(Image: “Prepare the Way” Pittman, Lauren Wright , 2013)
©Order of Worship for Sunday December 03, 2023
First Sunday of Advent
Holy Communion
For the Avent Ferry UMC Worship Video Click Here (Link opens in a new window)
The worship video will be available live at 11:00 am
Prelude:……………“Peace! Be Still!”……………………..Greg D. Words: M. Baker, Music: H. Palmer. Public Domain.
“Prepare the Way of the Lord”………………………………Choir
Words: Isaiah 40:3, Music: Jacques Bertheir and Community of Taizé
Music: © 1984 Les Presses de Taizé
Coming of the Light:……………………………………..
Greetings:…………………………………………..Pastor Steven
Opening Prayer:……………..……………….….Godwin O.
Lighting of the Advent Candles:………….Melrose, Ian D.
Reader 1: In days when God’s people longed for peace, Isaiah declared, “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins”. (Isaiah 40:1)
Reader 2: We who gather today also seek comfort and peace, yet we are unsatisfied with ideas of peace that tell us to keep quiet and go with the flow. We long for real peace, true peace, just peace.
Congregation: We wait as people who yearn for peace that bears the fruit of community, equity, and flourishing for all.
Reader 1: We light these candles as signs of God’s shocking hope and just peace. May they be beacons calling us to repent and to live the good news of Jesus Christ as we wait and watch and labor for the day when all people can gather together to worship and glorify God. Amen.
Light two candles of the Advent wreath.
Opening Hymns:.“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” #196 UMH
Words: Charles Wesley, 1744
Music: Rowland H. Prichard, 1830; harmony from The English Hymnal, 1906
1. Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” #211 UMH v.1-4
Music: 15th Century French; arranged and harmonized by Thomas Helmore, 1854
© 1981 The Church Pension Fund and © 1989 The United Methodist Publishing HouseWords: 9th Century Latin
1. O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
2. O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
and order all things far and nigh;
to us the path of knowledge show
and cause us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
3. O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to thy tribes on Sinai’s height
in ancient times once gave the law
in cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
4. O come, thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
an ensign of thy people be;
before thee rulers silent fall;
all peoples of thy mercy call.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Passing of the Peace:………………………………..Pastor Steven
Let us show signs of reconciliation and love to one another
Gloria Patri: “Glory Be to the Father” #71 UMH
Words: Lesser Doxology, 3rd-4th century
Music: Henry W. Greatorex, 1851
Glory be to the Father
and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen. Amen.
Announcements:…………………………………………Lorri B.
Giving of our tithes and offerings:…….
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Offertory:………….“We Three Kings”……………..Samantha M.
Words and Music: John H. Hopkins, Jr. 1857
Offertory Response: “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” (The Doxology) #94
The United Methodist Hymnal
Adapted © 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House
Words by Thomas Ken, 1674, adapted by Gilbert Vieira, 1978
Music: Geistliche Kirchengesänge, 1623; harmony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise God, all creatures here below:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise God, the source of all our gifts!
Praise Jesus Christ, whose power uplifts!
Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Prayer After Receiving:…………………………Pastor Steven
Prayers of the People:…………………………..Pastor Steven
Anthem………“A Christmas Blessing of Peace”………….Choir
Words and Music: Douglas Nolan
© 2023 Hal Leonard-Milwin Music Corp.
Old Testament Lesson:………..Isaiah 40:1-11…….….Phillip J.
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Hymn of Preparation: “I Love You, Lord” #2068 TFWS
(Psalms 35:9) Words and Music by Laurie Klein
© 1978 House of Mercy Music, admin. By Maranatha! Music ℅ The Copyright Co.
I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice
to worship you, O my soul rejoice.
Take joy, my King, in what you hear,
may it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
Sermon:….“Return To The One You Know”…..Pastor Steven
Closing Hymn:“Go Now in Peace” #665 UMH
Words and Music: Natalie Sleeth, 1976
© 1976 Hinshaw Music, Inc.
Go now in peace, go now in peace, may the love of
God surround you everywhere, everywhere you may go.
Dismissal with Blessing: ……..………..Pastor Steven
Postlude:………..“Peace In Our Time, O Lord”………..Greg D.
Words: B. Borum, Tune-Pax Iam, M. Price, 1971 © 1971, Broadman Press.
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Sunday December 10th Worship Service In Person and Online