Reformed Worship - Resources for Planning and Leading Worship

Why is the Advent wreath part of our Advent liturgies? Having candles and evergreen boughs in church during this time of year is pleasant, certainly But should these things really have a place in our worship service?"

Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 40:1-11

This too-familiar Advent reading can be interpreted as a drama. The drama requires four voices, a band of exiles, and a speaking choir. Voices 1,2,3, and 4 are gathered in a heavenly council high and near the center of the chancel. The band of exiles is visible to one side on the lower level and appears defeated. The speaking choir is opposite the exiles.

Instrumental Prelude (carol arrangements for organ and flute)

Processional: "Once in Royal Davids City" (English)
[PsH 346, PH 49, RL 201, TH 225, UMH 250, WC 161]

Welcome and Prayer

[Leader to improvise words of welcome to the congregation; then to lead in prayer:]

Third Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Christians associate these words more readily with Jesus (Luke 4) than with Isaiah. Any sermon preached from Isaiah will surely proclaim Jesus as the anointed one, the Christ. But we should not rush too soon to Luke 4. We should first savor the revolutionary radical, wild announcement of the prophet, even though we will be tempted to tame it with reason and common sense.

DECEMBER

Child So Lovely/ Nino Lindo

One of the most pervasive Christmas folk traditions is the singing of lullabies. The Austrian "Silent Night" the Polish "Infant Holy" and the North American 'Away in a Manger" are some common examples of Christmas carols that often function as lullabies in Christmas season tableaux, church school programs, and carol services.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

2 Samuel 7:1-11; 16

This lection is directly tied to the gospel for the day (Luke 1:26-38). But apart from that, this message from God to David marks a turning point in the history of God's people.

Have you ever thought about the importance of ministering to the minister? Caring for the elder? Leading the music leader?

SERVICE FOR CHRISTMAS DAY

Prelude

Greeting

Greetings, favored ones, the Lord is with you.

His name is Immanuel, God with us.

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!

Hymn: "O Come, All Ye Faithful"
[PsH 340, PH 41-42, RL 195, TH 208]

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:1-7

Any congregation who has recently called a new pastor knows how complicated finding the right person can be. How can you tell if a minister's ideas of worship and leadership will match those of the congregation? What if the pastor you call doesn't feel comfortable with the style of worship and ministry that is so integral to your congregation?

In the opening song of the musical The Cotton Patch Gospel, the chorus sings: "Somebody said, 'It's the second coming,' someone said, 'It's the first.' Somebody said, It's the best that could happen,' someone said, 'It's the worst.'"

Give or take a year, 1884 was the year Clarence Wexler founded the town that bears his name. He drifted west from Paterson, New Jersey, prospecting not for gold but for coal. Coal mines were as good as gold when they were close enough to the Boston/New York/Trenton furnaces to connect by rail, and far enough west to ensure cheap labor. So it was that Clarence Wexler settled in mid-Appalachia to begin his dig.

When people reflect on the organ's role in worship, they think first of all of the music for preludes, offertories, and postludes. And, of course, everyone knows that organs accompany the hymns.

Roger E. Van Harn. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992.162 pages. $14.95 (hardcover).

The sermon is a most amazing and curious entity says author Van Harn, one that preachers and laypeople alike tend to have strong ideas about. But many of our perceptions of the sermon are unbib-lical and off target.

There's my apple, Mom!" We were halfway through singing the first hymn when my son's eyes caught sight of his creation. I could hear the pride in his voice. "It's for Adam and Eve," he announced. As I quieted him, I smiled to myself, remembering his wide grin as he carried his apple forward as part of the offering on the first Sunday of Advent.

We Gather, Watching Time

Prelude and Personal Meditation

Welcome and Announcements

Our Hymn of Trust: "Like a River Glorious"
[PsH 560,TH 699]

Beginning in Praise

Organ Prelude and Personal Meditation

Welcome and Announcements

Our First Thoughts at the New Year: "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven"
[PsH 475, PH 478, RL 144, TH 76-77]

Our Testimony of Praise

I will exalt you, my God and King! I will praise your name for ever and ever!

I don't care what anybody says, I'm not writing another sermon for church this Sunday. The sad truth is, nobody in my congregation heard a word of the last one.

I've been holding forth from a pulpit for so many years I've lost track of time— I could be 80 or 90 or 150 years old, for all I know. What I do know is that after a worship service like I had Sunday last, I feel most all of Methuselah's 900 years.

I refer to the December, 1992 issue and its article by Robert Busch and Howard Hageman entitled, "Why We Call This Friday Good." When I read the meditations on the seven last words I was disappointed. My disappointment with the meditations was confirmed when I experienced the suggested worship service on Good Friday evening.

An Advent Canopy

Bob De Jonge, a member of Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was intrigued by "On the Way to Bethlehem," a resource in last year's Advent issue (RW25) that adapted the Children and Worship approach to create a Christmas program. With Children and Worship leaders, he adapted that resource into a processional that opened worship each week of Advent.

First Sunday of Advent