Longest Night 2023

"Make Your Face Shine"

by Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity

Service inspired by and portions written by Rev. Sarah A. Agreed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org

Pre-Service Music Away in a Manger/Silent Night

arr. Kenneth Baird

Words of Welcome Call to Worship Hymn

My Soul Gives Glory

UMH #198

Prayer and Lighting the Advent Wreath

Friends, in the Advent season, we light the candle of hope. Tonight, we light it for all who feel hopeless. Tonight, this light shines bright for prisoners, for patients with chronic illness, for individuals fighting to get out of debt, for refugees waiting for a safe place to rest, and for relationships that have no clear way forward. Tonight, we light this candle for the hopeless.

May God’s hope find them now.

In this season, we light the candle of peace. Tonight, we light the candle of peace again for all who need peace. This light shines bright for the anxious and unsettled—for those in seasons of transition and discernment, for all who struggle with mental health, and for people navigating rocky, new beginnings.

May God’s peace find them now.

In this season, we light the candle of joy. Tonight, we light the candle of joy for all who need it. May this light shine for those who are overburdened, overstretched, worn out, and worn down. May this candle shine for those who need a good laugh, even in seasons of grief.

May God’s joy find them now.

In this season, we light the candle of love. Tonight, we light the candle of love again for all who need it. May this light shine for loved ones lost, for love that has been betrayed, for love that has been neglected or forgotten, and for all who long for love and find themselves lonely.

May God’s love find them now.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayer for Illumination

Creator God, for so long we have been bending under the weight of our own grief, exhaustion, and stress. However, today, like a flower bending toward the sun, we are leaning toward you in hope. Speak a word of encouragement to us now. Help us to see that we are not alone. And warm our weary bones from the inside out. We are listening. We are bending. We are seeking after you. With open hearts we pray, Amen.

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

This is the Word of Life. Thanks be to God.

Homily

We Bind up the Broken-Hearted

Written Prayers and Candle Lighting Come and Fill our Hearts

see insert

Praying with and for One Another Prayer of Remembrance and Gratitude ...We remember them...

God of our joy and God of our weariness, we have brought our worn-down hearts to you this night— hearts full of grief, hearts carrying fear, hearts, tender to the touch.

We have brought our weariness to you this night because we know that you are present with us in the valleys.

We know that you were born into a quiet night like this one, so surely our tears from the night are not unfamiliar to you.

Therefore, as we prepare to leave the safe protection of this sanctuary, as we prepare to return to the fullness of our lives, we ask that you would continue to walk with us.

Stay by our side through the valley.

Stay by our side as we climb our way out.

Just stay close.

For we cannot move from weariness to joy without you.

With honesty and gratitude, we give you these prayers of our hearts— those named and left unnamed. We give them all to you.

Amen.

Hymn

Love Came Down at Christmas

UMH #242

Invitation Benediction Postlude

What Child is This

arr. Catherine McMichael

SHARING IN WORSHIP TONIGHT Pastor- Rev. Jenny Walz Smith Liturgists - Emelia Timpo, Barbara Fox, Susan Davelman, Laverna Albury, Anne Fikaris, Ulanda Frisbee, Douglas Fullman, Rev. Skitch Matson, Rev. Tayler Necoechea Ushers - Ed Sproles, Lindsey Donaldson Musicians - Amy Gardner, John MacDonald, Hyosang Park

MY SOUL GIVES GLORY

My soul gives glory to my God. My heart pours out its praise.

God lifted up my lowliness in many marvelous ways.

My God has done great things for me: yes, holy is this name.

All people will declare me blessed, and blessings they shall claim.

From age to age, to all who fear, such mercy love imparts, dispensing justice far and near, dismissing selfish hearts.

Love casts the mighty from their thrones, promotes the insecure, leaves hungry spirits satisfied, the rich seem suddenly poor.

Praise God, whose loving covenant supports those in distress, remembering past promises with present faithfulness.

COME AND FILL OUR HEARTS

Come and fill our hearts with your peace.

You alone, O Lord, are holy.

Come and fill our hearts with your peace, Alleluia!

LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love divine; Love was born at Christmas; star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead, Love incarnate, Love divine; worship we our Jesus, but wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token; love be yours and love be mine; love to God and others, love for plea and gift and sign.

Make Your Face Shine

by Lisle Gwynn Garrity Inspired by Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 For this Advent series, I created a collection of paintings inspired by the Hubble telescope images of the cosmos. The telescope renderings invite you to peer into worlds unknown. The beauty of it all is a balm for the weary. When you gaze upon Make Your Face Shine the colors of the cosmos, how can you keep Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity from rejoicing? Inspired by the luminescent Acrylic painting on canvas with digital drawing textures of nebula and star clusters, I painted washes of vibrant colors and metallic gold amidst a backdrop of beautiful blackness. These paintings have become the backgrounds for each of my digital drawings in this series.

The day I began working on this image, another mass shooting terrorized our country. This time it happened at a church preschool.

One of the children slain was the pastor’s daughter. By the time you read this, there will have been more shootings, more unnecessary and completely preventable deaths. The weight of that prediction makes every bone in my body weary beyond repair.

As I read and reread Psalm 80 on that day of mourning, I remembered that politeness is not the language of the weary. The psalmist supplied me with the words I wanted to pray, the words I wanted to scream: Wake up your power, God! Save us! How long?!

Then, I began to draw. What emerged was a face shining from the cosmos.

I imagined God as Holy Mother or Holy Parent weeping for her creation. I imagined the parents weeping for their children who were so suddenly and brutally taken from them. The mere thought of their grief knocks the wind out of me.

As I completed the image, I added a flock of doves flying out from the void into which God’s tears fall. The doves represent the Spirit let loose in our world, flapping their wings into every desperate corner. I added them not as a statement, but as a plea: please, God, make your face shine so we might be saved. —Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity

WELCOME TO

Princeton United Methodist Church We are a diverse faith community, engaged in enlivening spiritually thirsty people to joyfully respond to God’s love and grow as disciples of Christ, so that together we may experience the fullness of life.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS CHRISTMAS EVE MORNING WORSHIP DECEMBER 24 | 10:00 AM Christmas Eve is on Sunday this year - what a wonderful opportunity to celebrate together as a church family! Kingston UMC and Princeton UMC will be worshiping together this Sunday at PUMC at 10:00 AM. CHRISTMAS EVE DECEMBER 24 | 4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, 8:00 PM There are three options for Christmas Eve worship services. At PUMC, we'll offer a 4:00 PM Family Service and an 8:00 PM Candlelight Service.

At KUMC, we'll be meeting at 5:00 PM for a Family Candlelight Service.

DIAPER BUNDLING PARTY JANUARY 7 Join us Sunday morning on January 7 to collect, sort, and bundle diapers in preparation for donation to Maker’s Place. We will meet in Princeton UMC room 204 at 11:30 am, after both Kingston and Princeton services have ended. Kingston will be bringing their diapers to Princeton, so be sure to stay until Kingston arrives!

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