Ten Years After: Our Anniversary Celebration Sunday, Jan. 6. Come Party With Us

 

The Welcome Table Church, a free christian universalist missional community, celebrates our 10th anniversary on Epiphany Sunday, Jan. 6, come for worship at 11 am, and/or meal at noon, and/or public reception from 1-3 pm, at 5920 N. Owasso Ave. one block west of Peoria Ave. behind the Tag Agency and near Cherokee School. Please share this with others and bring friends, or just the curious...

 This Epiphany Sunday Jan. 6 it will be 10 years to the day since our first gathering of what is now known as The Welcome Table missional community; so many changes, so much incredible ministry, still beginning but worth celebrating; especially an invite to all who have ever worked with us or worshipped with us.

 In some ways we began in Weston, Mass in 2002 during the annual convocation of the Christian Churches within the Unitarian Universalist Association when during worship and on my knees with hands laid on me by ministers and those in attendance I was commissioned as an evangelist; this coming just two months after I had been officially ordained by All Souls Church in Tulsa. But church is not one person, even co-missionally, and so we really began as we, a group of nine half of whom had not met one another and one whom was supportive but only came to lend moral support, met Jan. 6, 2003 in our living room at the time in Owasso, OK and each week after that one place or another or day or another. First we were Epiphany Church and met in homes then motel banquet rooms in Owasso and at Panera Bread meeting room, then rented space at German Corner in Owasso; our first public worship was Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday 2003. We had 25 people on Easter; the Sunday after Easter we had three people. We could have stopped then, like so many church plants dying of a premature birth and inadequate leadership and limited resources and in a culture that didn't fit with us. But we continued to be open to where the Spirit of God would lead us, would need us, and so it was through many "deaths to what we had been", through many steep learning curves.

then in September 2004 in a re-start we moved to Turley, OK and the far northside of Tulsa in the 74126 zipcode and still at first as Epiphany Church and meeting on Sunday mornings, then on Sunday evenings; then we became The Living Room, all at 6305 N. Peoria Ave. in what was originally a mom and pop grocery store where they lived in the back, and now has been boarded up again for a few years like so many of our spaces here on North Peoria. But so much good stuff happened with us there, connections made, from there we began our guerilla gardening and got a grant for wildflowers on highway 75 to mark exits to our abandoned place, and started serving the students at Cherokee School then still open, and coordinated litter pickup days and painting over graffiti, etc. And we began our practice central of offering a common meal every time we gathered with and for worship;

In January 2007 we made our big missional transformative move at a time when we were losing our biggest contributor but felt called to serve our community and its severe needs of abandonment by renting a four times larger space across the street on North Peoria and opening up a community center with library computer center clothing room food pantry health clinic and gathering space, in which we began to worship rather than having separate worship space and we worshipped during the week and travelled to other churches to worship with them on Sundays especially the Church of Restoration our closest northside UU church. The center was called A Third Place Community Center and started embodying the concept of third spaces where people of great differences could come together for the common good, especially in an abandoned place of the Marketplace Empire, with people left behind and left out, in the lowest life expectancy zipcode in our greater area. We were still known as either The Living Room Church or sometimes as just Church at A Third Place.

In 2009 we completed the missional move by creating the separate non-profit A Third Place Community Foundation to connect with others and partner with them for renewal in our area, and to be the organizational wing of our mission, while the church became organic, incarnational, smaller so that we could keeping dreaming and doing bigger things. Which we did the very next year

In summer 2010 we bought the city block of abandoned homes and trash dump and transformed it into a community garden park and orchard, and called it The Welcome Table, after the demonstration garden spot across the street we had put in as partners with the local United Methodist Church on their property loaned to us. At the end of 2010 we bought the original Methodist church building which had been the largest abandoned building in our community for several years. In keeping a simpler and uniform name, we called the community center project also The Welcome Table as we had named the gardenpark and orchard project. And so when we moved into it our church/missional community became The Welcome Table, with the nonprofit organization still operating connected but separate from us as A Third Place Community Foundation, the umbrella for our several projects. In the future as we may spin off new projects and relocate them in new places to fulfill our mission.

But just Two years ago in January, 2011, then, we started our move to and reoccupying of the old church building originally built in 1925 on a site where there had been a church since 1909, where we currently remain, now with a much expanded food pantry and more space to add new programs like our art studio, and where our community events like the holiday parties grew in leaps and bounds to what they were in our previous rented space which had grown in leaps and bounds from what it was in our first rented space on North Peoria Ave.

When we moved to the old church building we worshipped on Sunday morning, though could also worship at the gardenpark or at our garden we had put in at the Cherokee School, or wherever our mission might take us. We had a main gathering that would start at 9:30 am with ingathering and sharing of lives and news, then move at no designated time into a study and sharing time often watching a progressive Christian video or discussing selections from books or bible study, then also at no designated time moving into worship time for communion and prayers, which might at times be interwoven into our common meal time which always follows. This has given people options to come into the group for any or all of the rhythms, including those who join us from other churches after their worship or who come for the meal time together only and may join us for worship or study if we are still engaged in it. Our motto was worship is more party than program. More like what we think it must have felt like when Jesus gathered people together wherever he was at meal time. Sometimes still we would go worship with other churches keeping our connection with them across denominational lines.

Now at the 10 year turning point we are going to be discerning again how to incarnate our vision of God's movement in our neck of the world, how to respond to grow deeper in the four paths of church: missional service with and for others, community covenanting and life together among us, developing and growing in discipleship or our personal faith formation, and grounding in worship and prayer. How can we grow leaders who will help us to go deeper along each of those four paths, and how can we share our ministry more, and how connect those four paths with a variety of folks depending on where they are in their spiritual journey? Can we help foster intentional community, new monastic community, bringing in new and more people into our core group, and still offer the permeable boundaries of community worship and service and study that welcome in folks who are either in other communities or are content with their involvement with us, who might only want to be with us either during the week or only at a more traditional Sunday worship time? Can we embody multiple communities connected together in a radical way, and grow leaders for each of them? Can we in the next 10 years start or inspire whole new missional communities in other places and ways both in our own area of service and beyond? Can we connect to and contribute to multi-associationally with national or worldwide religious groups, such as with the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Christian Universalist Association and the Christian Community Development Association and other missional church oriented groups that can help equip and put us and our neighbors in the service of God's mission?

Celebrating and sharing our past is a way to let it inform us but also to let the past be the past, and to remember the great risks we have taken during the past 10 years that have resulted in where we are doing what we are today, so that we can experiment and be radically risky in the years to come.

Come be a part of this pivotal moment this Sunday, ten years to the day since we opened our living room to see who might show up to begin dreaming of what might be. Especially if you have been a part of us in other way during these ten years, and may have moved on to another church or found another spiritual home, your presence with us has been monumental and we couldn't have come to this place without you. Come and let us remember together, and to celebrate your time and your presence, no matter how brief, with us. We have been blessed.

 

Follow us on facebook at revronrobinson or at A Third Place or at The Welcome Table Center...

Follow us and read more on our projects and history at www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com, www.missionalprogressives.blogspot.com, www.missionalmonastics.blogspot.com, www.turleyok.blogspot.com

 

Thanks, blessings, and more to come,

Ron Robinson, a church planter turned planter of missions that plant missions, in the abandoned places of the Empire.

 P.S. I hope to write more soon, though i have written in the past about it too, of that steep learning curve, and all the things I did wrong as a leader and church planter, both my first go around in 1991 and this time too. Just so the only inspiring things are not just the things that get lauded, for it is most often the other things, the missteps, that have had the most impact during these past ten years.

Christmas Eve Candles, Carols, Scripture, Communion

 

Christmas Eve 2012 Candlelight Service

Lessons and Carols and Communion

The Welcome Table:

A Free Universalist Christian Missional Community

www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com

 

INVOCATION

Today is the day which God has made:

Let us rejoice and be glad therein.

What is required of us?

To live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

This is our covenant as we walk together in life in the ways of God known and to be made known: In the light of truth, and the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather in freedom, to worship God, and serve others

INVITATION
from "Christmas Beatitudes" by David Rhys Williams

On this blessed day let us worship at the altar of joy, for to miss the joy of Christmas is to miss its holiest secret. Let us enter into the spiritual delights which are the natural heritage of child-like hearts.
Let us withdraw from the cold and barren world of prosaic fact if only for a season. That we may warm ourselves by the fireside of fancy, and take counsel of the wisdom of poetry and legend.
Blessed are they who have vision enough to behold a guiding star in the dark mystery which girdles the earth;
Blessed are they who have imagination enough to detect the music of celestial voices in the midnight hours of life.
Blessed are they who have faith enough to contemplate a world of peace and justice in the midst of present wrongs and strife.
Blessed are they who have greatness enough to become at times as a little child.
Blessed are they who have zest enough to take delight in simple things;
Blessed are they who have wisdom enough to know that the kingdom of heaven is very close at hand, and that all may enter in who have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand.

CALL TO WORSHIP HYMN

"O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL"

O Come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant
O Come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem,
Come and behold him, Born the King of angels
O Come, let us adore him, O come let us adore him,
O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

Sing choirs of angels, Sing in exultation,
O Sing, all ye citizens, of heaven above
Glory to God, In the highest
O Come let us adore him, O come, let us adore him
O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

LIGHTING THE ADVENT & CHRIST CANDLES
In Advent season each week we have pointed the way to Christmas. Peace, Joy, Love, and Hope, these are the touchstones in our journey preparing our hearts for this holy day when we begin again in the spirit of the Child. And so we come to Christmas once again, as have those before us through the centuries, the mighty cloud of witnesses who have lighted our way with their lives of faith, hope and unconditional love.
May the lights we burn tonight warm us with memories of their inspiration and their aspirations.
In miracle and mystery, Jesus was born, light shining in the darkness. In miracle and mystery, all are born, new lights of life full of hope.

May our lives be the Light of this Good News.
Peace and joy and hope and love---which never come easy and are easily lost—all come together in the liberating spirit of God.
May God’s light heal our lives and world.

And may this light, on this special day of birth, remind us that to be in the spirit of Christmas we must be where peace needs to be born,
Where joy needs to be sung,
Where hope needs to be found,
And where love needs to be shared.
We light these candles once again in this Season which reminds us how to live most fully all our days.

We light these candles to proclaim the coming of the light of God into the world.

With the coming of this light let there be peace. Blessed are the peacemakers.

 With the coming of this light let there be joy. Blessed are those who mourn and who suffer in this special time, that their hearts be lifted.

 With the coming of this light let there be love. Such great love helps us to love God and one another, especially our enemies.

With the coming of this light let there be hope, that goodness will prevail in our lives and world, that oppression will end, that what unites us is stronger than what divides us, that we will find our way in the light of God and fear not.

With the coming of this light let there be born once again the simple transforming freedom the Christ Child brings to the world, through which the light of God shines in all, that we may be God’s people every day, and care for one another and for all of God’s Creation, with our hearts, minds, souls, and our hands.

We light these candles to proclaim the coming of the light of God into the world.

PRAYER
O God, who hast brought us again to the glad season when we remember the birth of Jesus, grant that his spirit may be born anew in us. Open our ears that we may hear the angel songs, open our lips that we may sing with hearts uplifted, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward all. Amen. (King's Chapel Book of Common Prayer)

FIRST LESSON: Luke 2:1-7

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. ²This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

"AWAY IN A MANGER"

Away in a manger, no crib for his bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head;
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep in the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes
But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes
I love thee, Lord Jesus! Look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle, till morning is nigh

SECOND LESSON: Luke 2: 8-12

⁸In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

"THE FIRST NOWELL"
The first Nowell, the angels did say,
was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell,
Born is the king of Israel.

Third Lesson: Luke 2: 13-20

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child;¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.¹⁹But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

"ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH"

Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o'er the plains
and the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strain
Gloria, In excelsis Deo; Gloria, In Excelsis Deo.
Shepherds why this jubilee? Why these songs of happy cheer?
What great brightness did you see? What glad tidings did you hear?
Gloria, In Excelsis Deo; Gloria, In Excelsis Deo.
Come to Bethlehem and see, Him whose birth the angels sing
Come adore on bended knee, Christ, the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria, In Excelsis Deo. Gloria, In Excelsis Deo.

PRAYER OF PEACE AND JUSTICE
"The Work of Christmas" by Howard Thurman

When the star in the sky is gone, When the Kings and Princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flocks, The work of Christmas begins. To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To teach the nations, To bring Christ to all, to make music in the heart.

HOMILY

“For All The People”

PASTORAL PRAYERS

 

HYMN OF RESPONSE

"IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR"
It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old
From angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold
Peace on the earth, good-will to all, From heaven's all gracious King.
The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing.

READING:

“The Christmas We Are Waiting For”

Sister Joan Chittister

The waiting time for Christmas is almost over. But so what? After all, there is nothing special about waiting. It's what we're waiting for that matters.

One of my favorite Christmas scripture readings takes place when John is in prison. It is a gospel that confronts us with the need to make a choice about what we are waiting for.

John is no small figure in scripture. He bellows to peasant and king alike across the land that the world cannot continue as it has been, that we have to learn to think differently, to live differently, to see life differently. And for those actions John paid the price. He is in prison in this scripture, for confronting King Herod.

John has unmasked the evil of the system, he has called both synagogue and empire to repent their abandonment of the Torah, their substitution of Roman law for Jewish law. John, in other words, is a strong and thunderous voice. He calls in no uncertain terms for repentance. He announces the coming of the Messiah who would -- like Moses -- free the Hebrew people again.

But in prison, John, weary from trying, disheartened by failure, surely depressed, maybe even struggling with his own faith, sends a messenger to ask Jesus what surely must be more than a rhetorical question: Are you the one who is to come or shall we wait for another?

Are you the one for whom I have spent my life preparing? Are you the one I gave up everything to announce? Are you the one who shall free Israel -- or have I wasted my time? Has it all been for nothing? "Are you the one?" John pleads.

But if John's question is bad, Jesus' answer is even worse. Tell John, who has lived to banish the empire, that the blind see, the lame walk and the poor have the gospel preached to them....

Not a single mention of an army to rout the garrisons, no talk of thunderbolts and falling thrones, no designation of the leader who would overthrow the emperor. No great religious crusade, even. No new outburst of religious enthusiasm, no embellishment of the temple, or the sacrifices, or the processions. No great blinding political or religious action at all. What John was waiting for, what John expected -- the rise of Judaism to new glory -- did not come.

The answer was searingly, astoundingly, clear. John had spent his life doing church, but Jesus did not come to do church; Jesus came to do justice. The Messiah was not about either destroying or renewing the old order. The Messiah was about building a new one where, as Isaiah said, the desert would bloom, the wilderness would rejoice, sorrow and sighing would flee away and the good news of creation would be for everyone.

On Christmas the question becomes ours to answer.

For what have we waited? For what have we given our lives? For religious symbolism or for gospel enlightenment? For the restoration of the old order or for the creation of the new?

Think carefully about the answer because on it may well depend the authenticity of our own lives and the happiness of many who are even now crippled by unjust systems, blinded by their untruths and fooled into believing that, for them, God wants it that way.

Merry Christmas to you all. And may, where you are, the desert be brought to bloom.

HYMN FOR CHRISTMAS EVE COMMUNION

"O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM"

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

COMMUNION
We lift up our hearts in God for the gifts of Life given for all.
Thanks be to God.

As Christmas reminds us of how the Divine came into the world in one so small, young, and fragile, so the Gifts of Life Abundant are in the ordinary made extraordinary, in the bread of the earth and the juice of the grape becoming food of the Spirit, incarnations of the Sacred.
Thanks be to God.
As Christmas calls us to be mindful of all those in need, all without a room, all with grief and fear, and to work for a world more just, so may this token of our daily bread, and this token of our cup of forgiveness which quenches the thirst of the soul, call us to go feed others.
Thanks be to God.
As Christmas offers us peace and light in times of darkness, may the sacred offering of this small meal, one to another, inspire us to acts of lovingkindness, all in the Spirit of the One born upon this night who showed us faithfulness without fear, preparing a welcome table for all.
Thanks be to God.

And so we join together in saying the prayer Jesus taught to those who would follow in his radically inclusive hospitable and justice-seeking way of the Spirit.

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever, and ever. Amen.

BREAD OF NEW LIFE, CUP OF NEW HOPE

From the beginning of the community gathered around Jesus, it is a community at its truest when it is a community that goes to the manger instead of gathering people into the inn; it is a church that is where those are who have been left out; we become our community when we go to the mangers, and we can trust that the star of Christmas will shine over us there, a greater light than all inside the inn, that we will have a community that reflects the diversity of God's world just like the diversity that gathered around the manger. Our communion is where we re-enact the manger, week after week, Christmas after Christmas, letting Christ be born anew within us so we can be born anew for the world and help it be born anew.

All are worthy and all are welcome in this free and open communion. We follow the practice of intinction, or dipping of the bread into the cup before eating.

May we remember that in our times of hunger and brokenness, of sadness even in holiday season, that God provides wholeness and abundant gifts of Creation all around us, among us, and within us all, more than enough to share with others. There is always enough of what all need if we all share and take no more than we need. That is the way it is in God’s inn called the manger, God’s welcome table, open to all regardless of who they are, what they believed, especially for those who are suffering, and oppressed. Come let us celebrate at the table the birth of the one who would make table gatherings in the midst of strangers and enemies, in the abandoned places of the Empire, reminding all there of God‘s healing presence.

The gifts of bread and juice, of plate and cup passed one to the other, are Christmas gifts from God that remind us of the gift given to the world on that first Christmas morning, and remind us of the gifts we ourselves are as we too, as all are, children of God.   

SHARING CANDLELIGHT FROM THE CHRIST CANDLE

"SILENT NIGHT"
Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child, Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar, Heavenly hosts sing Al-le-lu-ia
Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born

Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord at thy birth, Jesus Lord at thy birth.

BENEDICTION

Go now in peace, and may the peace of God go with you all the days of your life. Go now in joy, finding the deepest spirit in the simplest of things. Go now in love, dedicated to making it visible as justice for all. Go now in hope, the spirit of the Christ Child bringing light into your life and world.

Advent Hope Liturgy: Fourth Sunday, 2012

 

The Welcome Table
A Free Universalist Christian Missional Community

Following the radical Jesus in deeds not creeds. Join us in service to our community throughout the week. Our Welcome Table of Worship is open to all who welcome all, regardless of belief or denomination, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, economic status, or political affiliations. We don’t think Jesus would have it any other way.

Free because we are non-creedal. We don’t give theological tests for admission but encourage you to test us and try us to see if this way is for you. Universalist because we believe God is Love and All who abide in Love abide in God for all time (1 John 4:16). Christian because the generous compassionate way and story of Jesus, while not exclusively so, is our primary pathway opening up to God. Missional because we are sent to serve others more than ourselves. Community because we are made not to be autonomous individuals but to be a people of God.

Invocation
Today is the day which God has made: Let us rejoice and be glad therein.
What does the Eternal require of us? To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Chalice Lighting Covenant
This is our covenant as we walk together in life as a people of God striving to make Jesus visible in the world: In the light of truth, and the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather in freedom, to worship God, and serve all.

Response For The Hour

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you As the day rises to meet the sun.

Fourth Sunday of Advent: The Candle of Hope

Scripture:

Luke 1:39-56

³⁹In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,⁴⁰where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.⁴³And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?⁴⁴For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.⁴⁵And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”⁴⁶And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,⁴⁸for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.⁵²He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,⁵⁵according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”⁵⁶And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

Lighting The Advent Candles For Peace, Joy, Love, and Hope

One: The Gospel of John speaks of Christ as the light coming into the world. In commemoration of that coming, we light candles for the four weeks leading to Christmas and reflect on the coming of Christ. Christ is coming. Christ is always coming, always entering a troubled world, a wounded heart. And so we light candles of peace, joy, love, and hope as the markers along our way in this season of Advent leading toward the manger in Bethlehem and the renewal of our spirit in the coming of Christmas.
All: Loving God, as we move through the days and weeks of this Advent season, We open all the dark places in our lives and memories to God’s healing light. Show us your creative power. Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you, That we may walk in the light of Christ always coming into the world.

One: The light of peace, may it guide us through our hurts, away from violence, grounded in justice and compassion, knowing that the deepest peace comes not from goods for the self but from The Common Good. All: Blessed are the peacemakers. Halleluia. One: The light of joy, may it surprise us with the spirit of wonder and new creation, and may we find it in the simple things of the Spirit all around us. All: We Rejoice in the Spirit of the Lord, that brings sight to the blind and healing to the wounded, freedom to the captives, liberation to the oppressed, justice to the poor, Halleluia. One: The light of love, may it open our hearts and hands to the plights of others, reminding us of the love of God for us unconditionally, renewing our lives, bringing all together in the oneness of God. All: God is Love and all who abide in Love abide in God. Halleluia. One: The light of hope, that even when we do not feel the spirit of the season, even when God seems far removed from this world and peace and justice and joy and love seem empty words, when fear is all around and our own actions and thoughts have closed the door to the inn shutting ourselves off from others and they from us, may this light of hope still shine, and with every flicker grow stronger with the faith that God is still present, still speaking, still giving birth to that which may save us all. All: In peace, in joy, in love, and in hope, we pause and ponder and pass on to others the ways of God. Halleluia.

Morning Songs of Hope and Advent: #95, There Is More Love Somewhere; #346, Come Sing A Song With Me; #244 It Came Upon The Midnight Clear

Prayer of Confession:

Gracious and Loving God, we acknowledge to you, to one another, and to ourselves that we are not what you have called us to be. We have stifled our gifts and wasted our time. We have avoided opportunities to offer kindness, but have been quick to take offense. We have pretended that we could make no contribution to peace and justice in our world and have excused ourselves from risk-taking in our own community. Have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and help us to live our lives renewed in your Spirit. We long for peace within and without, for harmony in our families, for the well-being of our neighbors, and help us to love our enemies. Yet we have too often not made the hard choices that love requires. Show us how to walk in your path of faithfulness, hope, and love. Amen.

Please share prayers and blessings, joys and sorrows

Now we join in saying the prayer Jesus taught for all those who would follow in his way of radical compassion, courage, conscience, and commitment.
Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Communion

Prayer: O God, in the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather at this welcoming table open to all, remembering how Jesus gathered people from all the walks of life, stranger and friend and enemies, gave thanks to you, offered all the bread of life and the cup of blessing and proclaimed a covenant of love for all in your name. We remember too the wonder of his life, as we remember the wonder of all of Creation given unto us and how all are One. We remember the agony of his death, and all the terrors and the tyrannies that oppress people today. And we remember the power of resurrection, the mystery of faith in the everlasting Spirit, the triumph over fear. Help us to remember to practice resurrection everyday, as we remember all those who have given Love the ultimate trust and the last word and who have worked to create the beloved community of renewed and abundant life. Help us to remember with this meal especially all those who are hungry, and may we treat all our meals as sacred and to be shared. Take us, bless us, so that even in and with our brokenness we may serve others. Amen.
Jesus said I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And they said, Lord, when did we do this? And he said, You did this for me when you did it for the least of these. Here is the bread of life, food for the spirit. Let all who hunger come and eat. Here is the fruit of the vine pressed and poured out for us. Let all who thirst now come and drink. We come to make peace. We come to be restored in the love of God. We come to be made new as an instrument of that love. All are worthy. All are welcome.

Let us Break Bread Together on our knees, let us break bread together on our knees when I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun o Lord have mercy on me Let us drink wine together on our knees let us drink wine together on our knees when I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun o Lord have mercy on me let us praise God together on our knees let us praise God together on our knees when I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun O Lord have mercy on me.

Prayers for Advent: by Kay Northcutt

Passing the Plate and Cup of Communion

1.We’re gonna sit at the welcome table, we’re gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days halleluia We’re gonna sit at the welcome table, gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days 2.All kinds of people round that table, all kinds of people round that table one of these days halleluia, all kinds of people around that table, gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days 3.No fancy style at the welcome table, no fancy style at the welcome table one of these days halleluia, no fancy style at the welcome table, gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days.

Benediction
Let us go out into the highways and byways. Let us give the people something of our new vision. We may possess a small light, but may we uncover it, and let it shine. May we use it to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. May we give them not hell but hope and courage. May we preach and practice the kindness and everlasting love of God. Amen

“Go Now in Peace, Go Now in Peace, May the Love of God surround you, everywhere, everywhere, you may go.

Liturgy of Love: Third Sunday of Advent

 

The Welcome Table
A Free Universalist Christian Missional Community

Following the radical Jesus in deeds not creeds. We are a church primarily as we are in service to our community throughout the week. Our Welcome Table of Worship gatherings are another way we become church. All of our activities and worship are open to all who welcome all, regardless of belief or denomination, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, economic status, or political affiliations. We don’t think Jesus would have it any other way.

Free because we are non-creedal. We don’t give theological tests for admission, but encourage you to test us and try us to see if this way is for you. Universalist because we believe God is Love and All who abide in Love abide in God for all time (1 John 4:16). Christian because the generous compassionate way and story of Jesus, while not exclusively so, is our primary pathway opening up to God. Missional because we are sent to serve others more than ourselves. Community because we are made not to be autonomous individuals but to be a people of God.

Invocation
Today is the day which God has made: Let us rejoice and be glad therein. What does the Eternal require of us? To live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

Chalice Lighting Covenant
This is our covenant as we walk together in life as a people of God striving to make Jesus visible in the world: In the light of truth, and the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather in freedom, to worship God, and serve all.

Response For The Hour
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you As the day rises to meet the sun.

Third Sunday of Advent: Love Candle
Scripture:
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love…No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us…God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them…Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters,^* are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister^* whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters^* also.

Lighting The Advent Candle For Love
One: We have lighted two candles---for peace, and for joy. Today we light the third candle—the candle of love. With this flame we signify the love of God that surrounds and fills us at all times, but that we recognize in a special way in the Christmas story. There is no greater power than love. It is stronger than rulers and empires, stronger than grief or despair, stronger even than death. All in God’s love for all.

All: Loving God, we open ourselves to you this Christmas season. As these candles are lit, light up our lives with your imagination. Teach us the peace that comes from justice. Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be contained, but must be shared. Magnify your love within us. Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you, That we may walk in the light of Christ. Amen.

Advent Songs: #95, There Is More Love; #131 Love Will Guide Us; #225 O Come O Come

Sharing Prayers followed by Lord’s Prayer

Now we join in saying the prayer Jesus taught for all those who would follow in his way of radical compassion, courage, conscience, and commitment.
Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Communion
Prayer: O God, in the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather at this welcoming table open to all, remembering how Jesus gathered people from all the walks of life, stranger and friend and enemies, gave thanks to you, offered all the bread of life and the cup of blessing and proclaimed a covenant of love for all in your name. We remember too the wonder of his life, as we remember the wonder of all of Creation given unto us and how all are One. We remember the agony of his death, and all the terrors and the tyrannies that oppress people today. And we remember the power of resurrection, the mystery of faith in the everlasting Spirit, the triumph over fear. Help us to remember to practice resurrection everyday, as we remember all those who have given Love the ultimate trust and the last word and who have worked to create the beloved community of renewed and abundant life. Help us to remember with this meal especially all those who are hungry, and may we treat all our meals as sacred and to be shared. Take us, bless us, so that even in and with our brokenness we may serve others. Amen.


Jesus said I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And they said, Lord, when did we do this? And he said, You did this for me when you did it for the least of these. Here is the bread of life, food for the spirit. Let all who hunger come and eat. Here is the fruit of the vine pressed and poured out for us. Let all who thirst now come and drink. We come to make peace. We come to be restored in the love of God. We come to be made new as an instrument of that love.
#406, Let us Break Bread Together on our knees
Passing the Plate and Cup of Communion

Benediction
Let us go out into the highways and byways. Let us give the people something of our new vision. We may possess a small light, but may we uncover it, and let it shine. May we use it to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. May we give them not hell but hope and courage. May we preach and practice the kindness and everlasting love of God. Amen

“Go Now in Peace, Go Now in Peace,

May the Love of God surround you, everywhere, everywhere, you may go.”

Advent 2012: Joy and Peace Liturgy For Second Sunday, Dec. 9

 Here is the worship service for Advent Second Sunday we used on Dec. 9. This coming Sunday Dec. 16 we will light the third candle, for Love, and have our special liturgy shaped around the waiting, the preparation, for the coming of Love into our hearts, our lives, our pocketbooks, our faith. It was appropriate that we held our Annual Christmas Party for the neighborhood on this past Sunday, since it was a Sunday to lift up Joy. Here are images from the party to accompany the liturgy...

The Welcome Table
A Free Universalist Christian Missional Community

Following the radical Jesus in deeds not creeds. Join us in service to our community throughout the week. Our Welcome Table is open to all who welcome all, regardless of belief or denomination, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, economic status, or political affiliations. We don’t think Jesus would have it any other way.

Free because we don’t require creedal adherence, even though we may find much truth and wisdom in the ancient creeds and statements of the church. We don’t give theological tests for admission, but encourage you to test us to see if this way is for you. Universalist because we believe God is Love and All who abide in Love abide in God for all time (1 John 4:16). Christian because the generous compassionate way and story of Jesus, while not exclusively so, is our primary pathway opening up to God. Missional because we are sent to serve others more than ourselves. Community because we are made not to be autonomous individuals but to be a people of God.

Invocation
Today is the day which God has made: Let us rejoice and be glad therein.
What does the Eternal require of us? To live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

Chalice Lighting and Covenant Affirmation
This is our covenant as we walk together in life as a people of God striving to make Jesus visible in the world: In the light of truth, and the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather in freedom, to worship God, and serve all.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you As the day rises to meet the sun.

Advent: Welcome To A New Kind of Time Zone
Celebrating Joy and Peace

Lighting The Advent Candle For Peace

One: The Gospel of John speaks of Christ as the true light coming into the world. In
commemoration of that coming, we light candles for the four weeks leading to
Christmas and reflect on the coming of Christ, the coming of the God’s Anointing of all. It is significant that the church has always used that language—the coming of Christ—because it speaks to a deep truth. Christ is coming. Christ is always coming, always entering a troubled world, a wounded heart. And so we light the first candle, the candle of peace, and dare to
express our longing for peace, for healing, and the well-being of all creation.

All: Loving God, as we enter this Advent season, We open all the dark places in our lives and memories to the healing light. Show us your creative power. Prepare our hearts to be transformed by You, that we may walk in the light of the way of Jesus.

One: We light this candle knowing full well that peace is elusive, and in some parts of the world, it is almost completely absent. Yet in this season of Advent, we trust that God is never absent from us, especially even in our times of struggle. God is always preparing something new.

All: And even where there is war and discord, whether between countries, within families, or within our own hearts. God is present, gently leading us to new possibilities.
---Jeanyne Slettom, alt.

From Morning Songs of Peace: Dona Nobis Pacem, I’ve Got Peace Like A River, Gonna Lay Down My Sword and Shield

 Hymn For Advent: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring come, and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Come, you Splendor very bright, as joy that never yields to might
O Come, and turn all hearts to peace, that greed and war at last shall cease.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Prayer of Peace by St. Francis
O God help us to be instruments of Thy peace. Where hate rules let us bring love;
where injury, pardon; where discord, union; where doubt, faith; where despair, hope;
where darkness, light; where sorrow, joy. Let us strive more to comfort others than to be comforted; to understand others--than to be understood; to love others--than to be loved. For it is in giving, that we receive, and in pardoning, that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are raised to eternal life.

Lighting The Advent Candle For Joy
One: Joy is all around us—in the children, the lights, the music, the gathering together. But how often do we let our preparations—or our memories—push joy to the side?

All: Joy is like an underground spring that wells up within us, but joy is also a choice, an attitude. Like a muscle, it needs to be exercised. So today we open ourselves to joy, trusting that God has already planted it in us. All we need to do is give it care and offer it to share.

One: Loving God, we open ourselves to you, trusting that this is how you made us: you created us for joy-filled hearts and lives. Show us the creative power of hope. Teach us the peace that comes from justice. Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be contained, but must be shared. Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you, that we may walk in the light of the way of Jesus.

All: We will Rejoice for God has created us with the capacity for joy. We will find what makes us joyful, and make that our gift to the world. We will trust in God's good will for all of creation and open ourselves to God's gentle, transforming love. We will welcome new possibilities in our lives. We will offer ourselves to God's goodness. We will go forth in peace, and joy.

From Morning Songs: #30, Over My Head; #29, Joyful, Joyful; #95, There Is More Love

 Hymn For Advent: Angels We Have Heard on High

Scripture:

True Peace and Joy Comes Through Justice

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,⁴⁸for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.⁵²He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,⁵⁵according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” From Luke 1

Prayer of Confession: Gracious and Loving God, we acknowledge to you, to one another, and to ourselves that we are not what you have called us to be. We have stifled our gifts and wasted our time. We have avoided opportunities to offer kindness, but have been quick to take offense. We have pretended that we could make no contribution to peace and justice in our world and have excused ourselves from risk-taking in our own community. Have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and help us to live our lives differently. We long for peace within and without, for harmony in our families, for the well-being of our neighbors, and the love for our enemies. Yet we have too often not made the hard choices that love requires. Show us how to walk in your path of faithfulness, hope, and love. Amen.
Words of Assurance: One fact remains that does not change: God loves all, for all time. This is the good news that brings new life. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Please share prayers and blessings, joys and sorrows

Now we join in saying the prayer Jesus taught for all those who would follow in his way of radical compassion, courage, conscience, and commitment.
Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Communion
Prayer: O God, in the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather at this welcoming table open to all, remembering how Jesus gathered people from all the walks of life, stranger and friend and enemies, gave thanks to you, offered all the bread of life and the cup of blessing and proclaimed a covenant of love for all in your name. We remember too the wonder of his life, as we remember the wonder of all of Creation given unto us and how all are One. We remember the agony of his death, and all the terrors and the tyrannies that oppress people today. And we remember the power of resurrection, the mystery of faith in the everlasting Spirit, the triumph over fear. Help us to remember to practice resurrection everyday, as we remember all those who have given Love the ultimate trust and the last word and who have worked to create the beloved community of renewed and abundant life. Help us to remember with this meal especially all those who are hungry, and may we treat all our meals as sacred and to be shared. Take us, bless us, so that even in and with our brokenness we may serve others. Amen.
Jesus said I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And they said, Lord, when did we do this? And he said, You did this for me when you did it for the least of these. Here is the bread of life, food for the spirit. Let all who hunger come and eat. Here is the fruit of the vine pressed and poured out for us. Let all who thirst now come and drink. We come to make peace. We come to be restored in the love of God. We come to be made new as an instrument of that love. All are worthy. All are welcome. ---Food For the Spirit, Rob Eller-Isaacs

Let us Break Bread Together

Passing the Bread of Life and the Cup of Hope

Benediction
Let us go out into the highways and byways. Let us give the people something of our new vision. We may possess a small light, but may we uncover it, and let it shine. May we use it to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. May we give them not hell but hope and courage. May we preach and practice the kindness and everlasting love of God. Amen ---John Murray

Hymn #413” “Go Now in Peace, Go Now in Peace, May the Love of God surround you, everywhere, everywhere, you may go.”