3rd Advent - Call to Worship

Call to Worship

During the past 2 weeks we have contemplated

       God’s unstoppable purpose of salvation for us.

On the first Sunday the scriptures

       invited us to see

       that God’s unstoppable purpose

       surprizes us as we hope and wait.

God reveals himself in surprizing ways

       as we keep our trust in him.

On the second Sunday in Advent

       the words of the prophets invited us

       contemplate God’s faithfulness and love.

Even during a time of bondage and despair

       God’s faithful covenant love

       holds us close to the heart of God.

Today, on the 3rd Advent,

       we come into God’s presence with laughter and joy.

We rejoice in the great things

       that God has done and keeps on doing.

We are reminded,

       that we are a people that laugh with Abraham & Sara

       and Zecharia & Elisabeth

       because God restores an old and frail body

       to bear the child of promise.

We rejoice today

       because God, who is infinetely involved

       in all our human despair and disappointment,

       our suffering and grief,

       is also the God who restores us.

Today, as we worship God,

       let us ask ourselves:

What kinds of repair and restoration does God desire

       in our homes,

       in our relationships with each other in the church,

       in our neighborhoods,

       at work, and school, and play?

How does God want us to be a part of the solution

       rather than adding to the problems of the world?

What is my place and your place

       in God’s unstoppable purpose

       to fix the world

       and restore it to a right relationship with him?

Let us pray…

Faithful and loving God,

       we are renewed and restored

       because of your favour toward us in Jesus, your Son.

We offer you our lives for your holy work of salvation

       and making things right in the world.

We lift up our joyful praise to you,

       for you have restored us

       and called us your own.

As a people restored unto you,

       let us be a part of your work of restoration

       in the world.       Amen

Benediction

As we go from here restored and rejoicing

       let us go with the blessing of Isaiah 42,

       affirmed in our calling as Servant of the Lord:

 1 "Here is my servant, [you are my servant] whom I uphold,
       my chosen one in whom I delight;
       I will put my Spirit on [you]
       and [you] will bring justice to the nations.

 2 [You] will not shout or cry out,
       or raise [your] voice in the streets.

 3 A bruised reed [you] will not break,
       and a smoldering wick [you] will not snuff out.
       In faithfulness [you] will bring forth justice;

 4 [you] will not falter or be discouraged
       till [God] establishes justice on earth.
       In his law the islands will put their hope."

 5 This is what God the LORD says—
       he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
       who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
       who gives breath to its people,
       and life to those who walk on it:

 6 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
       I will take hold of your hand.
       I will keep you and will make you
       to be a covenant for the people
       and a light for the Gentiles,

 7 to open eyes that are blind,
       to free captives from prison
       and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Friends, go rejoicing,

       for God’s purpose of restoration will surely come to pass.

Go and rejoice,

       for you are a child of God!