Description
Isaiah 11:1-10
We live in a broken world. Nation stands against nation, people against people, brother against brother. Sorrow and sighing and disease and decay are the norm. It did not start out like this, nor will it end like this. Sin has broken everything, from the eco-system to relationships. And nature groans, anticipating restoration. That day will come. The day will come when all will be restored. The day will come when all will be whole again. Isaiah foretells the time when the Branch of Jesse will restore righteousness, and then the “lion will lie down with the lamb…a child will lead them…the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.” The universe will be wholly holy…again.
We Lift Our Hearts in Worship
[Preservice options include videos (countdowns, worship music, welcomes), worship music CD, or live music by worship band.]
Time of Praise and Worship
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
John Mason Neale & Henry Sloane Coffin, ©several publishers
Available on www.PraiseCharts.com, www.LifewayWorship.com, www.MusicNotes.com
Give Us Clean Hands
Charlie Hall, ©2000 worshiptogether.com Songs/sixsteps Music
Lord I Need You
Christy Nockels, Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, Kristian Stanfill, & Matt Maher, ©2011 worshiptogether.com songs (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) sixsteps Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) Sweater Weather Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) Valley Of Songs Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
[Traditional Options]
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
BH 75 78; BH 91 76; CH 245; CHH 119; EH 56; ELW 257; HWC 123; HFG 169; HLC 100; HGP 73; LBW 34; LSB 357; LW 31; NCH 116; PH 9; RH 117; RS 493; STTL 163; WC 133; UMH 211; WAR 154; WHM 120; WIS 171
Come, O Precious Ransom
LBW 24; LSB 350; LW 34
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye MIghty Gates
BH 910128; CHH 129; EH 436; HFG 239; LBW 32; LSB 340/341; LW 23/24; NCH 117; PH 8; UMH 213; WAR176
Invocation and Introduction of Today’s Theme
Pastor: In the name of the Father, Who created us to be His children;
In the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, on Whom the Spirit dwells,
In the name of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and Son to make us one.
ALL Amen
Opening Prayer
Pastor Holy, Holy, Holy. You are whole, Almighty Father, complete in all Your being. Your love is perfect, and You reached for us in our brokenness to restore us to Yourself. Here and now, we rejoice in You, and in the certainty that we are Yours, created by Your Wisdom and redeemed by Your Son. He is our peace. He has made us whole. He has mde us one. In Him, and the power of His Spirit, we pray.
ALL Amen.
Time of Greeting
Time of Confession and Forgiveness
[Alternate location: following Message]
Pastor On this second Sunday in Advent, our focus is on repentance. Even as we prepare to again celebrate Jesus’ coming at Bethlehem, and as we look forward to His return, we acknowledge the need for His coming. Our world and our lives are broken
(a time of silence)
Father, we gather as Your people, confessing that our lives are in pieces.
ALL Our world is a mess. There are wars and rebellions, fighting and factions. Our lives are fractured. We have strained relationships, even among our families. Even the church seems to be in turmoil, with contentious divisions among those who call themselves disciples.
Pastor It’s called sin. And when sin entered the world, the wholeness which God created was shattered.
ALL We talk of peace, but live in pieces. We are broken.
Pastor Hear the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of a time when all will be whole again: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them… the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.(Isaiah 11:6,9)
Christ in our righteousness, and in His cross, all is made holy, and whole.
Lighting of the Advent Wreath
Pastor “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.(Isaiah 11:1-3)
ALL Come, Lord Jesus.
We Hear God’s Word
[Read aloud both the introduction and Scripture]
First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10
The Branch of Jesse will bring righteousness, restoring all things to what God intended.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
