Sadly, we had to cancel our original “Fifth Sunday Respite” for this date. We did, however, do an abbreviated online service which can be viewed HERE.
Worship In Song
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Is He Worthy?
The Reading Of God’s Word
Isaiah 11:1-10
Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge
by what he sees with his eyes,
he will not execute justice
by what he hears with his ears,
4 but he will judge the poor righteously
and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.
He will strike the land
with a scepter[a] from his mouth,
and he will kill the wicked
with a command[b] from his lips.
5 Righteousness will be a belt around his hips;
faithfulness will be a belt around his waist.
6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the goat.
The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf will be together,
and a child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like cattle.
8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit,
and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.
9 They will not harm or destroy each other
on my entire holy mountain,
for the land will be as full
of the knowledge of the Lord
as the sea is filled with water.
10 On that day the root of Jesse
will stand as a banner for the peoples.
The nations will look to him for guidance,
and his resting place will be glorious.
Devotion
Hope – First Sunday of Advent (Sean Nolan)
Song of Response
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Worship Through Poetry
Original Poem by Michael Stott
Hope floats above the vapor trails of sunlit Sunday afternoons
Fleeting prayers that hover there string up like holiday balloons.
Comfort, words, and timeless firs that surround the haze of daisy chains
that twinkle in downtime just hastening the day.
Hallowed homes beneath the dome of flattened curves of our day.
Hope filled notes well, sang, and quoted apple eyed tears as we bit our lips and tasted the
endless summers we praised, and gazed back on light years in waves.
Downtown lives threaded on the rooftops of the night.
Wishes dance on the candles as exhaled lungs clap together in onward gaze forever in a
moment, and gone in the vanity of the shadows reflected.
Chasing the void, in every direction our nerves fray in age as the supporting cast numbs the touch.
Nothing like it was, Nothing left, All things foreign, In a steep decline.
From the bottom up all things are realized, and nothing is lost.
Mercy flows from righteous cups that move in tempo as hearts beat, and align with the fluid membranes of all time.
Stretching the furthest depths of darkness that illuminate brighter than the bonfires of our lives.
Flood the catacombs of ignorance the living water washes the acid rain from our brains, and
from the outskirts of time.
From the dirt, and buried with all hurt we will rise.
White Captain on a snowy Horse we will ride.
Worship Through Giving:
Those who call Engage home are encouraged to worship through giving. In order to ensure minimal contact, those giving by cash or check are encouraged to drop in the bucket on the back table (not the garbage bucket) discreetly as they depart. To read more about what we believe about giving or to submit an offering online click HERE.
(also available on Venmo: @EngageAlbany)
Thank you for sending this to me I enjoyed it very much Claudia Wolfgang