Third Sunday in Advent:

Resources for the service:

• a blanket
• a light (a candle or a lamp)
• sheets of paper
• pens
• an empty manger

In preparation:

• The worship area should be dimly lit, with the manger at the front just beneath the star.
• It is the third Sunday of preparation to welcome the Prince of Peace. We long for his presence in the midst of this violence-ridden world. The path has been cleared of those situations preventing the coming of peace and the star continues to guide us on the path to peace. Today we must prepare the manger where the new-born Prince of Peace will be laid. We must allow tenderness to enfold us so that we can welcome him, cradle him in our arms and sing a lullaby to him.

Prelude

Call to worship

There will not always be darkness or pain for those who wait in sadness.
We have waited long for your peace. Come, O Lord!
There are promises of hope and joy for those who long for a new age.
We have waited long for peace to be born.

• Song: Nana del Adviento (Advent lullaby)

Litany

If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night",
even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth. (Psalm 139: 11-15)

We thank you, O God,
because you do not forget your people, your church or your world,
because, even in the midst of the dark shadows of our life,
you look upon us with pity.
You cover us with your wings
and you come to visit us.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.

O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—

those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts. (Psalm 139: 16-23)

Confession

O God of peace, you know us from before we were formed in our mother's womb.
Forgive us when we only have good intentions and do not commit ourselves
to concrete action for peace and justice.
Grant that our actions and our words may always promote peace.
O God of justice, you judge our human race with mercy.
Forgive us when we allow your image in us to be marred as we remain passive in face of so much violence and exclusion.
Grant that our actions and our words may always promote peace.
O God of love, you have created humankind to be one great family.
Forgive our inability to be reconciled with others, both our dear ones and our enemies.
Grant that our actions and our words may always promote peace.
O God of grace, you have given us the gift of speech to be an instrument for change.
Forgive us for the times when we have spoken too hastily without thinking of the consequences, or have remained silent out of fear or indifference.
Grant that our actions and our words may always promote peace.
O God of life, you have placed us on this earth to tend and watch over it. Forgive us if we have failed to care for your world, to protect nature, the home you have given us, the home of our ancestors and of our descendants. Help us to promote life and seek peace.
Grant that our actions and our words may always promote peace.

Assurance of forgiveness

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled,
and do not be afraid.

• Song: Mi paz les dejo (My peace I leave with you)

Old Testament reading

(A woman, who will read the scriptures, carries in the Bible in her arms on a blanket, and is accompanied by another who carries the light.)

Isaiah 9: 1-7

But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Gospel reading

• Song: ¡Aleluya! (Alleluia!)

(All the lights are turned on.)

Luke 1: 39-45

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."

• Song: ¡Aleluya! (Alleluia!)

Sermon

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit, you came upon Mary and she gave birth to the Prince of Peace.
Come upon your people and may peace be born in us.

• Sung response: ¡Que la paz que nace en nosotros sea paz para el mundo también! (May the peace which is born among us be the peace that envelops the world!)

Holy Spirit, you made the child leap for joy in Elizabeth's womb. May your people joyfully celebrate peace.

• Sung response: ¡Que la paz que nace en nosotros sea paz para el mundo también! (May the peace which is born among us be the peace that envelops the world!)

Holy Spirit, in the beginning you shaped and gave order to the world. May peace live again in your people.

• Sung response: ¡Que la paz que nace en nosotros sea paz para el mundo también! (May the peace which is born among us be the peace that envelops the world!)

Offering

(Participants are asked to write on a piece of paper their wishes for peace in the world, between the churches and in their families. They are invited to place them in the manger while the following song is sung. Afterwards the musicians continue improvising.)

• Song: ¡Que todo el tiempo sea tiempo de paz! (May every season be a season of peace!)

Prayer

O Lord, we offer you our wishes for peace, born in our hearts.

Cradle them in your arms of love, and help us to make them a reality in the world, in the churches and in our families.

Blessing

(Participants are invited to lay their hands on their stomachs, like an expectant mother protecting her unborn child.)

Just as a mother's hands protect the child in her womb from danger, threats and violence, so may the Lord protect us on our journey to peace.

• Song: Que nuestro Dios creador (By your Word creating God)