NOVEMBER 29, 2020 10:30 AMMinisters: ALL People of Christ’s ChurchPastor: The Rev. William S. Henderson

Guest Preacher/Presider: Mr. Thomas BoothOrganist/Parish Peal Director: Joanne Vasey

Coordinator of Faith Formation: Charlene Rineer

CHRIST’S LUTHERAN CHURCH 100 SOUTH THIRD STREET, LEWISBURG, PA

570.524.0745 / CHRISTCHURCH@DEJAZZD.COM

SERVICE OF HOLY

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

WWW.CHRISTLUTHERANLEWISBURG.ORG

WELCOME TO ALL who join with us in worship!

If you are new to us the following information might be helpful:

Rest room facilities, including an individual restroom, are located in the hallway south of the Atrium. Large print bulletins are available during our services. Please ask an Usher for assistance.

All visitors and guests are welcome! We gather for worship each Sunday at 10:30 AM. We hope that you might experience the joy and peace that Jesus Christ can bring into your life! If you are interested in learning more about membership in our congregation please speak to the Pastor or call the Church Office (570.524.0745).

If you are new to Lutheran worship, most everything you need is printed in this bulletin. Hymns are for congregational humming. Please take your bulletin home with you; they will not be reused.

Please exit the Nave directly in a distanced way from others. Do not linger to talk in the Atrium, but go directly outside the building and beyond the portico.Introduction to our worship today:

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Stir up your power, and come! The psalmist's plea in Psalm 80:2 has become familiar to us in the Advent prayers. Isaiah wants God to rip the heavens open. Both cry out for an apparently distant, angry God to show up, to save, to restore. When we hear Jesus describing the coming of the Son of Man with stars falling from heaven, it can sound dire and horrible, not like anything we would ever hope for. But when we really look at the suffering of people God loves, we can share the hope that God would tear open the heavens and come.

Please silence your cell phone or switch it to vibrate.

* The congregation please stand as you are able.THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT NOVEMBER 29, 2020PRELUDE Chorale Prelude Variations on "Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying” J. G. Walther & Anonymous

Joanne Vasey, organ

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

* CONFESSION & FORGIVENESS

P Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, whose forgiveness is sure

and whose steadfast love endures forever.C Amen.

P Together let us honestly and humbly confess that we have not lived as God desires.

Silence is kept for reflection.

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P Loving and forgiving God,C we confess that we are held captive by sin. In spite of our best efforts, we have gone astray. We have not welcomed the stranger; we have not loved our neighbor; we have not been Christ to one another. Restore us, O God.

Wake us up and turn us from our sin. Renew us each day in the light of Christ. Amen.

P People of God, hear this glad news: by God's endless grace your sins are forgiven, and you are free—free from all that holds you back and free to live in the peaceable realm of God. May you be strengthened in God's love,

comforted by Christ's peace, and accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit.C Amen.

* GATHERING SONG Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn

Stanzas 1 & 4 1. Awake! Awake, and greet the new morn,

for angels herald its dawning.Sing out for joy, for soon he is born,

behold!The Child of our longing.Come as a baby weak and poor,to bring all hearts together,he opens wide the heav’nly doorand lives now inside us forever.

4. Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though dark the winter and cheerless,

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the rising sun shall crown you with light, be strong and loving and fearless. Love be our song and love our prayer and love our endless story; may God fill ev’ry day we share and bring us at last into glory.

* GREETING

P Grace and peace be with you all from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.C And also with you.

* LIGHTING OF THE FIRST ADVENT CANDLE Light the Candle – Vajda/Schalk

Light the candle of HOPE today,the Giver of hope will come!Welcome, the hope we long and wait for,but only Christ can give.Flicker and flame and glow with hope,light up the world around you.Flicker and flame and glow with hope,light up the world around you.

Text copyright © 1987 Jaroslav J. Vajda. Used by permission.Tune copyright © 1988 Carl Schalk. Used by permission.

* PRAYER OF THE DAY

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P Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. By your merciful protection awaken us to the threatening dangers of our sins, and keep us blameless until the coming of your new day, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.C Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Isaiah 64:1-9This lament comes from a people who have had their hopes shattered. The visions of a rebuilt Jerusalem and a renewed people of God, spoken of in Isaiah 40–55, have not been realized. Instead, the people experience ruin, conflict, and famine. This lament calls God to account—to be the God who has brought deliverance in the past.

L The Word of the Lord.C Thanks be to God.

NEW TESTAMENT LESSON: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9As the Christians in Corinth await the advent of Jesus, Paul reminds them how the Lord has already enriched them through spiritual gifts and will continue to strengthen them until the coming day of the Lord.

L The Word of the Lord.C Thanks be to God.

* GOSPEL ACCLAMATION ELW p. 102

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* THE HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 13:24-37P The Holy Gospel according to Mark, the thirteenth chapter:C Glory to you, O Lord.P The Gospel of our Lord.C Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON Mr. Tom Booth

* CONGREGATIONAL VISION A In the Great Commission to His Church Jesus sent the disciples forth into the world to baptize and to make His name and teachings known. We are His disciples in this time and this place; and so we go into the world; C Making Christ known as we worship, serve and grow in faith.

* THE NICENE CREED

P Living together in trust and hope with believers around the world, we confess our common faith:

C We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,

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Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the

Father,God from God, Light from Light,true God from true God, begotten, not made,of one Being with the Father; through Him all things were made.

For us and for our salvationhe came down from heaven,was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin

Maryand became truly human.For our sake He was crucified under Pontius

Pilate;He suffered death and was buried.

On the third day He rose againin accordance with the Scriptures;he ascended into heavenand is seated at the right hand of the Father.He will come again in glory to judge the living

and the dead,and His kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,who with the Father and the Son is worshiped

and glorified,who has spoken through the prophets.

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We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.We acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness

of sins.We look for the resurrection of the dead,and the life of the world to come. Amen.

* PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Leader: Hear us, O God. Congregational Response: Your mercy is great.

* SHARING OF THE PEACE

P The peace of the Lord be with you always.C And also with you. The ministers prepare to preside over the Eucharist

* THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

P The Lord be with you.C And also with you.

P Lift up your hearts.C We lift them to the Lord.

P Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.C It is right to give our thanks and praise.

P It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to You, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ. You comforted your people with the promise of the Redeemer, through whom you will also make all things new

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in the day when he comes to judge the world in righteousness. And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the Church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise Your name and join their unending hymn:

* SANCTUS ELW p. 108

* WORDS OF INSTITUTIONP In the night in which He was betrayed,

our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it,and gave it to His disciples, saying:

Take and eat; this is My body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of Me.

Again, after supper, He took the cup,gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying:

This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you

and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of Me.

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* THE LORD’S PRAYER C Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your

kingdom come,your will be done, on earth as in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power,and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

* INVITATION TO COMMUNIONP Even as we watch and wait, Christ is here. Come, eat and drink.C Thanks be to God.

AGNUS DEI ELW p. 112-113

The Communion of God’s Baptized People

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Believing in the real presence of Christ, we practice Eucharistic hospitality: all baptized Christians are invited to come forward as ushered to receive this life-giving Sacrament. As a sign of the unity the Sacrament gives, we all share the same elements. If you are unable to receive the bread or wine, be assured that in a single element you do receive the Presence of Christ and all the gifts this Sacrament offers. Non-communing children are invited to receive a blessing.

COMMUNION ANTHEM Creator of the Stars of Night

Latin Hymn; Plainsong mode IV/ Brandy Aguirre, vocalistCOMMUNION SONG My Lord, What a Morning – Stanzas 1 & 3

Refrain:My, Lord, what a morning; my Lord, what a morning; oh, my Lord, what a morning, when the stars begin to fall.

1. You will hear the trumpet sound, to wake the nations underground, looking to my God’s right hand, when the stars begin to fall.Refrain

3. You will hear the Christian shout, to wake the nations underground, looking to my God’s right hand, when the stars begin to fall. Refrain

* POST COMMUNION BLESSINGP May the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in His grace.

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C Amen.

* POST COMMUNION PRAYERA Gracious and abundant God, you have done great things for us, and we rejoice. In this bread and cup you give us life forever. In your boundless mercy, strengthen us and open our hearts to the world's needs, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord.C Amen.

* BENEDICTIONP The Creator of the stars bless your Advent waiting, the long-expected Savior fill you with love, the unexpected Spirit guide your journey, now and forever.C Amen.

* SENDING SONG Rejoice, Rejoice Believers – Stanzas 1 & 4 1. Rejoice, rejoice, believers, and let your lights appear;

the evening is advancing, and darker night is near.

The bridegroom is arising and soon is drawing nigh.

Up, pray and watch and wrestle; at midnight comes the cry.4. Our hope and expectation, O Jesus, now appear;

arise, O Sun so longed for, o’er this benighted sphere.

With hearts and hands uplifted, we plead, O Lord,

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to see the day of earth’s redemption that sets your people free! * DISMISSALP Go in peace. Prepare the way of the Lord.C Thanks be to God.

* POSTLUDE Once He Came in Blessing – J. S. Bach Joanne Vasey, organ

THE ALTAR FLOWERS are given to the glory of God by Janie Keiser, in loving celebration of the twenty-first birthday of her grandson, Griffin.THANKS to Brandy Aguirre for providing today’s communion anthem.WE WELCOME MR. TOM BOOTH to the pulpit this morning to lead us in worship. Tom is an Authorized Lay Worship Leader of the Upper Susquehanna Synod. Authorized Lay Worship Leaders have received extensive training so as to provide worship leadership and preaching, and also have been authorized by the bishop of the synod to preside at the Eucharist in specific situations.

November 29 / 1 Advent December 6 /2 AdventAsst. Minister 10:30 Sarah Patte Sarah Patte

Lector 10:30 am Beckie Stahlnecker Beckie StahlneckerAcolytes 10:30 am Lenya & Gillian Sullivan Olivia & Ella Koontz

Communion Ushers 10:30 Judy Cotner /Sharon Booth Brian & Diane Miller Communion Assistants 10:30 Tim Goff Colleen Neville

Sound Tech 10:30 Bill Borys Tom StahlneckerUsher Team Rick Faux & Laura Faux Wayne & Betty HookAltar Guild All Teams

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Council Person Colleen Nevil Sam Stroh

Learn from the FigsFig trees mature slowly. They don't require much maintenance, but they do require plenty of time to grow. Some fig trees take years to start producing fruit. It may be tempting to give up on a fig too soon, but the patient gardener knows to wait and watch for the subtle signs that the fig tree is about to produce."From the fig tree learn its lesson," Jesus says in today's gospel (Mark 13:28). Just as

the gardener watches for indications that a bud is about to unfold, so should believers watch for where God's presence is emerging in the world.Jesus' words in this passage paint a picture of God's arrival as unsettling and fearsome, with darkening skies and shaking celestial orbs. It is hard to imagine how anyone could miss such an arrival, yet Jesus warns his listeners that those who are not vigilant will be caught unaware. We must watch with care and patience for the signs of the coming of the Son of Man, like the gardener who watches for the ripening fig. If you think such signs can be ignored, you will miss the surprising, gentle cry of the incarnate God come as a tiny, vulnerable baby.Today, at the beginning of Advent, we enter a season of waiting and watching as we anticipate with hope the coming of Christ's light into the world. Yet, even as we wait, there are active signs of God's presence all around us now—in water and word, in bread and wine, in the assembly gathered for worship. These signs remind us of God's gracious love toward us. At the same time, the lesson of the fig tree reminds us to stay curious and

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attentive, open to what might surprise us. God is always up to something new.Reprinted from Words for Worship, copyright 2020 Augsburg Fortress.Used by permission of Augsburg Fortress.

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