UCC Sermon Series // Advent 2017

Transcription

1 Anticipate: An Advent Adventure In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. Isaiah 40:3-5 (NIV) UCC Sermon Series // Advent 2017 Purpose: Advent is a season of preparation. While we often spend time preparing gifts, meals, parties, and experiences during the holiday season, this year we want to encourage our congregation to prepare for Christ s birth with anticipation. An excitement for what is to come! Anticipation is characterized by hope and promise. In this series we will anticipate the promise, the king, the prophecy, and the coming of Christ. We will seek to tie together the Old and New Testament messianic Scriptures in a way that weave a holistic narrative of the covenant. This series has a companion small group as well as a daily devotional. They encourage the devotional to be done in a family or community setting and provide Jessie Tree ornaments for each day as well! Media & Music: There is a short weekly video that will be used on Thursday evenings. I will note in each week any song suggestions - Matt & Laurie, feel free to use or ignore! If it is a song both of you do let s just make sure we note chosen songs in the weekly s so that we don t end up singing the same hymn twice in a morning!

2 11/26/17 - Anticipate the Promise Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm25: Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke21:25-36 The messages of Advent urge us first of all to keep watch and be ready for the coming of Jesus. We testify often of our belief that Jesus is coming again, yet we do not necessarily live as if it were imminent. Advent s first purpose is to bring that confident anticipation into our everyday experience. The words of Jesus are: Watch Out! Don t let your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and worry. Paul s word provides a counterpoint: strengthen your hearts in holiness (1 Thessalonians 3:13). Here is a clear call to holy living as the way to be ready for Christ s coming. Richard Carlson who wrote the short inspirational book Don t Sweat the Small Stuff often ended a public television presentation with this challenge: As we conclude this seminar, I want to ask you two questions. If you knew you were going to die tonight, whom would you call? The second question is, What are you waiting for? Let s do a variation on the theme. If you knew Jesus were coming today, there are two questions for you. The first question is, What would you need to do to be ready? The second question is, What are you waiting for? No Candle Lighting this Week Hymn/Song Suggestions: Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel Anticipate the King Scripture: Malachi 3: 1-4 Luke 1: Philippians 1:3-11 Luke 3: /3/17 - ACTUAL ADVENT 1 (Candle Lighting Begins this Week)

3 Watch out and Be alert and Repent are not language we associate with Christmas. It s definitely not a White Christmas sentiment by any means. Rather these words announce rather boldly that living in the kingdom of God must be marked by a genuine change of heart, a transformation of the thought life, a change of direction coupled with purposeful attention to the things of God. The expectation is simply this those who live under the reign of God must turn from their sin and turn toward the Lord. Anything less marks us as chaff destined for the fire of judgment. Even believers even sincere, confessed, trying-my-best Christians mess up and need to repent along the way. Candle Scripture Reading: Isaiah 9:2,6 Candle Hymn: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus Hymn/Song Suggestions: King of Heaven Come (Paul Baloche) Anticipate the Prophecy Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-20 Isaiah 12:2-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3: /10/17 - The main message for today is that God is active in human history. There is no reason to fear. Our hope lies within the providence of a God whose purpose is to bring all things into a reconciling fellowship with him motivated by the love envisioned in Yahweh s covenant with Israel, fulfilled in the Word-made-flesh person of Jesus Christ, and brought to completion by the work of the Spirit in the hearts of all who believe. Here the magnificent anticipation for this third Sunday in Advent The Lord, your God, is in your midst. He will rejoice over you with gladness, the prophet announces, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing (v. 17). God is on the scene with a promise to restore and bring you home (v. 20). Rejoice, renew, restore three strong ways to understand the work of God in the midst of his people (Emmanuel: God-with-us). Candle Scripture Reading: Luke 1:28, Candle Hymn: O Little Town of Bethlehem Hymn/Song Suggestion: Come Though Long Expected Jesus, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, What Child is This?

4 12/17/17 - Children s Pageant Sunday! Scripture: Will be incorporated into the pageant Candle Scripture Reading: Luke 2:4, 6, 7 Candle Hymn: O Come, All Ye Faithful 12/24/17 - Anticipate the Coming Scripture: Micah 5:2-5a Luke 1:46b-55 Hebrews 10:5-10 Luke 1:39-45 The whole Christmas narrative is about reversing the fortunes of those who don t count not only the lonely, but the weak, the hungry, the oppressed, the outcasts. God seems to define himself in terms of these weak ones whom he loves and with whom he chose to work in the world. That is, lowly servants, like Mary, and barren old women, like Elizabeth, who say: Be it unto me according to your Word, who allow God to work his miracle of redemption in and through them. Your challenge and mine? To believe that God is doing something absolutely spectacular in this world and then to embrace it as a defining trait of what it means to be faithful to God. This Advent message is a call to live out the implications of accepting a God who defines himself in terms of the weak and oppressed, the empty and the alone, those on the outside, the vulnerable, the childlike. We confess with Mary in joy, faith, and submission that the Mighty One has done great things for me. It is to acknowledge that the powers of this world are not the powers that matter most, and that God is the great leveler of all human structures of power. It is he who brings down the exalted and elevates the lowly. We are called to nothing less than to view the world the way God does, by ordering worth and value according to God s terms. Suggested Songs: The First Noel, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem Candle Scripture Reading: Luke 2:8-11 Candle Hymn: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

5 12/24/17 - CHRISTMAS EVE 7pm Service Christ Has Come! Scripture: Luke 2: 1-20 Isaiah 9: 2-7 Psalm 96 Candle Scripture Reading: Luke 2:1-7 Candle Hymn: Go Tell It On the Mountains Candlelight Music: Silent Night & Joy to the World