Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren
Long Green & Kanes Rds., near Glen Arm, Md.
December 15, 2013
Worship 10:00 am          Sunday School 11:10am

Third Sunday of Advent

  Beginning with Praise (9:50 am)                     "Oh, how joyfully"                    209
  Announcements
  Prelude

   Heaven’s Voice                       Psalm 146:5-10

  Lighting the Advent Candles

*Hymn                           "Angels we have heard on high"                              197

*Opening Prayer

  Heaven’s Voice                            Isaiah 35

  With Children          “I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy”

  Sharing a joy, a concern, a word of testimony or praise
                                 (please be brief, and aware of God's listening presence)

  Advent Prayer Song                "Kindle a flame"                                     (insert)
                                                  (text/info   listen)

  Pastoral Prayer

  Heaven’s Voice                         James 5:7-10

  Returning our Tithes and Offerings

  Offertory      
                              (Please sign the attendance pad and pass it on)

  Heaven’s Voice                      Matthew 11:2-15

*Singing out                        (vs.3) "The Lord is coming"                            (insert)

  Message                   "Answering our own question" (mp3)

*Hymn                         "My soul proclaims with wonder"                             181

*Benediction

*Postlude

*Rise in body or in spirit

#'s are from Hymnal: A Worship Book

Worship leaders - see basic guidelines

Heaven's Voice
Psalm 146:5-10

1 - The person whose help is the God of Jacob is truly happy!

2 - the person whose hope rests on the Lord their God is truly happy!

1 - God: the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,

2 - God: who is faithful forever, who gives justice to people who are oppressed, who gives bread to people who are starving!

1 - The Lord: who frees prisoners.

2 - The Lord: who makes the blind see.

1 - The Lord: who straightens up those who are bent low.

2 - The Lord: who loves the righteous.

1 - The Lord: who protects immigrants, who helps orphans and widows,

2 - but who makes the way of the wicked twist and turn!

1 - The Lord will rule forever!

2 - Zion, your God will rule from one generation to the next!

1 - Praise the Lord!

2 - Praise the Lord!

scripture text (slightly adapted) from the Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011
       

Lighting the Advent Candles

1 - On this third Sunday of Advent we re-light the candle of “Hope.”

(as reader 1 re-lights the front candle, reader 2 continues)

2 - This candle will be the shortest, for it burns the longest, having been lit on the first Sunday of Advent. In like manner, “hope” burns long in God’s people, even through dark times, patiently pointing toward what God has been doing in the past, is doing now, and will do in the future… We also relight the candle of “Peace.”

(as reader 2 re-lights the left candle, reader 1 continues)

1 - This candle reminds us that what God does involves those who have often lost hope. Peace is “made” not “kept,” as God “makes” with those who are lost a whole new relationship. In Christ, God “makes” peace with us, and we are invited to make peace with others… Now we light the third candle: “Joy.”

(as reader 1 lights the right candle, reader 2 continues)

2 - Traditionally, this is a candle of a different color. As believers, we joyfully march to the beat of a different drummer, our song echoing heaven’s “Glory.” Such deep-seated joy is true happiness, which accompanies us in good times and bad.

1 - Turn now to #197 in your Hymnal, “Angels we have heard on high.”

2 - Sing out the joy of your “Glory to God in the highest.”
   

Opening Prayer

             Awesome God, Source of abundant love, peace and joy,  we worship you with grateful, happy hearts. As we continue our Advent journey, help us to trust you more fully, to enjoy you more freely, and to serve you more eagerly. Let all our preparations be focused on going to meet you as you speedily come to us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!

by Bruce Prewer, Minister of the Uniting Church in Australia
         

Pastoral Prayer

written closer to the time (if not at the moment)

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

             A current television sitcom has an oft-repeated joke, where one particular character uses the phrase, “wait for it,” as an attention grabber for his latest exploit. After several seasons, however, the words have become …(wait for it)… old.
            When brother James encourages the followers of Jesus to “be patient,” and wait, he is not setting up a punch-line. He is, however, drawing our attention toward what is to yet to come. While there is no fake laugh-track to God’s humor, rest assured that what lies just around the bend is joy-filled beyond our wildest imagination. Now, please understand that waiting for it does not mean that we sit idly by. Hardly. Like farmers, we are called to sink our hands into the soil, the humus, of our daily life. Good humor, by the way, comes from good humus.
            It’s time in our worship to sink our hands into our pockets and purses and return to the good Lord our tithes and offerings. Ushers?
    

Benediction

When we leave this place,
      we do not leave God,
            nor does God leave us.
                  The adventure of life in Christ
                        is only beginning.
As you head back into your everyday world,
      Go and tell what you have heard and seen.
            You might be surprised by the story within you
                  waiting to come out.
      May your “proclamation” be bold and joy-filled.
            Amen