:: Download the 11.27.2016 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 11.27.2016 Bulletin
:: Download the 11.27.2016 Sermon Audio
image :: The Summer (Ruth & Boaz), Nicolas Poussin (1664, French)
Preparation for Worship on Nov 27, the First Sunday in Advent :: Kinsman
“The Holy Family’s first few years were not tranquil. They were filled with grueling travel during the hardest part of pregnancy, a birth in worse than a barn, no steady income, an assassination attempt, two desert crossings on foot with an infant, living in a foreign country, waiting on God for guidance and provisions just in the nick of time. It was difficult, expensive, time-consuming, career-delaying and full of uncertainty. And it was God’s will. The unplanned, inefficient detours of our lives are planned by God. They are common for disciples, and they commonly don’t make sense in the moment. But God’s ways are not our ways because our lives are about Him, not about us. He is orchestrating far more than we know in every unexpected event and delay.” (Jon Bloom)
“He saved us from alongside us.” (Donald Macleod)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for November 27 include ::
:: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (Charles Wesley, 1744) CHART [bandcamp track=1664620326 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Come Ye Sinners (Joseph Hart, 1759) CHART [bandcamp track=1984899776 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: None Other Lamb (Christina Rossetti, b.1830) CHART [bandcamp track=798046000 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Magnificat (Luke 1:46-49) CHART [bandcamp track=3475501751 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: All The Way My Savior Leads Me (Fanny Crosby, 1875) CHART
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Call to Worship :: Malachi 3:1-2
Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
Declaration of Faith :: from the Belgic Confession (1561), Article 18
We profess that God fulfilled the promise that He had made to the early fathers by the mouth of His holy prophets when He sent His only and eternal Son into the world at the time set by Him. The Son took the “form of a servant” and was made in the “likeness of man,” truly assuming a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, except for sin; being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. And He not only assumed human nature as far as the body is concerned but also a real human soul, in order that He might be a real human being. For since the soul had been lost as well as the body, He had to assume them both to save them both together. In this way He is truly our Immanuel—that is: “God with us.”
Confession of Sin :: Book of Common Prayer
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent, for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Amen.
Words of Encouragement :: based on Isaiah 40:1-2
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Your warfare is ended; Your sins are pardoned; The penalty for your rebellion is paid.
Gospel Reading :: Luke 1:46-55
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for He who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His name.
And His mercy is for those who fear Him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy,
as He spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
Sermon :: Ruth 2:1
Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.