God Is Our Comforter: A 21st Century Africana Resource for the Second Sunday in Advent, Year B

Gathering:

Have the following people gather near the lectern looking defeated and unhappy:
A mother with a scarf on her head, carrying a pillow,
A father in work clothes or pimp clothes,
A youth wearing sagging pants and a bling-bling necklace.

Call to Worship
Leader: God says, "I am here for mothers bound in slavery and sin, fathers stripped of dignity and duty, and for children imprisoned and pressed down from birth."

People: God is our comforter.

Leader: God says, as we gather in need of an encouraging and witnessing word, "Fear not." God says, speaks, and shouts-: "I am eternal!" Bruised and beaten worshipers, your slavery to sin and shame is almost gone. Today. Right now. Ask God to come, come, come! Please come, come amongst us, O Lord; come amongst a disgusted, downed, and discriminated people; and we will be encouraged and blessed. Come to those of us who are dressed up on the outside, but seedless in our own wombs. Come comforter, come!

(Have someone walk in carrying a shepherd's staff. From a different direction, have someone bring a picture of Jesus carrying a lamb.)

Leader: Today on the Lord's Day, we gather to be comforted.

People: Today on the Lord's Day, we gather to be comforted.

All: Today on the Lord's Day, we gather to be comforted!

Optional Solo (Tenor): "Comfort Ye My People" from The Messiah
(Quincy Jones has a contemporary version of the Messiah, titled: Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration)

Invocation (Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13)
Loving God, as we step into this service of worship, we pray that you will reveal what is righteous and good.

God, on this struggling journey of life, we invite you to give us your love and your peace.

O God, who is our comforter, we invite you to help us in our sinful, yet seeking lives.

God, who is definitely the one to get the glory, honor, and praise: Come and fill our sanctuaries and your sacred temples as you are revealed and trusted to save, share, and spare this helpless and this fleshly world.

Lord, as we gather, we acknowledge your power to forgive the iniquity of your people and to pardon all our sins.

God of comfort, we willingly welcome you into this place.

Litany: God Is Our Comforter

Congregation: God is our comforter.
Leader: We may gather during this Advent season as a tested, trampled, and tried people in earnest need, but God shouts to us: "I'll give you double for your trouble!" God is showing up SOON to make a way out of no way. Yes, believe me, you can trust God's promise — hold on, hang in there, help is on the way!

Congregation: God is our comforter.
Leader: God's radiance is about to be revealed.

Congregation: God is our comforter.
Leader: God is real. God is real. God is real.

Congregation: God is our comforter.
Leader: God comes to replace chaos and confusion with confidence and celebration as we worship.

Congregation: God is our comforter.
Leader: God's presence doesn't fade like grass.

Congregation: God is our comforter.
Leader: God says, "Don't hold on to phony things, but look for precious things — things that last and linger, things that are real."

All: God is our comforter. God is our comforter. God is our comforter! For the glory of God has been revealed.

Optional Selection: "Comfort My People" (Contemporary or Rap)
(The worship team is invited to have someone write a rap titled "Comfort My People," using words and concepts from Isaiah 40:1-1.)

Prayer of Confession (Mark 1:1-8)
Loving Lord, we confess we have not always heard or heeded your prophets' voices. O Loving God, we admit we have not acknowledged John the baptizer, who proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We acknowledge that in our failure to do so, we missed John's all-too-important declaration about the greater One who was coming. God, today we gather as those needing grace and the gift of forgiveness granted through your Son. Amen.

(Silent prayers)

Words of Assurance
When we confess our sins and shortcomings, God shows up and shows out!
Receive God's forgiveness.
Put regret behind you and walk in the joy of the Lord!

Optional Selection: "And The Glory of the Lord" from The Messiah
(Quincy Jones has a contemporary version of the Messiah, titled: Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration)

Or

"Let it Rise" by Stephen A. Hurd

Sending Forth
(The people who entered with weighty/worldly dress and defeated spirits should now go out as joyous witnesses. Have the mother, father, and teenager change to modest clothing.)

Benediction Remember God's spoken word
FEAR NOT.
Instead, BE COMFORTED,
the Word has come, and it has set us free!

• • • •

Darlene A. Moore is the pastor of Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Darlene serves as the co-chair of the Youth Component of the W. T. Handy Convocation. She is the mother of one teenage son, Joshua. The Rev. Moore plans retreats, paints, and uses other art media.

21st Century Africana Liturgy Resources: "Worship Resources for The Second Sunday in Advent, Year B" Copyright © 2005 Darlene A. Moore. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

This 21st Century Liturgy resource may be printed, copied, distributed, reprinted in church bulletins or newsletters, or otherwise used for nonprofit local church worship or education with the inclusion of the copyright citation and Discipleship Ministries worship website (/lead-your-church/worship) as its source.