Advent/Christmas worship
We gather in the parking lot
We are gathered today on the occupied territory of the Sana and Tonkawa People who have stewarded this land for generations.
Advent 1
November ends. December begins.
We find our beginning and our ending in God.
Month after month, our God attends us and supports us.
For God’s company, we offer thanks and praise.
Let us worship the God who gives us Jesus Christ:
God who is the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end,
the Living One and our Redeemer, now and forever.
Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5
This is what Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In the days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be the highest of the mountains.
It will be lifted above the hills;
peoples will stream to it.
Many nations will go and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the house of Jacob’s God
so that he may teach us his ways
and we may walk in God’s paths.”
Instruction will come from Zion;
the Lord’s word from Jerusalem.
God will judge between the nations,
and settle disputes of mighty nations.
Then they will beat their swords into iron plows
and their spears into pruning tools.
Nation will not take up sword against nation;
they will no longer learn how to make war.
Come, house of Jacob,
let’s walk by the Lord’s light.
We move to Canterbury Chapel
Advent 2
The day of the Lord brings grace and blessing.
We come to this day with hearts prepared for praising.
The day of the Lord brings judgment and pardon.
We come to this day with souls set on praying.
The day of the Lord brings wisdom and light.
We come to this day with minds eager to listen for God’s will.
In our praising, praying, listening, and responding,
we come to worship God.
Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10
A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse;
a branch will sprout from his roots.
The Lord’s spirit will rest upon him,
a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a spirit of planning and strength,
a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
He will delight in fearing the Lord.
He won’t judge by appearances,
nor decide by hearsay.
He will judge the needy with righteousness,
and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land.
He will strike the violent with the rod of his mouth;
by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
Righteousness will be the belt around his hips,
and faithfulness the belt around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;
the calf and the young lion will feed together,
and a little child will lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze.
Their young will lie down together,
and a lion will eat straw like an ox.
A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole;
toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den.
They won’t harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain.
The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
just as the water covers the sea.
On that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a signal to the peoples. The nations will seek him out, and his dwelling will be glorious.
We move to Front of St. Thomas
Advent 3 (based on Isaiah 12:5–6)
Sing praises to God on high, for glorious are God’s works.
Sing praises to the ends of the earth.
Shout and sing for joy, O people of God,
for great is the Holy One in our midst,
blessed is the One who comes to dwell among us.
Reading: Isaiah 35:1-10
The desert and the dry land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom like the crocus.
They will burst into bloom,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
They will receive the glory of Lebanon,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the Lord’s glory,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands,
and support the unsteady knees.
Say to those who are panicking:
“Be strong! Don’t fear!
Here’s your God,
coming with vengeance;
with divine retribution
God will come to save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
and the ears of the deaf will be cleared.
Then the lame will leap like the deer,
and the tongue of the speechless will sing.
Waters will spring up in the desert,
and streams in the wilderness.
The burning sand will become a pool,
and the thirsty ground, fountains of water.
The jackals’ habitat, a pasture;
grass will become reeds and rushes.
A highway will be there.
It will be called The Holy Way.
The unclean won’t travel on it,
but it will be for those walking on that way.
Even fools won’t get lost on it;
no lion will be there,
and no predator will go up on it.
None of these will be there;
only the redeemed will walk on it.
The Lord’s ransomed ones will return and enter Zion with singing,
with everlasting joy upon their heads.
Happiness and joy will overwhelm them;
grief and groaning will flee away.
We move to Chapel inside St. Thomas
Advent 4
Seasons come and seasons go,
but our God endures forever.
Our faith exhibits ebb and flow,
but our God endures forever.
Our lives may freeze up or may grow,
but our God endures forever.
So let our souls magnify the Lord our God this day.
Reading: Isaiah 7:10-16
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign from the Lord your God. Make it as deep as the grave or as high as heaven.”
But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask; I won’t test the Lord.”
Then Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Isn’t it enough for you to be tiresome for people that you are also tiresome before my God? Therefore, the Lord will give you a sign. The young woman is pregnant and is about to give birth to a son, and she will name him Immanuel. He will eat butter and honey, and learn to reject evil and choose good. Before the boy learns to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.
A CHRISTMAS CONFESSION
The peace of the Lord be with you.
And also with you.
I believe in Jesus Christ and in the grace of the gospel begun in Bethlehem.
I believe in the one whose spirit glorified a little town; and whose spirit still brings music to persons all over the world in towns both large and small.
I believe in the one for whom the crowded inn could find no room, and I confess that my heart still sometimes wants to exclude Christ from my life today.
I believe in the one who the rulers of the earth ignored and the proud could never understand; whose life was among common people, whose welcome came from persons of hungry hearts.
I believe in the one who proclaimed the love of God to be invincible:
I believe in the one who looked at persons and made them see what God’s love saw in them, who by love brought sinners back to purity, and lifted human weakness up to meet the strength of God.
I confess our everlasting need of God:
The need of forgiveness for our selfishness and greed, the need of new life for empty souls, the need of love for hearts grown cold.
I believe in God who gives us the best of himself.
I believe in Jesus, the son of the living God, born in Bethlehem this night, for me and for the world.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
We give you thanks for all the gifts that you give and have given us through Jesus. We praise you for his birth, for how he lived his life as the servant of your most holy will – and for how he gave himself over to death for our sakes – thereby opening to all people the gates of heaven and the way to eternal life. O God we do as he commanded us to do on the night he was betrayed. We remember how he took bread, and gave you thanks for it – as even now we give you thanks O God for our daily bread – and how he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, “take, eat, this is my body, broken for you.”. W recall, how when the meal was done, Jesus took the cup, and after giving thanks, offered it to his disciples saying, “take, drink, this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant for the forgiveness of sins as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.”
Bless O God, this bread and this wine that it may be for us communion in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Send your spirit upon these elements and upon us and grant that we may obtain maturity of faith and live in him and through him – faithful and righteous all our days. We ask through Christ our Lord, as we pray the prayer he taught us…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
RECEIVING COMMUNION
All present are welcome to come forward to receive the bread and wine, signs of Christ’s giving himself for us.
THE CANTICLE OF SIMEON
Having received the gift of Jesus, let us pray using the words of Simeon, a righteous and devote man who looked forward to God’s rescue of his people:
Lord, now I can go in peace!
As you promised me, I have seen the Savior you have given to all people.
He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel.
Flame is passed from one candle to another. Do not tip a lighted candle, but hold it vertical while the candle receiving the flame is held horizontal.
We move to Sanctuary inside St. Thomas
Christmas
God is telling a story in our lives.
It’s quite a story-full of the promises God makes
and our struggles to trust;
full of mystery and angels
with surprising news;
full of hard endings
and unexpected new beginnings.
Come, hear the story
pay attention to the angels’ message
in your heart
in this place and time.
Then join all creation
in worshipping the God
who tells it
full of grace and truth;
who comes in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
and makes our story holy.
BLESSING
May Christ, born into time to bring endless peace,
guide your days and years in righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord’s face shine on you with grace and mercy.
The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace. Amen
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