Call to Worship

Children of God, our world is full of the fruit of humanity’s greed, apathy, and neglect for the love of God, neighbor, self, and all creation.

What, then, should we do?

Our world is also full of the fruit of God’s love that wells up all around us, sustaining us, saving us, reviving us to live as the people of God.

What, then, should we do?

God encircles us on every side, Love divine present with us in creation, in community, and in the anticipated arrival of the infant Emmanuel. What then, children of God, should you do?

We will live in joyful presence with God and neighbor, turning away from sin and toward a life with God and one another marked by joy, justice, and mercy. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, June 2024.

Opening Prayer

Eternal Creator, with you each moment of life is full of wonder and surprise. We pray you to make us watchful as we await the coming of Christ. Grant that we may not be found sleeping in sin, but awake and rejoicing in your newness of life. Through the same Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen.

Written by Margaret Gay MacKinnon Godfrey in Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship, Updated (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2012), 5.

For use in worship, use the following attribution:

Prayer of Confession

Creator of the universe,
we stand amazed at your power and glory.
We are eager to worship you and offer our praise,
but we are often reluctant to answer
when we hear you calling our name.
We sing our songs of tribute in the sanctuary,
but shy away from the river,
lest we be baptized
with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Forgive us when we forget your promise
to be with us always, O God.
Renew us with the power of your ever-present love,
and strengthen us to proclaim your justice
throughout the world. Amen.

Written by Laura Jaquith Bartlett, posted on the Ministry Matters website http://www.ministrymatters.com/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/01/confession-epiphany-1-c.html.

Benediction

Advent invites each of us into a new way of living in a world to which the kin-dom of God has come and is yet coming. Go, now, blessed with the gift of togetherness, for it is only in being truly present with God and one another that we live as followers of the coming Messiah. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, June 2024.