Gathering Music/Prelude
“Like a Child” – Daniel Charles Damon
- Like a child love would send to reveal and to mend,
like a child and a friend, Jesus comes.
Like a child we may find claiming heart, soul, and mind,
like a child strong and kind, Jesus comes. - Like a child we will meet, ragged clothes, dirty feet,
like a child on the street, Jesus comes.
Like a child we once knew coming back into view,
like a child born anew, Jesus comes. - Like a child born to pray and to show us the way,
like a child here to stay, Jesus comes.
Like a child we receive all that love can conceive,
like a child we believe, Jesus comes.
“People, Look East” – Farjeon/Miller
Annie Salorio, soloist
Luke 2:1-7
Dorothy Jayne Smith
2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.
Candle Lighting #1
“Waymaker” – Words & Music: Sinach
Solo:
You are here
in our midst
we worship you
You are here
healing every life
we worship you
You are here
turning lives around
we worship You 2x
You are here
You are working miracles
We worship you 2x
Opening Prayer
Youngeun Kim
Source: “Walking Toward Hope” Advent Devotional from Interfaith Immigration Coalition Partners
Leader: Blessed are You, Lord Jesus Christ. You crossed every border between Divinity and humanity to make your home with us. Help us to welcome you in newcomers, migrants and refugees.
Blessed are You, God of all nations. You bless our land richly with goods of creation and with people made in your image. Help us to be good stewards and peacemakers, who live as your children.
Blessed are You, Holy Spirit. You work in the hearts of all to bring about harmony and goodwill. Strengthen us to welcome those from other lands, cultures, religions, that we may live in human solidarity and in hope.
God of all people, grant us vision to see your presence in our midst, especially in our immigrant siblings. Give us courage to open the door to our neighbors and grace to build a society of justice.
All: Amen.
Song
“O Come, Emmanuel” [Revised Lyrics]
Candle Lighting #2
“Star Child” Words: Shirley Erena Murray, Music: Carlton Young
- Star-Child, earth-Child,
go-between of God,
love Child, Christ Child,
heaven’s lightning rod,
Refrain:
This year, this year
let the day arrive
when Christmas comes for everyone,
everyone alive!
- Hope-for-peace Child,
God’s stupendous sign,
down-to-earth Child,
Star of stars that shine, [Refrain]
Reading
“The Refugees” by Ann Weems
Readers: Jean Park, Steven Adade
Into the wild and painful cold of the starless winter night
came the refugees, slowly making their way to the border.
The man, stooped from age or anxiety,
hurried his small family through the wind.
Bearded and dark, his skin rough and cracked from the cold,
his frame looming large in spite of the slumped shoulders;
He looked like a man who could take care of whatever
came at them from the dark.
Unless of course there were too many of them,
One man he could handle, two, even … but a border patrol…,
they wouldn’t have a chance.
His eyes, black and alert,
darted from side to side, then over his shoulder,
then back again forward.
Had they been seen?
Had they been heard?
Every rustle of the wind, every sigh from the child,
sent terror though his chest.
Was this the way?
Even the stars had been unkind—
had hidden themselves in the ink of night
so that the man could not read their way,
Only the wind … was it enough?
Only the wind and his innate sense of direction …
What kind of cruel judgement that would be,
to wander in circles through the night?
Or to safely make their way to the border,
only to find the authorities waiting for them?
He glanced at the young woman, his bride.
No more than a child herself,
she nuzzled the newborn, kissing his neck.
she looked up caught his eye and smiled.
Oh how the homelessness had taken its toll on her!
Her eyes were red, Her young face was lined,
her lovely hair matted from inattention.
her clothes stained from milk and baby,
her hands chapped from the raw wind of winter.
She’d hardly had time to recover from childbirth
when word had come that they were hunted,
and they fled with only a little bread,
and the remaining wine,
and a very small portion of cheese.
Suddenly, the child began to make small noises,
the man drew his breath in sharply:
the woman quietly put the child to breast.
Fear … long dread-filled moments….
Huddled the family stood still in the long silence.
At last the man breathed deeply again,
reassured they had not been heard.
and into the night continued
Mary, Joseph and the Babe.
Anthem
“Of the Love of God Begotten” – Music: Mark Miller
Matthew 2:13-15
Esther In
13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
Candle Lighting #3
“Only Love” – Tice/Miller
Advent Litany
Carolina Alderete
Adapted from “U.S. Immigration Policy Kills. Where Is the Church?” by Sandy Ovalle Martínez via sojo.net
The One: May the dominant Western ways of viewing migration die. May we rid ourselves of colonial logic that raped and exterminated native people, forced them to adopt new cultures, extracted their resources, and condemned their medicine as evil.
The Many: ¡Fuera!/Out!
The One: We rebuke the dominant Western ways that kidnapped African people, illegally transported them treating them as merchandise, and enslaved them in a new land that consumed their bodies.
The Many: ¡Fuera!/Out!
The One: We condemn the dominant Western way that seeks to own, is voracious in consumption, and is rampant in its pursuit of material wealth and social status at the expense of migrant labor forces including children.
The Many: ¡Fuera!/ Out!
The One: We pray for a restored common human family in harmony with the rest of creation that recognizes our wellbeing is bound to one another and the Earth.
The Many: Lord, hear our prayer.
The One: We pray for a framework that recognizes each person is inherently worthy of dignity and respect and centers life.
The Many: Lord, hear our prayer.
The One: We pray for an insatiable appetite for justice, always recognizing your abundant provision so that we may feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and afford everyone a dignified life.
The Many: Lord, hear our prayer.
Song
“Canticle of The Turning” Words: Rory Cooney, Music: trad. Irish
Matthew 2:16-18
Abi Harper
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
Song
“Come Now, O God” Words: David Bjorlin, Music: Mark Miller
Candle Lighting #4
“I Choose Love,” vs. 4 Thompson/Miller
Matthew 2:19-23
Valter Gregorio
1d his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”9 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”
Reading
“Flight in the Desert” by Brother Antoninus
Readers: Professor Miller’s Sacred Songs and Social Justice Class
Reader 1: The last settlement scraggled out with a barbed wire fence
And fell from sight. They crossed coyote country:
Mesquite, sage, the bunchgrass knotted in patches;
And there the prairie dog yapped in the valley;
And on the high plateau the short-armed badger
Delved his clay. But beyond that the desert,
Raw, unslakable, its perjured dominion wholly contained
In the sun’s remorseless mandate, where the dim trail
Died ahead in the watery horizon: God knows where.
Reader 2: And there the failures: skull of the ox,
Where the animal terror trembled on in the hollowed eyes;
The catastrophic wheel, split, sandbedded;
And the sad jawbone of a horse. These the denials
Of the retributive tribes, fiercer than pestilence,
Whose scrupulous realm this was.
Reader 3: Only the burro took no notice: the forefoot
Placed with the nice particularity of one
To who the evil of the day is wholly sufficient.
Even the jocular ears marked time,
But they, the man and the anxious woman,
Who stared pinch-eyed into the settling sun,
Reader 4: They went forward into its denseness
All apprehensive, and would many a time have turned
But for what they carried. That brought them on,
In the gritty blanket they bore the world’s great risk,
And knew it; and kept it covered, near to the blind heart,
That hugs in a bad hour its sweetest need,
Possessed against the drawn night
That comes now, over the dead arroyos,
Cold and acrid and black.
Reader 5: This was the first of his goings forth into the wilderness of the world.
There was much to follow: much of portent, much of dread.
But what was so meek then and so mere, so slight and strengthless,
(Too tender, almost, to be touched)–what they nervously guarded
Guarded them. As we, each day, from the lifted chalice,
That strengthless Bread the mildest tongue subsumes,
To be taken out in the blatant kingdom,
Where Herod sweats, and his deft henchmen
Riffle the tabloids–that keeps us.
Reader 6: Over the campfire the desert moon
Slivers the west, too chaste and cleanly
To mean hard luck. The man rattles the skillet
To take the raw edge off the silence;
The woman lifts up her heart; the Infant
Knuckles the generous breast, and feeds.
Lighting the Christ Candle
Dean Edwin Aponte
Sacrament of Holy Communion
Dean Edwin Aponte
Servers: Sahnhah Hahn, Alex Matlins, Tom Stelzyl
Liturgy written by DMin student Heather Williams
Leader: The God of the traveler be with you
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift your hearts to the God of the weary and heavy laden.
People: We lift them up to God, on our weary and hopeful journeys.
Leader: Throughout our biblical story, the God of the traveler has called folks to move upon the earth, to enter into new towns and hillsides, to find homes. We learn again and again through the law and the prophets of God’s mercy embodied at the intersections of our journeys. We learn that it is Divine guidance that leads us to welcome one another. And yet we soon forget that we, too, were once travelers and foreigners in strange and unfamiliar lands.
People: We remember the stories. We remember our stories, and seek wisdom along our paths this Advent season. May wisdom and welcome be embodied in our interactions and connections.
Leader: The God of the traveler gave courage to the hearts of the holy family, the bearers of God’s holy mystery, the word made flesh, to journey to new territory for safety and relief. In the birth and life of Jesus, we connect with the stories of those who have sought and still seek refuge in new lands for safety and relief. We remember the Word made flesh to dwell among us.
The traveling Savior gathered around a table with the companions of the journey and invited them into the mystery of this new thing stirring in their midst. He took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to the gathered wanderers and said, “Take and eat, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” We remember Jesus, the very one that Mary carried from her homeland into a new land, giving birth to the life that God was stirring in her womb.
Jesus then took a cup and blessed it, saying, “This is the sign of the new covenant, my love poured out for the forgiveness of sin. Take and drink, as you remember me.”
We remember the bread and the cup blessed and shared, a sign for the world of God’s goodness and mercy. May we embrace this goodness and grace not just for ourselves but for a world divided by fear.
Holy God of the traveler, pour out your Spirit upon these gifts of bread and cup, so that they may be signs for us of an inward and spiritual grace, anchoring us in forgiveness and love. Let these gifts unite us in faith, that we may journey into the world as bridge builders and mercy-bearers. Make us one with each other, one with Christ, and one in service to the world. In Christ’s name we pray.
All: Amen.
Songs During Communion
“While We are Waiting, Come” Words: Claire Cloninger, Music: Don Cason
“Hope Will Not Fail” Words: David Bjorlin, Music: Mark Miller
Hope will not fail, no, hope will not fail.
Though anguish and apathy seem to prevail,
No, hope will not fail; hope, hope will prevail.
Peace will not fail, no, peace will not fail.
Though vengeance and violence seem to prevail,
no, peace will not fail; peace, peace will prevail.
Believe in the coming, the coming of peace!
Though vengeance and violence seem to prevail,
No, peace will not fail; peace, peace will prevail.
Joy will not fail, no, joy will not fail.
Though mourning and misery seem to prevail,
No, joy will not fail; joy, joy will prevail.
Believe in the blessing, the blessing of joy!
Though mourning and misery seem to prevail,
No, joy will not fail; joy, joy will prevail.
Love will not fail, no, love will not fail.
Though hatred and hopelessness seem to prevail,
No, love will not fail; love, love will prevail.
Believe in the power, the power of love!
Though hatred and hopelessness seem to prevail,
No, love will not fail; love, love will prevail.
Benediction
Prof. Mark Miller
Sending Forth
“Walk In the Light” – George Elderkin
Drew Theo Chapel 