Online Worship for December 6, 2020

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live streaming worship service for December 6, 2020. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format below.

Prepare for Communion

This Sunday, December 6th, is a communion Sunday. Those who are blessing and receiving the sacrament at home, please prepare a slice or small loaf of bread, corn tortilla, or rice cake or what is sacramental and joyful to share and a cup or small cups of juice — perhaps grape, cranberry, POG — or wine, with or without alcohol, or coffee, or coconut water all of which are used in worship in different places.

Online Worship, December 6, 2020
Second Sunday of Advent

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Welcome                                                                                 Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Prelude: The Advent Chorale—Mendelssohn, arr. Porter          Kayleen Yuda

Leader                                                                                     Jennifer Tanouye
In our church and homes
we gather around wreaths
to pray our lost hopes,
broken peace, limited joys,
and love so hard to find and share
in this season of coronavirus.  
We affirm that our candles mean
we claim the power to call this season Advent.
When God’s light comes into the world
nothing can overcome it.

We light the candle of hope.

Roach Family at home:   

We now light the candle of peace
in spite of violence in homes,
outrage on the lips of public figures,
depression and addiction’s
power in quarantine,
public officials sentenced for crimes,
and the lingering lasting effects of war.

Leader:           

God’s peace illuminates the possibility
of reconciliation and healing
and brightens the path to joy.

All Sing:

May the captives find release,
May our fears of violence cease,
Heal our hearts through the Prince of Peace,
through Jesus Christ, the blessed child of Mary.

Tune: JOSEPH LIEBER, JOSEPH MEIN 7.8.8.11

Family at home:                                                                      The Roach Family

Emmanuel, God be with us in the week to come,
lighting hope and peace on the wick of our lives
so that we may shine on our world. Amen.

Invocation: based on Psalm 85

Holy One, you have guided your people. You have encouraged your people. You have judged your people. You have shaken your people. You have forgiven your people. Speak peace to us as we listen; speak peace to us as we turn our hearts to you. May steadfast love and faithfulness meet; may righteousness and peace greet with a kiss. May faithfulness spring up from the ground; may righteousness look down from the sky as we worship today and as we live tomorrow. Amen.

Hymn: Duet #101 Comfort, Comfort O My People                   Eric Anderson
                                                                                                Doug Albertson
                                                                                Movement led by Genie Phillips

Scripture                                                                                 Jennifer Tanouye

Isaiah 40:1-11
Comfort, O comfort my people,
    says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that she has served her term,
    that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all people shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out!”
    And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All people are grass,
    their constancy is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
    when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
    surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades;
    but the word of our God will stand forever.
Get you up to a high mountain,
    O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
    O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
    lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
See, the Lord God comes with might,
    and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
    and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead the mother sheep.

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight,’”

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Story/Sermon: The Way of the Lord                                  Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Pastoral Prayer                                                                      Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Instrumental Anthem: Liszt / Consolation No.3 S.172             Kanako Okita

Call to Offering:                                                                      Jennifer Tanouye

We invite you to an offering. Let these be gifts of the heart that extend your love and compassion to your neighbors and your friends, and also to the stranger on the far side of the world. Please send them through the mail in an envelope sent to 440 West Lanikaula Street, Hilo, Hawai’i, 96720, or give online at holycrosshilo.com/donate. Let us pray together:

Offertory Prayer:

We wait for change and we wait for restoration, O God, in this time of pandemic and in this season of Advent. We pray for the reshaping of the world that only you can accomplish. We also pray and act to reshape the world so that it looks more as you intend. Bless these gifts, O God, that neighbors far and near may be blessed with a peace that passes all understanding. Bless these gifts that all may rejoice in your salvation. Amen.

Anthem: Star-Child                                                                 Eric Anderson
                                                                                                Doug Albertson
                                                                                 Movement led by Genie Phillips

Celebration of Holy Communion

Invitation to Communion *

Pastor:

The story is told that during the Blitz in World War II Britain, when the city was strafed and bombed, Operation Pied Piper evacuated many children to the country, but some remained in London. Many of those were orphans. Some were sheltered in a Jesuit order of brothers, who noticed the children had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, night after night. When the children were being put to bed one night, one of the brothers guessed the children’s problem was that they were anxious because of the uncertainty in their lives, and gave each child a small piece of bread, saying something like this –

“Hold on to your piece of bread while you are sleeping. Remember when you woke up this morning, we fed you and took care of you. When you wake up tomorrow, we will be here for you. Let the bread remind you of this. Good night, children.” The children slept.

Come, to be comforted
in the story of Bethlehem,
and in this the House of Bread.
Come to be comforted at this table
by a handful of bread
and a cup of love,
that will stay with you always.

Words of Remembering

Pastor:

O, we remember God’s promises
of Emmanuel, and a branch of Jesse’s root,
of Leader, Wisdom, Monarch,
Key of all that is locked,
and Dawn of every morning.

And we remember the sacred story,
that happened in the House of Bread  
for a new mother
and a fostering father,
sheep and shepherds,
a few wise travelers with gifts
and many, many angels.

And we remember that the baby
named Jesus,
grew up to heal people,
and teach them with strange parables,
that made people angry.

At Passover he broke unleavened bread.
and poured wine and love freely.

Prayer of Consecration

Emmanuel, God with us,
in our lonely nights, under our guiding stars,
with the hopes and fears of all our years,
we come for comfort,
for peace of mind and peace on earth,
for a blessing on our hands and the bread in them,
on our lips and the cup we lift to them.

Touch the bread before you, blessing it. Touch or pour and touch the cup before you, blessing it.

May this bread and cup be your holy Life,
that we may ponder in our hearts,
and pray in our community …

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 debts as we forgive our debtors
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Sharing of the Elements

Leader:            The Holy Child of Bethlehem descends to us,
Unison:           and is born in us in these days.
Leader:            Let us share the bread.
(Eat the bread)
Unison:           We hear the Christmas angels  
                          their great glad tidings tell. 
Leader:            Let us drink deeply, Christ abides with us.
(Drink the cup)

Prayer of Thanksgiving

God, we give you thanks that you have come to us – in the child of Bethlehem, in this bread and cup, and in your answer to all of our hopes and your offer of peace, deeper than any truce, truer than the upheaval that surrounds us. You have comforted us with your promise and your presence so that we too may spread the welcome wings of your good tidings. Amen.

Announcements                                                                     Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction                                                                             Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Noel Nouvelet—French melody arr: Wood               Kayleen Yuda

* Maren Tirabassi writes: “I don’t know where the story of the children in London came from. Perhaps it was from my father, a Veteran of the European Theatre in World War II, or from a childhood children’s sermon or some magazine I read when I was new in ministry. I have not been able to trace it online, and understood it as truth, perhaps not fully clothed in fact.”

Permissions:

The Advent candle liturgy and the communion liturgy are adapted from the work of Maren Tirabassi at giftsinopenhands.blogspot.com. Used by permission of the author.

Star-Child
Contributors: Shirley Erena Murray, Carlton R. Young
Tune: © 1994, Hope Publishing Company Text: © 1994, Hope Publishing Company
Streamed by permission. ONELICENSE #A-735890

                                                            Dates to Remember
Today, December 6 – Trustees Meeting after worship in the Building of Faith

Minister                                                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator                                                           Bob Smith
Lay Reader                                                          Jennifer Tanouye
Chapel Decorations                                             Beverly Dodo
Choir Accompanist                                             Kanako Okita
Choir Director                                                     Doug Albertson
Organist                                                               Kayleen Yuda
Hand Bell Director                                              Anna Kennedy
Childcare Coordinator                                        Evonne Shioshita
Movement Leader                                                Genie Phillips
Projected Imagery                                               Sue Smith
Web Master                                                         Ruth Niino-DuPonte  

This week at the Church of the Holy Cross

• Bible Study with Pastor Eric: Tuesdays, 3:00 pm via Zoom
• Online Song — Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. online
• Community Concert — 2^nd & 4^th Fridays, 6:00 p.m. online