Worship
Service for December 19, 2021
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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
