Gaudete

 Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church 

 
 

 

 A warm welcome to each worshiper today. We celebrate you and offer you our friendship and love. We are a congregation of people who seek to grow spiritually, to become more like Christ in His compassion and acceptance of everyone while growing more aware of what it really means to be Christians today. 

 
 

As a Reconciling Congregation, EPUMC affirms the sacred worth of persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities and welcomes them into full participation in the fellowship, membership, ministries, and leadership of the congregation. 

  

  

  

943 Palmer Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12309 / 518-374-4306 epumc943@gmail.com / www.easternparkway.org 

Order of Worship 

December 11, 2022 

10:00 a.m. 

*You are invited to rise in body or spirit. 

  

Prelude Hilariter Cologne Kirchengesang, 1623 

Greeting and Announcements 

 
 

Mission Statement: 

We are a faith community striving to be, to nurture, and to send forth disciples of Jesus Christ. 

 
 

Lighting of the Advent Wreath: 

Reader 1: We light the third candle of Advent. 

Reader 2: We look to John, the one you sent, to point us to your light. The light will come into our world and enlighten everyone. 

Reader 1: God sent John the Baptizer to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus Christ, the true Light of the World. John called for people to repent of their sins and to live faithfully. He baptized with a cleansing water and proclaimed the new life that Christ, the one who would follow him, would bring. This Advent, we ask for God’s mercy and a joyful new beginning. 

All: Merciful God, we give thanks that you send messengers like John to call us to greater faith. We ask that in these days we prepare for you in prayer and acts of holy compassion. Forgive us and lead us to your light. Amen. 

  

Call to Worship: 

In the midst of the barren land, 

flowers burst into bloom. 

In the midst of the dry desert, 

streams of water gush forth. 

In the midst of sorrow and sighing, 

joy and gladness dance together. 

We shall see the glory of God! 

Let us worship God. Laura Jaquith Bartlett 

  

*Hymn It Came Upon a Midnight Clear #218 

              

Prayer of Confession: 

Upside-down God, 

you announce your coming with exciting news: 

the hungry will eat their fill, 

the oppressed will dance 

in newfound freedom; 

you proclaim your mission with hard news: 

the well fed will go hungry, 

the powerful will lose their status. 

We find ourselves squirming 

as we acknowledge our participation 

in structures that oppress and marginalize. 

Help us accept and proclaim 

the coming of our Christ 

as truly good news. 

Give us the courage 

to set aside our privilege, 

and help bring about this upside-down world, 

where everyone can sing together for joy. 

  

Assurance: 

The desert shall rejoice and blossom. 

Waters shall break forth in the wilderness. 

The burning sand shall become a pool. 

The God who can transform the dry lands 

can also transform the desert of our lives. 

Abundant forgiveness is ours 

from the God who turns sorrow and sighing 

into joy and gladness. 

 
 

Scripture Reading Luke 1: 46-55 

Mary’s Song of Praise 

46 And Mary[a] said, 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. 
    Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, 
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, 
    and holy is his name; 
50 indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him 
    from generation to generation. 
51 He has shown strength with his arm; 
    he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones 
    and lifted up the lowly; 
53 he has filled the hungry with good things 
    and sent the rich away empty. 
54 He has come to the aid of his child Israel, 
    in remembrance of his mercy, 
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, 
    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” 

 
 

Sermon Gaudete 

Today is the third Sunday in the season of Advent. That means a lot of different things. It means this season is halfway over. It means Christmas is two weeks from today, so if you haven’t found a present for your mom yet you better get on that. It means we go caroling at Kingsway this afternoon (woohoo!), and today’s candle on the wreath says “joy”. We break up this purple/ blue color scheme for one day, as well, because today is the day we light the pretty pink candle. The ancient Church picked that color as a representation of “joy”, and called this third Sunday in Advent “Gaudete Sunday”, coming from the Latin word that means “rejoice.” 

Why today? Every year, the people entrusted with the sacred responsibility of lighting the Advent candles either want to jump the gun and light the pink candle too early, or wait and light it next week, thinking the pretty pink Valentine’s Day looking candle must represent love. Can’t fault you, that makes perfect sense. And at one church (not this one), I had an altar decorator who wanted to make the whole wreath pink. I could hardly blame her, y’all might know I’ve got a thing for the color myself, and clergy spend so much time in white, black, and ordinary time green that it’s a delight to break that up with pink. Actually, it’s a vacation. A break. 

The ancient Church looked at this long season, only a hair shorter than Lent, starting in late fall and ending after the winter solstice, after the longest night of the year, plunged in the cold and dark. They expected and taught higher levels of piety during the Advent season, and still today, many of us bone up on our spiritual practices in this season. We come here more often, we do more for our community, our committees need a little more out of us, and when we go home many of us are reading an Advent devotional or doing something similar to mark the sacredness of this season. On top of the spiritual pressures of this season, we’ve been doing hard work everywhere else. My kids have to stay in school all the way until December 23rd, can you believe that? And students are finishing their semester and cramming for finals. Teachers, too, are pulling all the stops to finish the term strong and take care of their students. In our places of work, we’re in the dreaded fourth quarter, meaning we’re bombarded with messages about stretching the budget to reach the end of the year. If you have the misfortune of working in retail, you’re being asked to pick up extra shifts right and left, and your boss is making darn sure you know the company depends on these Christmas profits to survive the whole rest of the year. Personally, we’re buried in wrapping paper, burning our Christmas cookies, bemoaning the cost of shipping and postage, running out of funny places to move the dang Elf on the Shelf...and deep in this evergreen feeling that whether it’s a thousand years ago or now, Christmas is a lot. We gotta break all of this up with something special. We can afford ourselves a special, one day treat. Thus, in the wisdom of clergy of yore, we get Gaudete Sunday. A week of rejoicing, a week with a pink candle, a week of celebratory scripture readings, and a week to have a little Christmas early before we pack the rest away for two more weeks. 

Joining us in these feelings are our sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is entering the third trimester of her pregnancy with John the Baptist. Ladies, if you’ve been there done that, then you know right around where Elizabeth is gestationally is this place where pregnancy stops being this fun, magical time and starts being this exhausting slog of swollen feet, back problems, and heartburn. And she’s doing all that as an old lady, so you really gotta feel for her. Mary is in a different, but equally burdensome position. She’s from a working-class family, and she’s been betrothed to a slightly older man from another working class family—Joe the carpenter. Matthew and Luke both give us enough clues in their accounts of Jesus’ birth to indicate that the wedding hasn’t happened yet, but it’s about to. In this society where parents didn’t drag their feet in finding an advantageous match for their daughters—and, not for nothing, but to collect the bride price her betrothed would pay—this makes Mary a young teen. So that image you might have of Mary, inspired by centuries of art and Christmas décor, where she’s a 30-something white lady in crisp blue robe? Yeah, get that out of your head. Mary’s a poor teenager. And her life and future have been plunged into jeopardy by the news that she’s having a baby, and everyone knows Joe isn’t the dad. Despite Gabriel’s assurances, it will do little to protect Mary’s reputation or safety to just tell anyone who asks, “Oh, don’t worry, this baby actually has two moms: me and the Holy Spirit.” 

What will she do? Run away? Try to convince Joseph to move up the wedding? Hide? Her response is astonishingly calm and normal. She takes a road trip to her cousin. Her beloved family, and another woman with an unplanned pregnancy. And they put their tummies together so their babies can high five each other in the womb. Then Mary stays to help Elizabeth out for a few months. 

Of course, Mary’s song is the most famous part of this story, and rightly so, and we’ll get there in a second. But Mary, in taking this trip, models exactly what our Christian ancestors hoped we’d do today: take a break from the pressures surrounding you for something ordinary, but special. Spend time with family you haven’t seen in a while. Bake a meal for an old friend. Share something exciting in your life with someone who will share your excitement with you. 

But now, the big song. The Magnificat. Zechariah has been muted, and Joseph is in another town. God has permitted not a drop of mansplaining to ruin this moment. At this juncture, where Mary has just said yes to bearing Jesus, and Elizabeth just felt fetal John the Baptist say hello to the embryonic Messiah, the only people who get to proclaim the Good News are the women. I’m guessing it’s because God knew they’d get it right. It’s because they understand it so intimately. 

“My soul magnifies the Lord”, says Mary, because someone she carries, no bigger than a poppy seed right now, has made the presence of God in her world huge. And her Creator isn’t an impersonal, detached, faceless cloud man. Her Creator is a Divine Mother. And the celestial manifestation of the quote “well behaved women seldom make history.” God interrupts your regularly scheduled Christmas programming by shaking the earth. The unwed teen mom is called “blessed”, and “rich”, and the Wall Street banker walks away with empty pockets. Career politicians are tossed out of office, and ordinary people lead the way. Our overstuffed refrigerators and pantries are voided, and the food is redistributed to the corners of the city where there isn’t a good grocery store around for miles. God keeps promises, and those who have spent this season in fear—of their overbearing landlords, of their uncompassionate bosses, of their toxic exes, of inflation, of the demons that are constantly at their heels—sleep in peace. If we’ve felt comfortable lately, it’s our turn to hold the anxieties of the world for a while.  

Gaudete in domino semper—rejoice in the Lord always. And take a special moment to do that today. Take stock of the ordinary, but special moments that only God makes possible. And then let the joy those moments fill you with charge you to do what sometimes feels impossible. Know that God is good and tell someone else that, too. Proclaim the Gospel in your actions, and let your loving justice be the chorus of Mary’s song—let no one go hungry, no one go lonely, no one go without, and no one hold too much unchecked power. Hold this ironic, but pure goodness in your soul as you wait out the next two weeks: God is huge enough to rock the whole world, yet small and tender enough to greet us in the face of a newborn. 

Amen. 

 
 

*Hymn Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus #196 

Led by the Front Porch Rockers 

 
 

Offering  

 
 

Offertory Once in Royal David's City Howard Helvey 

Chancel Choir 

 

*Doxology See projection Tune at #229 

*Prayer of dedication             

  

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer 

 

We praise your greatness, O Lord, 
and our spirits rejoice in you, our Savior. 
You looked with favor on your unlikely servant Mary, 
and she delivered a blessing for all generations. 
You, the Almighty, have done great things, and your name is ever holy. 

From the depth of your compassion, 
you gave life to Jesus, your Son, 
who came to show mercy on those who need you most, 
from generation to generation. 
His perfect love showed your strength, 
and his humility made the proud stumble. 
His death cast down from their thrones the powers of death, 
and his resurrection lifted humanity up from the lowliness of the grave. 

Come upon us now with your Holy Spirit, 
and let your power overshadow this meal, O Most High. 
As we share this bread and cup, 
fill us with the life of Jesus Christ. 
May we bear him into the world once again, 
so that we may empty ourselves of unjust wealth 
and fill the hungry with good things. 

Make us your servant people, 
signs of your promise of mercy, 
in the name of the coming Christ. 

Our Father, Mother, Creator God, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen. 

 
 

*Hymn People, Look East #202 

 
 

Benediction 

 
Postlude Ding! Dong! Merrily on High John Leavitt, arr. 

 
 
 

Staff 

Natalie Bowerman Pastor 

Betsy Lehmann Music Director 

Joe White Custodian 

Cassandra Brown Nursery Attendant