Sermon Notes

Palm Sunday – “Remembering Jesus Last Week” Sunday, April 17 at 11:00 a.m.
You are invited at 9:30 a.m. to join our Adult Bible Studies or Youth Church for all children and students. Our Worship Service begins at 11:00 a.m. with a children’s Palm procession. We focus together on how Jesus’ love shown in his great sacrifice creates for us a new and deeply fulfilling relationship with God.

Passover Seder – Thursday, April 21 at 6:00 p.m.
The Passover Seder (meal) links together God’s deliverance of Israel in the Exodus with his deliverance of all people through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The evening is filled with food, scripture, tradition, song and story! The Seder extends from sundown to about 10 p.m.
Children 7 and older are welcome, but there will be no childcare for younger children. Due to extensive preparations, reservations are required. Call the office or click here to register. A $20 contribution is requested at the door to defray expenses.

Luke 2:22-34

The Long Wait

Luke wants us to know that Jesus’ story is not only something new, but very old. It is not a new religion or philosophical idea but the unfolding of the ancient story of Israel and all the world. Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to temple for dedication, a rite symbolizing a whole people shaped by deliverance and dedicated to God. The sacrifice of the poor.

In the Temple – grand, beautiful, wealthy, powerful, built by Herod the Great – the young couple and baby encounter Simeon and Anna, two elderly people who embody the long story. They go back before Herod swept through. They are rooted in the long times of expectation, disappointment, and hope: “the consolation of Israel,” “the redemption of Jerusalem.” Some would look at the temple and say all was good, they knew better. Israel was still in exile, the nations still in darkness. Broken people, broken nations.
Their only peace was Roman conquest. Israel’s glory was a temple built on bloodshed.

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Luke1:35-55

The Gospel Before the Gospel

Luke is introducing us to the greatest event in history – the greatest event imaginable – the creator of the universe becoming one of his own creations, to live and die for them. The great event unfolds in utter obscurity, but among people with hearts to accept it.
Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph – unknowns; but people with minds/hearts open to God, living with expectation in His great story/promises, open to God’s “New Thing.”

The Gospel has many strands, reflecting the complications of human life. One that Luke especially wants us to see is the elevation of women. Within a society that was filled with structures that disempowered women, God shows that he had made women with strength, intelligence, and spirit, and He empowers them from the beginning to the end. The emphasis on women is one sign of God’s distinctive way of doing things, turning the values of the world on their head. But the world’s values returned, subordinating women. Read the rest of this entry »

Advent Wreath Services - Introduction

As we approach Christmas and its celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, we join with Christians across the ages who have striven to pause in the midst of life’s flurry to deliberately let the significance of the Incarnation sink in.  In order to spend intentional time in such meditation in each worship service leading up to Christmas, the Manhattan Church adopted the lighting of candles within an Advent wreath several years ago.  Since this was a new practice for us, considerable time was spent in providing historical background and discussing the wreath’s symbols in these early services. Now that we have been on this journey for some time, though, the need for such protracted discussions has waned, and while some of the material of the past will be included, most will not.  However,  because our membership is so transient and several new members become part of our community in any given year, we thought it best to make available online these “denser” Advent services from past years in order for those who have not had the benefit of their fuller history to obtain more information on this beautiful practice.  In addition, as more families use an Advent wreath in their homes, providing these meditations in written form can provide a basis for their practice. Read the rest of this entry »

Week One: Hope

Worship Leader:

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.  Advent means “coming,” and in this season we prepare for the coming of Christ.  One of the ways we prepare for his coming is by making an Advent wreath and lighting its candles.  These remind us of some of the gifts Christ brings to the world: His hope, peace, joy and love.

Team Member:

The Advent wreath includes many symbols to help us think about Christ and His gifts.  The wreath itself is in the shape of a circle.  A circle has no beginning and no end.  This reminds us that there is no beginning and no end to God, and that God’s love and caring are forever.  With this circular wreath we are reminded that our lives here and now participate in the eternity of God’s plan of salvation, and we hope to share eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven

Team Member:

The wreath is green to symbolize life, because Christ came to give us new life through His passion, death, and resurrection. Three candles are purple, symbolizing Hope, Peace and Love; the pink candle symbolizes Joy and comes halfway through the season when we rejoice because our preparation is half-way finished.

Team Member:

The flame represents Christ, who entered this world to scatter the darkness of evil and show us the way of righteousness. The progression of lighting candles shows our increasing readiness to meet our Lord, and our prayer that His light be spread throughout the world, starting with us.

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Week Two: Peace

Worship Team Leader:

Today is the second Sunday of Advent.  Advent means “coming,” and in this season, we prepare for the coming of Christ.  One of the ways we prepare for his coming is by making an Advent wreath and lighting its candles.  This remind us of some of the gifts Christ brings to the world: His hope, peace, joy and love.

Worship Team Member:

The Advent wreath includes many symbols to help us think about Christ and his gifts.  The wreath itself is in the shape of a circle.  A circle has no beginning and no end.  This reminds us that there is no beginning and no end to God, and that God’s love and caring are forever. Thus, we are reminded that our lives, here and now, participate in the eternity of God’s plan of salvation, and that we hope to share eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Worship Team Member:

The wreath is green to symbolize life, because Christ came to give us new life through His passion, death, and resurrection. Three candles are purple, symbolizing Hope, Peace and Love; the pink candle symbolizes Joy and comes halfway through the season, when we rejoice because our preparation is half-way finished.

Worship Team Member:

The flame represents Christ, who entered this world to scatter the darkness of evil and show us the way of life and righteousness. The progression of lighting candles shows our increasing readiness to meet our Lord and our prayer that His light be spread throughout the world, starting with us.

Read the rest of this entry »

Week Three: Joy

Worship Leader:

Today is the third Sunday of Advent.  Advent means “coming,” and in this season we prepare for the coming of Christ both in our celebration of His birth and His promised return at the end of time.  The origin of the Advent Wreath is in pre-Christian Germany and Scandinavia where the people gathered to celebrate the return of the sun after the winter solstice (which will occur this week). The circular wreath made of evergreens with four candles interspersed represented the circle of the year, its four seasons, and the life that endures through the winter.

Chorus Member:

Later, Christian families adapted the practice to provide a more spiritual focus in the weeks just before Christmas.  They wanted to help their children think more about the story of Jesus instead of the gifts the children wanted to receive.  Each week, a different gift brought by Christ was focused on – Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.

Chorus Member:

For us, the lighting of the Advent candles represents the promise of the coming of Jesus, the light of the world. As the light of the Advent wreath grows, we share in the expectation of Isaiah, of John the Baptist, and of Mary for the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Savior. We look forward to the coming of Jesus who pierces the darkness of sin by the light of his love.

Chorus Member:

As we pass the halfway point in our waiting this week, we light the rose colored candle of Joy, rejoicing that the Lord’s coming is even more certain than the rising of the sun.

Chorus Member:

Different families and individuals are lighting the candles of our Advent wreathe in our services in these weeks of waiting.  They serve as symbols of this entire family of faith reaching out to Christ in hope, peace, joy, and love.  This morning, the [assigned] family will light the Advent Wreath.

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Week Four: Love

Worship Leader:

Historically, the primary sanctuary color of Advent is Purple, the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King.  The purple of Advent is also the color of suffering used during Lent and Holy Week:  this points to an important connection between Jesus’ birth and death. The nativity, the Incarnation, cannot be separated from the crucifixion, the Atonement. The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world, of the “Word made flesh” and dwelling among us, is to reveal God and His grace to the world through Jesus’ life and teaching as well as his suffering, death, and resurrection.

Team Member:

The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate.

Team Member:

The final week of Advent focuses on the culminating theme of love.  God’s love was revealed to us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  The love of God is the reason behind the hope, peace and joy we have celebrated in the last three weeks.

Team Member:

Different families and individuals are lighting the candles of our Advent wreathe in our services in these weeks of waiting.  They serve as symbols of this entire family of faith reaching out to Christ in hope, peace, joy, and love.  This morning, the [assigned] family will light the Advent Wreath.  (Family moves to pulpit.)

Family Member:

In the first week of Advent, we lit the first candle in our Advent Wreath, the candle of hope.  We light it again as we remember our hope that Christ, who was born in a manger in Bethlehem, will come again to fulfill all of God’s promises to us.  This hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Family Member lights one purple candle, the candle of hope from last week.) Read the rest of this entry »

Week Four: Love (When Coincident with Christmas Eve)

Worship Leader:

Our wait is nearly over today as we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Advent.  Over the past three weeks, as the warm light has grown over our Advent wreath, we have asked that Christ’s light grow within us.  Today in our very special service that celebrates the light and love of Christ, we will be called upon to remember that, just as Christ showed His love by giving His life for us, we show our love by giving ourselves to others, and especially by sharing with others our stories of the light of Christ in our lives.

Team Member:

This is especially important when we think of one of the more significant aspects of the season of Advent: our preparation for the return of Christ on the Last Day.  The word Advent means “coming,” and in this season, we celebrate His coming to earth as a child, but also His coming back to earth to judge the living and the dead.  There are so many people in this City and in our lives that have not yet experienced the love and light of Christ, and this reminder of His return moves us to share His story with them.

Team Member:

We have seen in past weeks how the practices of Advent are a synthesis of ancient rituals with Christian theology.  The pre-Christian use of evergreen boughs and lighted candles signaled the return of light and life after the turn of the solstice, in step with the cycle and circle of life.  Re-framed by the story of Christ, the seamless, endless circle becomes a symbol for the eternity of God and our life in him, the greens are the life He offers in Christ, the flames are the light of Christ, and the candles represent some of the gifts Christ brings into our lives: His hope, peace, joy, and love.

Team Member:

Gifts.  For as long as gifts have been exchanged at Christmas in imitation of the wise men, children have been excited about receiving them.  The 21^st century is no different from the Middle Ages in this respect.  Just as we struggle to maintain the real meaning of Christmas in our homes against the onslaught of commercial marketing and merchandising, the ancient custom of lighting the Advent wreath was born in parents’ desire to remind their families of the gift that matters most: Jesus.

Team Member:

There are all kinds of families in our community, and in the past three weeks, our Advent wreath has been lit by a variety of families – married and single – with and without children – that represent us all.  We have all stood alongside them as they have prayed and lit the candles of hope, peace, and joy.  As we focus on the love of Christ this morning, the [assigned] family, will light our wreath. Read the rest of this entry »

Week Five: The Birth of Light (If Christmas Falls on a Sunday)

Worship Leader:

As we have discussed on our journey through Advent, this has been a time of focus on two Advents – the two comings of Christ – at His birth as well as at the end of time.  In this dual focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and this congregation, as we affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for our ethics – Kingdom ethics – for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live “between the times” and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people. So, as the church celebrates God’s inbreaking into history in the Incarnation, and anticipates a future consummation to that history for which “all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption,” it also confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

The four outer candles represent the period of waiting during the four Sundays of Advent, which themselves symbolize the four centuries of waiting between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ, or the four millenia of human history that preceded Christ’s birth.

The light of the candles itself becomes an important symbol of the season. The light reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world that comes into the darkness of our lives to bring newness, life, and hope. It also reminds us that we are called to be a light to the world as we reflect the light of God’s grace to others (Isa 42:6). The progression in the lighting of the candles symbolizes the various aspects of our waiting experience. As the candles are lighted over the four week period, it also symbolizes the darkness of fear and hopelessness receding and the shadows of sin falling away as more and more light is shed into the world. The flame of each new candle reminds the worshippers that something is happening, and that more is yet to come. Finally, the light that has come into the world is plainly visible as the Christ candle is lighted at Christmas, and worshippers rejoice over the fact that the promise of long ago has been realized.

Different families and individuals have been lighting the candles of our Advent wreathe in our services in these weeks of waiting.  They serve as symbols of this entire family of faith reaching out to Christ in hope, peace, joy, and love.  This morning, the [assigned] family will light the wreath.

Family Member:

In the first week of Advent, we lit the first candle in our Advent Wreath, the candle of hope.  We light it again as we remember our hope that Christ, who was born in a manger in Bethlehem, will come again to fulfill all of God’s promises to us.  This hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (A family member lights the shortest purple candle, the candle of hope.)

Family Member:

In the second week of Advent, we lit the candle of peace.  We are surrounded by a world in which there is precious little peace to be found at times.  Wars, injustice and tragedy are all too common.  However, because of our relationship with Jesus, the Prince of Peace, we are promised a peace that passes understanding.  Christ brought peace when He first came to us, and he will bring everlasting peace when He comes again.  (A family member lights the next shortest purple candle, the candle of peace.)

Family Member:

In the third week of Advent, we lit the candle of Joy.  Even though we have walked in darkness, we rejoice that we have seen the great light of Christ.  We rejoice that His light scatters the night and shows us the way to God.  We rejoice that He lights our path even in the darkest times, and we rejoice that the darkness of the grave will be made powerless by the light of Jesus. (A family member lights the pink candle, the candle of joy.)

Family Member:

Last week, we lit the candle of love to remind us of the burning love that God has for each and every one of us.  His love is one that never dies, never tires of pursuing us, and never gives up on us.  We are reminded that since God loved us so much, we also out to love on another.  God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.  We love because he first loved us.  (A family member lights the remaining purple candle, the candle of love.)

Family Member:

Today, we light the center white candle, which is the Christ Candle.  The central location of the Christ Candle reminds us that the incarnation is the heart of the Advent season, giving light to the world.  The birth of Christ is the center of all time, the moment that the Creator entered His Creation in order to begin the journey that would reclaim every one of us as His own precious children.  (A family member lights the center white candle, the candle of Christ.)

Family Member:

Let us pray:  O God of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, Emmanuel, send the light of your life into our hearts at this time.  Help us to be ready for the light that blazes from the East at the Second Coming of the Light of the World.  Grant that we may so dwell in Him and He in us that His perfect light would fill our entire being.  Make our worship now a time in which we celebrate Your light and are made ready to show and proclaim that light to the whole world, both today and forever.  We pray in the name of Him who is our only hope, our greatest peace, our truest joy, and our deepest love, the One born in Bethlehem.  Amen.