Christmas Eve
a Candlelight Worship Service with Holy Communion

Wednesday, December 24, 2003, 11:00 p.m.

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P: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
P: God sends the Light that is Christ into the world.
C: Come, Lord Jesus, be with us now.
A: Not as a deity does God send the Light.
C: Come, Lord Jesus, be with us now.
P: God sends the Light as one of us, a human being, born of flesh and blood.
C: Come, Lord Jesus, be with us now.
A: God sends Christ Jesus, a man born in a small, insignificant town in a poor conquered country.
C: Come, Lord Jesus, be with us now.
P: God sends Christ, who encompasses the world and all creation in the flesh of mortals.
C: Christ, who is Emmanuel, God with us.

Lisa Frenz 2003

Christmas Day
a Festive Worship Service with Holy Communion

Wednesday, December 25, 2003, 11:00 a.m.

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A: The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side.
C: His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
P: The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him.
C: Zion hears and is glad, and the towns of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O God. For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
A: The LORD loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
C: Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
P: Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name! Psalm 97

Lisa Frenz 2003

A Christmas Choral Meditation
Sunday, December 14, 2003, 8:00 p.m.

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(Spoken over music)
L: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of strength, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. Come, O Sapientia, come;
C: Feel our longing. See our need,
L: Fulfill your promise, "Tomorrow I will be there."
C: For Christ is the source of our life, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
L: For wonderful is his counsel and great his wisdom. Come, O Sapientia, come.
C: O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High. You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner. O come to teach us the way of truth.

Congregational Song: O Come, O Come Emmanuel
O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who orders all things mightily,
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
CHORUS: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

Silence
(During the silence a candle is lighted.)

(Spoken over music)
L: The Lord is commanding beyond our unruly expertise,
governing,
ordering,
the precepts of the universe,
the flow of life,
the process of time,
the kinetics of the world.
C: Come, O Sacred Lord, come.

Lent
Sundays, 2006, 11:00 a.m.

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P: (spoken over music) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
C: Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:9-12

Response Song: Change My Heart, O God
Text & Music: Eddie Espinosa (c) 1982 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing (ASCAP).
Tune: CHANGE MY HEART
(entire song)

Change my heart, O God....
May I be like you.

P: (spoken over music) Hear our prayers, O God. Gather us to yourself.
C: I am enslaved.
In my desire to be free I have bound myself to evil.
A: We have cut ourselves off from you, O God.
C: Forgive me, O God, and I will be healed.

Response Song: Change My Heart, O God
Text & Music: Eddie Espinosa (c) 1982 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing (ASCAP).
Tune: CHANGE MY HEART
(last 8 bars only)

Change my heart, O God. ... May I be like you.

P: (spoken over music) Hear our prayers, O God. Look on us and heal us.
C: I am lost.
In my hurry to experience “reality” my life seems meaningless, a vague, insubstantial illusion.
A: We have cut ourselves off from you, O God.
C: Heal me, O God, and I will be whole.

Response Song: Change My Heart, O God
Text & Music: Eddie Espinosa (c) 1982 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing (ASCAP).
Tune: CHANGE MY HEART
(last 8 bars only)

Change my heart, O God. ... May I be like you.

P: (spoken over music) Hear our prayer, O God. Restore us to wholeness.
C: I am alone.
In my selfishness to be “me” I have distanced myself from strangers, friends, family, love ones.
A: We have cut ourselves off from you, O God.
C: Restore me, O God, and I will be renewed.

Response Song: Change My Heart, O God
Text & Music: Eddie Espinosa (c) 1982 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing (ASCAP).
Tune: CHANGE MY HEART
(last 8 bars only)

Change my heart, O God. ... May I be like you.

P: (spoken over music) Hear our prayer, O God. Renew our lives. Heal us.
C: I am ill.
In this world of brokenness my body and mind and spirit cry out in pain.
A: We have cut ourselves off from you, O God.
C: Renew me. Heal me, O God, for you are my only hope.

Response Song: Change My Heart, O God
Text & Music: Eddie Espinosa (c) 1982 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing (ASCAP).
Tune: CHANGE MY HEART
(entire song)

Change my heart, O God....
May I be like you.

Silence

 

Passion Sunday
Sunday, April 9, 2006, 11:00 a.m.

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Passion Song: Let Us Ever Walk With Jesus Vs. 1,2,3
Text: Sigismund von Birken, 1626-1681; tr. Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978, Copyright Administrator: Augsburg Fortress
Music: LASSET UNS MIT JESU ZIEHEN, Georg G. Boltze, 18th cent.

Let us ever walk with Jesus,... I shall follow where you guide.

Let us suffer here with Jesus,... help me there your joy to know.

Let us gladly die with Jesus.... there to live with you on high.

Litany:
A: There is a path to travel. A way to walk. A cross to lift and a burden carry.
C: Let us go. Let us follow. Let us walk with Christ.
A: There is a story to listen to. A horror to witness. A revelation to experience and a sorrow to bear.
C: Let us take heed. Let us see. Let us walk with Christ.
A: There is a sacrifice to be made. A gift to honor. A death to undergo and a life to live.
C: Let us accept. Let us share. Let us walk with Christ.

Easter Sunday
Sunday, April 8, 2007, 11:00 a.m.

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P: Surely God is my salvation;
C: I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. With joy I will draw water from the wells of salvation. And I will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 12:2-6
A: O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory. The LORD has made known his victory; he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
C: He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
P: Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises. Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.
C: Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.
A: Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy at the presence of the LORD,
C: For he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. Psalm 98

Pentecost Sunday

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P: In the beginning, O God, there was only you, our ending and our beginning. The Breath of our Life, our Guide and Inspiration, a conflagration of unknowable power, the Fire that fills our soul consuming us, driving us and renewing us, calling us, commissioning us and empowering us, leading us ever onward to paths we could never imagine, ways we never sought, lives filled and lived in the joy of divine transcendence even in the face of evil: suffering, pain and death.
A: Come to us, Holy Spirit,
C: in the quiet times of peace.
A: Come to us, Holy Spirit,
C: in the anguished eternities of grief.
A: Come to us, Holy Spirit,
C: in welling fountains of joy.
A: Come to us, Holy Spirit,
C: in cold vistas of disbelief.
A: Come to us, Holy Spirit,
C: in burning certainties of faith.
Come to us, Holy Spirit, come!

Lisa Frenz 2003