Third Sunday of Advent/Lovefeast December 14, 2014 CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S DAY In consideration of other worshipers, please turn cell phones and mobile devices off or to silent mode. Thank you. (The third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” is a Latin word that means joy and rejoicing. Symbolically, “Joy Sunday” is signified by a pink Advent candle that we shall light today. How appropriate that we celebrate our Lovefeast on Gaudete Sunday of Advent.) MUSIC FOR THE GATHERING OF THE WORSHIPERS Mary’s Song Chris Eaton and Amy Grant/arr. Carol Tornquist (lighting of the candles, Emylia Hallberg) As the pastor and acolyte enter the sanctuary, let us pause in thoughtful silence and begin our worship. OUR LIFE TOGETHER… (During the announcements, please fill out the fellowship pad and pass it back and forth through your pew in order that we may greet one another by name after worship.) GATHERING SONG Light Three Candles to Watch for Messiah Wayne L. Wold (Please see insert, Stz. 1, 2 & 3 ~ choir and congregation singing together) (silent moments of meditation and preparation for worship) CALL TO WORSHIP & LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT WREATH: Tom Stuart, Liturgist One: As we light the first three candles let us say together:
Transcript
Third Sunday of Advent/Lovefeast December 14, 2014
CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S DAYIn consideration of other worshipers, please turn cell phones and mobile devices off or to silent mode. Thank you.
(The third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” is a Latin word that means joy and rejoicing. Symbolically, “Joy Sunday” is signified by a pink Advent candle that we shall light today. How appropriate that we celebrate our Lovefeast on Gaudete Sunday of Advent.)
MUSIC FOR THE GATHERING OF THE WORSHIPERSMary’s Song Chris Eaton and Amy Grant/arr. Carol Tornquist
(lighting of the candles, Emylia Hallberg)As the pastor and acolyte enter the sanctuary, let us pause in thoughtful silence and begin our worship.
OUR LIFE TOGETHER…(During the announcements, please fill out the fellowship pad and pass it back and forth through your pew in order that we may greet one another by name after worship.)
GATHERING SONGLight Three Candles to Watch for Messiah Wayne L. Wold
(Please see insert, Stz. 1, 2 & 3 ~ choir and congregation singing together)
(silent moments of meditation and preparation for worship)
CALL TO WORSHIP & LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT WREATH: Tom Stuart, Liturgist
One: As we light the first three candles let us say together:All: Jesus said, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not
walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”One: We called the first candle HOPE. The second candle we called PEACE.
Today we light the pink candle, what will we call this third candle?All: We will call it JOY because Jesus’ coming has brought joy
to so many peopleOne: God of joy, just as the shepherds were filled with joy when they saw Jesus
as a baby in the manger, may we see and rejoice in the many ways you showed your love for us in all that Jesus taught and did when he grew older. And may our joy in what you still do for us show in all that we say and do.
All: Come, Lord Jesus, for with you we have joy.-1-
*CAROL – No. 12 People, Look East Besancon
A READING Selected by Sue Culver, read by The Reverend Donald RayThe Mystery Begins Roddy Hamilton
The mystery begins.
Where the winter finds its feet the rush of frost and chill competes with the old hope of incarnation.
Darker nights unfold and with the fading of the light the sun weakens
held by this frozen earth wrapped in winter’s frost the mystery of the ancient hope is alive once more
for from the stump of Jesse the dry old tree of David’s line comes a new branch
a new shoot cracking through the season with a promise unfulfilled
this the hoping the waiting the advent
Let us gather round the words the prophets spoke so long ago and believe
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!Christ is coming, He is coming, He will save us!Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
-2-
Come and save us, Lord, kum ba yah!Come and save us, Lord, kum ba yah!Come and save us, Lord, kum ba yah.Oh Lord, kum ba yah. Alleluia…
We will praise You, Lord, alleluia, alleluia!We will praise You, Lord, alleluia!We will praise You! Alleluia, alleluia!We will praise You.
We’ll sing alleluia…
MESSAGE FOR OUR CHILDREN(Following the message, children 4 and older may go with their teachers to their Sunday School classes on the second floor of the education building. The children will return to worship for the Lovefeast. Nursery care is available for our youngest children.)
RESPONSIVE READING Luke 1:46-55 Liturgist Page 7 in the pew Bibles (N.T.)
CAROL – Morning Star, O Cheering Sight (see back page) Hagen(Hope Marshall, soloist)
A READING Peggy Ambrose, Business Manager Seasonal Décor J. Barrie Shepherd
We bring them out again, these relics of a score of Advents Past, Unwind with reverent gentleness the yellowed tissue bindings, And remember where they hail from, how they first became a Feature of this annual time of expectation, Conjuring again the market place in Prague, that old cathedral shop- Long gone – in Chartres, and the frigid night the doctor came to call, Bursting through the door to bring, not pills, thermometer or needles, But that tall, rich carved, and triple-tiered, Christmas candle powered windmill With its circling scenes of shepherds, angels, journeying magi, and the starlit manger. He never paused to tell of how its fragile flame had lit the final Advent Beside of his wife of thirty years and more, simply said that our four girls Might like something like this to watch beside and wait for Christmas Eve. All kinds of things, this time of year, can wear the secret sheen of sacredness Might it be the word made flesh was born to say precisely that?
-3-ANTHEM – Love Came Down at Christmas Christina Rossetti/Edwin R. Fissinger
arr. Mary K. Geston(Melanie Gritters, Leslie Hallock, Kirstie Hanson,
Sue Huther, Cyndi Lorenc, Carolyn Whitehead ~ ensemble)
A READING Catherine Willard, Poet Mary’s Knitting
I knowthe women who invented knittinglived a thousand years later,butI like to think of Mary,after the annunciating angel left, selecting the finest wool,washing and carding and spinning.then taking up her smallest needlesand knittingtiny white gownswhile she waited.
ANTHEM – There Is Faint Music Nancy Buckley/Dan ForrestThere is faint music in the night, and pale wings fanned by silver flight;A frosty hill with tender glow of countless stars that shine on snow.
A shelter from the winter storm, a straw-lined manger, safe and warm,And Mary singing lullabies, to hush her Baby’s sleepy sighs.
Her eyes are fixed upon His face, unheeded here is time and space;Her heart is filled with blinding joy, for God’s own Son – her baby Boy!
There is faint music in the night, and pale wings fanned by silver flight;A frosty hill with tender glow of countless stars that shine on snow.For God’s own Son – a baby Boy.
A READING The Reverend Robert HagelThe First Coming Madeleine L’Engle
ANTHEM – Christmas Rejoicing Douglas E. Wagner(Angel Ringers Handbells)
-4-PRESENTATION OF OUR TITHES AND OFFERINGOffertory – Carol Medley (Lucille Miller, piano) arr. Frank Milholland
THE FEAST OF LOVE
CALL TO THE LOVEFEASTComing, ready or not! ~ Luke 14:32 Madeleine L’Engle
LET US KEEP THE FEAST
CAROLS DURING THE LOVEFEASTChoir and congregation are invited to greet one another and
to hum the carols aloud as the Lovefeast is shared.Upon the hearing of “Go Tell It On the Mountain”, please bring
the feast to a close and return to the pews.
SONG OF CELEBRATION AND THANKSO Be Joyful! Martha Jones Burford
(Chancel Choir, Congregation, Angel Ringers, Brian Kushmaul ~ percussion)
Choir: O be joyful in our God all the earth!Bring a song of praise to our Creator!O be joyful in our God all the earth!Praise the Source of breath and life.
Congregation O be joyful in our God all the earth!and Choir: Bring a song of praise to our Creator!
O be joyful in our God all the earth!Praise the Source of breath and life.
Choir: May all lands be joyful before you, O God;Serve you with gladness and come before your presence with a song.Refrain
Choir: For we know that you are God; you yourself have made us and we are yours;We are your people and the sheep of your pasture.Refrain
Choir: We shall enter your gates with thanksgiving, go into your courts with praise;Give thanks to you and call upon your name.Refrain
Choir: For you are good; your mercy is everlasting;And your faithfulness endures form age to age.Refrain sung three times in canon
-5-LOVEFEAST PRAYER AND OUR LORD’S PRAYER
ANTHEM - Peace, Peace Rick and Sylvia Powell/arr. Fred Bock(Chancel Choir, Congregation, Angel Ringers, and Kirstie Hanson, violin)
Choir alone: Peace, peace, peace on earth and good will to all.This is a time for joy, this is a time for love.Now let us all sing together of peace, peace, peace on earth. (Sung twice)
Congregation: Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright,‘Round yon Virgin Mother and Child!Holy Infant, so tender and mild;Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
BENEDICTION – O Oriens Madeleine L’Engle
One: O come, thou Wisdom from on high; like any babe at life you cry;For me, like any mother, birth was hard, O light of earth.
Choir: O Come, O come, thou Lord of might, whose birth came hastily at night,Born in a stable, in blood and pain is this the king who comes to reign?
All: O come, thou Rod of Jesse’s stem, the stars will be thy diadem.How can the infinite finite be? Why choose, child, to be born of me?
One: O come, thou key of David, come, open the door to my heart-home.I cannot love thee as a king – so fragile and so small a thing.
Choir: O come, thou Day-spring from on high: I saw the signs that marked the sky.I heard the beat of angels’ wings I saw the shepherds and the kings.
All: O come, Desire of nations, be simply a human child to me.Let me not weep that you are born. The night is gone. Now gleams the morn.
One: O come, O come Emmanuel within this fragile vessel here to dwell.O Child conceived by heaven’s power give me thy strength: it is the hour.
All: Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, God’s Son, God’s Self, with us to dwell.
POSTLUDE – Angels We Have Heard On High Timothy Albrecht
*Those who are able, please stand.-6-
This Sunday, December 14, 2014 Next Sunday, December 21, 2014
Liturgist: Tom Stuart Liturgist: Susie StuartAcolyte: Emylia Hallberg Acolyte: David MarshallUshers: Donna Beal, Paul and Judy Bentley, Ushers: David, Heidi and Lee Marshall, Ed Sanderson Gayle Schulte Greeter: Elaine Gallup Greeter: Hope MarshallChurch School Teachers: The Kushmauls Church School Teachers: The Kushmauls
THE LOVEFEAST
Good Morning! We greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ on this third Sunday of Advent, 2014. Our worship this morning is a witness to the love of the Christ in whom we share our lives with one another. Using all five of our senses, we hope you will experience the messages of Advent and Christmas in winsome and joyous ways today.
We learn from the Book of Acts that when members of the early church gathered for prayer, the “breaking of bread” as an expression of their fellowship in Jesus Christ as well as of the equality of all people in the Lord’s sight, was foundational. These “little meals” within worship were called lovefeasts. They were feasts, not because of an abundance of food present, but because of the love that overflowed amidst the singing, praying, eating. These lovefeasts (from the Greek word for Christian love: “agape”) sometimes served as preparations for Holy Communion, which, in this congregation, we next shall celebrate on Christmas Eve.
Over time, as congregations became larger and religion more “institutionalized,” the number of occasions on which lovefeasts were celebrated in the church diminished until, by the end of the fourth century, the tradition lay dormant. In 1727, Count Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravian Church in Germany at that time, revived the lovefeast and it continues to this day to be an important element of Moravian worship. More than that, lovefeasts continue to attract many visitors from other denominations to Moravian services, as if there is a sort of “genetic remembering” in the lives of Christians of this treasured tradition of our long-ago mothers and fathers in the faith.
Lovefeasts essentially are song services and so, today, much of the gospel to be communicated will be done via anthems and song-singing. During the course of our worship, we shall partake of a simple meal together by which we mean gratefully to rejoice in the love we share as sisters and brothers in Christ.
A Lovefeast seeks to strengthen the bonds and the spirit of harmony, goodwill, and congeniality as well as to forgive past disputes and instead to love one another!
We extend our heartfelt thanks to our choirs, soloists, and instrumentalists who add sacred rhythm, Spirit, beauty, and deepened meaning to our worship services each week, and more so this Lovefeast Day.
May you be richly blessed by the Spirit of the Living Christ. - Bob, Don, Cindy, Peggy, and Sue
Sunday, December 21, 2012 – 4 th Sunday of Advent
Pageant Rehearsal 9:00 a.m.Adult Ed 9:30 a.m.Worship 10:30 a.m. Children’s Christmas Service
Website: www.firstpresjamestown.com for sermon archives
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WE WELCOME all visitors to our service today. Please sign the pew pads located in the hymnal rack. If you are new to First Presbyterian Church, please introduce yourself to the pastor. Prayer request cards are available in the literature racks in the Narthex. If you desire your prayer concern to be shared during worship today with the congregation, please give your completed card to an usher prior to worship. Remember, our worship services are broadcast on Access Channel 19 on Time Warner Cable, every day at 10:30 a.m. There is also live streaming of the Sunday service which can be reached via our website, as well as archiving of past services. The bulletin for that Sunday is also put on the worship page of www.firstpresjamestown.com.
THERE IS CHILDCARE available for infants through 2 year old children in the nursery. The nursery attendants are well qualified and a vibrating monitor will be given to you in case the nursery attendants need to be in touch with you about your child.
THE FLOWERS ON THE CHANCEL RAIL this morning are given to the Glory of God and in loving memory of Trip Price by his family.
THERE IS A Children’s Christmas message rehearsal following worship today in the Sanctuary. Lunch will be provided around after the rehearsal.
THIS EVENING from 5:30 – 7:00 will be the Youth Night Christmas Party in Fellowship Hall. The best gift exchange ever and cookie making.
POINSETTIAS will decorate our sanctuary next Sunday and on Christmas Eve. If you would like to give one or more of these plants in memory of a loved one, please call the church office (487-1984) by December 17. Cost is $10 each. Mail your check to the church marked “Christmas flowers.”
THANK YOU to Greg Kellogg for our wonderful Advent bulletin covers.-8-
THE ANNUAL CHRISTMAS JOY OFFERING will be dedicated next Sunday, December 21. This year, half of the offering will go to help Love Inc. (Love In the Name of Christ), a non-profit organization here in Jamestown that helps local churches to transform lives and communities, the other half to the PC (USA) Board of Pensions and Presbyterian racial/ethnic colleges and education. Thank you for your support.
OUR CHRISTMAS EVE Service on Wednesday, December 24, will begin at 9:00 p.m., preceded by a Musical Prelude at 8:30. The Reverend Robert J. Hagel will be preaching, and the Sacrament of Holy Communion will be celebrated along with the traditional lighting of candles. On December 28, worship will be held at 10:30 in Bellinger Chapel. There will be no Children or Adult Ed on that Sunday.
