Advent 3 -- December 13, 2015

Advent 3   

Zephaniah 3:14-20 • Isaiah 12:2-6 • Philippians 4:4-7 • Luke 3:7-18

7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ...
10-11 And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." ...
18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.    --Luke 3 (NRSV)

MEDITATIVE READING                 (The Prayer of Thanksgiving, Nag Hammadi)                     

We give thanks to you, every life and heart stretches toward you, O name untroubled, honored with the name of God, praised with the name of Father. To everyone and everything comes the kindness of the Father, and love, desire. And if there is a sweet and simple teaching, it gifts us mind, word, and knowledge: mind, that we may understand you; word, that we may interpret you; knowledge, that we may know you. We rejoice and are enlightened by your knowledge. We rejoice that you have taught us about yourself. We rejoice that in the body, you have made us divine through your knowledge.

CALL TO WORSHIP  (from The Prayer of Thanksgiving, Nag Hammadi)

Leader: The thanksgiving of the human who reaches you is this alone: that we know you. People: We have known you, O light of mind. O light of life, we have known you. 
Leader: O womb of all that grows, we have known you. 
People: O womb pregnant with the nature of the Father, we have known you. 
Leader: O never-ending endurance of the Father who gives birth,
People: So we worship your goodness.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION  (adapted from Evangelii Gaudium by Pope Francis)

Gracious God, we have surrendered to a world pervaded by consumerism. We have succumbed to the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Our interior life is caught up in its own interests and concerns, and there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. We no longer hear your voice, or feel the quiet joy of your love, and our desire to do good fades. We end up resentful, angry and listless.

(silent prayer)

Leader: God, help us to live a dignified and fulfilled life--
ALL: the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ. Amen.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION  (Odes of Solomon 9)

Listen to the Voice of Wisdom:
   1 Open your ears,
      And I will speak to you.
   2 Give your entire self to me,
      So that I may give my entire self to you.
   3 The word of the Lord and his desires,
      The holy thought which he has considered about his Anointed One.
   4 For your lives are in the will of the Lord,
      His consciousness is the life of eternity,
      And your fullness is without corruption.
      Amen!

Additional Music:

"The First Song of Isaiah" ("Surely it is God who saves me...")