December 20, 2020.
Thank you for worshipping with us at Calvary Moravian Church. To support our ministries, you can mail the office a check (948 N. 21st St. Allentown 18104). An online giving portal is at: https://mmfa.info/calvary-moravian-church-pa-donation-form/.
10:45 a.m. : Worship with us via ZOOM or on our Calvary Moravian Church Allentown Youtube Channel.
https://zoom.us/j/673028163, Meeting ID: 673 028 163
You can call this number and listen to the service on any telephone as well:
(929) 205-6099 (enter 673028163#).
Bulletins are available from Friday onward in the Little Library on Livingston St.
Sunday school gathering/check-in time at 10 a.m. (same Zoom)
Worship will start at 10:45 a.m. via Zoom or on our Calvary Youtube Channel.
Helping our Neighbors at Esperanza Moravian Church!
Esperanza Moravian Church, a bilingual church and ministry outreach to the neighborhood of South Bethlehem, is collecting food to help hungry kids in the neighborhood. We will continue to collect microwaveable Mac and Cheese cups (just the cups not the boxes) to donate as part of this effort or funds to purchase these. Please call us to arrange a drop-off.
Daily Texts
Moravian Daily Texts for 2021 are available, contact the church office. The cost is $11.00 for regular print, $13.00 for large print.
2021 Offering Envelopes are available for pick-up, please contact the office to make arrangements
Sunday, Jan. 3: Zoom/Youtube Worship, 10:45 a.m. Epiphany Worship, Holy Communion
(Watchwords will be mailed to your home with your year-end giving statements in the first weeks of January).
Moravian Blue Christmas Online Service – Tonight (Dec. 20), 7 p.m.
The holiday season is hard for some of us, particularly this year with the challenges that Covid presents. You are not alone. If you are dealing with a broken relationship, if you are mourning or remembering the loss of a loved one, if you are struggling with depression or sadness, the Northern Provincial Advent & Christmas Planning Team would like to invite you to join us for a different kind of worship service…of comfort…of lament…of hope.
We will be offering a Blue Christmas Worship Service on Sunday, December 20th at 7:00 pm ET via Zoom video conference. You can find the access link on https://moravianchristmas.org/2020/11/blue-christmas-service-dec-20/– Please sign up at any time before the service. By doing so, you are helping us plan ahead to create a smooth and meaningful online worship experience. (Optional) Please have with you a piece of cloth or paper that you can tear.
Helping our Neighbors at Esperanza Moravian Church!
Esperanza Moravian Church, a bilingual church and ministry outreach to the neighborhood of South Bethlehem, is collecting food to help hungry kids in the neighborhood. We will continue to collect microwaveable Mac and Cheese cups (just the cups not the boxes) to donate as part of this effort or funds to purchase these. Please call us to arrange a drop-off.
Daily Texts
Moravian Daily Texts for 2021 are available, contact the church office. The cost is $11.00 for regular print, $13.00 for large print.
2021 Offering Envelopes are available for pick-up, please contact the office to make arrangements
Sunday, Jan. 3: Zoom/Youtube Worship, 10:45 a.m. Epiphany Worship, Holy Communion
(Watchwords will be mailed to your home with your year-end giving statements in the first weeks of January).
Lovefeast to Go and Sugarcake pick-ups:
Pastor Blair will be coordinating pick-ups on Dec. 23rd, stop by the Livingston St. side of the church between 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. If you cannot make that time, she would be happy to make arrangements later that day or on Dec. 24th. Please contact her or the office to let us know.
Upcoming Worship:
Christmas Eve Virtual (Zoom) Worship, 4:30 p.m. and recorded to Calvary Moravian Church’s Youtube Channel
Check out our Youtube Channel after worship for the complete Christmas Pageant there as well.
Sunday, Dec. 27: Zoom/Youtube Worship, 10:45 a.m. – Christmas Worship
Sunday, Jan. 3: Zoom/Youtube Worship, 10:45 a.m. Epiphany Worship, Holy Communion
(Watchwords will be mailed to your home with your year-end giving statements in the first weeks of January).
Fourth Sunday of Advent December 20, 2020
Welcome and Announcements
Introit. “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Gustav Holt, arranged by Phillip Keveren, performed by Bob Kahle
Call to Worship: The Steadfast Love of God.
Lighting of the Advent Candle “Love: We are not Alone”
Close your eyes. What is your dream?
May this light burn bright as a reminder that God is here and God is love. We are not alone. Thanks be to God for a love like that.
Liturgy for Advent 2 pg. 54-57
Reprinted or adapted from the 1995 Moravian Book of Worship with the permission of the Interprovincial Board of Communication, Moravian Church in America. © 1995 IBOC. www.moravian.org; e-mail: pubs@mcnp.org. All rights reserved
Sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things.
We will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and tell of God’s deeds in songs of joy.
Awake, awake, you people of God, put on your festive garments.
For God has already clothed us with the garments of salvation and has covered us with the robe of righteousness.
The Holy One has delivered us and has become our salvation.
TUNE: BRESLAU
All praise to you, eternal Lord, clothed in a garb of flesh and blood;
choosing a manger for your throne, while worlds on worlds are yours alone.
All this for us your love has done; by this to you our love is won;
for this we sing through all our days, and shout our thanks in ceaseless praise.
We give thanks to you, eternal God, for the Word in human form given to us in the Child of Bethlehem.
The Word speaks to us in a way we cannot avoid:
Therefore, let us put aside the masks of pretended righteousness and confess our sins to God.
Silent Confession
Gracious God, this Advent season stirs a longing to have Christ come alive within us, yet we allow ourselves to become enslaved to cynicism, selfishness, and greed. In a season for freely giving and receiving, we tend to live by debt and obligation. We rush from task to task, scarcely opening our eyes to the peace and beauty around us. We glory in the visions of the old man Zechariah in the temple, which were fulfilled in his wife, Elizabeth; but our ministry to the elderly in our midst falls short. We sing of One who was laid in a borrowed manger, but we ignore the poor and homeless among us. We decry the violence of a wicked king, yet we are too often silent in the face of abuse and injustice around us. For these and all our sins, forgive us, we pray, gracious God.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to them and proclaim that they have suffered long enough, that their penalty is paid, and their sins are forgiven.
The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all. Christ Jesus gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify a people of his own. Thanks be to God!
TUNE: JUDGMENT (585 A)
Jesus came, adored by angels, came with peace from realms on high;
Jesus came for our redemption, lowly came on earth to die:
alleluia, alleluia! Came in deep humility.
Jesus comes again in mercy, when our hearts are bowed with care;
Jesus comes again in answer, to our earnest heartfelt prayer:
alleluia, alleluia! Comes to save us from despair.
We believe in Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, who lived among us as foretold by the prophets, who was descended from the royal line of David, and who was baptized in the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might.
He does not judge by what his eyes see, nor decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he judges the poor and decides with equity for the meek of the earth.
We believe in the coming reign of God when justice will be established in the earth.
How wonderful it is to see a messenger coming across the mountains who brings good news, the news of peace, who announces salvation, who says, “Your God reigns.”
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
TUNE: REJOICE (151 I)
Our Hope and Expectation, O Jesus, now appear!
Arise, the sun so longed for, o’er this benighted sphere!
With hearts and hands uplifted, we look, O Lord, to you
for all the earth’s redemption, creation made anew.
Prayers of the People
Pastoral Prayer/Lord’s Prayer.
Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
Message “We Are Not Alone: Do Not Fear – Those Who Sing Pray Twice” Pastor Janel
Isaiah 9: 2; 6-7, Isaiah 11: 1–4a
Hymn 302. “Lo, How a Rose Is Growing” (verses 1 and 2)
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming, As men of old have sung.
It came, a flower bright, Amid the cold of winter
When half-gone 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 to men a Savior
When half-gone was the night.
Matthew 1:18-23
Special Music “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” 15th Century French Melody arranged by Phillip Keveren, performed by Bob Kahle.
Luke 2:1-5
Hymn 292 “Once in Royal David’s City”. (verses 1 and 2)
Once in royal David’s city, stood a lowly cattle shed
where a mother laid her baby, in a manger for his bed.
Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all,
and his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall;
with the poor and meek and lowly, lived on earth our Savior holy.
Luke 2:6-7.
Special Music. “A Child is Born” by Thad Jones arranged by Brent Edstrom, performed by Bob Kahle
Luke 2:8-14
Special music “My Lord, what a Morning”. With original lyrics written and sung by Sharon Ettinger, accompanied by Anne Ettinger
Refrain: My Lord, What A Morning, My Lord, What A Morning,
My Lord, What A Morning, when the Stars begin to Fall, When the Stars begin to Fall.
Gone are all my sinful ways, I’ve joined the heavenly band.
God to Earth is born this day, He’ll Save Us With His Hand.
Refrain
For to Us A Child is Born, A Gift From Heaven Above.
Teacher, Healer, God’s Own Son, He’ll save us with His Love.
John 1:1-5
Special Music “A Light in the Darkness”. Written and performed by Jill Bruckart, used with permission
Advent 2 Liturgy (pg. 57-58)
Christ, the Light of the world, empower us to shine as lights in this dark world of sin.
Christ, the Creative Word, by whom all things were made, lead us into good stewardship of creation that we and our children may preserve and enjoy the world entrusted to us.
Christ, the Living Truth, give us the spirit of wisdom and understanding that sees beyond temporal values to discern your truth and to declare it.
Christ, our Righteous Judge, give us courage to stand by the poor, the meek, and the oppressed; and strengthen our support for all who are their advocates.
Christ, the Lamb of God, send us forth as your ambassadors of reconciliation in a broken and troubled world; bring peace to the conflicts of nations, races, and tribes.
We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that we might proclaim the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. May our lives show forth that which we truly are. We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
May the Lord make us increase in love for one another and for all.
May the Holy Spirit strengthen us to become more like Christ as we eagerly await his coming.
Special Music. “Go Tell it on the Mountain”. Performed by Gary Gipson.
Benediction
As you go, May you have the strength to dream wild dreams of justice, and peace, and joy that overflows. May you have the humanity to listen to the dreams of others. May you have the confidence to trust that the God who heard the cries of the Israelites in Egypt hears your dreams as well. And may you have the conviction to return to this space, for our best dreams are those we dream together. In the name of God the original dreamer, Jesus the dream come true, and the Holy Spirit who enables us to be those who dream, go in peace, go in love. Amen.
Calvary Moravian Church 