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A Book of Worship and Devotion to Lead You Spiritually Through the Season of Advent and Christmas

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A BOOK OF WORSHIP AND DEVOTION TO LEAD YOU SPIRITUALLY THROUGH THE SEASON OF ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS. WRITTEN BY THE STAFF AND CONGREGATION OF CAVE SPRING UMC. JOURNEYING THROUGH ADVENT TOGETHER Dear Members and Friends of Cave Spring United Methodist Church, Welcome to the season of Advent! Advent is a time of preparation, in which we ready ourselves to celebrate Christ’s birth and to receive Christ when he returns to earth. It is a season that invites us to refl ect on our lives, to deepen our faith, to build our relationships with our neighbors, and to serve in ways that make the world around us more like God’s kingdom. While this season comes every year, Advent 2020 is unlike most others we’ve experienced. Usually this season fi nds us crowding into the Sanctuary with our church family to sing and celebrate, bustling about in stores, and visiting friends. This year, however, many of our usual activities will be curtailed, made impossible by a pandemic. In light of these many changes, and the sense of loss that may accompany them, we are off ering some new avenues for observing Advent. In this package, we present a toolkit for the Advent season. Inside you will fi nd resources that we hope will help you create spiritual practices for your household in this season. There is a book of devotions written by the people of Cave Spring UMC; it includes Advent Wreath instructions and prayers, orders of service for some upcoming special worship opportunities, and even recipes for Moravian buns or spice cookies for an at-home Love Feast. We invite you to use the enclosed votive candles to make an Advent wreath for your home. We encourage you to get out the white taper candles on Christmas Eve and join Christians across the Roanoke valley in singing Silent Night. We also urge you to participate in our Sunday Worship and additional Advent and Christmas services online. While we mourn the absence of many favorite traditions during Advent and Christmas this year, we pray that you will fi nd new, meaningful ways to experience God, serve others, and grow together. We wish you a blessed Advent and a joyous Christmas! Grace and Peace, Rev. Lauren Lobenhofer Rev. Tim Craft Senior Pastor Minister of Discipleship 2 NOV. ADVENT WREATH LITURGY 29 THE ADVENT WREATH WEEK 1 One traditional Advent practice is the lighting of “Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your an Advent Wreath. We count down to the arrival of paths. Lead me in your truth--teach it to me--because Christ, the Light of the World by lighting candles. you are the God who saves me. I put my hope in you We begin on the fi rst week of Advent, by lighting a all day long.” single purple candle as a sign of hope. For the second - Psalm 25 (CEB) week of Advent, we continue lighting the fi rst candle and add a second purple candle to symbolize peace. Our world is fi lled with reasons to despair. The The third week of Advent, known as Gaudete or Joy violence, disease, suff ering, and poverty we see in Sunday, invites us to light a pink candle in addition to the world around us can overwhelm us, and at times the fi rst two purple ones. When the fourth week of it seems like we are surrounded by darkness. Still, Advent arrives, we light three purple candles and one the season of Advent reminds us that the light of pink, representing hope, peace, joy, and love. Then, Christ can drive back the shadows. Jesus, our Savior, on Christmas Eve, we light all four colored candles is coming to transform the world, to bring healing and the center white candle, known as the Christ and relief, to wipe every tear from our eyes and make Candle. With each candle, we scatter more of the all things new. shadows of the world and further illuminate the world as we are reminded of Jesus’ brightness (Light one purple candle) Today we light the fi rst coming among us. candle in our Advent wreath and celebrate the hope we have in Christ. We invite you to join in this Advent practice by making a wreath with the votives provided, then Let us pray: Holy God, send your hope to dwell in our reading the enclosed passages and prayers as you hearts in this Advent season. Help us to see the light light the candles each week. of Christ in the world around us, and to trust in your salvation. Amen. 3 NOV. PSALM 27: 1-6 30 SCRIPTURE “For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of his tent; He will set me high on a rock.” -Psalm 27: 5 DEVOTION I am a worrier. I always have been and probably always will be. When I worry, I try to fi gure out how to make events and actions come under my control. I can fi x this, right? If I can control it then I can fi x it. Then I will no longer have to worry about it. I have the logic all fi gured out. Except…it just doesn’t really work like that, does it? So much is out of my control, especially nowadays. My continual churning on what to do and how to fi x a situation never really solves anything. So many variables are still out of my control. However, most of those worst-case scenarios never really do happen. Somehow things always seem to work out, and when they don’t, often unexpected goodness or at the very least, growth comes from it. Maybe…just maybe…if I hadn’t spent all that time and eff ort worrying about things and instead just trusted God to see me through it, a calm acceptance could have been with me all along. At the end of the trail that culminates on Sharp Top mountain, there is a rock hut built to shelter hikers from any unexpected storms. While I have never been surprised by a storm when on top of a mountain, the thought that the shelter is there has always been a comfort. Being on top of the mountain at the end of a hike and seeing the land spread out thousands of feet below me always brings a calm perspective. Being “high on a rock” while knowing that God will “conceal me under the cover of his tent,” well, maybe that should be the only thought that runs through my mind as I look at the uncertain landscape around me. PRAYER God, please help me to remember that you are the ultimate source of shelter and strength and that you will set me high on a rock. Amen. By Kelley Lawton 4 DEC. JEREMIAH 33: 14-16 1 THE RIGHTEOUS BRANCH AND THE COVENANT WITH DAVID 14 “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfi ll the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time, I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” - Jeremiah 33: 14-16 DEVOTION As we look at today’s Scripture, it is powerful. The word righteousness as defi ned in the dictionary is integrity, purity of heart, and rectitude of life and justice. Jeremiah is frequently called the weeping prophet because he suff ered greatly for his people. Jeremiah received a prophetic call as a youngster and despite his obstacles, he made sure people knew of God and his importance in each life and in the righteousness of the Lord. Jerusalem would fi nally become what God intended for it all along: A city noted for its righteousness. God said, “I will raise a righteous branch and David will reign as king and deal wisely and execute with justice and righteousness in the land.” As we all go through diffi cult times, righteousness is an integral part of our Christian faith. As a member of Cave Spring UMC, we see the way members show their righteousness as part of the music ministry, Sunday school, small groups, backpack ministry, United Methodist Women, and other groups. As we look at this passage of Scripture we see that Jeremiah loved the Lord and he felt that the more who could be led to God the better it was for the world. This holds true for all of us today, because if we lead our lives in righteousness we are following the Lord. In this Advent season we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let each of us follow the example of Jeremiah and trust in God and spread the word of righteousness. Amen. PRAYER Dear Lord, as we celebrate the Advent season let us remember the life of Jeremiah who gave his life to God and led others to his word. Let each of us lead a life of righteousness this day and every day; this we ask in His name. Amen. By David Ross 5 DEC. ‘O COME, O COME EMMANUEL’ 2 ‘UNTIL THE SON OF GOD APPEAR’ Advent and Christmas are perhaps most defi ned in our minds by their music. The songs of the season transcend the walls of the church; secular radio stations often play them from mid-October through Christmas Day.
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