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Lord’s Day Service with Commentary – 1st Sunday of Advent

Annotated Order of Worship

Elizabeth Swan

UDTS

MN 501

5-15-19
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WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

[Welcome to all who are worshipping with us this Sunday morning! We pray that you will feel

the warmth of God’s Spirit, and that you will be spiritually encouraged and nurtured as we

worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.]

PRELUDE: “Woke Up This Morning’ With My Mind Stayed on Jesus”

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader: This is the day that the Lord has made;

People: let us rejoice and be glad in it!

PRAYER OF ADORATION {Unison}

Infinite God, you are eternal, unchangeable,

and beyond our grasp or conceiving.

You are full of love and compassion,

abundant in grace and truth.

Your works everywhere praise you,

and your glory is revealed, in Jesus Christ our Savior.

Therefore we praise you, blessed and holy Trinity,

one God, forever and ever. Amen. Commented [ts1]: Since this is unison throughout, it
might be best to left-hand justify the whole prayer, since
the indentations might lead some (like me) to conclude this
is meant to be responsive.
Commented [EJS2R1]:
HYMN OF PRAISE: No. 825 “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
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CALL TO CONFESSION {Heb. 4:14-16}

Remember that our Lord Jesus can sympathize with us in our weaknesses,

since in every respect he was tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with boldness approach the throne of grace,

that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

[Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.]

CONFESSION OF SIN {Unison}

Transforming God, we come before you

knowing that we are poor mirrors of your mercy.

You are reckless with forgiveness,

while we calculate righteousness.

You spread wide the table,

while we eat with our own.

You are keen to celebrate;

we are quick to judge.

By your grace, make us restless for the wholeness you inhabit,

until every lost and lonely one knows the joy of home. Commented [ts3]: This is lovely. Likewise, I might avoid
indenting parts.

SILENT CONFESSION

DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS {Rom. 8:34; 2 Cor. 5:17}

Hear the good news!


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Who is in the position to condemn?

Only Christ,

and Christ died for us,

Christ rose for us,

Christ reigns in power for us,

Christ prays for us.

ANTHEM: “Lord I/We Need You”

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

OT READING: Genesis 12:1-9 – The Call of Abram

NT READING: Selections from Luke 1:24+ Elizabeth’s Pregnancy Foretold; Mary’s Song

SERMON: “Hope Against Hope”

SONG: “We Believe” Newsboys

TITHES & OFFERINGS

EUCHARIST
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[If you long to see, know, and love Jesus more, you are invited to this table.]

[Words of Institution: 1 Cor. 11:23-26]

[Communion Prayer: Let us pray. Abba Imma in Heaven, thank you for this meal. In this family Commented [ts4]: I'm impressed with how well this short
prayer covers the basic movement of the Thanksgiving. It
could certainly expanded, in terms of building memory of
meal, you show us that all are invited to come to you, and we are part of those invited. You give each Divine Person's mighty acts, but the essential shape is
there.
us this meal to remember what you did for us in the flesh through Jesus. You have given this gift

to us just as you have given yourself for the world, and we thank you. We acknowledge that your

Holy Spirit works through, in, among us, and you promise you are always with us. We ask your

Spirit to make us one as your partners in ministry until we are all gathered at your heavenly

banquet. Amen.]

[Come to the Table. Savor this meal.]

LITANY OF BLESSING

Leader: As we have been nourished at the Lord’s Table, so we now seek ways to nourish others.

People: Jesus, You have blessed us. Help us to be a blessing to others.

Leader: Help us to seek justice.

People: Open our eyes to the needs of the oppressed.

Leader: Draw us towards reconciliation.

People: Allow us to find peace.

All: Send us as Your ambassadors of forgiveness. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, grant us

faith, hope, and love.


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HYMN OF RESPONSE

No. 700 “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” Commented [ts5]: Very good selection for a post-
communion hymn.

RESPONSIVE BENEDICTION

[Now receive this benediction and respond as prompted in your bulletin.]

Leader: God, go with us.

People: Help us to be a faithful witnesses.

Leader: Give us the grace to follow Christ’s word,

People: to be clear in our task and careful in our speech.

Leader: Give us open hands and joyful hearts.

People: Put Christ be on our lips.

Leader: Make our lives reflect your love of truth and compassion.

People: Allow no one who comes to us go away sad. Commented [ts6]: "who"

Leader: Let’s walk before God’s people

People: that those who follow us might come into God’s kingdom!

POSTLUDE: “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love”


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COMMENTARY

I am not currently worshipping in a community that regularly has printed bulletins.

Therefore, the order of worship format you see above is derived from what I have learned in

classes and during my first Supervised Practice of Ministry at the 1st Presbyterian Church in

Orangeburg, South Carolina, along with influences from campus chapel worship services at the

University of Dubuque.

The particular ministry context for this service is ecumenical, inclusive, casual, and flexible.

The service would be an hour to an hour and a half depending on how long prelude and postlude

music goes because there may be repetition depending on the Spirit’s leading. It will also depend

on if the songs are extended for a welcoming altar call, and how long the sermon goes.

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Not every person that walks in church is having a good morning. We are a collection of

people bringing our baggage with us. Acknowledging God in our midst and us coming to the Commented [ts7]: That is the main thing.

awareness of that presence is a much richer welcome then a hello and good morning smile.

PRELUDE

Even if we do not wake up with a spirit of joy, with Jesus on the forefront of our mind,

we can come into the church and have these good words be put into our mouths to proclaim to

ourselves, one another, and to God. This song brings us into worship, even if we did not start our

morning with this mentality, we can have God turn it around for us from here on out.

CALL TO WORSHIP
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While often a good welcome can serve as a call to worship, I believe reiterating why we

are gathered is important. We need reminders that the Lord is the one who made this day and

there is always something to be glad for.

PRAYER OF ADORATION {Unison}

Many people in the congregation do not regularly pray aloud, whether alone or in the

company of others. I chose to include a prayer of adoration prayed in unison to have the practice

of the family of God praying aloud thanksgiving to God together. This is special because again,

many are not having a good morning, and when we do not feel like these words are true, they

are, and the rest of our family of God can surround us by proclaiming those truths.

HYMN OF PRAISE: No. 825 “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

This song is special because it is a prayer for God’s spirit to be brought down low to us.

Right before confession I see this as fitting so that we can be convicted in heart and mind of

where we have not lived in the way we were redeemed for. We will need continual renewal until

the Sweet Chariot comes to carry us home. Commented [ts8]: I see the sense in which this functions
here in terms of "mood," lifting us up for worship; though I
struggle a tad to relate it to the texts for the day. Maybe I
am forgetting a verse?

CALL TO CONFESSION {Heb. 4:14-16}

From my SPM, I appreciated the pure scriptures being used in the elements of preparing

us to confess our sins, calling us out to do so. Commented [ts9]: Yes. The best liturgy is pure scripture.

CONFESSION OF SIN {Unison}


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The confession of sin said in unison was adapted from the 2018 Montreat Worship

Conference. Commented [ts10]: Great!

SILENT CONFESSION

Time for intentional silence is paramount in the communal time of prayer, especially in Commented [ts11]: Yes, but perhaps esp. in Confession.

confession, whether it is to reveal the requests to God in the quietness of our hearts, or to breathe

in God’s presence and assurance of faithfulness, for we have a God who hears our prayers.

ANTHEM: “Lord I/We Need You”

While we are forgiven, there is always the dependence we have on the Lord. This anthem

will be sung as normal with the “I” language, then it will be sung with we language to add a

more unifying1 affect to the communal prayer of the congregation. I first experienced this song

sung in this format at Radius Church and it was a very intimate experience and beautiful

reminder of how we are all on different journeys, but the same journey together. Commented [ts12]: I wonder: What would you think of
singing it after the silence and before the assurance. There
it would serve as a sort of Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy).
The plaintive cry seems like it might function better there
than here, where it does not seem like an obvious outburst
DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS {Rom. 8:34; 2 Cor. 5:17} of praise and thanksgiving for the reminder of the good
news that we are forgiven (that is how the Gloria normally
functions here). Just a thought.
There always needs to be assurance of pardon or a declaration of forgiveness. We need to
Commented [ts13]: Glad you chose the stronger label.
Yes, we need to hear it, but hear it stated with authority.
hear that we are forgiven. It is something we long for, and the fact that we have those words

straight from scripture is important to continuously teach in the church.

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

1
Long, Ch.5, 5th Characteristic of Vital and Faithful Congregations
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Similarly to how we learned in class about asking for the Spirit to be poured out in a

special way over the elements of communion, so too do we call for the spirit to give wisdom to

the person preaching the Word, and over the whole congregation, so that the people would hear, Commented [ts14]: ... and over the whole congregation,
so that the people would hear, understand, receive, and act
upon the Word.
understand, receive, and act upon the Word.

OT READING: Genesis 12:1-9 – The Call of Abram

Before reading the scriptures, I have adapted the introduction of a university group who

leads dramatic renditions of scripture. They say before beginning each skit, “Remember this

portion of the story of God, as it is written in the book that we love __.” Then just “Listen for the

Word of God” can be said if a separate reading follows. Preferably the reader will have a Bible

in hand, or the scriptures typed on paper to read from, with appropriate annotations for

enthusiastic reading.2

NT READING: Selections from Luke 1:24+ Elizabeth’s Pregnancy Foretold; Mary’s Song

Connecting the OT to the NT is important, therefore the story of Abram will be

connected to Jesus’ continued promises and assured faithfulness with characters in the NT too.

Usually, this gospel passage would be the more focused text for the sermon.3

SERMON: “Hope Against Hope”

2
Miller, p. 25 Practical wisdom on reading of the word.
3
Cherry, p. 77-8, 15 Points
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This sermon was inspired by my first seminary class, Short-Term Mission with Beth

McCaw, a devotional I crafted for discussion among my Dominican Republic mission team, and

from a sermon I heard at Montreat in 2018. Some of the main themes of this sermon would

include the following:

We never read the Bible the same way twice because we are never the same.

These stories tell us who and whose we are.

We cannot tell these stories just once.

With God, there is only promise, and promise kept.

Do we dare sing along with Mary? To hope?

SONG: “We Believe” Newsboys

The song after the sermon serves as an affirmation of faith. This song literally sings the faith

and that is why I chose it to be sung congregationally following the sermon message we heard

about God being faithful to his promises.

TITHES & OFFERINGS

Tithes and offerings are stated in the bulletin for multiple reasons. It is important to educate

our worshippers of the significance of tithing our first fruits to God and to view money, as a

whole, as tools to glorify God because it is all a gift from God to us. It is important to state the

word offerings in the bulletin because we offer God much more than our money, but our cares
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and concerns and our time and attention. This would be the time where attendance cards and

prayer requests would be placed in the offering plate, especially for guests joining in worship.

This kind of offering time was a great experience I have had in the United Methodist Church I

worshipped in during some of my high school years.

This time would also be the place where a “Mission Moment” would be shared. This would

consist of a member speaking on behalf of a local, out of state, and/or abroad current event that is

in need of prayers or resources. A staff member or church volunteer could also shortly present on

a service project or a missionary that the congregation is supporting prayerfully or financially.

These updates should happen regularly to connect the worshipping body with the wider global

church. Themes of how we are united as brothers and sisters in Christ should always be woven

into regular worship, and this is an easy time to do so. Commented [ts15]: Glad you see the rich potential in
doing this well. Communication is key, so I would think the
oral invitation as well as written instruction (whether
bulletin or newsletter or screeen) will be important.

EUCHARIST4

With feedback I received from my previous paper, I made sure the order of how

communion was enacted made sense and flowed properly, especially with the invitation to the

table made in the beginning for the congregation to ponder. Commented [ts16]: !!

LITANY OF BLESSING5

This uses Trinitarian language, as this is important to our theology. It also repeats themes

from the scripture reading of being blessed by God to be a blessing to others. Also, language

4
PC(USA) Book of Common Worship, 1993
5
Stookey, Let the Whole Church Say Amen, p. 43
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from the table during the Eucharistic prayer is used, and it foreshadows the message of our

postlude song while asking God to use us and make us mindful of the oppressed.

HYMN OF RESPONSE

Singing this song in response ties together the themes nicely, to serve as a continual

thread throughout the service, which will ring in the minds of the worshippers, even

unconsciously.

RESPONSIVE BENEDICTION

For the responsive benediction, I was intentional in not using ambiguous terms such as

“let us” or “may we” because I learned about vigorous verbs in Stookey.6 I kept in mind exercise

67 when editing this benediction too.

This service encourages congregational participation and response in the times of prayer, the

offering, and the responsive benediction.

POSTLUDE

A good postlude sends the people of God out. It functions as a commissioning, especially

in this 1st Sunday of Advent where we are always anticipating Jesus. Until that time, we shall

show the world and be known for our love, and we love because God first loved us.

6
Stookey, Let the Whole Church Say Amen, p. 27
7
Stookey, Let the Whole Church Say Amen, p. 37

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