Worship Helps for Advent 2

Artwork: St John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert

Artist: Massimo Stanzione

 

Worship Theme: This week’s Worship Helps are a little different. That’s because the upcoming worship service will be a little different. We are celebrating the season of Advent with a service of Advent lessons and hymns. So, instead of questions, I have added the texts of the hymns I have chosen to correlate with the Scripture lessons. Please read the lessons and then read the hymns, and then mediate on how the two are inter-connected. May God bless our Advent worship this Sunday.

 

First Lesson: Psalm 24:1-10 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; ² for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. ³ Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. ⁵ He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. ⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. ⁷ Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. ⁸ Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. ⁹ Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. ¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty-- he is the King of glory.

 

Hymn: #701 – “Zion, at Your Shining Gates”

Zion, at your shining gates,
See, the King of glory waits;
Haste your monarch now to greet,
Spread your palms before his feet.
 

Christ, your kingdom comes today

As we hear your Spirit say:
“God’s own Son, a sacrifice—
Sinners’ way to paradise.”
 

Come and give us peace within,

Loose us from the bands of sin,
Take away the heavy weight
Laid on us by greed and hate.
 

Give us grace your yoke to wear,

Give us strength your cross to bear,
Make us yours in deed and word,
Yours in heart and life, O Lord.
 

So when you shall come again,

Lord of angels and of men,
We with all your saints shall sing
Loud hosannas to our King.
 

second Lesson: Jeremiah 23:5-6 God will raise up for David a righteous Branch

“The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.”

 

Sunday School:  #50 – “Once in Royal David’s City”

Once in royal David's city Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby In a manger for his bed;
Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.
 

He came down to earth from heaven Who is God and Lord of all,

And his shelter was a stable, And his cradle was a stall;
With the poor and mean and lowly Lived on earth our Savior holy.
 

But our eyes at last shall see him Through his own redeeming love,

For that child, so dear and gentle, Is our Lord in heav'n above,
As he leads his children on To the place where he is gone.
 

Not in that poor, lowly stable With the oxen standing by

Shall we see him, but in heaven, Set at God's right hand on high.
Then like stars his children crowned, All in white, his praise will sound.
 

Third Lesson: Isaiah 64:1-9 God is called upon to come among us

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! ² As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! ³ For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. ⁴ Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. ⁵ You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? ⁶ All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. ⁷ No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins. ⁸ Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. ⁹ Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people.
 

Choir: “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”

Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee. 
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
 

Born thy people to deliver,

born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

 

Fourth Lesson: Isaiah 35:1-10 God will prepare a way in the wilderness
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, ² it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. ³ Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; ⁴ say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you." ⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. ⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. ⁷ The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. ⁸ And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. ⁹ No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, ¹⁰ and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

 

Hymn: #702 - “Prepare the Royal Highway”
Prepare the royal highway; The King of kings is near!
Let ev’ry hill and valley A level road appear!
Then greet the King of glory, Foretold in sacred story:
Hosanna to the Lord, For he fulfills God’s Word!
 

God’s people, see him coming: Your own eternal King!

Palm branches strew before him! Spread garments! Shout and sing!     
God’s promise will not fail you! No more shall doubt assail you!
Hosanna to the Lord, For he fulfills God’s Word!
 

Then fling the gates wide open To greet your promised King!

Your King, yet ev’ry nation Its tribute too should bring.
All lands, bow down before him! All nations, now adore him!
Hosanna to the Lord, For he fulfills God’s Word!
 

His is no earthly kingdom; It comes from heav’n above.

His rule is peace and freedom And justice, truth, and love.
So let your praise be sounding For kindness so abounding:
Hosanna to the Lord, For he fulfills God’s Word!
 

Fifth Lesson: Luke 3:1-6 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar-- when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-- ² during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. ³ He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. ⁵ Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. ⁶ And all mankind will see God's salvation.'"

 

Hymn: #16 – “On Jordan’s Bank, the Baptist’s Cry”

On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come, then, and listen, for he brings
Good news about the King of kings.
 

Then cleansed be ev'ry life from sin

And furnished for a guest within,
And let us all our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.
 

We hail you as our Savior, Lord,

Our refuge and our great reward.
Without your grace we waste away
Like flow'rs that wither and decay.
 

Stretch forth your hand, our health restore,

And lift us up to fall no more.
Oh, make your face on us to shine,
And fill the world with love divine.
 

All praise to you, eternal Son,

Whose advent has our freedom won,
Whom with the Father we adore
And Holy Spirit evermore.

 

A reading from the Book of Concord for the Second Sunday in Advent

What God's Son says remains eternally true, "For apart from Me you can do nothing" [John 15:5].

Paul says, "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" [Philippians 2:13].

To all godly Christians who feel and experience in their hearts a small spark or longing for divine grace and eternal salvation this precious passage is very comforting. For they know that God has kindled in their hearts this beginning of true godliness. He will further strengthen and help them in their great weakness to persevere in true faith unto the end.

The saints prayed that they might be taught, enlightened, and sanctified by God. Thus they declare that they cannot get those things that they ask of God from their own natural powers. In Psalm 119, David prays more than ten times that God would give him understanding, that he might rightly comprehend and learn the divine teaching. Similar prayers are in Paul's writings (Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:9; Phil. 1:9). These prayers and passages about our ignorance and inability have been written for us. They are not written to make us idle and remiss in reading, hearing, and meditating on God's Word, but that we should first thank God that by His Son He has delivered us from the darkness of ignorance and the captivity of sin and death. Through Baptism and the Holy Spirit He has regenerated and illumined us. – Solid Declaration, Article II, Free Will (paragraphs 14-15)