Gathering Music
Every Praise – Hezekiah Walker
CHORUS x3
Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise every praise is to our God
Sing hallelujah to our God
Glory hallelujah is due our God
Every praise every praise is to our God
Bridge A x2 or x3
God my Savior
God my Healer
God my Deliverer
Yes You are Yes You are
Bridge B
Yes You are
Yes You are
ENDING A
Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
ENDING B x4
Every praise every praise
Every praise every praise
Call to Worship
Brigid Dwyer
(adapted from enfleshed, based on Isaiah 64)
Leader: Show up now, God!
Tear open the heavens
All: and snatch the missiles from the air.
Leader: Melt the weapons from the hands of the henchmen
All: and heal every single wounded person.
Leader: Drench the wildfires with rains
All: and refreeze the ice caps.
Leader: Unlay the pipelines.
All: Boil the oil back into the earth,
far from the streams and marshes.
Leader: Where our hearts have hardened,
All: soften them into putty in your hands.
Leader: Show up now, God!
All: Everyday we long for You.
Opening Song
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus – Charles Wesley
- 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. - 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.
Opening Prayer
Francis Osuji
(adapted from enfleshed)
Leader: God of our Longing, we have learned of your mighty deeds, but most of us cannot perceive them ourselves. Many of us can barely remember who we are, who you are, who you have created us to be. In our yearning for your liberating presence, guard us from cynicism, shield us from despair, and embolden us to be expressions of your Love as we grapple towards meaning together. All: Amen.
Scripture Reading – Isaiah 64:1-9
Crystal James
1 O, that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for God.
5 You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name,
or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
and do not remember iniquity for ever.
Now consider, we are all your people.
Leader: The Word of God for the People of God.
All: Thanks be to God.
Choral Anthem
There Is More Love Somewhere – Traditional Spiritual and arranged by Adam & Matt Podd
Seminary Choir
Sermon
“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?”
Dean Edwin Aponte
Musical Response
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Arr. Francesco Parrino
YK Jun, piano
Sacrament of Holy Communion
Dean Edwin Aponte
Servers: Sam Smith, Dohee Woo
(adapted from enfleshed)
Leader: The Holy One be with you
All: And also with you
Leader: Open your hearts to the One who is Love
All: We open our hearts to you, O God
Leader: Let us give thanks to God with us
All: To the One who took on flesh, we give thanks and praise
Leader: Creator of all that is, Mother of life itself, by your hand we were formed.
You made us relational.
You created us to thrive – not alone, but together.
You shaped the entire cosmos so that every form of life depends on another.
You never intended for us to power through these lives alone.
You made us strong and resilient people, but equally vulnerable and dependent on you, the earth, and all our neighbors.
You gifted us with the need to rely on one another,
bone of each other’s bone, flesh of each other’s flesh.
In your wisdom, you created us with both desire and need to be in community.
Therefore we join our voices with your people on earth and all the company of the heavens,
singing praise to you,
All: Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Hosanna among us
Leader: In our longing for your presence with us, we often expect your arrival in traditional places of power. We seek our hope and salvation in the false promises of dominance and might. But instead, you brought us salvation through vulnerability. You too became bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. God, in the form of a baby, you made yourself dependent on us. An infant, revealing the transformative power of giving and receiving love through human flesh.
Throughout the life of Jesus, we saw lives transformed by your willingness to make yourself vulnerable. And yet, the same vulnerability also came at a price. Though some fed you and raised you and befriended you, others persecuted you to the point of death. Seeking to eradicate their own feelings of vulnerability, those in power preyed on yours.
Still, today, we often crucify the ones who dare to risk it all on love.
On the night of his arrest, Jesus shared a meal with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”
In remembrance of all you have done to save us,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
All: Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was killed among us.
Christ rises again among us.
Leader: Pour out your Spirit on these gifts, O God. Give us a taste of resurrection hope that lasts through even the most challenging of relational betrayals. Meet us in this bread and this cup and hear the prayers of your people in this aching world. Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
In collective longing for a taste of your Kindom on earth,
we join together in echoing the prayer of Jesus:
Singing: Our God, in heaven, holy is your name, your reign come, your will done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and help us forgive, as we have been forgiven. In the time of trial lead us into light, for yours is the kindom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Our God, in heaven, holy is your name, holy is your name.
Sharing in the Bread and Cup
Prayer after Receiving
Leader: God, we recognize the ways you still make yourself vulnerable to us today. In gratitude for a taste of your Kindom, may our discipleship shape us into fierce protectors of the vulnerable, give us courage to practice our own vulnerability, and help us to honor the sacredness of our need for one another. In Christ’s name we pray,
All: Amen.
Blessing
Dean Edwin Aponte
Sending Song
Christ Has Broken Down the Wall – Mark A. Miller
Christ has broken down the wall.
Christ has broken down the wall.
Let us join our hearts as one.
Christ has broken down the wall.
We’re accepted as we are.
We’re accepted as we are.
Through God’s love all is reconciled.
We’re accepted as we are.
Cast aside your doubts and fears.
Cast aside your doubts and fears.
Peace and love, freely offered here;
cast aside your doubts and fears.
We will tear down the walls!
We will tear down every wall!
God has called us, one and all.
Christ has broken down the wall.
Drew Theo Chapel 