Sunday, November 29, 2020 First Sunday of Advent Hope

Prelude Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming Johannes Brahms

Opening Words and Prayer Alex Evans

Hymn O Lord, How Shall I Meet You?

Lighting the Advent Candle Kate Nash and Frances Coats

Call to Confession and Prayer Kate Fiedler Holy God, 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,

(a period of silence for confession and personal prayer)

Choral Response O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Thomas Helmore, arr. Jeffrey Riehl O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lowly exile here until the Son of God appear. Alleluia! Medieval Latin

Words of Assurance Hear these promising words: God forgives us. Christ renews us. The Spirit enables us to grow in faith, hope, love. May it be so. Alleluia. Amen. Sharing Faith with the Church Family Ginger Evans

Anthem The Lord Shall Come Zebulon Highben The Lord shall come and not be slow; his light is soon appearing. Prepare, you children here below who are these tidings hearing: arise, O sleepers, trim your lamps! Their flames, so swiftly burning, reveal the path to hope and peace, the dawn for which you’re yearning. Come forth, you weary, meek, and poor! Forget your strife and labor. Messiah comes to those who toil, bestowing God’s own favor. Your King eternal, Lord on high, in humble form and lowly, transform a simple oxen stall into a throne most holy. For Christ shall come and not be slow; his light is now appearing. Rejoice, you saints on earth below! His reign of love is nearing. Zebulon Highben

Scripture Mark 13:24–37

Sermon The Waiting Game Kelley Connelly

Affirmation of Faith from the Iona Abbey Worship Book We believe in God: who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust in God. We are called to be the church: to celebrate God’s presence, to live with respect in creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope. In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer (debts) Alex Evans

Hymn (prerecorded) Prepare the Way, O Zion Bereden väg för Herran

Closing Words and Benediction

Postlude Veni Emmanuel Noel Rawsthorne

The greenery is given to the glory of God on this First Sunday of Advent

Music Notes Prelude Lo, How a Rose is an anonymous German hymn first printed in the Speyer Hymnal in 1599. German composer, organist, and music theorist Michael Praetorius (1571–1621) harmonized the tune in 1609. Praetorius, born Michael Schultheiss, was a prolific composer. His Musae Sionae (Music of Zion) consists of more than 1200 settings of chorale tunes. The text translation used in most hymnals was prepared by Theodore Baker (1851–1924). Baker was the compiler of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians 1900) and was a literary editor and translator for the music publisher G. Schirmer, Inc., in New York City. The text in our hymnal is adapted from his work. Lo, how a rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung, of Jesse’s lineage coming, by faithful prophets sung. It came a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter, when half spent was the night. Isaiah ‘twas foretold it, the rose I have in mind; with Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind. To show God’s love aright she bore for us a Savior, when half spent was the night. German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) composed this work as part of a set of preludes, the last pieces he composed. Hymn This hymn was written by (1607–1676), a German theologian and Lutheran minister. He is considered Germany’s greatest hymn writer. This translation is based on one by (1827–1878), an English hymn writer and educator who worked for wider educational opportunities for girls. The tune was composed by Melchior Teschner (1584–1635). Born in Poland, he was a German cantor, composer, and theologian. William Henry Monk (1823–1889), an English organist and church musician, composed the arrangement found in modern hymnals Response Veni Emmanuel is a synthesis of the great "O Antiphons" that are used for Vespers during the week before Christmas. These antiphons are of ancient origin, dating back to at least the ninth century. They begin: O Sapientia (wisdom), O Adonai (lord), O Radix (rod of Jesse), O Clavix (key of David), O Oriens (east, day star), O Rex gentium (king of nations), O Emmanuel (God with us). In reverse order, they form an acrostic ERO CRAS, loosely translated as “tomorrow I will be (come).” The hymn itself is much more recent, first appearing in the 18th century in the Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum (Cologne 1710). The English translation was prepared by John Mason Neale (1818–1866), an Anglican priest who spent many years translating German hymn texts. Thomas Helmore (1811–1890), an Anglican priest and master of the choristers for the Chapel Royal adapted a fifteenth-century French chant melody.

Anthem Zebulon Highben is director of chapel music for Duke University. Hymn This hymn was written by Frans Mikael Franzen (1772–1847), a Finnish librarian, professor of literary history, and minister. The translation is based on those by American Lutheran minister Augustus Nelson (1863–1949) and Charles Price (1920–1999), an Episcopal clergyman and professor at Virginia Seminary in Alexandria. Postlude See notes for response. Noel Rawsthorne (1929–2019) was organist for 25 years at the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, England.