Advent 4

A Time to Center Ourselves for Worship

 The Snow Lay on the Ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tcBHZDJHMw  

 Light  a Candle                

C all to Worship: responsive

One:  Into our world as into Mary’s womb…

All:  Come, Lord Jesus

One:  Into the forgotten places, as into the stable…

All:  Come, Lord Jesus.

One:  Into the lives of the poor, bringing hope; in to the lives of the powerful, bringing rest; into the lives of the wise, bringing restlessness; and into our lives and longings; whatever our estate….

All:  Come, Lord Jesus.

One:  This is the good news: Christ is coming, and blessed are those who wait on the Lord

All:  Therefore come quickly, Lord.  Amen.

            Cloth for the Cradle

               

A Time for Children--Pray for children everywhere that the promised peace that comes with God's child may be known to them.

    

 Sharing of Joys and Concerns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPfaxKZrhIU

                                              

 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day         our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those            who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

Old Testament: Isaiah 7:10-16

*Hymn: O Come, O Come Emmanuel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65aJef1J_Y

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon: Someone like me?

        In the Gospel lesson we learn of Joseph who is ready to leave the whole pregnant girlfriend situation behind.  He is a kind man so he is willing to do this in a quiet manner but leave her he will.  It is in a dream that the angel comes and suggests something different, something crazy, something that in a million years Joseph would never have planned for himself.  But that is God for us, always expecting more for and through us.

      We often have our own best laid plans ones that seem doable, or at least on a par to our ordinary living, even in our adventures we exercise a bit of restraint.  How often do we have a safety net or backup plan in place when we set off for something out of character?  How often do we rest in place waiting for just the right moment to make a move?  

     The truth is that recognizing we are not in control is often the moment we become free to accept the crazy and seemingly impossible God has planned for us.

     In the movie Evan Almighty, God asks a senator named Evan to build an ark and starts changing him to be like Noah-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrP8aOsM5RU

     When God really grabs a hold of us there is no going back.  Joseph could not turn back once he accepted his role in delivering Christ to the world, we cannot turn back once we realize that we too are called to deliver Christ to the world.  How do we do that?  With love for our neighbor, by sharing meals and stories with those who are not like us, we bring Christ to the world by extending kindness and respect to others.  The Prince of Peace was born with the help of a simple man named Joseph and will be born again this season with the help of someone like you.  "Really someone like me?"  "Yes someone like you?"  Thank God.

*Closing Hymn: Let There Be Peace on Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRFNg-Eyt_0

Benediction/Postlude:

      You are the God who is always coming to us.  help us open our hearts to all you want to give us, and tell us and ask of us.  Help us to be willing to live with desire, and newness, and wonder, and truth, and to give ourselves up to the journey.  Susan K Bock

             

Weekly Announcements: 

¬  No Quilting Monday the 23^rd.

¬  Christmas Eve Service 6:30 (Family friendly)

¬  A.A Friday at 12:00pm

¬  Pastor Gayle will be available Monday, Tuesday and Friday this week

Cox Memorial United Methodist Church

Middle St. Hallowell, ME 04347   (207) 622-6636

Pastor:  Gayle Holden  

Cell phone:  751-0273

E-mail: gayle.holden62@gmail.com

More Than Broken Glass

         

"I can see clearly now"  Johnny Nash

 
The church leaders, of the church I serve, and I have been on a prayer vigil.  As the year comes to a close I felt it was time to really pray for each other as we are experiences changes.  We all know that whether change is positive or negative, change is difficult. And so we go back to the beginning with prayer! 

            Yesterday morning as I pulled into the church parking lot for quilting I saw one of our parishioners waiting for me.  I could tell by his expression that something was amiss and then saw the broken window with a large rock on the ground below.  My reaction surprised me, overwhelming sadness, anger and outrage were nowhere to be found, I was just sad.  As I write this my eyes tear up still.  I think all of the intentional prayers we have been investing in the church over the past week(s) and I think it is because of these prayers there was no room for anger, blame or revenge...so often stumbling blocks to moving forward.  We can be sad because of great love, not love for a building but love for the people and God who have a standing date each Sunday, and we can move on because of great love.

            This past September I went to a Jan Richardson retreat.  We were guided through meditation and prayer with her own reflections and her husband Gary's music.  I am using her book Night Vision as an Advent Study. Last week we talked about the desire that can come out of the darkness, Jan used a form of writing we experienced on the retreat in her book.  She uses the words "I am...to begin each stanza.  On the retreat my I Am poem began

"I am Nancy Drew and Honey Bunch,

I am sweet cherries and peaches,

I am coca cola and a black mustang...”   You get the idea?

            As I was praying for our leaders this morning I began to pray for the church in this I Am manner:

I am more than broken glass,

I am smeared fingerprints from children and adults alike,

I provide the first view or the last as people cross this threshold.

I am sunshine so bright the curtains must be pulled.

I am the reflection at night of chicken pie and smiling faces,

    of children breaking piñatas, of dessert served after musical affairs,

            Of costumes and candy

    of tired faces crunching numbers for the coming year.

I receive the faces of expectation looking for plants, food, and chicken? (what kind?)

Look my way--I am busy hands sewing, knitting, quilting, felting...did I leave something out?

            sorting papers, letters from Melville.

I am children running, falling, laughing, crying

            packing pet food, making may baskets, sweeping (at least trying).

I am warm from their faces pressed against me as they wait...

I am more than broken glass,

I am one window, I am one view

I am one part of a whole-- I am a church.

           

 It struck me that the vandals left this very large rock outside the damaged window.  Placed right there at the base of the church.  I couldn't help but think of the children's song:

           

"Don't build your house on a sandy land, don't build it too close to the shore, oh it might be kind of nice but you'll have to build it twice, you'll have to build your house once more…you better build our house upon A ROCK!....”

             How ironic would it be if the best gift we got as a church this Christmas was a wake-up call from unlikely visitors to remind us of who we are?

        I invite you to pray with and for us and for Jan Richardson’s husband Gary who is seriously ill.  If you would like prayer please feel free to post on our Cox Memorial United Methodist Church facebook page.   May the peace that passes all understanding be upon you this holiday season!