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Trinity United Church
Advent 2
December 6, 2020  

“Connection not Perfection”  

WE GATHER

Greeting/Welcome

Acknowledgement of Territory
We humbly acknowledge that even as we gather digitally, we gather and live and work on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish People, Trinity United Church rests on the unceded territory of the Kwikwitlem First Nations.  
Let us prepare our hearts and minds for worship:    

Lighting of the Advent Wreath:       CLICK HERE for video.
“What does it Look Like?”*
It is the second Sunday of Advent… …Peace is the theme of this day.
What does peace look like?
Peace looks like… …walking their paths…
What does peace feel like?
That’s not easy … …justice rolling down from God’s holy mountain.
What is it like to live in peace?   

*Written by John Moses.
Found in Gathering A/C/E 2020/21 (Year B), p68-70. 
Used with permission.  

Angels, what are you doing?
Can we join you?
Choir: We have been given and important task.
We are taking a message to the shepherds.
It will be a message of peace for the whole world.
We are so excited that we can’t hold our wings still.
We get to tell the world that Jesus has been born.
Please come with us and join in our song of peace.
Thank you, angels, for your faith and your gift of peace.
We will join you on this Advent adventure.  

*Written by Susan Lukey.
Found in Gathering A/C/E 2017/18 (Year B), p68-69.
Used with permission.  

Hymn  “All Earth Is Waiting” VU 5  
CLICK HERE for video.

Prayer of Reconciliation and Words of Assurance
As Christmas nears, the days grow short and busy while the darkness grows long and cold.
In the darkness and busyness of the season, we get turned around.
Instead of facing your Good News of a promise fulfilled, we worry about bills;
Instead of focusing on hope and light, we worry about what to buy and what to make;
Instead of attending to those in need, we worry about ourselves and what other people think of us;
God of Hope and Peace, Help us to hear the voice in the wilderness calling us to turn around again, to repent:
Remind us of our baptism the sign of forgiveness and fill us with the Holy Spirit.
In the name of the one who comes to bring us Peace, we pray.  Amen.  

Faithfulness springs up from the earth; and righteousness looks down from heaven;
God gives what is good; the land yields its harvest.
We are forgiven; we are reconciled; we are made new. 
Thanks be to God  

WE HEAR THE WORD  

Telling our Ancient Story:       CLICK HERE for video.
Comfort, O comfort my people;
    Speak tenderly to Jerusalem!
Make straight in the desert a highway for God;
    The Glory of God will be revealed!  

An army came and destroyed the city of Jerusalem and carried all the people off into exile.  For fifty years the people of Israel lived in a foreign land, among foreign people, with a foreign King.  A whole generation died and their children and children's children lived like slaves in the foreign place.  

And Isaiah whispered:
Comfort, O comfort my people;
    Speak tenderly to Jerusalem!
Make straight in the desert a highway for God;
    The Glory of God will be revealed!  

Life in the foreign land could be very hard.  The people missed their homes, their familiar city streets, and most of all, they missed the Great Temple in the center of the city where they had huge celebrations and had felt God's presence.  Instead they were surrounded by statues of foreign Gods they did not know or recognized.  

And Isaiah spoke softly:
Comfort, O comfort my people;
    Speak tenderly to Jerusalem!
Make straight in the desert a highway for God;
    The Glory of God will be revealed!  

Some of the people were very poor.  They didn't own their own land.  They made a living by working on other peoples' land.  But if there were more workers than crops or if the crops were poor, they would go without work.  They didn't always know where they would be able to earn money to feed themselves or their families.   

And Isaiah said:
Comfort, O comfort my people;
    Speak tenderly to Jerusalem!
Make straight in the desert a highway for God;
    The Glory of God will be revealed!  

Some people were sick.  There were no hospitals in those days and no doctors or surgeons.  If you got really sick, you were sent to camps outside of the city where everyone was else was sick too.  

And Isaiah called out:
Comfort, O comfort my people;
    Speak tenderly to Jerusalem!
Make straight in the desert a highway for God;
    The Glory of God will be revealed!  

Many people longed to return home to the Land God had promised to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael, Moses and Miriam.  But they had been in exile so long they were sure God had forgotten all about them.  

And Isaiah shouted:
Comfort, O comfort my people;
    Speak tenderly to Jerusalem!
Make straight in the desert a highway for God;
    The Glory of God will be revealed!  

Hymn “Comfort, Comfort now My People” VU 883
CLICK HERE for video. 

Reading
Mark 1:1-8
1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  

Message:      CLICK HERE for video.

WE RESPOND  

Special Music

Advent Reflections from Downtown Eastside
CLICK HERE for video.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and intercession
May we hear your reassuring words,    
    “Comfort, O Comfort my people.”

God of Jesus, God of the Baptiser, God of the ancient prophets to Israel,
When we feel overwhelmed by the season of preparing for
    Christmas, by bills and expenses, by lost traditions, by isolation and
    loneliness, by broken family relations, and by impossible expectations.
May we hear your reassuring words,      
    “Comfort, O Comfort my people.”  

God of Holy Decrees, God of proclamation, God of Good News,
When we feel burdened by the weekly news of civil war, famine, AIDS, drugs on urban streets, murder, chronic homelessness here in Port Coquitlam, as we brace for the cold and wet of winter, unrest around the world in developed countries where democracy is failing and resources are poorly managed,
May we hear your reassuring words,      
    “Comfort, O Comfort my people.”  

God of birth, God of new life, God of radical beginnings,
When we are ashamed of our leaders; when we have failed to speak out against oppression and know our complicit-ness through silence; when we have given up on the possibility for reconciliation; when we are aware of the hardness of our own hearts in not wanting to forgive,
May we hear your reassuring words,      
    “Comfort, O Comfort my people.”

God of waiting, God of promise, God of Advent,
When we are caring for those you love; when we visit the lonely and show compassion to the grieving; when we love those who are sick and share our wealth with those who are poor or hungry; when we remember that all we have is made possible only by you; when we live in gratitude, trust and inspiration,
May we hear your reassuring words,      
    “Comfort, O Comfort my people.”
We pray for ………… ; for those who are unable to worship with us due to infirmity; we pray for members of our community who are facing a first Christmas season without a loved one; we pray for those who are travelling great distances this season;
May we hear your reassuring words,      
    “Comfort, O Comfort my people.”

And may we fearlessly and rightfully, proclaim those words to others.  

The Disciples’ Prayer “Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother: The Lord’s Prayer” CLICK HERE for video.

* Music by Chellan Hoffman and Stephen J. Miller.
Words by Parker J. Plamer Found in Gathering Pentecost 2 2020 (year A), p 60-1.
Used with permission  

WE GO FORTH  

Hymn “People Look East” VU 9  
CLICK HERE for video.

Commissioning and Benediction
God has sent forth the messenger and we have heard the voice calling
Go, preparing the way of the Lord and…
May faithfulness spring up from the ground    
    And righteousness look down from heaven
As you walk in the way of peace,
And may the blessing of God Eternal Majesty, Living Word, Holy Comforter,
Be with you now and always.  Amen.   

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