4th Sunday in Advent
The Community Feasts In Love: Liturgy and Bread Words for Holy Communion
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
Beloved friends,Beloved friends, we gather at this table to enjoy the earthy flavor of bread and the fruity tartness of juice. But we come for far more than this. We gather to let the love of God flow in and through us – forming us into community – impassioning us for service.
The children of God who gather around this table form an odd group. They come from many different lands. They speak many different languages. They live many different lifestyles. Their skins are colored with many beautiful shades of brown and pink. Where else would this strange assortment of women and men come together if not at Christ’s table?
At United University Church, we believe that this table must be open to all who come. It does not matter who you are. It does not matter why you are here. It only matters that you are here. Christ invites you to this table – to eat this bread and to drink this juice – to form one community bound together by the love of God in Christ.
We come to Christ’s table to eat, to drink, and to love.
Knowing that each of us is a welcome guest at this table, let us now welcome each another. Let us show each other signs of Christian love and peace.
PASSING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
Worshippers greet each other with the peace of Christ.
PRAYER OF GREAT THANKSGIVING
May the Spirit of God be with you!
And also with you!
Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift our hearts to God.
Let us give thanks to the one who brings us love.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Amazing God, we gather on the eve of Christmas to remember that you have fashioned our universe with love. In the midst of darkness, you have shined light. In the chaos of emptiness you have shaped a world. Into the silence of death you have breathed vitality and life. In the heart of conflict you have opened the ways of peace. Against the backdrop of despair you have set signs of hope.
We remember the ancient stories of Mary and Joseph, of Elizabeth and Zechariah, of shepherds and angels. We hear them again with ears attuned to the melodies of wonder, and we realize that these are not pretty stories created merely for warming our hearts in the frigid days of winter. They are stories filled with truth and with power. They inspire us to faithful witness and courageous acts on behalf or your people.
May we, like Mary and Elizabeth, say “Yes!” to your life-giving invitation. May we join them in the birthing of your kin-dom.
May we, like Joseph and Zechariah, do our part to affirm your call in the lives of others. May we imitate them in supporting and caring for those who take risks on behalf of your kin-dom.
May we, like the angels and shepherds, perceive the great things that you are doing in the unlikeliest of places. May we kneel with them in awe at the signs of your salvation.
May we join with all of these, your faithful ones, and with all of your creation in singing aloud your praises:
Singing our Praises
Angels We Have Heard on High (Refrain)
Words & Music: Traditional French Carol
Published as # 23 in The Presbyterian Hymnal
Life-giving God, we thank you for sending Jesus into the heart of our despair. He was not born to a powerful family with wealth and prestige, but to a poor woman living on the margins of society. Ostracized and oppressed, beaten down and shamed, he knew the depths of human suffering. Still, he found strength in you to heal disease, to forgive sins, to teach the truth, to lead in your way, and to love intimately.
We gather at this table, recalling that the child to be born to Mary would be betrayed, arrested, tortured and executed by those who could not abide the message of your kin-dom. Our joy at his birth is tempered by our knowledge of his inevitable fate. And yet, we trust that the power of your love transcends his death. His resurrection, like his birth, renews the promise of our salvation.
That is why we gather at this table on the eve of Christmas. We recall the transforming love that Jesus showed on the night before his death. We remember that he took the Passover bread of freedom, broke it, and shared it with his friends, saying:
Take this bread and eat it. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
We remember that he took the Passover cup of hope, blessed it, and passed it to his friends, saying:
Drink from this, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sin. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
In the midst of death, we remember your promise of life. In the midst of oppression, we affirm your promise of freedom. In the midst of warfare, we proclaim your promise of peace. In the midst of evil, we trust your promise of justice. With Mary, let us keep faith. With the shepherds, let us feel wonder. With the angels, let us announce your salvation. With the poor of every time and place, let us build your kin-dom of love.
So, nourish and strengthen us in this meal. Transform us by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may be faithful witnesses to your truth and love.
Pour out your Spirit upon us. As we feast upon this bread and drink from this cup, make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in love for all the world. Amen.
Beloved, these are the gifts of God given to us as sure and certain signs of the love of God. Come now – whoever you are – be part of this family, sit at this table, share in this feast. Love God! Love one another!
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
As the people come forward to eat the bread and drink from the cup, they are invited to bring pieces of paper on which they have written their prayer concerns and praises and to place them into a basket located on the table. The people are invited to read the joys and concerns written by others and to respond to them silently or aloud by praying either “Thanks be to you, O God,” or “Hear our prayer, O God.”
SINGING DURING COMMUNION
Like a Child
Words & Music: Daniel Charles Damon
Published as # 2092 in The Faith We Sing
UNISON PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
We have tasted the bread of freedom. We have drunk from the cup of hope. We have known the love of God in the love of family and friends. As we depart, fill us O God, with the faith of Mary, the constancy of Joseph, the joy of the angels, and the wonder of the shepherds. May we go forth to be faithful witnesses of your love, now and forever. Amen.
4th Sunday in Advent
BREAD WORDS
It is a time of miracles! The angel Gabriel has appeared to a young girl in rural Nazareth to announce to her that she would be giving birth to the Son of God. As a confirmation that "with God nothing shall be impossible," (Luke 1:37) the angel reveals to Mary that her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, has also conceived a son.
"In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.' " (Luke 1:39-45)
The lectionary texts for the 4th Sunday of in Advent proclaim that the words of the prophets are to be fulfilled. though the priests in the temple in Jerusalem had memorized the teachings of the prophet, it is unlikely that they would recognize the new world order Mary passionately describes to Elizabeth:
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from no on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and he has lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants forever."
This is the GOOD NEWS!
In the Advent wreath on the 4th Sunday, the three dark blue and the one pink candle will have been lit. The Christ candle remains unlit, awaiting the birth of Mary's son who is to be called Jesus. The circular shape of the Advent wreath is said to signify eternal life. In this time of the Winter Solstice, we recognize that the wreaths which adorn our altars are vestiges of pre-Christian Germanic mid-winter rituals from Eastern Europe. In the cold darkness of the long winter nights, branches of evergreens were arranged into huge circles, maybe to symbolize the cycles of living and dying or the cycles of the seasons. Then the evergreens were set ablaze, the firelight beckoning the sun's light to return to warm the Earth.
The wreath for the 4th Sunday will be made by braiding three ropes of dough into a circular shape. The three ropes could represent the Holy Trinity or any other trinity that has significance: faith, hope, and love........Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.........The recipe for the wreath is a simple Sweet Dough. Recalling my dad's childhood memories of finding oranges in his stocking on Christmas mornings on the Nebraska panhandle, the bread is flavored with orange peel and ground nutmeg. (Look at the pictures before reading the descriptions of how to shape the bread. It's much easier to do it than to describe how it's done.)
1/2 cup butter
2 cups milk, heated
4 teaspoons dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Zest of one orange
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
5-6 cups unbleached flour
Pour 1 cup warm milk into a large mixing bowl and let it cool sufficiently so the yeast may be sprinkled over it to dissolve.
To the remaining cup of warm milk, add the butter and let it melt some. While this mixture is cooling, add the sugar and 2 cups flour to the yeast mixture; stir for about 2 minutes. Let the mixtures stand for about 10 minutes and then combine them, adding the salt, orange zest, and nutmeg with more of the flour.
When the dough is stiff and not easily stirred, turn it out onto a floured surface, scraping the bowl as clean as possible. Knead the dough for about 8 minutes. (It's so satisfying to listen to Christmas carols and to sing the words while kneading the soft dough in rhythm with the music.)
Grease the bowl and return the dough to the bowl, inverting it once to grease the entire surface. Let the dough rise for about one hour in a warm place.
After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide it into 4 pieces--3 for the braided wreath and one for a stylized bow. Roll each piece into a 24-inch rope. Bundle 3 of the ropes and place on a well-greased baking sheet. Using a greased ceramic cup for the center opening, begin braiding the 3 ropes from the center of the bundle and braid half-way around the cup. Braid the other half of the 3-strand bundle around the other side of the cup and join with the other end of the braided dough. With 2/3 of the 4th rope, make a bow shape to place on the wreath and use the remaining short piece to secure the bow. (From the pictures, you will see that the resulting "bow" looks more like a butterfly.)
Let the shaped dough rise for about 45 minutes and then bake at 375-degrees for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown. After removing it from the oven, let the bread sit for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
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