First Presbyterian Church
November 29, 2020
10:00 AM
Order of Worship: First
Sunday of Advent
CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 80)
Restore us, God! Make
your face shine so that we can be saved!
Let your hand be with the
one on your right side with the one whom you secured as your own.
Then we will not turn
away from you! Revive us so that we can call on your name.
Restore us, God of
heavenly forces! Make your face shine so that we can be saved!
Let us worship the Living
God.
Hymn
of Praise: “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”
1.
Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and
sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel's strength and
consolation, hope of all the earth thou art; dear desire of every nation, joy
of every longing heart.
2.
Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, born to reign in us
forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal spirit rule in
all our hearts alone; by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious
throne.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)
O God, we confess our passivity, our lack of vigilance in
discerning the possibilities that you open up for us to participate in your
healing, restoring work in our world and in our own lives. We have succumbed to
paralyzing fears. We have ignored and even resisted the prodding of your
Spirit, nudging us out of self-absorption and inertia. Empower us by your
Spirit to be attentive, discerning and ready partners in our cosmic restoration
project. Amen.
*SILENT PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
*THE GLORIA
PATRI
Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is
now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
God’s mercy abounds. God’s
grace goes before us, after us, through us — sometimes even unbeknownst to us,
restoring us and empowering us for participation in God’s own work in the
world. Friends, hear the good news of the gospel: we are forgiven and restored,
set on right paths of justice and peace.
INVITATION: “Dear Lord, I
need You, please come into my life today.
Amen”
LESSON: Jeremiah
23: 1-20
23Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of
my pasture! says the Lord. 2Therefore thus says
the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my
people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and
you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings,
says the Lord. 3Then I myself will gather the remnant of
my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them
back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4I
will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not
fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says
the Lord. 5The days are surely
coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness
in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will
live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called:
“The Lord is our righteousness.” 7Therefore,
the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said,
“As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the
land of Egypt,” 8but “As the Lord lives who brought
out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north
and out of all the lands where he had driven them.” Then they shall live in
their own land.
9Concerning the prophets: My
heart is crushed within me, all my bones shake; I have become like a drunkard,
like one overcome by wine, because of the Lord and because of his
holy words. 10For the land is full of adulterers; because of
the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course has been evil, and their might is not right. 11Both
prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their wickedness,
says the Lord. 12Therefore their way shall be to them like
slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall; for I
will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, says
the Lord. 13In the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting
thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 14But
in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a more shocking thing: they commit
adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no
one turns from wickedness; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its
inhabitants like Gomorrah. 15Therefore thus says
the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: “I am going to make them
eat wormwood, and give them poisoned water to drink; for from the prophets of
Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.” 16Thus
says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets
who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own
minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17They keep saying
to those who despise the word of the Lord, “It shall be well with you”;
and to all who stubbornly follow their own stubborn hearts, they say, “No
calamity shall come upon you.” 18For who has stood in the
council of the Lord so as to see and to hear his word? Who has given
heed to his word so as to proclaim it? 19Look, the storm of
the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the
head of the wicked. 20The anger of the Lord will not
turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. In
the latter days you will understand it clearly.
SERMON: “Christmas:
The Light of Hope in Jesus” Rev. Peter Hofstra
Affirmation of
faith (from A Brief Statement of Faith)
We trust in
Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word
and deed and blessing children, healing the sick and binding up the
brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to
repent and believe the gospel.
Unjustly
condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths
of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised this
Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin
and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal.
With believers
in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Alleluia. Amen.
PASSING OF THE
PEACE
THE OFFERING OF
OUR TITHES & GIFTS
If
unable to drop the tithe and offering at church for Sunday morning worship, it
can be mailed to First Presbyterian Church, 45 Market St., Perth Amboy, NJ 08861 or sent via Venmo, search email address
office@fpcperthamboy.org
*DOXOLOGY
Praise God, from
whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him
above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*OFFERTORY
PRAYER
JOYS AND
CONCERNS
PRAYERS OF THE
PEOPLE
God
of Advent, we stand at the threshold of this season, hopefully anticipating a
birth in a stable in Bethlehem. We await his coming as the prince of peace and
justice, the bearer of good news for all who are oppressed and the restorer of
your intent for your world. As we wait on this first Sunday of Advent, help us
also to ponder deeply his ultimate coming as our crucified and risen Lord to
judge and to heal the brokenness of our world. Indeed, help us to be vigilant
in our waiting. Prod us to discern the commonwealth of God in our midst as it
strains toward realization now. Empower us, as you empowered the psalmist, to
call for your restoration of our world, our country and our lives and to
participate in that work. We are like your people of old, wandering in a
wilderness, longing for your glory to shine as a light in our darkness. Make
your face shine in our midst once more and deliver us from all that threatens
us. With the prophet Isaiah, we, too, implore you to “tear open the heavens”
and come down to do “awesome deeds” in our midst — deeds of liberation for
those in bondage and of hope for those in exile. Help us to recognize, with the
apostle Paul, the abundance of your gifts that have been given to us for the
good of the whole community — and empower us to place them in service of the
common good. And may the evangelist Mark embolden us for vigilant waiting and
watching so that we may leap in and participate at points where your future is
crashing into our present time. Prompt us, arouse us to discern and act at
those places where your love and justice are breaking forth in our lives and
communities. Indeed, during these tumultuous days of racial, political and
social reckoning, help us to overcome paralyzing fear in our personal lives, in
our communities and in our world. Calm the fear in us. Animate courage in us.
Make us brave in confronting realities that deform and deface your world, so
that we may participate in your reconciling work in our midst. And we pray for
the world of nations, especially for those places where violence is wreaking
havoc upon human lives and the life of your creation. We pray for countries
dealing with devastation caused by hurricanes, wildfires and other natural
disasters. We pray for those in our own country who have lost jobs, revenue,
healthcare and loved ones during this relentless pandemic. Help us to serve as
agents of your love and care to those in our midst who are suffering. And we
pray for wise discernment by our nation’s leadership as they negotiate ways in
which to aid those most afflicted. We prayer all these things in the name of
Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray 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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil; for Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
SONG OF RESPONSE: “Once In
Royal David’s City”
1. Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a
mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed; Mary, loving mother mild, Jesus
Christ, her little child.
2. He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all,
and his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall. With the poor, the
scorned, the lowly lived on earth our Savior holy.
3. Jesus is our childhood's pattern; day by day, like us he
grew; he was little, weak, and helpless, tears and smiles like us he knew; and
he feeleth for our sadness, and he shareth in our gladness.
4. And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming
love; for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above; and he
leads his children on to the place where he is gone.
*BENEDICTION
*THREE FOLD AMEN
Elements of Order of Worship drawn from The Presbyterian Outlook,
written by Jill Duffield.
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