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Second Sunday of Advent

Worship
Lectionary Worship Aids
Series III
* CALL TO WORSHIP
Hear the words of the Lord. Are they not words of peace, peace
to his people and to his loyal servants and to all who turn and
trust in him?

* PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of the first day, God of today, God of the last day, we admit
that we are more frightened by the threat of a nuclear accident
or a nuclear war than we are hopeful for a new heaven and earth.
It is like our apprehension of major surgery, an unpleasant
experience, but one that can bring about the condition in which
healing can take place. We may be fatalistic and feel powerless
to change unjust institutions that provoke and promote war.
Forgive our reluctance to look for the new day and to work for
justice and peace with patience, repentance, and perseverance,
whatever the disappointments and delays. Baptize us with the
Holy Spirit according to the gospel of Jesus Christ, your Son.
Amen.

* DECLARATION OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS
Hear the Good News! God has forgiven your guilt and put away all
your sins. Friends, believe the Good News! In Jesus Christ, we
are forgiven.

* EXHORTATION
Prepare a road for the Lord through the barren places of our
common life. Clear a highway for God across the fruitless areas
of our history.

* PRAYER OF THE DAY
Jesus Christ, Son of God, since you have walked in our shoes,
enable us by the same Holy Spirit of our baptism to proclaim the
good news and prepare the way for your coming again so that you
may be surrounded by people from all earth's cities and
countrysides. Amen.

* PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Saving God, loving Christ, baptizing Spirit, hear our
thanksgiving for all who have paved the way for your good news to
reach us. We admire the bold preaching of the prophets and
apostles. We appreciate the work of scholars and translators in
preparing a written text for us to read. We are grateful for the
printers and binders that make Bibles for us and for all who help
us to read and understand the Word of God written. Most of all
we

thank you that your saving and forgiving love was embodied in
Jesus of Nazareth, the great good Shepherd who has gathered his
flock into the Church. For past deliverance, for present
comfort, for future promise we give you thanks, faithful God.
Amen.

* PRAYER OF DEDICATION
We worship you, loving and faithful Lord, by the presentation of
these tokens of our prosperity and the yield of our work. Use us
and our offerings to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.

* PSALM 85:1-2, 8-13
LORD, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you pardoned all their sin.
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.

UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 16 | OT 21 | Pentecost 11
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New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
Dean Feldmeyer
Tom Willadsen
Nazish Naseem
George Reed
Christopher Keating
For September 14, 2025:

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: A sheep stuffy or toy.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Let’s get started!

Did you know that Jesus traveled around and hunted for people who were doing something illegal and breaking the laws? (Let them respond.) He really did.And when he found someone who was doing something illegal, do you know what he did with them? (Let them respond.)

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Our text tells us that we are skilled in doing evil (v.22). An anonymous late medieval treatise titled German Theology tells us why:

It is the nature and property of the creature to seek itself and its own things, and this and that, here and there, and in all that it does and leaves undone as desire is to its own advantage and benefit. (Varieties of Mystic Experience, p.162)

Martin Luther King, Jr. offers an alternative to this vision:
David Coffin
All three of today’s texts can be viewed as good news that God never gives up on God’s people. This is despite their resistance to repent or simple straying from the community of faith. We can observe family and loved ones at various points of their faith journey through the lens of each of these texts. Jeremiah 4 informs the people their neglect of honoring their covenant with God is about to result in disastrous consequences. Paul recalls in 1 Timothy 1 how he thought he was falling God’s will until he had his literal come to Jesus moment!

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (vv. 6-7)

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:

Jesus told stories to illustrate to the people God's gladness whenever anyone turned to him and chose life. There is still rejoicing in heaven whenever any one of us turns to God.



Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, sometimes I think I'm too insignificant for you to bother with me.

Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, sometimes I don't bother with you.

Christ, have mercy.

Jesus, sometimes I don't bother with other people, but only with myself.

SermonStudio

James Evans
(See Proper 12/Pentecost 10/Ordinary Time 17, Cycle B, for an alternative approach.)

The psalm writer has an interesting perspective on the origin of injustice in our world. He begins this psalm with the assertion that those who do not believe in God are "fools." He goes on to accuse them of corruption and of being incapable of doing good. Later on he writes, "Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord?" (v. 4).

Elizabeth Achtemeier
"Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them" (v. 12). Ours is a society that does not accept that as the Word of God. Many people do not believe that God judges anyone. Rather, the Lord is a forgiving God, a kindly deity who overlooks all wrong. As in the Gospel lesson for the morning, the Lord searches for the one lost sheep and returns it gently to the fold, or he hunts for the one lost coin until he finds it. God accepts the lost as they are, we think, overlooking Jesus' teaching about repentance and transformation of life.
Scott Suskovic
We usually don't spend too much time thinking about our own sinfulness. On occasion, of course, our feelings of guilt overwhelm us. We can't stop thinking about our sinfulness. If we are in that situation, we may need to talk that out with someone. Apart from times like that, we don't think much about our own sinfulness. We have ways of getting around that.

R. Robert Cueni
Back before the ways of the Taliban became common knowledge, there was a fascinating little article about how they jailed barbers when they didn't do culturally correct haircuts.1 The newspaper reported that young men in Kabul, Afghanistan, have started wearing their hair the way the actor Leonardo DiCaprio wears his. Long, not only on the sides, but so long in the front that hair can drop over the eyes. They call the style, "the Titanic," named for the blockbuster movie starring DiCaprio about the 1912 sinking of the cruise ship by that name.

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