

Call to Worship

L:      Our Savior’s birth is celebrated with bold faith.

P:      May our hearts be willing.

L:      Like Mary, who showed humble surrender:

P:      May our hearts be willing.

L:      Like Joseph, who exhibited unconditional trust:

P:      May our hearts be willing.

L:      Like the shepherds, who displayed awestruck wonder:

P:      May our hearts be willing.

L:      Like the angels, who sang glorious praise:

P:      May our hearts be willing.

L:      For all who are willing to receive the gift of the Savior born in Bethlehem:

P:      Grant that we might have the peace of Christ as we wait, the love of Christ as we act, and the grace of Christ as we speak.

Lighting of the Advent Candle – all candles and the Christ Candle

Hymn – O Come, All Ye Faithful  #249 in Blue Hymnal

We welcome Baby Jesus – (a child from the congregation places baby Jesus in the Manger)

Prayer of Confession

          Gracious God, who promised to send a Redeemer to Your people, we confess that we have not trusted Your promise, but have busied ourselves with activities which obstruct its fulfillment.  We give presents, but fail to be present with one another.  We socialize with friends, but fail to welcome the stranger in our midst.  We create commotion and refuse to receive Your peace.  Forgive us, God, for our busyness and our lack of trust.  Teach us to wait with expectant patience for the fulfillment of Your promise to us.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      This is the good news in Jesus Christ.  We can stand before God, not through our own goodness, but through God’s great kindness to us.

P:      Let us rejoice and be glad, for God comes to us this night and always! 

Choir Anthem: Christ is Born This Holy Night

First Reading: Isaiah 9:2-7

Hymn: Away in a Manger #262

Second Reading: Luke 1:26-38

Third Reading: Matthew 1:18-25

Hymn: O Little Town of Bethlehem #250

Fourth Reading: Luke 2:8-15

Offertory: Night Song

Prayer of Dedication

Fifth Reading: John 1:1-5

Hymn: Joy to the World #270

Sixth Reading: Luke 2:1-6

Sermon(ette) – God’s Gift (A Christmas Eve Sermon)

The central figure in tonight’s story is of course, the Christ child, but there are lots of participating characters as well when you read over the full account throughout the scriptures.  Even going all the way back to Old Testament times and the age of the prophets – each of them proclaimed the coming of a Messiah - Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Micah, Daniel, Joel, Malachi.  And then there are the more familiar characters like the angels, Mary, Joseph, the ubiquitous Innkeeper, the unnamed shepherds, and the traveling wisemen.  They all served a purpose – whether they come to us down through the ages like the prophets, or are ever-present in the story itself like Mary and Joseph, whether they were rich like the wisemen or poor like the shepherds, whether they trusted and obeyed the angels’ instructions, or were simply too busy to be bothered much like the innkeeper – they were all witnesses to what God was doing in the world. 

For many, the idea of a Messiah was that he would be a new political leader or ruler, not that he would save us from our sins.  But Christ came as an infant child to show us the true meaning of innocence and giving.  After all, God’s willingness to be present with us, to show us the truth of love, hope, joy, and peace was to give us a gift.  And that gift came as an innocent baby, born into the world, like all other babies – perhaps even more poor than most, considered homeless at birth.  Born to earthly parents who loved him but had little to provide for him, visited by equally-poor shepherds, but also the richest of kings.  It was the most ordinary of births considering the time, but also the most extraordinary, as well.

Thanks to the connectedness of friendships on Facebook, I came across this Christmas story written by Nancy Gavin, which resonated with me, so I’ll share it:

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree.  No name, no identification, no inscription.  It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas.   Oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it – overspending and the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma – the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth.        I reached for something special just for Mike.  The inspiration came in an unusual way.

Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was on the wrestling team at the school he attended.  Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church.  These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes.

As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears.  It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford.

Well, we ended up walloping them.  We took every weight class.  Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said.  "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids – all kids.  He so enjoyed coaching little league football, baseball and lacrosse.  That's when the idea for his present came.

That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes, and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church.  On Christmas Eve, I placed a small, white envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done, and that this was his gift from me.

Mike's smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year.  And that same bright smile lit up succeeding years.  For each Christmas, I followed the tradition – one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.

The white envelope became the highlight of our Christmas.  It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning, and our children – ignoring their new toys – would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.  As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the small, white envelope never lost its allure.

The story doesn't end there.  You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer.  When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up.  But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree.  And the next morning, I found it was magically joined by three more.  Unbeknownst to the others, each of our three children had for the first time placed a white envelope on the tree for their dad.  The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down that special envelope.

Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us.

For the Man Who Hated Christmas

(A true Christmas Story by Nancy W. Gavin, December 2015)

For those of you who don’t know this, my sister Joy passed away earlier this year and in keeping with this story, I’ve also started a new tradition.  Tonight, I’ll place a plain white envelope (hold up the envelope) containing the gift that I’ve given my family this year in memory of my sister.  (If you want to know about the gift inside this envelope, you'll have to wait because I'm not going to spoil the surprise before Christmas Morning.)  Oh sure, there will be chap stick and dusting powder to open, but the greatest gift I could give them is the lasting legacy of my sister, paying it forward for those who are less fortunate.

May God’s greatest gift inspire you to become a gift to others.  And may the spirit of Christmas enlighten your souls with hope, love, joy and peace.

AMEN.

Congregational Candle Lighting – with instruction (do not start Silent Night until all the individual candles have been lit)

Hymn: Silent Night

Benediction

Postlude

Today's Worship Service - Sunday, December 19, 2021 - the 4th Sunday of Advent

 

Worship Service for December 19, 2021

Click Here for the YouTube link when highlighted.

Prelude

Announcements: 

·        You can join us for in-person worship at Olivet Presbyterian Church in West Elizabeth, PA at 9:45 or at Bethesda United Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, PA at 11:15.

·        Bible Study – Brown Bag and Bible, will meet this Wednesday at 12:30pm for our new study of Hosea.

      We will have a joint worship service at Bethesda United Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth for our Candlelight Christmas Eve Service at 7pm.  We will reinstate physical distance in our pews to allow family members to sit together but to put some separation between groups due to an expected larger attendance.

Christ Be Our Light - Choir

Call to Worship

L:      Advent is a time to bind up the broken hearted.

P:      Come, Lord, and make all things new.

L:      For past wrongs that prevent us from moving forward:

P:      Come, Lord, and make all things new.

L:      For any bitterness that scratches our soul:

P:      Come, Lord, and make all things new.

L:      For relationships left in decay and neglect:

P:      Come, Lord, and make all things new.

L:      For any action that has wounded us or by which we have wounded others:

P:      Grant that we might have the peace of Christ as we wait, the love of Christ as we act, and the grace of Christ as we speak.

 

Lighting of the Advent Candle

 

Opening Hymn – Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent  #5 in Blue Hymnal

Prayer of Confession

          Loving God, even in the midst of this season of goodwill, there is much to confess.  In spite of the hallelujahs of holiday cheer, stress and anxiety rule our lives.  We sometimes miss the reason for the season with all the bells and glitter, the packages and wrappings.  We fail to think about Your re-ordered world – a world where the lowly are lifted up and the hungry are filled with good things.  Help us adjust our Christmas priorities, that we might join with you, O God, in preparing a world that welcomes the one who brings us love, joy, peace and hope.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      The light of God’s love shines upon each of us in the gift of God’s love, Jesus Christ.  This is given for you.  Rejoice!  You are loved by God, now and forever.

P:      Let us rejoice and be glad, for God comes to us in love! 

 

Gloria Patri

Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  AMEN

 

Choral Anthem:  Emmanuel

 

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

Lord, we can't quite imagine what it must have been like for Mary, to hear God's request and to respond, unconditionally with "Yes!" We have a tendency to put conditions on everything. We want to know what we have to do, how long this will take, what's in it for us, what are the projected outcomes.  Forgive us for our faithlessness, Lord.  Slow us down, and cause us to take time to really consider the wonderful ways you have always worked in our lives.  As we have come before you with concerns on our hearts for our families, friends, and world, remind us that your presence is with us and your healing love comforts and restores us.  Open our hearts and our ears to the cries of those in need.  Let us use our talents and resources to help others.  Give us courage, energy, and enthusiasm as we work for you in this world.  We ask this in Jesus' Name.  We pray for…

And now, O Lord, in the silence, we also pray…

Hear our prayers, O Lord as we pray together…

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed by Thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  AMEN.

 

Hymn –  Hark! The Herald Angels Sing #31/277

Scripture Reading(s): 

OT – Micah 5:2-5a

NT – Luke 1:39-55

Sermon –  Song of Praise

Song of Praise

(based on Luke 1:39-55)

          Less than a week to go and Jesus will once again be born into the world when we celebrate his birth on Christmas Day.  Year after year our Christmas celebration reminds us that God does not stand at a distance, waiting for us to come to him.  God has instead come all the way to us, and what the waiting is about is for us to comprehend and choose the light not only in word but also in deed and truth.

          Today we are given a good companion in the last days of our wait – Mary the mother of God.  Today’s reading from Luke contains the longest speech she ever makes.  It is a song known through the centuries by its Latin name, the Magnificat.  It is one of the Christian church’s oldest hymns, and it is about Mary’s dawning understanding of what her baby will mean to the world.

          A number of years ago, Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene wrote the song, Mary Did You Know?  It has become one of my own all time favorite Christmas songs, as I’m sure it is also one of yours.  But it puts Mary in the traditional role of an innocent girl who was just a vessel for God to use, who didn’t fully comprehend her own role or even the role her own son would play.  And yet, this song of Mary’s in Luke tells a different story.  Mary knew.

          Mary is a young girl when she sings her song, thirteen or fourteen, probably, sixteen at the most.  She is, like many girls her age, betrothed or engaged as we say today, to a man she hardly knows.  It frightens her to think about leaving home to become his wife, but it does not frighten her nearly as much as some of the other things that have been happening lately.  Every time she thinks about that angel who came to visit her, her stomach does a flip.  The news that angel brought was no news for a young girl.  It was news that would have set a grown woman to trembling, and Mary wonders if she can bear it, if she can truly bear a son, but not any old son, a son by God, who will rule over the house of David forever.

          The whole scene seems surreal and strange – the angel, the whiteness, the voice like bells – she is not even sure it really happened.  If it did, what will become of her?  As she grows larger by the day with this mysterious child foretold by the angel, what will people say?  That God chose her to bear his son, who in the world would believe that?  And more importantly, what about Joseph?  Would he believe her?  But it is better to put faith and belief in God than to doubt when the evidence is already showing.  That is why she answered the angel as she did: “I am the servant of the Lord,” what else could she say?  She was dumbfounded.  “Let it be with me according to your word.”  She had a million questions, but none she could audibly put into words.

          All the same, she is scared, so scared that she asks her mother and father if she can leave town for a while and go see her cousin Elizabeth in the uplands of Judah.  Elizabeth is much older than she is, older than her mother even, but Elizabeth has never patted her on the head or used that tone of voice that adults use when they speak down to children.  No, Elizabeth has always treated her like a full-fledged person, like a friend, and a friend is what she needs right now.  Her parents say yes, that she has been looking a little tired and flushed lately and maybe a change of scenery out in the country will do her some good.  So she goes, and on the journey she has lots of time to worry.  What if Joseph denounces her?   What if her parents disown her?  Never mind the shame – how will she take care of the baby all by herself with no place to live, no way to get food, no one to help her?

          When she finally arrives at Elizabeth’s she is a wreck, but at the sight of her beloved cousin she forgets all her woes.  Elizabeth is six months pregnant herself and gorgeous.  Not gorgeous by ordinary standards, but so full of life that it is hard to see much beyond her joy.  Her gray hair shows in wisps beneath her kerchief, and as she takes Mary’s hands in hers the girl can see dark spots on them, the kind that come with age.  Elizabeth’s face, too, shows her years, but her eyes are clear and full of light.  She sees Mary staring at her big belly and laughs out loud.  “Blessed are you among women,” Elizabeth exclaims, “and blessed is the fruit of YOUR womb.”

          What?  Mary can hardly believe her ears!  How could Elizabeth possibly know?  And if she knows, why isn’t she troubled about it as well?  Can’t she see what a mess this is going to be, how much explaining there is going to be?  But Elizabeth needs no explanation at all.  Without asking a single question, she takes her young cousin in her arms and lets her know that everything, finally, will be all right.  Then Mary’s stomach does another flip, and her soul finally settles ito full acceptance of her situation.  Total acceptance does something to the heart, your foot starts tapping and mere words will not suffice – you want music, a saxophone, a brass band, an entire symphony to accompany your outpouring of gladness.  In just such a frame of mind, Mary opens her mouth and begins to sing, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”

          Without casting any aspersions on Mary’s originality, her song contains echoes of a much older song, sung over a thousand years earlier by her kinswoman Hannah.  Hannah, like Elizabeth, grew old and despaired of ever having a child until the Lord heard her prayer and blessed her with Samuel.  When the miraculous baby boy was born, Hannah took him to the temple and sang, too.  “My heart exults in the Lord, my strength is exalted in God,” she sang.  “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength.”  It is a song Mary may have heard before, or else one whose themes are so universal that they crop up again and again whenever God stirs his people’s hearts.

          What Hannah, Elizabeth, and Mary all have in common, what allows them to sing in harmony, is that they know they have received God’s blessing.  Each of them has carried that blessing around in her body, kicking and growing until no one who looks at her can miss it.  Mary is all but overwhelmed by what is in store for her.  “Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed,” she sings.

Well, after all, she is a young teenager, who has spent the last few days numb with fear.  Out from under that fear, she is as excited as if she has been named Queen for a Day.  For “he who is mighty has done a great thing for me, and holy is his name.”

         

Like the beatitudes in Matthew’s gospel, this blessedness of Mary also has two parts: her past humiliation and her future glory.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, who are meek, who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake” – who wants that half of the equation?  But the other half – “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven, for they shall be comforted, shall inherit the earth, shall see God.”  Now that is the interesting part of blessedness.  The trouble is, we cannot have one without the other; they come in matched pairs, with no substitutions.  So it is with Mary.  She has been embarrassed and afraid, the most miserable of the miserable, but God has blessed her in her low estate, has made her a promise she believes, and that is the living definition of faith, faith that gives substance to our hopes, faith in things not seen.  In that blessedness Mary knew all that she would welcome, love, embrace, and endure.

         

“And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation,” Mary’s song continues.  But she also believes what she sees in Elizabeth’s eyes.  “He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,” Mary sings and already the words are turning in her mouth.  “He has put down the might from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree.” She keeps seeing images of so many people as she sings, kings and queens leaving town all by themselves with their crowns flattened in the dust behind them, beggars dressed in brocade, cripples on white stallions?  It is all backwards!  Everything is upside down!

          But the words to her song keep coming, spilling from her lips before she can decide what she thinks about them all.  She is no longer singing the song; instead, the song is singing her, and what music, what verse!  “He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”  Where are these words coming from?  She is not a politician, no revolutionary; she simply wants to sing a happy song, but all of a sudden she has become an articulate radical, an astonished prophet singing about a world in which the last have become first and the first, last.  What is more, her song puts it all in the past tense, as if the hungry have already been fed, the rich already freed from their possessions.  How can that be?  Her baby, just now growing inside her is not bigger than a thumbnail, but already she is reciting his accomplishments as if they were history.  Her faith is in things not seen, faith that comes to her from outside herself, and that is why generation after generation have called her blessed.

          Down through the ages we have seen her as an immature and frightened girl who had the good sense to believe what an angel told her in what seemed like a dream.  But in truth, she was the mother of the son of God, with faith enough to move mountains, to sing about the victories of her son as if he were already at the right hand of God, his father. 

She just wanted to thank God for visiting her, but she ended up bearing his son.  She just wanted to be blessed in a small way, but she ended up changing the future of the world.  She just wanted to sing a happy song, but she ended up singing revolution, singing the Lord’s own upheaval and tumult.  Did Mary know all these things would happen?  Yes, Mary knew.  She sang about it and believed. 

          This Christmas, let God be born in you so that you too, can magnify the Lord and believe.

AMEN.

Offertory   

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

Holy God, out of all our many blessings, we give You back these offerings today.  Knowing that Your promises will be fulfilled, we pledge our lives to You in anticipation of the coming of the one who brings us peace.  AMEN.

Closing Hymn –  Go, Tell It on the Mountain #29/258

Benediction

As God blessed Mary to carry His gift into the world and gave her purpose, may God also give you purpose as you leave today’s service.  Go in peace, love, joy, and hope.

 

Postlude

Today's Worship Service for Sunday, December 12, 2021 - The Third Sunday of Advent

 

Worship Service for December 12, 2021

Click Here for the YouTube link when highlighted.

Prelude

Announcements: 

·        You can join us for in-person worship at Olivet Presbyterian Church in West Elizabeth, PA at 9:45 or at Bethesda United Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, PA at 11:15.

·        Bible Study – Brown Bag and Bible, will meet this Wednesday at 12:30pm for our new study of Hosea.

Christ Be Our Light - Choir

Call to Worship

L:      Advent is a time to awaken our spiritual senses.

P:      We stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord, repeat them in our day.

L:      Grant us vision to behold your glory.

P:      We stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord, repeat them in our day!

L:      Quiet us so we may hear your still, soft voice.

P:      We stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord, repeat them in our day!

L:      Make us vessels of your mercy, compassion, and grace.

P:      We stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord, repeat them in our day!

L:      For all of us eagerly watching for your glory in our midst.

P:      Grant that we might have the peace of Christ as we wait, the love of Christ as we act, and the grace of Christ as we speak.

 

Lighting of the Advent Candle

 

Opening Hymn – Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates  #8 in Blue Hymnal

Prayer of Confession

          Patient Lord, forgive our lack of faith in Your loving power.  We look around us and all that we see is what we don’t have.  We fail to notice the daily blessings You lavish upon us.  Clear our blindness to the needs of others.  Strengthen us and move us from lame excuses for not serving You.  Help us to truly listen to one another, not with our pat answers ready, but with peaceful, loving and generous hearts.  Heal us and make us ready to fully be Your disciples.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      Behold and believe in the wondrous power and peace of God!  It is poured out for you and for God’s beloved world.  Rejoice in this good news for it is given especially for you.

P:      Let us rejoice and be glad, for God comes to us in peace! 

 

Gloria Patri

Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  AMEN

 

Choral Anthem:  An Advent Alleluia

 

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

All praise we lift up to you, Emmanuel, God-promised, and God with us; all praise to you in the silence and the singing of this most sacred season.  Because of you, stars shine in our lives and our poor manger places become holy straw.  May the good tidings of peace on earth and good will to the people of the earth be on our lips, as it was with the shepherds and the angels.  We give you thanks that a voice cried out in the wilderness to shed light on the one who is coming.  We give you thanks for becoming human – weak and poor, cold and lonely.  As we become more human for knowing you – more able to lift our burdens and open our doors to strangers; more willing to believe that you are near.  That we are also the voices of one, crying out in the wilderness, shedding light onto the one who has come!  We give you thanks for the hope of this season.  For the love which you lavished on us at Christmas.  And for the Joy we have knowing that you are indeed near.  This morning we give you thanks for choosing the low and the rejected and the broken.  Help us find mercy in our struggles and courage in the rough places and crooked paths.

We also lift up to you this day our words of both joys and concerns, knowing that you hear the victory of our souls and the groaning of our hearts in those words.  We pray for…

And now, O Lord, in the silence, we also pray…

Hear our prayers, O Lord as we pray together…

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed by Thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  AMEN.

 

Hymn –  It Came Upon A Midnight Clear #38/251

Scripture Reading(s): 

OT – Isaiah 12:2-6

NT – Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon –  The Lord is Near (based on Philippians 4:4-7)

          I have to be honest; this Advent Season has been difficult for me.  In my neighborhood, lights went up outside on the day after Thanksgiving.  And it’s been my tradition to start to bring down all the “stuff” from our third floor – essentially our attic – to begin decorating that weekend, as well.  When I first moved into our neighborhood, 14 years ago, our house was the only house on the block that had Christmas lights up outside.  As the years have gone by, more and more neighbors have joined us and now most all of them have decorations and lights on outside.  And this year, especially, it seemed that each yard was trying to outdo the next.  There are more lights and decorations than I’ve ever seen. 

But this year, I just wasn’t interested.  A couple of years ago we strung lights on the two evergreens out front and never took them down following Christmas.  The trees have grown and the lights are firmly embedded deep within the branches.  We turned them on and they now glow faintly from within and that was about all I could muster by Thanksgiving weekend, the first week of Advent.  The second week in Advent began and I half-heartedly roped Tyler and Walter into bringing down just a few things.  But my heart really wasn’t in it.  The first couple of boxes I opened were my sister’s tree and her ornaments and the tears started to flow.

Christmas was always a magical time in our household, as I’m sure it was for many of you, as well.  We generally put up our tree and decorated the house on the same weekend as our Advent Workshop at church.  The workshop was generally held on the first Sunday of Advent for everyone – both adults and children.  Each member of the family would sign up for a different Advent Craft class.  We’d gather in the social hall for a light dinner, sing a few Christmas Carols and off we’d go to create some new age- appropriate Christmas ornament or decoration for our homes. 

Our Christmas Tree always went up the Saturday before the Workshop.  We’d leave early in the morning and go to Featheroff’s Tree Farm, cut down the fattest, roundest tree we could find.  Dad would hack away at it in the garage to get it to fit into the stand.  Mom and my sister and I would check the Christmas lights to make sure they’d all work, sometimes spending a ridiculous amount of time changing bulbs.  We’d bring the tree in from the garage and set it up in the large picture window in our Living Room so that the lights from the tree would shine brightly from the front of our house.  And we would decorate the tree with handblown glass ornaments only from West Germany at the time which my Mom had started to collect when my parents were first married.  Mom did most of the decorating allowing my sister and I to carefully hang a few. 

One year, coming home from the Advent Workshop as we were driving up the road, the picture window was dark.  No lights shone brightly in the window and someone asked, “Did somebody turn off the Christmas Tree lights before we left?”  (Yes, I know you probably shouldn’t leave the house with your Christmas tree lights on.  But we did, all the time.  And I still do.) 

Well, nobody admitted to having unplugged the tree.  The most logical conclusion was that the lights were off because multiple bulbs had burned out and we were all thinking of the hours ahead of us to try and figure out which ones were bad.  As we walked by the front window of the porch, not only were there no lights on from the tree, but there was also no tree in the window.

What we found when we entered the house and turned on the Living Room lights was that the tree had fallen over and lay on the floor with scattered Christmas ornaments everywhere.  Miraculously, not a single handblown glass ball had broken. 

Over the years, all of us – Mom, Joy, and myself had continued the tradition of buying only handblown glass ornaments, now mostly made in Germany or Eastern Europe like Poland and Slovenia.  Years ago, when Mom stopped putting up a large tree, she gifted her entire collection to my sister and me.  And now I have them all; Mom’s, Joy’s and my own.  It’s enough to completely fill three trees and so, that’s what I did. 

Although my heart wasn’t in it last weekend, I decorated.  There’s a tree in the Parlor, a tree in the Living Room, and a tree in the Dining Room.  And yesterday, I put up the last tree, a fourth and final one, out on the front porch full of nutcrackers I’ve collected. 

As I hung each ornament the tears flowed as I remembered Christmas’s of the past.  One year we eschewed our normal traditions altogether and rented our favorite cabin at Mountain Springs Lake in the Poconos and had Christmas with a much smaller tree decorated with strung popcorn and cranberries and decorated milkweed pods and pinecones.  We attended a small local church on Christmas Eve and opened the gifts that somehow Santa had found a way to deliver to us on Christmas morning while we sat around the fire sipping hot chocolate.  It was one of the more magical Christmases I remember.

And two years ago, the last Christmas we would spend together, we all went to my sister’s.  She was so excited to have us all there for the first time – to be the host, to cook the Christmas dinner, to show off all her own decorations.  Joy was an enormous gadget/widget type of person and every light, every piece of electronics, was on some kind of timer or worked by remote.  She was like a little kid as candles, the Christmas tree, her porch and other display lights, and various pieces of electronics popped on and off at her whim.

Tears flowed as I hung a favorite ornament from childhood, or placed my sister’s wreath on my front door, or redecorated a lighted bush that had been hers, but was decked out in pink and purple – not really my colors; asking for her forgiveness as I covered it in red and gold. 

And there were some things that I just couldn’t bear to do like hanging up her stocking.  I simply put it back in the box after my 100th bout of tears that day.

Advent is a time of preparation, a time of watching and waiting.  And every year we anticipate the Hope, Love, Joy and Peace to be experienced at Christmas.  But, for various reasons, Christmas for some can be a time of deep weariness.  It can magnify loss.  It can turn twinkling lights into a glaring reminder of what used to be, but no longer is.  It can be a sad reminder of those who used to sit at the table with us and whose stockings will be forever empty.

Today’s scripture reading for Advent from Philippians says for us to rejoice.  Many of us will have a hard time rejoicing, whether it’s because we have recently lost someone or we’re remembering those whom we lost years ago.  When I first read this passage, I was quite frustrated with what I could possibly say this morning that would, at least, sound uplifting, even if my own heart was not rejoicing. 

So, I kept reading this passage over and over wondering when that rejoicing would start – thinking of others who have also lost loved ones; mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, and children.  But Paul doesn’t just tell us to rejoice, he says something more.  He says, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near.”

“Gentle Mary laid her child, lowly in a manger”.  The gravity of it all hit me remembering these words from that hymn.  Mary sang about her own son’s birth and she knew that he had come to save the earth.  She knew from the beginning what cost she would bear and yet in her gentleness she welcomed shepherds and angels and foreign wisemen from the east.  In her gentleness she found peace in laying the child in a manger, this same child who would one day be crucified.  In her gentleness she would find comfort in knowing only one thing; that the Lord is near.  He was near when she was a child.  The Lord was near when the angel came to her to say that she had found favor with God.  The Lord was near when she, an unwed young woman, became pregnant.  The Lord was near when Joseph agreed to be her husband and father to her child.  The Lord was near in the stable where she gave birth.  The Lord was near as she placed him in the manger.  The Lord was near as he grew to adulthood.  The Lord was near as she watched him grow and teach, heal, and bring others back to the ways of God.  The Lord was near when he died a cruel death.  The Lord was near in her heartache and pain.  The Lord was near when she took her own last breath and joined him in heaven. 

The Lord is near in all our joys and in all our sorrows.

Whether this Christmas season comes to you with ringing bells and happy Alleluias or if it comes to you with a weary heart and soul, may the gentleness of Mary be with your spirit and allow you to fully experience the joy in knowing that the Lord is indeed near, wrapping you in everlasting arms of comfort and strength.

Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

Offertory   

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

O Gracious God, bless our offerings this day that it may reach and touch those who hunger, who hurt, who seek new hope.  We dedicate our lives and all that we have to the work of life, of love, of peace.  Receive these, our gifts in joy, and lead us in wisdom and courage.  AMEN.

Closing Hymn –  Joyful, Joyful We Adore You #271 Brown Hymnal – 2 verses

Benediction

Postlude