PRELUDE:
Carols for Christmas, Hermann Schroeder
WELCOME
* CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP
* SANCTUS (pew card)
* CALL TO WORSHIP AND SALUTATION (Psalm 72), The Hampton Family
Leader: Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son.
People: May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
Leader: May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.
People: In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.
Leader: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
People: Blessed be his glorious name forever.
Leader: Grace and peace to you from God our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
* HYMN No. 132: Comfort, Comfort Now My People
* PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
Almighty and merciful God, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. And there is no health in us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Spare those who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to the world in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O merciful God, for his sake, that we may live a holy, just and humble life for the glory of your holy name. Amen.
* KYRIE (pew card)
* ASSURANCE OF PARDON
* SUMMARY OF THE LAW
* Gloria Patri (pew card)
LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT WREATH, The Hampton Family
JUNIOR SERMON
ANTHEM: Springs in the Desert, Arthur B. Jennings
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not; behold, your God will come and save you. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams flow in the desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed of the Lord shall return with songs and everlasting joy: and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Lord’s Prayer (pew card)
Prayer Response Johann Wolfgang Franck
O Jesus, with Thy advent quiet my restless soul and anxious mind. In true humility I welcome Thee, Jesus Christ, my Joy divine. My thought, desires, and all my longings I dedicate, O Christ, to Thee. O come, Thou precious Sun most radiant, Thy beams illumine my heart and soul.
* HYMN No. 142: Long Ago, Prophets Knew
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Isaiah 11: 1-10, Pew Bible, page 558
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of theLord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lordas the waters cover the sea.
On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
Matthew 3: 1-12, Pew Bible, page 784
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The Word of God for the people of God. Let the people of God say - AMEN!
THE SERMON: Change Your Mind!, Rev. Douglas Estella
WORSHIP OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Offering
Offertory: from Messiah, Georg Friedrich Handel
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
* The Doxology (pew card)
* Prayer of Dedication
* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
* Apostles’ Creed (pew card)
* HYMN No. 161: Once in Royal David's City
* BENEDICTION
Response: Alleluia, Amen!, Charles Villers Stanford
POSTLUDE: Carillon, Louis Vierne
ANNOUNCEMENTS
WE WELCOME back the Rev. Douglas Estella to the pulpit. Rev. Estella served as pastor of the Sunnyside Reformed Church from 2000 to 2006. Currently he is a teacher at the Academy of Urban Planning in Brooklyn. Doug and his wife, Janet, live in Sunnyside with their daughter, Renee.
OUR APPRECIATION FOR TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS:
Van Drivers: Debra Rossi (AM) and Roger Bow (PM)
Coffee Hour Host: Rhoda Jabbour
Greeters: Virginia Andrews and Debra Rossi
Ushers: Sally Ann Castle, Nancy Gessner, Jayne Halley, Loretta McCaffrey and Head Usher, Jerry Good
Children and Worship: Judie Kellaway and Yessenia Iovale-Perez
Childcare: Nancy Gessner
VAN SERVICE is available for Sunday worship and grocery shopping every other Monday. If you need a ride to church on Sunday or would like to join them for grocery shopping, speak with Gina Lombardo at (917) 767-2923.
COFFEE HOUR VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – Please pick a date on the Sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in Gessner Hall or see Rhoda Jabbour.
PRAYER REQUESTS: Ruth Bailey, Letty Delgado, Ed Diercks, Dombrowski Family, Edythe Durney, Alfred Gessner, Lisa Gessner, Robert Keller, Hope Kingman, Fritz Kunisch, Ann Martin, John Molino, Josephine Rivera, Gloria Scrivano, Janice Serra, Mary Wainwright.