Worship Leading Guide for 12/05

Call to Worship

Celebrate the Lord! Shout! Clap! Dance! Throw a party for God! Let God's joy spill from your hearts, your voices, your lives. There is no reason to worry about anything. God is totally trustworthy. The Lord has everything covered. Whatever is on your mind, tell it to God. There is nothing that we face alone. God is with us.

Rejoice! Rejoice! God is with us!

Let us worship the Lord!

Pastoral Prayer

God of our Highest Joy, we come to you this day as your servants, gathered to worship you and you alone. As we continue this Advent journey, help us to focus on you and the coming of your son, Jesus. Amidst the commercials, the cooking, and the company, the preparing, and the wrapping help us to remember the true meaning of this season: that you would come to us in the flesh and forever live among us.

Lord in your Mercy; Hear Our Prayer

Even as we share the joy we find in you with one another, we are mindful of those for whom joy is hard to find,      for those who don't have enough clothes,      for those who don't have enough food,      for those who don't have enough (or any) shelter,      for those who don't have enough protection and justice.

Lord in your Mercy; Hear Our Prayer

This advent season we remember that your kingdom is categorized by peace in the midst of conflict.

And God we confess that peace is often a rare commodity for us

We pray for peace for those disrupted by Tornados this weekend....

We pray for peace in the lives of those grieving....

We pray for peace in the lives of those struggling with addiction...

We pray for peace is a conflicts of families and relationships...

We pray for peace in the midst of medical procedures....

Lord in your Mercy; Hear Our Prayer

We know that you kingdom teaches us to love instead of fear, so.....

God of all mercy, Who loved us when we were your sinful enemies, Who saved us through your immeasurable grace, Who gave us a gift we did not deserve, Let us imitate you by loving those who are yet our enemies. Teach us to know how to love enemies, To wish them the best of the life you intend each human to have, And then pray and act so those wishes come true.

Lord in your Mercy; Hear Our Prayer

Lord we know that our kingdom often looks quite different than yours. And we ask that your kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for our church, for the Church that we would prepare ourselves for your coming kingdom. Help us as Ankeny First continue to discern the call that you have place on us, and Lord let your light shine through us so that others can know you.

Lord in your Mercy; Hear Our Prayer

Beyond our church God we pray that we would be prepared to experience your kingdom. We pray that your light would shine through us so that others can know you. In the midst of our anticipation of your kingdom we raise the joys and laments of our own hearts to you.

Lord in your Mercy; Hear Our Prayer

We pray that your kingdom would come…As we pray the words that you taught us saying.....

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 and ever.

Amen.

Celebration

Diapers

If you remember just at the beginning of advent we announced that our mission of the month was to collect diapers for a handful of organizations throughout the Des Moines/Ankeny area and we set a goal as a church to supply 10,000 diapers, and that certainly is a lot of diapers. In just our second week of December we have ALREADY surpassed that. In fact the most recent total was a little over 12,000 diapers. So keep it coming there is still a need. Diapers are a non-perishable good. And the need in the community is great. To give context just one of the sites that the diapers are going to Bidwell Riverside gives out about 70,000 diapers a year, so the need is certainly there.

First Service Announcement

In addition to that celebration, I do come today with some other news as well that is less celebratory. Our church has decided that the best way to live out our mission as a church while using the resources that we have as a church is to cancel this contemporary worship service at Faith. With that comes a lot of grief. And I will be the first to admit from the pulpit that this is hard, and it is hard because we have witnessed to the pressence of God in this place and to one another. It is hard because we have sung of God’s praises in this place, and this has been a meaningful place to connect with God for I imagine most of you hearing this. And there is certainly much to grieve. And there is certainly much to celebrate. I celebrate the ways that I have sensed God’s pressence in this worship service. And although this worship is not the best use of our church resources right now, I have hope for our future together. I want to outline some of the practical details for you all.

I know this was a lot of information to dump on you so in the coming days and weeks please do not hesitate to reach out to me to one another.

Specifically next week - the 12th - I would love to make some space after our normal worship service here in the room just to grieve together as a community. To remember and celebrate some of the moments in worship that have been meaningful, and to have an open and honest conversation about what your hopes for our church are for the future. That’s next Sunday immediately following worship.

The 19th - two Sundays from now will be our final worship service.

We will have one unified Christmas Eve worship service at Faith Chapel

Second Service Announcement

As was announced last week in worship, this service time is being discontinued at the campus. And this service has been a really meaningful experience of God’s pressence for many of you. So after worship today I invite you to the a space to grieve that loss together, to celebrate the joys of this service, and ultimately to share in hope for our future as a church. That conversation will be in the fellowship space just down the stairs because the kids will be practicing for the Children’s program in this space.

Christmas Eve Mission Offering

Malawi Sunday

Announcing Offering