Day 1000: Sunday, December 11, 2022

Join Us Today for Our Advent Celebration

Created by Mary and Ed:

We start Today at 3:45

We welcome each person

For Sunday, December 11, 2022

Join Us In Person:

Knox Presbyterian &Thanksgiving Lutheran Churches

1650 W. Third St. Santa Rosa, CA 95401

Or Join us on Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573

Passcode: 1234

Meeting ID: 519 315 8573

Passcode: 1234

One tap mobile +16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose)

Here's the liturgy in WORD and PDF formats for downloading:

Emmaus Liturgy for December 11, 2022

Advent - Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will

Bell Ringing

Music: 1 - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Ed: I ask that we put our sheets of the liturgy down for the readings and practice attentive listening.

Mary: Advent has long been special for Ed and me, a season full of tradition and ritual. Our liturgy tonight brings together readings, music and symbols to quiet our minds and hearts, so we might hear the voice of the Incarnation within us. We will begin with the lighting of our advent wreath.

Lighting of Our Advent Wreath

Ed: In the Name of the Three-in-One and One-in-Three.

All: Amen

Mary: Loving God, who sent into the world your Incarnate One

as a Light which the darkness cannot overcome,

invest our wreath, our Advent symbol,

with the power of your love and light.

Ed (light two purple candles): With each of these candles that we light, may we rekindle within ourselves the desire

to prepare a way for the birth of Christ within us.

Mary (as she light pink candle): With each new candle that we light,

may the flame of Christ’s coming

grow ever brighter

until the Feast of the Nativity brings with it

a fresh and ever-green coming of the Lord of Light

into each of our hearts and into our whole world.

Reading - Linda: John of the Cross

If you want, the virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say

“I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, My time is so close”.

Then, under the roof of your soul, you will witness the sublime intimacy, the divine, the Christ, taking birth forever,

as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us

is the midwife of God, each of us.

Yes, there, under the dome of your being

does Creation come into existence,

through your womb, dear pilgrim, the sacred womb in your soul, as God grasps our arms for help;

for each of us is His beloved servant, never far.

If you want, the Virgin WILL come walking down the street pregnant with light, and singing!

All: Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Reading - Dan: Meister Eckhart, O.P.

What good is it to me,

if this eternal birth of the Divine Son

takes place unceasingly

but does not take place within me?

And what good is it to me,

if Mary is full of grace

and if I am not also full of grace?

What good is it to me,

for the creator to give birth to the Son,

if I do not also give birth to Him,

in my time, and my culture?

This, then, is the fullness of time:

When the Son of God is begotten in us

All: Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Reading - Melva: Karl Rahner

A light is beginning to dawn in me.

I am beginning to understand

something I have known for a long time:

You, O God, are still in the process of coming.

ALL: Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Music: Holy is His Name

Gospel - Jim: Luke 1:26

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.

For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Response: Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Shared Homily David turns screen on

Mary: Please open your sheets to page 3 and follow along (wait till all ready)

The Annunciation is a story ripe for both the rejoicings and the questions and uncertainties that life carries, and it’s about opening up and receiving all of it. This is Mary’s story in an irreducible particularity and at the same time the story of each of us, of any of us, met with the perfect love of God in the midst of our fear, our struggle, our poverty and weakness, our insecurity and doubt and hearing the words: ‘The Lord is with you, do not be afraid’. And it is an opportunity for each of us to respond, to enter into that risk, that freedom, that openness; to say ‘yes’ to such a love. And this opportunity is gifted to us because the story is as much or more about God’s opening up to us as Mary’s opening up to God’s plan and salvation.

Ed: Mary opens up and receives God-among-us, Emmanuel, but God in Christ is also opening up and welcoming human life and experience. At the root of the Annunciation is the new, radical, earthy manifestation of ‘The Lord is with you’. The God of the universe opens up entirely to us, entirely to the weakness and beauty of humanity—God in the womb, in the manger, who walks among our streets, holds little children, touches lepers, who dies in human flesh. There is no greater welcome, no wider openness, no fuller embrace, and no invitation more joyful than this.

Mary: Mary’s ‘yes’ is the vessel through which God-among-us steps into our world and opens up to us as one of us. Our ‘yes’ today is not a claim to perfection or a statement of moral superiority any more than the days we can only bring ourselves to say, ‘no, I just can’t’ mark us out as deficient or failures. The openness of God’s love is unending, so that wherever we find ourselves we are welcomed and embraced. So whatever these strained circumstances and whatever insecurity they may cause, ‘the Lord is with you, do not be afraid’.

Shared Homily:

❖ How are you understanding God’s will for you?

❖ How are you birthing God in your life?

❖ Where are you finding yourself saying “yes” in your life?

Bringing Our Needs and Concerns to our table

What do we bring from within our hearts to hold up in the Light?

Eucharistic Prayer:

Ed: Emmanuel, holy God who is with us, may we lean into every moment of our days to redeem the time, to make the most of our every moment. May we prepare the visible Body of Christ, our community, to receive your eternal approach and your loving embrace. With our faces turned to you, we await your holy descent, and ask, Lord, that you hear our prayer, offered in humility:

Mary: That despite the roar of our days, our hearts might grow still.

Ed: That glimpsing the quiet Cove, we may seek you in that stillness.

Mary: That resting in your presence, our hearts might be prepared to hear you.

Ed: That the angel of God might visit the chambers of our hearts.

Mary: That the angel of God might say to us, “Rejoice.”

Ed: That we might hear, and truly respond in joy.

Mary: That the angel of God might say to us, “Receive.”

Ed: That the servant of God might respond, “Let it be as you say.”

Mary: That our hearts might become fertile wombs in which new life begins.

Ed: That we may apprehend the infant life within.

Mary: That we might embrace that infant life.

Ed: That we may walk with care to bring about new birth.

Mary: That we may witness the seed of God bearing Holy Fruit.

Blessing of bread and wine

Mary: As the season of Incarnation approaches, as we prepare to receive Life itself, may we taste and see how our own lives, the life of the world, and the very breath of the universe flow to us from the Holy One made Flesh. For we remember the night Jesus was at the table with his friends, and he took bread, Gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his friends saying:

All: “This is my body broken for you”

Ed: As supper was ending, Jesus took the cup of wine. Again he gave thanks, and giving it to his friends said:

All:

“This cup is the New Covenant of my lifeblood shed for you and for all. And as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me.”

For it is through Him, with Him, in Him

in the Unity of the Holy Spirit

all glory and honor is yours

forever and ever. Amen

Mary: Together, we offer to you O God, the prayer your beloved son and our brother, Jesus, gave us:

All:

Heavenly Father, heavenly Mother,

Holy and blessed is your true name.

We pray for your reign of peace to come,

We pray that your good will be done,

Let heaven and earth become one.

Give us this day the bread we need,

Give it to those who have none.

Let forgiveness flow like a river between us,

From each one to each one.

Lead us to holy innocence

Beyond the evil of our days

Come swiftly Mother, Father.

For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy:

Forever your name is All in One.

Kiss of Peace - Mary: Let us now offer one another a blessing of peace.

Eucharist - Ed:

Our God, whom the universe cannot contain

Is present to us in this bread.

He who redeems us and calls us by name

Now meets us in this cup.

So, come, take this bread, drink this wine,

In them, God comes to us,

So that we may come to God.

Lighting of candles

Music: 3- Jesus Christ, Inner Light - we will pass out candles

Jesus Christ, inner light, let not our own darkness conquer us. Jesus Christ, inner light, enable us to welcome your love.

Go right into Song of Waiting when all have received bread & wine

Closing Music: Song of Waiting

Quiet our hearts, as we await the Lord

The hope of our hearts, the hope of our hearts

Quiet our hearts, as we await the king

The hope of our hearts, Emmanuel.

Alleluia, Alleluia, we await the coming of the Lord

Alleluia, Alleluia, we await the coming of Emmanuel.

Joyful our hearts for we have heard

The promise of God, the promise of God,

Joyful our hearts for we have heard

The promise of God, Emmanuel.

Alleluia, Alleluia, we await the coming of the Lord

Alleluia, Alleluia, we await the coming of Emmanuel.

Thankful our hearts for we have seen

The light of our God, the light of our God,

The darkness of the night is clearing for us,

His reign shall come, Emmanuel.

Alleluia, Alleluia, we await the coming of the Lord

Alleluia, Alleluia, we await the coming of Emmanuel.