Thursday, December 24, 2020
Friday, December 18, 2020
Sermon for the Sabbath Celebrated on Sunday, December 20, 2020
December 20, 2020 Sermon Isaiah 9: 1-9
Is it four identifiers or five? Thus is the controversy of Isaiah 9. Is this, as laid out in Handel’s Messiah,
Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace OR
is it Wonderful, then Counselor, then Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace? So what does it matter? Well, for one thing, it begs the question: How
thence shall we think about our Lord Jesus in the manner that the Bible calls
us upon to do?
Before
we get bogged down into what we do not know about this passage, it would be
helpful to consider what we do know so far, because this is powerful
stuff. This child is from the House of
David, established for us in Jeremiah some three weeks ago. Then the Micah verses, they confirm David,
whose City is Bethlehem, but they mark this Messiah as the shepherd of the
people, here again confirmed. Isaiah
says specifically, He will establish and uphold
it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. Uphold what?
He will establish and uphold peace with justice and righteousness. This is the shepherd of the people.
Then,
last week, and two chapters ago, Isaiah lays down for us two more pieces of the
Messianic expectation. This will be the
child of a virgin: the child that God is going to give to her. AND his name is Emmanuel, God is With
Us. That is where we come to these
celebratory titles that sing to us.
Jesus said the first shall be last and the last shall be first. He
was talking about people who consider their own importance in the world, but
this precept applies to our passage today. Let us look to the last title first.
Jesus is
the Prince of Peace. In John, Jesus said
My peace I leave with you, I do not give to you as the world gives. When we talk about peace, we are really
talking about peace. We are not talking
about the stretches of ‘ceasefire’ that pass for peace in a sinful world. Because that is really what it is. Look at the world map and how many
flashpoints are there that could draw us into a war tomorrow? Jesus is going to establish the peace with
justice and righteousness, with fair dealings and right behavior, as its
underpinnings.
But
what if I said that justice and righteousness is a redistribution of the wealth
and the stuff of the world equally to everyone because there is enough in the
world so that none should be in poverty, that we would have no more reason to
make war? In the eyes of this nation, I would
not be speaking for the Prince of Peace, I would be a Communist. So I defer to the power of the Almighty, to
the Prince of Peace to make peace truly happen.
Because, continuing to work in reverse, the power and authority that
Isaiah says this child is going to have, they are derived from the second and
third to the last titles of our passage.
Jesus
is Almighty God and Everlasting Father.
But wait, we might say, we already have one of those. As we know in the trinitarian blessing, in
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the first one is Almighty
God and Everlasting Father, when we segment out the roles and
responsibilities. And Jesus was a guy,
when he came to earth. Well, Jesus was
fully guy and fully God. He spends a lot
of time in the Gospel of John talking about how God flows to Jesus which then
flows to us, love, judgment, authority.
The things of God are upon this child who is born King of the Jews.
And
we divide these titles for an important reason.
Almighty God is the best we humans can do to sum up what it means to be
God. All Mighty. We have a dozen or more other theological
terms that break down what Almighty means, but this sums it all up. And remember what theology is, it is thinking
about God. It is thinking about God and
what Almighty means that leads to breaking out the various areas where God’s
power is all-encompassing. Helps us get
a toe in the door of trying to understand what is truly beyond our
comprehension.
Everlasting
Father, that is different from Almighty God because it marks Jesus in
relationship, Father to all of humanity.
Again, this is a role that, in our Trinity thinking, Jesus is taking up
from the Father; person 2, the Son, taking up what we understand as person 1,
the Father. And we can get thoroughly
confused as trying to figure out the One in Three and Three in One when it is
more important to understand that the meaning of God is not in the
formula. The meaning of God is in whom
God explains Godself to be to us. God
the Everlasting Father is the loving father of all time for all humanity. This is the role that Jesus is stepping into,
through his Messianic work, for us. The
language is confusing, the Son of God becoming the Everlasting Father, but I
hope it makes a lot more sense when we consider God’s plan. Sin separated us from God the Father. Jesus-the Son-came to us and restored that
relationship through his death and resurrection. In glory, Jesus then rises to return once
again to the Everlasting Father.
To
understand the Trinity is NOT to understand a formula. It is to understand how God has revealed
Godself to us in a way we can understand.
And the closer we come and the more we understand our God’s relationship
to us, the less we need to lean on these divisions that God structured as our
foundation of understanding the nature of what is otherwise unknowable. So, Almighty God, the Messiah has all the
power of the Divine. Everlasting Father,
the Messiah is the loving Father for all time to all God’s children. Prince of Peace ties back into these two
because this is what God has come to accomplish among us.
Now
we come to the controversy. Is it
Wonderful Counselor or Wonderful AND Counselor?
Counselor may be a confusing sort of word, does loving Jesus implies
some kind of therapy in our relationship?
Confession is a mandate of Scripture, but therapy, at least as we might
understand it in the psychological sense, maybe not so much. Because Wonderful Counselor, if we go with
the single term, means so much more than having a Great Therapist.
Actually,
Jesus helps us understand this term, “Counselor”. In John 14, when Jesus talks about peace, he
also talks about Counselor. Jesus is
explaining to his disciples that he is going to return to heaven, but that he
is not going to leave them alone. He is
sending another, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, but
referring to its role as that of “Advocate”, also translated as “Counselor”, that
will be, to use the other name “Emmanuel”, God with Us, because Jesus will be
there indwelling as the Counselor. So it
is not like Jesus is describing God like a pie, that when the Jesus piece is
put back, the Holy Spirit piece will come out to replace it.
No,
Jesus identifies as this Counselor who will come down and indwell us. That puts a different spin on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes down to us, but that is
Jesus come back to us. Not in
person, but into each person.
Jesus’ whole life experience is the model by which we do things as God would
have us do. As Holy Spirit, as
Counselor, Jesus then indwells us to guide us to live into his teachings, his
actions, his prayers, on how to live out the Love of God.
Only
recently did I do some reading by a theologian who has done some deep thinking
on what the Holy Spirit actually is. I
know the general bits, fire on the head, the Spirit gives us fruit to live by,
it is Jesus in us after Jesus was with us.
But the entire argument this theologian constructed from Scripture is to
understand the Holy Spirit as the Divine Love.
We know God is love, but that is practically a throw away
statement. Jesus lived a life to counsel
us, to be our ‘how to’ manual, to be our ‘self help’ book on being a Christian. Then Jesus is also the Divine Love which comes
down upon us so that we might live it.
How
do self help books work? Their work
presumes we internalize the lessons that they present to us. Thus the mantras and the buzz words and the
catch phrases. How about the original
internalization? Jesus, the Man,
returned to heaven, so that Jesus, the Divine Love, could come down and
internalize all that Jesus taught and showed us in his time on earth? Again, the more we meditate on who God is,
the more these foundational divisions that God laid out to help us understand
what cannot be understood break down and we come more completely into the Love
that is God. I think that is why the
words and descriptions of God by mystics sounds like so much mumbo jumbo, there
is just not the language to describe our union with Christ, our God.
So
the Son in “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” is taking upon himself the roles and
the powers of the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Notice, this passage does not stand on its own. Theology, thinking about God, it requires a
broad application of our primary sources about God, the Bible. To my understanding, this is a major distinction
between Christianity and Islam. We
believe God has given us the Trinitarian understanding so that we can
understand that God comes into a personal, redeeming relationship with each of
us. My understanding of Allah, of God in
the Muslim tradition is a loving but unknowable Almighty power that must be
obeyed. In my Christian point of view,
it is the Almighty God of our titles from Isaiah. So the Trinity is not three Gods or one God
divided three ways, but a division of roles and responsibilities that are meant
to help us mere mortals wrap our brains around the God who loves us and has a
Plan for us, that plan fulfilled in Jesus, born in the manger, whom we are
celebrating inside of a week.
Isaiah
9:2 is a powerful introduction to the coming of Jesus. The people who walked in darkness have
seen a great light. John 1, the New
Testament Creation story, steps off from these words, telling us, What has come into being 4in him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of
all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not overcome it. The darkness is the sin in the
world that blinds us to the love and light of our God. How God will accomplish this, God’s plan, we
can see in the titles of Jesus given in Isaiah 9.
But we still have a problem. Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Is
it four titles or is it five? I will be
honest with you, I can see arguments on both sides but I lean toward the five. And the reason I do so is that before God
even gets into the theological depths of what it means to receive the Messiah,
God begins by telling us that Jesus is Wonderful. Amen.
Order of Worship for Sabbath Celebrated on Sunday, December 20, 2020
First Presbyterian Church
December 20, 2020
10:00 AM
Worship Service Unified
Order of Worship
CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Psalm 89 and Luke 1)
We will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, We
will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
We declare that your
steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the
heavens.
You promised Mary that
she would bear a child — one who would inaugurate your commonwealth, your realm
that will have no end.
You have established your
realm for all generations.
Let us worship the Living
God.
Hymn
of Praise: “On This Day, Earth Shall Ring”
1.
On this day earth shall right with the song children sing to the Lord, Christ
our King, born on earth to save us; him the Father gave us.
Refrain: Id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o-o-o, gloria in excelsis Deo!
2.
His the doom, ours the mirth; when he came down to earth, Bethlehem saw his
birth; ox and ass beside him from the cold would hide him. (Refrain)
3.
God's bright star, o'er his head, Wise Men three to him led; kneel they low by
his bed, lay their gifts before him, praise him and adore him. (Refrain)
4.
On this day angels sing; with their song earth shall ring, praising Christ,
heaven's King, born on earth to save us; peace and love he gave us. (Refrain)
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)
O God, we have been created in your image; indeed, you have
crowned us with glory and honor. But we have lived self-centered lives, thereby
failing to reflect your glory. We have not treated others with dignity and
respect. We have violated your good creation. We confess our sin, O God. Renew
us and restore us to our rightful place as bearers of your image. Empower us as
agents of your love and justice in all that we are and all that we do. 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
Advent grace goes before us, after us, through us — sometimes even unbeknownst
to us, restoring us and empowering us for participation in God’s 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: Isaiah 9:
1-9
9But there will be no
gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into
contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time
he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee
of the nations. 2The people who walked in darkness have seen a
great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has
shined. 3You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its
joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when
dividing plunder. 4For the yoke of their burden, and the bar
across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the
day of Midian. 5For all the boots of the tramping warriors and
all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. 6For
a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his
shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace. 7His authority shall grow continually, and
there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will
establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time
onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
SERMON: “How Many
Names of Jesus?” Rev.
Peter Hofstra
AFFIRMATION OF
FAITH (from A Declaration of Faith)
Jesus, the
long-expected Savior, came into the world as a child, descended from David,
conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of Mary, a virgin. He lived as a Jew among
Jews. He announced to his people the coming of God’s kingdom of justice and
peace on earth. We affirm that Jesus was born of woman as is every child, yet
born of God’s power as was no other child. In the person and work of Jesus, God
and a human life are united but not confused, distinguished but not separated.
The coming of Jesus was itself the coming of God’s promised rule. Through his
birth, life, death, and resurrection, he brings about the relationship between
God and humanity that God always intended. Alleluia. Amen.
PASSING OF THE
PEACE
THE OFFERING OF
OUR TITHES & GIFTS
On
this fourth Sunday of Advent, we ponder the gift of incarnation — of God
becoming flesh so that we might be restored and given new life in Christ. The
Christ child is the resplendent gift of the season — a gift of God’s own self
that frees us to respond with gifts in return.
*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.
Incarnate God,
we offer our gifts to you that they may be used to further the promise of hope,
peace, love and justice in our community and in our world. Empower us, O God,
to follow these gifts into the world around us so that they, and we, might
become bearers of peace, love and justice on the earth. Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND
THE LORD’S PRAYER
God, you lift up the lowly and fill the
hungry with good things. You supplant ruthless competition with generosity in
which all have enough. You envision a world in which the humiliated are
restored to their rightful place as bearers of your image. In this season of
Advent, help us discern the places where you are coming to us to repair and
renew your good but broken creation. By the power of your Spirit at work in our
lives, liberate us from chronic selfishness and self-negation so that we might
discover our capacities for compassion and the pursuit of justice. Help us to
see ourselves and others as bearers of your image — as people who shine like
the sun. Help us also to live according to your Great Commandment: to love you
with our whole being, and to love others as ourselves. Help us to trust that
your future is struggling toward realization even now in our midst. Empower us
for solidarity with all who have been marginalized in our world, whose voices
have been suppressed. Give us ears to hear their hopes and fears so that
together we might restore your world on the foundation of the justice you
intend for us in Christ. Into your hands we place those who weigh heavily upon
our hearts this week: those facing violence in their neighborhoods and
countries; healthcare and frontline workers who are serving selflessly during
this pandemic; those experiencing loss during this time — loss of loved ones,
loss of health, loss of income, loss of security; leaders who are discerning
new ways forward and plans for how to help those they govern in this
challenging time; congregations and ministries who are now finding new ways to
worship and serve during this Advent season; and for all those we name in these
moments of silence. We pray 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: “Away in
a Manger”
1. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus
laid down his sweet head. The stars in the sky looked down where he lay, the
little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.
2. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord
Jesus, no crying he makes; I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky and
stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.
3. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay close by me
forever, and love me, I pray; bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.
*BENEDICTION
*THREE FOLD AMEN
Elements of Order of Worship drawn from The Presbyterian Outlook,
written by Roger Gench.
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Sermon for Sunday, December 13, 2020
Sermon December 13, 2020 Isaiah 7: 1-16 Rev. Peter Hofstra
Over
the last two weeks, we have looked to Jeremiah and to Micah, to how these
prophets speak to their own time and place, and how they speak to the full plan
of God. In addressing their
present moment and crisis in the life of God’s people, and what God is doing,
they also speak to the full plan of God, looking forward to the moment when all
these crises will pass because there will be the one King, the Messiah, who
will emerge to make all things right.
Jeremiah
and Micah, each of these prophets spoke in the wide sweep of the history of
Israel. Assyria’s conquest of the north
and the Babylonian exile of the south are the backdrops against which they are
preaching. Our passage from Isaiah is
also in that sweep, but in a particular moment.
King Ahaz of Judah is facing off a double threat. King Pekah of the Northern Kingdom and King
Rezin of Aram were allied to invade and take over the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem would fall and they already had a
king picked out, the son of Tabeel-vs. 6 (whom we do not know).
Ahaz
knew he did not stand a chance against this double threat. Verse 2 tells us 2When the house of
David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the
heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the
wind. Ahaz does NOT seek out the Lord. Instead, the Lord sends Isaiah to find Ahaz,
Isaiah and his son, and it is to a particular address, at the end of the
conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. And God promises that this invasion is not going to happen. God is pretty specific in verse 7, “It
shall not stand and it shall not come to pass.”
In verse 10, again God spoke to
Ahaz, apparently because Ahaz was not buying it, and God said, “Ask for a
sign, let it be deep as Sheol-deep as death-or high as Heaven.” Ahaz would not, as the Bible puts it, put God
to the test. It seems that not only did
Ahaz not believe but he did not want to believe either. Then Isaiah concludes, Isaiah said: “Hear
then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you
weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord
himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall
bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Ahaz is of the House
of David. Isaiah tells Ahaz that his
attitude is making even God tired. So
here is the sign: A young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and
shall name him Immanuel.
These words resonate in the
Christmas Story in Matthew 1. Matthew
has discovered that his betrothed is pregnant and is planning to ‘put her away
quietly’. This is when God comes to him
in a dream and reveals his part in the Christmas event, quoting Isaiah 7: 14, All this took place to fulfil what had been
spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ This is
a prophecy to Gabriel’s visit to Mary in the Gospel of Luke, that the Holy
Spirit shall come upon her.
For King Ahaz, God is promising a son, promising one
whose name means “God is with us” precisely at the moment when Ahaz is
convinced that God is no longer with him, as he anticipates invasion. In the wide history of his time, the invasion
never comes. Both Aram and the Northern
Kingdom are going extinct, conquered and carried off by the Assyrians.
But here again is a passage that speaks to and transcends
the immediate circumstances of King Ahaz and points to the coming birth of
Jesus. What do we know so far? Jeremiah tells us he shall be of the House of
David. Micah tells us he shall be born
in Bethlehem. They both say he will
shepherd, will care for the people. Now
we know it is a virgin who shall conceive and bear a son and his name? “God is with us”!
Which is Jesus.
Jesus is God with us. Jesus is
God come down from heaven to live among us, to teach us, to show us the proper
way to live, and ultimately, to lay down his life to save ours. All this is the product of God’s love for
us. It shall be a miraculous birth, a
virgin birth. And while each of us needs
Christ’s intervention in our lives, Ahaz has a particular need at the moment of
God’s words.
But see how he sits on the fence.
In the first part of the passage, he does not seek after the Lord, but
the Lord comes after him, in the person of the prophet Isaiah. In the second part, God offers Ahaz the
opportunity to ask for any sign that the king can think of to show God’s power
is present for him. But in this
instance, Ahaz backs away from that opportunity. God’s prophet says that God lays out this
possibility, this offering of a sign.
But Ahaz does not want ‘to test’ the Lord. I am sorry, but that sounds a little thin.
It would be easy to knock Ahaz for his lack of faith, even in the face
of God’s immediate presence and power.
But such is the power of despair.
There is a double-barreled invasion pending. That is the geo-historical reality. But there is a theological reality that is
at play here as well. Because to read
the Old Testament is to read about God’s power to use external enemies as the
stick to change the behavior of God’s own people. When they turn from God, God reminds them
that, except by the grace of the Almighty, they do not have a firm hold on the
Promised Land.
Put those things together, and Ahaz is looking at two things. On the one side, God is telling him no
invasion is coming. But on the other, he
sees invasion coming. And invasion means
punishment from God. Does that feel
familiar? We know God is telling us one
thing but the evidence of our own senses is telling us something else, usually
something terrible.
Unfortunately, that is not uncommon at Christmas, even more so as we
celebrate a pandemic Christmas in 2020.
There is the power of God made manifest in the birth of Jesus, but
despair has overcome it in the lives of mortals. Depression spikes in this season. Suicide rates go way up. These things happen in the face of this most
wonderful time of the year.
So, a pastoral hazard is to attempt a dime-store psychological analysis
of what is going on. It is not
surprising. One of the responsibilities
of the pastor is to work at the interface between God and humanity. It is to recognize what contributes to the
sinful culture that pervades the world.
Which is good, but it can become a problem when we, as pastors, get out
of our lane and start considering how we might take the best of pop psychology
and sociology to diagnose the ills of the world.
But that undercuts the work and power of God in the face
of human despair. For example, we might
diagnose Ahaz with grief at the coming loss of his nation. He is denying the power of God in so
doing. We now have one of the seven
stages of grief that we could turn to.
But that takes us outside of our theological work, outside of thinking
about God of the Bible.
From the Bible, we know God recognizes grief, God understands
despair. The full gamut of emotions are
revealed in God when God is dealing with the people during the Exodus-even to
the point where God was so angry that God proposed starting over through the
line of Moses.
What do we learn about God in this passage? We learn that in time of despair, the Lord
does not leave us alone, but will come to seek us out. Whether we are in a position to recognize
that, well, that is something else. But
when Ahaz shut down to the promises of God, God kept at him. And the message got more specific. No longer was it a generalized promise that
God would prevent the invasion. No, God
got specific. God pointed to the coming
of Jesus.
What was at the root of Ahaz’ despair? He knew the power of God but he didn’t believe
it would make a difference. That despair
may defy everything that he knew and that we know about God and God’s love, it
may fly in the face of all the evidence of the Almighty, but it is still there. So what can we do? We can depend on the fact that God’s does not
leave us behind.
It may be the ongoing nudge, God coming to us again and
again with the message of hope in Jesus, like the annual coming of Christmas! It may be a grand demonstration. Maybe Ahaz did not get through his despair
until he saw the invasion fall apart.
Maybe it is God coming alongside of us in our despair and crying with
us. Maybe it is the right person, sent
at the right moment, who speaks God’s word of peace that manages to poke a hole
in the despair.
What I am trying to say is that God’s power will
overcome. God knows where we are and
what we need and God will provide. That
is what Christmas is about. It is about
hope. It is the hope of the Messiah sent
to save the world. It is the hope that
broadcasts so big at Christmastime.
God told Ahaz to ask for a sign, something the king was
not willing to do. So God provided the
sign of God’s own accord. A young woman,
a virgin, shall conceive and give birth to a Son. This sign came to pass at Christmas. Maybe that is why there is such seasonal
depression at this time of year. The joy
that is seen and that registers as happening around us is a reminder of what
that person does not have, the wonder of a personal relationship with Jesus.
But God has made provision for that. For every person who is blue and knocked down
by this season, there are so many others who know the joy of Jesus. I trust in the Lord that we are those who
know that joy. Because God’s provision
for the sharing of the Good News to all humanity is that it be shared through
us. Yes, the angels sang for the
shepherds, but then they went out singing, and sharing that joy of Jesus’ birth
with anyone who would listen.
A young woman is with child and she shall call his
name Immanuel. Each year, at the
moment of the shortest days of the year, we celebrate the coming of the
Christ-child. When things seem their
darkest, the light of heaven shines upon us once more. Let us pray that this light flood the lives
of all who need our Lord so much. Amen.
Order of Worship for Sunday, December 13, 2020
First Presbyterian Church
December 13, 2020
10:00 AM
Worship Service Unified
Order of Worship
CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Psalm 126)
When the Lord restored
the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled
with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;
Then it was said among
the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great
things for us, and we rejoiced.
Restore our fortunes, O
Lord. May those who sow in tears reap
with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
come home with shouts of joy.
Let us worship the Living
God.
Hymn
of Praise: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
1.
O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie; above thy deep and
dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the
everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee
tonight.
2.
For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above, while mortals sleep, the
angels keep their watch of wondering love. O morning stars together, proclaim
the holy birth, and praises sing to God the king, and peace to all on earth!
3.
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given; so God imparts to human
hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in this
world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters
in.
4.
O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin, and enter
in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings
tell; o come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)
O God, you have called us to participate in your salvific work of
rebuilding and repairing your creation. Yet we know we have fallen short of
that calling. Indeed, we have contributed to the devastation of our world. We
confess our sin, O God. Renew us and help us be discerning and ready partners
in your 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
Advent grace goes before us, after us, through us — sometimes 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: Isaiah
7: 1-16
7In the days of Ahaz
son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah
son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an
attack against it. 2When the house of David heard that Aram had
allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook
as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. 3Then
the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son
Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the
Fuller’s Field, 4and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not
fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps
of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of
Remaliah. 5Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of
Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, 6Let us go up
against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the
son of Tabeel king in it; 7therefore thus says the
Lord God: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 8For
the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within
sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.) 9The
head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If
you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.
10Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz,
saying, 11Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be
deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12But Ahaz said, I will not
ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13Then
Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary
mortals, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord
himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall
bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 15He shall eat
curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the
good. 16For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and
choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be
deserted
SERMON: “The Coming
of the Son” 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.
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
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND
THE LORD’S PRAYER
O God, you have called us to follow in
the way of the One who was anointed to bring good news to the poor, release to
the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free.
Empower us to be faithful disciples of Jesus. In this season of Advent, help us
discern where you are already at work to renew and repair your good but broken
creation. Help us to trust that your future, even now, is coming to realization
in our midst. Enable us to stand in solidarity with those who have been marginalized
in our world. Help us to lift up and listen to voices long silenced. And as we
give ear to their hopes and fears, help us to join together to rebuild and
restore your world on the foundation of the justice you envision for us in
Christ. 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 and animate courage. Make us
brave in confronting realities that deform and deface your world, so that we
may participate in your reconciling work in our midst. We pray also for the
world of nations, especially for those places where violence is wreaking havoc
upon human lives and your good creation. We pray for global solidarity as we
continue to grapple with a raging pandemic. We pray for healthcare workers
around the world as they tend to the sick, and for all who are desperately ill
and their families. We pray for those in our own communities who have lost
jobs, revenue, healthcare and loved ones during this relentless public health
challenge. Help us to be agents of your love and care to those who are
suffering. We pray especially for wise discernment by our nation’s elected
leadership, that they might work together constructively to find ways 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: “Infant
Holy, Infant Lowly”
1. Infant holy, infant lowly, for his bed a cattle stall; oxen
lowing, little knowing, Christ the babe is Lord of all. Swift are winging
angels singing, noels ringing, tidings bringing: Christ the babe is Lord of
all.
2. Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping vigil till the
morning new saw the glory, heard the story, tidings of a gospel true. Thus
rejoicing, free from sorrow, praises voicing, greet the morrow: Christ the babe
was born for you.
*BENEDICTION
*THREE FOLD AMEN
Elements of Order of Worship drawn from The Presbyterian Outlook,
written by Roger Gench.