Promise
Worship
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series II, Cycle A Gospel Texts
The Community Gathers To Celebrate God's Promise
Invitation to the Celebration
The choir explodes with the stanzas of "Hey! Hey! Anybody Listening?" The congregation joins in the chorus only. Invite the people to use their hand instruments and to bring them again next week.
Declaration of Joyful Expectations (Pastors and Ministers)
P: Well, folks, here we are again, this second week in the church year. How have you come? (Give them an opportunity to respond; prime several in advance if you expect no immediate response to this year's interactive worships.) So, you're ready for some new truth this week.
M: We are open to a new awareness, a new hope, a new life -- all centered around and focused on God's "old" promise to us -- beginning now!
P: Great news! We continue in the name of the eternal God who has promised to become one of us. So, if you're ready, wave your hands!
The Community Faces Up To Itself
The Act of Recognizing Our Humanity (Pastor)
"I'll bet you ten dollars (name your choice) wins the Rose Bowl game." "Let's shake on that!" "I'm sorry," your friend responds, "I don't trust your word. Let's put the bet in writing." Your friend signs his name, loses the bet, and still refuses to pay. What will you do? (Two minutes of silence.) (P.S. The biggest complaint that I hear about the confession is its quickness; no one has time to integrate it before moving to the assurance.)
P: Lord, we make thousands of promises throughout our lifetime.
M: We have every intention of keeping them, we really do, really we do!
P: Yet, we keep breaking them over and over. And still, we promise not to break them.
M: We admit the vicious cycle that we get ourselves into.
All: Lord, we confess our wishy-washy behavior. We set out to obey you and to remain true to our word. Yet, we "crash and burn" again and again. At times, we wonder if we'll ever get our life together, if we will ever learn the lesson of obedience. We are aware of your patience and perseverance with us. We are grateful. And in your promise, we live. Thanks. (Two minutes of silence, considering the grace involved in God's promise.)
The Act of Receiving New Life (Pastor and Ministers)
In a New Yorker magazine, an executive says to his employer, "I'll admit that to err is human, Reynolds, but if I forgive you, every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be here expecting forgiveness." We may neither expect forgiveness, nor deserve it, yet it is God's gift to us when we admit that we need it. I invite you to look around the sanctuary to see the rest of the people who need God's forgiveness as much as you do. (Thirty seconds.)
P: Christ has promised to redeem us, restore us, reconcile us to God, to one another, to ourself.
M: We know, in Scripture, of God's promise. By God's Spirit, we receive this unconditional gift, perhaps reluctantly at first because we're raised on conditional giving; but now, we receive it and live in, through, by, with God's grace.
P: And all the people, with hands raised, said, "Amen! So be it! Yes, yes, yes!"
The Community Responds To God's Promise
Message with the Children of All Ages
Remember last week's topic? (Wait; we need not fill every moment with words.) Tell me what you remember. Some of you promised (which is today's topic) to write down some things to share this week. I'm wondering if you did. If so, I invite you to share them now. (If they didn't, talk about the promises that we make and often break and God's promises which God makes and never breaks.)
Reading from the Older and Newer Covenant
Have someone dress as John the Baptist, someone offstage to be the voice of Isaiah, and a reader. Dramatize the Scripture. Perhaps one of the church groups could do so for a designated period of time, during Advent, for example. Yes, this requires practice; and it takes seriously the fact that the liturgy is "the work of the people."
Stewardship Challenge
God promises to remain faithful even when we become faithless. What kind of promise do we make about our stewardship before the offering (never call it a collection) plate arrives each Sunday?
Prayer after the Offering
(Give it variety; too many are identical week after week.) God, thanks for your promise to remain faithful, whether we give our leftovers or first fruits.
Charge to the Congregation
If it's true that God always keeps God's promise, then it matters how we live our daily life; so, I invite us to remember God's promise in our every waking moment this coming week; and by the way, it's okay not to be perfect.
Blessing
Say it slowly and deliberately, and if possible, look everyone in the eye as you speak.
Meditation
"On the basis of the eternal will of God, we have to think of every human being, even the oddest, most villainous or miserable, as one to whom Jesus Christ is a brother and God is a Father [Mother]; and we have to deal with him [her] on that assumption" (Karl Barth, source unknown; bracketed material inserted by WHK).
Music Possibilities In Addition To Those Already Suggested
Music for Preparation: Advent Hymns (see Advent 1), or "From Heaven Above," Pachelbel.
Advent Hymn of Praise: "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus," Charles Wesley, 1744.
Response to the Message with the Children of All Ages: "Joy Shall Come," Hebrew Melody (from New Wine copyright 1969. See address in Appendix I).
Response to the Proclamation: "Awake the Trumpet's Lofty Sound," Handel.
Hymn of Commitment: "God of Our Life, Through All the Circling Years," Hugh T. Kerr, 1916; alt. 1928, 1972.
Music for Dismissal: Medley of Advent Hymns (see Advent 1).
Invitation to the Celebration
The choir explodes with the stanzas of "Hey! Hey! Anybody Listening?" The congregation joins in the chorus only. Invite the people to use their hand instruments and to bring them again next week.
Declaration of Joyful Expectations (Pastors and Ministers)
P: Well, folks, here we are again, this second week in the church year. How have you come? (Give them an opportunity to respond; prime several in advance if you expect no immediate response to this year's interactive worships.) So, you're ready for some new truth this week.
M: We are open to a new awareness, a new hope, a new life -- all centered around and focused on God's "old" promise to us -- beginning now!
P: Great news! We continue in the name of the eternal God who has promised to become one of us. So, if you're ready, wave your hands!
The Community Faces Up To Itself
The Act of Recognizing Our Humanity (Pastor)
"I'll bet you ten dollars (name your choice) wins the Rose Bowl game." "Let's shake on that!" "I'm sorry," your friend responds, "I don't trust your word. Let's put the bet in writing." Your friend signs his name, loses the bet, and still refuses to pay. What will you do? (Two minutes of silence.) (P.S. The biggest complaint that I hear about the confession is its quickness; no one has time to integrate it before moving to the assurance.)
P: Lord, we make thousands of promises throughout our lifetime.
M: We have every intention of keeping them, we really do, really we do!
P: Yet, we keep breaking them over and over. And still, we promise not to break them.
M: We admit the vicious cycle that we get ourselves into.
All: Lord, we confess our wishy-washy behavior. We set out to obey you and to remain true to our word. Yet, we "crash and burn" again and again. At times, we wonder if we'll ever get our life together, if we will ever learn the lesson of obedience. We are aware of your patience and perseverance with us. We are grateful. And in your promise, we live. Thanks. (Two minutes of silence, considering the grace involved in God's promise.)
The Act of Receiving New Life (Pastor and Ministers)
In a New Yorker magazine, an executive says to his employer, "I'll admit that to err is human, Reynolds, but if I forgive you, every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be here expecting forgiveness." We may neither expect forgiveness, nor deserve it, yet it is God's gift to us when we admit that we need it. I invite you to look around the sanctuary to see the rest of the people who need God's forgiveness as much as you do. (Thirty seconds.)
P: Christ has promised to redeem us, restore us, reconcile us to God, to one another, to ourself.
M: We know, in Scripture, of God's promise. By God's Spirit, we receive this unconditional gift, perhaps reluctantly at first because we're raised on conditional giving; but now, we receive it and live in, through, by, with God's grace.
P: And all the people, with hands raised, said, "Amen! So be it! Yes, yes, yes!"
The Community Responds To God's Promise
Message with the Children of All Ages
Remember last week's topic? (Wait; we need not fill every moment with words.) Tell me what you remember. Some of you promised (which is today's topic) to write down some things to share this week. I'm wondering if you did. If so, I invite you to share them now. (If they didn't, talk about the promises that we make and often break and God's promises which God makes and never breaks.)
Reading from the Older and Newer Covenant
Have someone dress as John the Baptist, someone offstage to be the voice of Isaiah, and a reader. Dramatize the Scripture. Perhaps one of the church groups could do so for a designated period of time, during Advent, for example. Yes, this requires practice; and it takes seriously the fact that the liturgy is "the work of the people."
Stewardship Challenge
God promises to remain faithful even when we become faithless. What kind of promise do we make about our stewardship before the offering (never call it a collection) plate arrives each Sunday?
Prayer after the Offering
(Give it variety; too many are identical week after week.) God, thanks for your promise to remain faithful, whether we give our leftovers or first fruits.
Charge to the Congregation
If it's true that God always keeps God's promise, then it matters how we live our daily life; so, I invite us to remember God's promise in our every waking moment this coming week; and by the way, it's okay not to be perfect.
Blessing
Say it slowly and deliberately, and if possible, look everyone in the eye as you speak.
Meditation
"On the basis of the eternal will of God, we have to think of every human being, even the oddest, most villainous or miserable, as one to whom Jesus Christ is a brother and God is a Father [Mother]; and we have to deal with him [her] on that assumption" (Karl Barth, source unknown; bracketed material inserted by WHK).
Music Possibilities In Addition To Those Already Suggested
Music for Preparation: Advent Hymns (see Advent 1), or "From Heaven Above," Pachelbel.
Advent Hymn of Praise: "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus," Charles Wesley, 1744.
Response to the Message with the Children of All Ages: "Joy Shall Come," Hebrew Melody (from New Wine copyright 1969. See address in Appendix I).
Response to the Proclamation: "Awake the Trumpet's Lofty Sound," Handel.
Hymn of Commitment: "God of Our Life, Through All the Circling Years," Hugh T. Kerr, 1916; alt. 1928, 1972.
Music for Dismissal: Medley of Advent Hymns (see Advent 1).
