Sunday, November 29, 2020 - On the Move - Where?

Theme: Envisioning New Realities: On the Move - Where?

Lighting of the Advent Candles (Hope)

Advent is a time of waiting, of slowing ourselves down so that we might notice how God is entering our lives. As we wait this day we have hope. Not a hope that is equated to optimism but a hope that is of God. “Hope is not a head trip or a heart trip; it is a body trip of putting one’s body at risk for the sake of new possibility... Hope is the deep religious conviction that God has not quit.”– (Walter Brueggemann)   

Today we light the candle of hope, which symbolizes the new possibilities brought to us in the Christ child. (The candle of hope is lit)

Prayer

Genesis 12:1-3                                                                  Common English Bible Translation

The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, those who curse you I will curse; all the families of the earth will be blessed because of you.” (Question: How has your life been blessed and how do you bless others?)

Genesis 12:4-9

Abram left just as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all of their possessions, and those who became members of their household in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites lived in the land at that time. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I give this land to your descendants,” so Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him. From there he traveled toward the mountains east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshipped in the Lord’s name. Then Abram set out toward the arid southern plain, making and breaking camp as he went. (Question: Have you ever had to leave behind something that was comfortable? What was most challenging about doing it?)

Genesis 12:10-15

When a famine struck the land, Abram went down toward Egypt to live as an immigrant since the famine was so severe in the land. Just before he arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a good-looking woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ and they will kill me but let you live. So tell them you are my sister so that they will treat me well for your sake, and I will survive because of you.” When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how beautiful his wife was. When Pharaoh’s princes saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s household. (Question: Have you ever had the experience of thinking the” grass is greener on the other side”?)

Genesis 12:16-13:1

Things went well for Abram because of her: he acquired flocks, cattle, male donkeys, men servants, women servants, female donkeys, and camels. Then the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What’s this you’ve done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I made her my wife? Now here’s your wife. Take her and go!” Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they expelled him with his wife and everything he had. Abram went up from Egypt toward the arid southern plain and his wife, with everything he had, and with Lot. (Question: Have you ever wished you hadn’t traveled somewhere?)

Mark 13:32-37

“But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the angels in heaven and not the Son. Only the Father knows. Watch out! Stay alert! You don’t know when the time is coming. It is as if someone took a trip, left the household behind, and put the servants in charge, giving each one a job to do, and told the doorkeeper to stay alert. Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know when the head of the household will come, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows in the early morning or at daybreak. Don’t let him show up when you weren’t expecting and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: Stay alert!” (Question: Who are the people or what are the things that made you change your direction in life?)

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer

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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us;

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power 

and the glory, forever.  Amen

Blessing

Song List (to listen to from wherever you get your music)

Prepare the Way, O Zion – 106 GTG

People, Look East – 105 GTG

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear – 123 GTG (verse 4)

Hope – Jack Johnson

The Fire Never Dies – Jessie Early

O Come, All Ye Faithful - Pentatonix

Quotes by Walter Brueggemann

“Rather, hope is the conviction, against a great deal of data, that God is tenacious and persistent in overcoming the deathliness of the world, that God intends joy and peace.”

“Christians find compelling evidence, in the story of Jesus, that Jesus, with great persistence and great vulnerability, everywhere he went, turned the enmity of society toward a new possibility, turned the sadness of the world toward joy, introduced a new regime where the dead are raised, the lost are found, and the displaced are brought home again. We draw our hope from the breathtaking memory of this Jesus!”