Worship Notes for Advent 1, 2014

Thanksgiving Day

Thursday, November 27, 2014

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent. It is also the Festival of St. Andrew, Apostle. As a rule of thumb, festival readings are substituted for the regularly appointed readings when the festival falls on a Sunday. While this is the traditional practice, at Lamb of God we will celebrate this Sunday as the First Sunday in Advent.

There is an interesting thing about the Festival of St. Andrew, Apostle, from a liturgical perspective. It determines the beginning of Advent. The festival is always November 30. Advent begins on the Sunday closets to this Festival. You can’t get any closer than the actual day.

For more about this Festival just click on this name: Festival of St. Andrew, Apostle. It will take you to a post I made back in 2011.

We will be using Matins for our liturgy Sunday (page 219). This service uses the appointed Psalm for the Day instead of the Introit. Our readings Sunday, then, are Isaiah 64:1-9, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9, Mark 11:1-10 and Psalm 80:1-7. The antiphon for the Psalm is verse 7. It is also the text for the sermon. The sermon is titled “The Advent of our King.”

Matins offers two choices for the canticle that follows the sermon, the Te Deum and the Benedictus. The Benedictus is the song Zechariah sang at the birth of John the Baptist. As this seems more in tune with the Advent season, we will use the Benedictus for our canticle.

Our opening hymn will be “The Advent of Our King” (LSB 341). Our sermon hymn will be “Arise, O Christian People” (LSB 354). Our closing hymn will be “Comfort, Comfort Ye My People” (LSB 347).

Below is a video of our opening hymn, “The Advent of our King.”

I don’t know if I will get a Bible study based on one of the hymns this week.

Below is a summary of the scripture lessons provided by the LC-MS, followed by the readings themselves. The summary does not take into account the Psalm.

The Lord Jesus Comes in Meekness and Humility to Save Us

 Although we pray that God “would rend the heavens and come down” (Is. 64:1), that He would take vengeance against our enemies, we ourselves “have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Is. 64:6). We have continued in our sins for “a long time, and shall we be saved?” (Is. 64:5). Yet, the Lord does not punish us in anger. He comes in voluntary meekness and humility to save us by His grace. Just as He once came into Jerusalem to sacrifice Himself for us upon the Cross (Mark 11:4–8), He still comes to His Church with the fruits of His Passion. By His ministry of the Gospel we are “enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge,” and so He will “sustain you to the end” (1 Cor. 1:5, 8).  Although “heaven and earth will pass away,” His words “will not pass away” (Mark 13:31).  As He sends disciples to call us to Himself in the fellowship of His Church, so will He “send out the angels” to gather us and all of His elect “from the ends of the earth” to Himself in heaven forever (Mark 13:27).

Isaiah 64:1–9

^64:1        Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,

                        that the mountains might quake at your presence—

²           as when fire kindles brushwood

                        and the fire causes water to boil—

            to make your name known to your adversaries,

                        and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

³           When you did awesome things that we did not look for,

                        you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴           From of old no one has heard

                        or perceived by the ear,

            no eye has seen a God besides you,

                        who acts for those who wait for him.

⁵           You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,

                        those who remember you in your ways.

            Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;

                        in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

⁶           We have all become like one who is unclean,

                        and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

            We all fade like a leaf,

                        and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁷           There is no one who calls upon your name,

                        who rouses himself to take hold of you;

            for you have hidden your face from us,

                        and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

⁸           But now, O Lord, you are our Father;

                        we are the clay, and you are our potter;

                        we are all the work of your hand.

⁹           Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,

                        and remember not iniquity forever.

                        Behold, please look, we are all your people.

1 Corinthians 1:3–9

³           Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴           I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—⁶even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mark 11:1–10

^11:1        Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples ²and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Psalm 80:1-7 (7)

^80:1        Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

                        you who lead Joseph like a flock.

            You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.

²                       Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,

            stir up your might

                        and come to save us!

³           Restore us, O God;

                        let your face shine, that we may be saved!

⁴           O Lord God of hosts,

                        how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?

⁵           You have fed them with the bread of tears

                        and given them tears to drink in full measure.

⁶           You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,

                        and our enemies laugh among themselves.

⁷           Restore us, O God of hosts;

                        let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Some Quick Notes:

• The Choir will be singing Sunday. They rehearse following our Wednesday Advent services.
• The newsletter will be posted before Sunday. Print copies will be available Sunday.
• The Thanksgiving Eve sermon has been posted on the sermons page of the blog.
• Don’t forget to “follow” the blog.
• Soup suppers and Advent worship services begin this coming Wednesday. Soup’s on at 6:15 pm. Worship starts at 7:00. Choir practice begins at 8:00.
• Sunday, December 7. The LWML will have their Christmas party.

Well, I pray we will see you in worship.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert