Online Worship – November 29, 2020

Trinity Presbyterian Church
Online Worship Service

for November 29, 2020 – First Sunday of Advent

Welcome and Announcements

Welcome to Trinity Presbyterian Church’s online worship service!
If you prefer, you can view this service on our Worship Service Player. In the player, the service plays from start to finish without interruption. To try that version of the worship service, click HERE.

Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe
2024/10/07-02:30:14-UTC 36th ols; 34woc; 4waro

Trinity has returned to Indoor Worship with LIMITED seating at 10AM on Sundays. In addition to limited seating, there are several details you should know before attending. Please read about them in our Guide to Indoor Worship.

Please fill in your 2021 Stewardship Pledge Cards. If you need a new pledge card, please contact the church office for a replacement or print your own by clicking this link or the pledge card image. Once filled in, they may be turned in to the church or mailed to the church office. May God richly bless our generosity as we return to God a small portion of what He has given to us.

Trinity’s Bible Study is available online. Visit our website or Facebook page to view a video from Rev. Beebe. A new video will be released each week and will be available to watch whenever it is convenient for you. You can also ‘catch-up’ anytime at the Bible Study archive. To be included in our weekly email, simply subscribe to the website or join our Facebook group. Links to subscribe and join are at the bottom of our webpage.

Portions of the liturgy we use in the service are provided by Sanctified Art. Where used, they are identified with a superscript 2 (similar to this2). A copyright acknowledgment is at the bottom of this worship page.

Briefly, a word concerning the technical presentation of this service. If you are having difficulty reading the words, look for your web browser’s “Zoom” settings. The keystrokes are typically ‘Ctrl-Shift-+’ to increase the zoom or ‘Ctrl-Shift-(minus)’ to decrease the zoom. Other devices may have a different mechanism (‘finger pinch’), but most support zoom.

Although you could not be with us in-person today, we hope you will have a meaningful Sunday worship experience!

This week’s bulletin is available at any time by clicking this link. The bulletin will open in a separate tab or window.

Please note the bulletin matches the order of service on this page, but there are additional items that may be of interest to you that are not included on this worship page.

Today’s service contains:

  • Preparation for Worship
  • Prelude “Breath of Heaven” with “Lo’ How a Rose E’er Blooming”
  • Call to Worship
  • Hymn #107 “Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn”
  • Candle Lighting
  • Prayer of Confession
  • Anthem “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”
  • The Road to Bethlehem
  • Affirmation of Faith
  • The Lord’s Prayer
  • Responsive Reading
  • Prayer for Illumination
  • Old Testament Reading
  • Hymn #93 “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates”
  • Gospel Lesson
  • Meditation “In Those Days”
  • Sending
  • Congregational Response (Hymn #306)
  • Offering
  • Postlude “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”

Preparation for Worship

Let us join together now and prepare for worship.

Dear Family of God – these are trying days in God’s beloved world. As Christ’s Church, sustained by the Holy Spirit, we have gifts and a call by which to care for one another and our neighbors. Worship in which we encounter our living God and know ourselves connected to the body continues. So this day, even though we worship at a distance, we read the same Scriptures, and share in the same prayers, we are held together on this Sunday morning. Let us prepare our hearts and minds to worship the living Lord.

Prelude “Breath of Heaven” with “Lo’ How a Rose E’er Blooming”

Heasuk Che, organist.
arr. Page

Call to Worship

Lois Settles, lay reader.
provided by: A Sanctified Art2
One: The power of dreams lies in waking up. For when we close our eyes,
All: We can see a better world.
One: When we close our eyes,
All: We can dream a better dream.
One: But when we open our eyes,
All: We begin the work of faith.
One: The power of worship is the same. When we enter this space,
All: We can see a better world.
One: When we enter this space,
All: We dream a better dream.
One: But when we leave this space,
All: We begin the work of faith.
One: So come in. Dream your dream.
All: Find hope here.
One: For in an hour,
All: We will begin the work of faith.
One: Let it be so.

Hymn #107 “Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn”

Barbara Davis, Carol Corson, Judith Spurrell, Kathy Link, Lillian Warner, Norma Rogero, and Priscilla Cahill. Accompanied by Heasuk Che on the piano.
Haugen
1 Awake! awake, and greet the new morn,
for angels herald its dawning.
Sing out your joy, for soon he is born,
behold! the Child of our longing.
Come as a baby weak and poor,
to bring all hearts together,
he opens wide the heavenly door
and lives now inside us forever.
2 To us, to all in sorrow and fear,
Emmanuel comes asinging,
his humble song is quiet and near,
yet fills the earth with its ringing;
music to heal the broken soul
and hymns of loving kindness.
The thunder of his anthems rolls
to shatter all hatred and violence.
3 In darkest night his coming shall be,
when all the world is despairing,
as morning light so quiet and free,
so warm and gentle and caring.
Then shall the mute break forth in song,
the lame shall leap in wonder,
the weak be raised above the strong,
and weapons be broken asunder.
4 Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night.
Though dark the winter and cheerless,
the rising sun shall crown you with light;
be strong and loving and fearless.
Love be our song and love our prayer
and love our endless story;
may God fill every day we share
and bring us at last into glory.

Candle Lighting

Jennifer, Bella, Chloe and Jack Kaczmarek.
 
The world says, “All is lost.”
God says, “All is loved.”
The darkness says, “The light is dying.”
The light says, “The fire is catching.”
Fear says, “Cover your eyes and your ears.”
Hope says, “Wait, watch, and listen.”
As we light our first Advent candle,
we pray for holy hope of God.
Come now, O Child of Mary
Come now, O Prince of Hope.

Prayer of Confession

Please join in our Prayer of Confession …
Original Dreamer,
Over and over again in scripture, we hear your dream for a beautiful world.
We hear your dream for peace and reconciliation.
We hear your dream for harmony and togetherness.
We hear your dream for community and hope.
We hear your dreams, and yet we do not open our eyes.
We continue to live with the curtains drawn,
        the covers pulled tight,
        eyes shut to the realities of the world.
Forgive us. Kindle a hope in us that will burn through the darkest nights.
Give us the strength and the will to keep awake in this sleeping world.
With hope we pray, amen.

(Silence for Reflection)

Anthem “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”

Barbara Davis, Carol Corson, Judith Spurrell, Kathy Link, Lillian Warner, Norma Rogero, and Priscilla Cahill. Accompanied by Heasuk Che on the piano.

Picardy

The Road to Bethlehem

Brooke Tucker, Director of Faith Formation.

 

Affirmation of Faith

Hailey Tucker, lay reader

provided by: A Sanctified Art2

One: We believe in God.
All: We believe that God has dreams for humanity.
One: We believe in the Holy Spirit.
All: We believe that the Holy Spirit comforts us when our dreams turn to nightmares.
One: We believe in Jesus.
All: We believe that Jesus walked this world to wake us up,
      Inviting us to be the church in the world.

One: We believe in dreams.
All: We believe in the power that dreams have to show us a new way.
One: So in this Advent season,
All: We are those who dream and those who wake up. May it be so. Amen.

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 debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Responsive Reading

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
    you who lead Joseph like a flock!
    You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
    Stir up your might, and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God;
    let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O LORD God of hosts,
    how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears,
    and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
    our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
    let your face shine, that we may be saved.

17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
    the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you;
    give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;
    let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Prayer for Illumination

Lois Settles, lay reader.
provided by: A Sanctified Art2
O Great Dreamer,
You dreamed up the stars in the sky.
You dreamed up that magic baby smell and the way cream sinks into coffee.
You dreamed up the crunch of fall leaves and jazz music.
You dreamed up wisteria and evergreen and the pure magic that is a six-foot-tall sunflower.
And in the midst of all of that, you dreamed up a dream for your people—
        a dream of hope and justice,
        a dream for eyes wide open, to both the world’s suffering and the world’s beauty.
So today, as we read scripture, we ask that you would plant that same dream in us.
Pour out your Spirit on our hearts and minds so that we may see what you see,
        and dream what you dream.
Gratefully we pray, amen.

Old Testament Reading

Lois Settles, lay reader.
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Isaiah 64:1-9. Listen for God speaking to you today.
1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
    so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
    to make your name known to your adversaries,
    so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From ages past no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
    no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who works for those who wait for him.
5 You meet those who gladly do right,
    those who remember you in your ways.
    But you were angry, and we sinned;
    because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
    We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name,
    or attempts to take hold of you;
    for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,
    and do not remember iniquity forever.
    Now consider, we are all your people.

Hymn #93 “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates”

Barbara Davis, Carol Corson, Judith Spurrell, Kathy Link, Lillian Warner, Norma Rogero, and Priscilla Cahill. Accompanied by Heasuk Che on the piano.

Truro

1 Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates;
behold the King of glory waits;
the King of kings is drawing near;
the Savior of the world is here.
2 Fling wide the portals of your heart;
make it a temple, set apart
from earthly use for heaven’s employ,
adorned with prayer and love and joy.
3 Redeemer, come! I open wide
my heart to thee; here, Lord, abide.
Let me thy inner presence feel;
thy grace and love in me reveal.

Scripture Reading

Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Mark 13:24-37 The Coming of the Son of Man, The Lesson of the Fig Tree, and The Necessity for Watchfulness. Listen for God speaking to you today.

24 But in those days, after that suffering,

         the sun will be darkened,

            and the moon will not give its light,

25    and the stars will be falling from heaven,

            and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

26 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”

28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.
35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Meditation “In Those Days”

Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe

Sending

Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe

Congregational Response

Heasuk Che, organist.
Hymn #306
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.

Offering

Please continue to give your offering.

God calls us to give all of who we are, and all of what we have to be used in and thru the Church. So let us present our lives. Let us present our gifts unto God. Offerings can be received in the church by mail or you may use online banking options.

You can click the image to the right or this link to give online now. At the online Giving site, select “2020 Pledge” as the Fund to fulfill your 2020 pledge or use another fund if you’re directing your gift elsewhere. Note, the church must pay a small processing fee to receive your contribution via online giving. Increasing your gift would help cover the cost of processing and would be greatly appreciated.

If you’d like to see alternatives to online giving, please take a look at our Contribute page.

Postlude “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”

Heasuk Che, organist.
Stuttgart

The Service has Ended

May the Peace of Christ be with you!

Thank you for joining us online! We hope you will join us again as long as we need to be apart. We pray for the day when we can all meet again and worship God in the sanctuary and Trinity Presbyterian Church.

1 ALL COPYRIGHTS ACKNOWLEDGED

2 Prayer by Sarah Are | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org Cover Art: Design by Lauren Wright Pittman; Photography by Lisle Gwynn Garrity



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