CORONADO COMMUNITY CHURCHPOST OFFICE BOX 181680, CORONADO, CALIFORNIA 92178

WWW.CORONADOCOMMUNITYCHURCH.COM (619) 437-6827WORSHIP SITE - VILLAGE HALL - 6TH ST. AND H AVE.

MINISTER: THE REV. STEPHEN J. MATHER (619) 437-8757

MINISTER EMERITUS: The Rev. Dr. Thomas P. WarmerDIRECTOR OF MINISTRIES EMERITA: Marlys Simmons

SECRETARY: Candace TylerCHRISTIAN LIFE: Sara Wood

CHOIR LEADER: Andy HamiltonPIANIST: Sharon Axelson

TREASURER & FINANCIAL SECRETARY: Al Ovrom BOARD CHAIRPERSON: Carolyn Ayres

Child Care (age 3 & under) 9:45 - 11:00 AMChoir Rehearsals Thursdays 7:00 PM

Church Copyright License 3078215 Exp. 2/28/2018

Continuing Prayers for Members of our Congregation:Mebane Harrison (At Home)

Ken & Joan Maden (At Home) Mel Moore (At Home)

J Paul (Illness)Dr. Tom Warmer (Memory Care)

Ann Williams (At Home)

Prayers for Family Members and Friends:Pastor Jim Roamer (Illness)

Charlotte Rudowicz (Ann Norman’s daughter - Illness)Mike Shuman (Husband, Becky Shuman – Cancer)

Amanda Snowbarger (Candy Tyler’s Niece - Leukemia)

Sunday, December 17, 2017 – 10:00 a.m.  Service for the Lord's Day

“Could the world be about to turn?” -Hymn of Praise, No. 1001

PRELUDE TO WORSHIP arr. Tom Roed “Angels We Have Heard On High”Duet: Sharon Axelson and Suzanne Ware

GREETINGS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, and FELLOWSHIPReviewing the Prayer ConcernsLighting of the Third Advent Candle by Suzanne and Bill Ware

INTROIT John Foley “Who has Known?”

*CALL TO WORSHIPOne: Behold! God is good, and has set a star in the heavens to guide us to the truth.All: Like the wise men, we follow it with joy, knowing God will give us strength to

climb the hills, and sight to conquer the darkness that surrounds us.One: Behold! God is good, and has promised us a Savior to lead us on the path of life

as God meant it to be lived.All: We await the Savior’s coming with gladness and expectation that in the holy

birth our lives may be renewed. One: We wait with Mary for God’s promise to be fulfilled, though we do not fully

understand it.All: Let us join all people, rich and poor, to prepare a place in our lives for Christ

to be born.

*HYMN OF PRAISE, No. 100 Star of the County Down

“My Soul Cries Out with a Joyful Shout”

*Those who are able, please stand

1CALL TO CONFESSION – Liturgist Dolores Reed The proof of God’s amazing love is this: when we and humanity were most

estranged from God, Christ was born, lived as a teacher, and died for us. Because we have faith in him as the embodiment of God, we dare with confidence to approach God. Let us now ask God to forgive our aimless wandering that leaves us hungry for the true bread from heaven.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION – Congregation 11Your love encircles us, O God, no matter who we are or where we’ve been.

You set us free to love and serve our neighbor in response. Help us remember who we are, and what our calling is during this Advent season. God of restless waiting, how long have we held our tongues? How long have we stifled our cries? You call us to yearn for the day we will be reconnected. To trust that the day of fullness is coming. But we grow impatient. We try to save ourselves, to fill ourselves. We wade in shallow waters, drowning. We consume falsehoods, starving. Give us the comfort of your promise that the light of Christ comes. For all of us, grace upon grace. For the Word that is about to be born, for us. Amen.

KYRIE, No. 437               Wayfaring StrangerYou are the Lord, giver of mercy!

You are the Christ, giver of mercy!You are the Lord, giver of mercy!

SILENT MEDITATION AND THE LORD’S PRAYER Our custom is to join hands for the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father, 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 trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

WORDS OF ASSURANCE – Liturgist Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us. If anyone is in Christ, he becomes a new person altogether – the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new. Friends, believe the good news of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

ACTIVITIES CALENDAR Today – Sunday, December 17, 2017

10:00 a.m. Divine Worship – Third Sunday of Advent 11:10 a.m. Fellowship and Refreshments 11:20 a.m. After-Church Lunch Bunch (inquire at front door for location) 5:00 p.m. CCC Potluck Christmas Party – 1701 San Luis Rey

Monday – December 18

4:30 p.m. Women’s Bible Study – Contact Laurie McCaull, 435-7019 Tuesday – December 19

Confronting Religious Violence WILL NOT meet until January 2.

Thursday – December 21

7:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal – Resurrection Lutheran Church5th Street and Orange Avenue

Next Sunday – December 24, 2017– Fourth Sunday of Advent–10:00 a.m.Scriptures: Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

Sermon: “How Can This Be?”

Christmas Eve –The Nativity of Jesus Christ – 5:00 p.m.Scriptures: Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 2:1-15Meditation: “A Night to Remember”

Head Usher: Christine DuryeaGreeters: Berti Rhinehart, Barbara Sturgeon

Ushers: Berti Rhinehart, Jean Roesch, Barbara SturgeonCookies: Laurie McCaull

Coffee: A. Ovrom, S. Strickland, B. Sturgeon, S. Zylstra

Last Week at a Glance: December 10, 2017 Attendance: 55- Offering: $1506.00 $745. 00 is for Christmas Missions

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Getting to Know One Another is much easier if you will register your name, address and phone number and relationship to the church on the Friendship Pad that is circulated during the Welcome and Announcements.  If you are near any visitors (or someone you don’t know), note their name and invite them to join you for refreshments after Worship.

 Audio Recordings of Today's Service may be ordered on the literature table by

the door.  The Compact Discs are $ 3.00 each and will be available the following Sunday.

Listening Assistive Devices Are Available for worshipers who would like to enhance their ability to hear the service.  Large-print Copies of the Hymns are also available.   If you find it difficult to find a parking space close to the door, there is reserved parking available between the orange traffic markers.  Please inquire at the door if you need assistance.

The CCC Potluck Christmas Party is tonight at 5:00 pm at the Ovrom’s home, 1701 San Luis Rey. Remember, for gift exchange, $10 limit per person. We hope all of our church family will join together to share festive cheer.

Letters to the Congregation about our Financial Pledge for 2018 were mailed recently.  If you did not receive one please pick up a copy on the table by the entrance.  Please consider your pledge carefully and return the form as soon as possible.  This permits the Finance Committee to plan for next year accordingly.

Confronting Religious Violence – What Does Our Faith Teach?Our text is Not in God’s Name by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. If religion is deemed

part of the cause of violence, it must also be part of the solution. Our discussion will focus on the key tenets of the Abrahamic faiths to see how blessings and not curses are indispensable to our survival. “Beneath our estrangement, beneath our skin, we are brothers and sisters, members of the one God’s human family.” We will suspend meeting until Tuesday, January 2.

ANTHEM Penny Rodriguez “O Little Town”

Coronado Community Church Chancel Choir

THE PSALM LESSON Psalm 126

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH1 I believe that Christmas is more than a time for parties and ornaments; it is

a time for remembering Christ and the incarnation of God’s love in human flesh. I believe there are gifts more important than what is under the Christmas tree, such as what we teach our children, the way we share ourselves with friends, and the calling from God to reshape the world. I believe in the angels’ message that we should not be afraid – that the Child of Bethlehem is able to overcome all anxieties. I believe in going away from Christmas as the wise men went – “another way.” I want to be different when these days are past – more centered, more thoughtful, more caring. And I know Jesus is with me every day on that journey.

*THE HYMN RESPONSE                                                                      Paul E. HoffmanThere is nothing in the heav’ns above, nor in hidden depths of earth

that can keep the Savior’s love from us, for by his sinless death God’s Son has conquered ev’ry foe. 

There is nothing left to fear.  For God’s love, God’s love is always near.

THE GIVING OF OUR TITHES and OFFERINGS

OFFERTORY M. Leontovich “Carol of the Bells”

*DOXOLOGY, No. 609                                                                        Lasst Uns ErfreuenPraise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise God, all creatures high and low.  Alleluia! Alleluia!Praise God, in Jesus fully known:  Creator, Word, and Spirit one.

Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

PASTORAL PRAYER and Response, No. 654 (sung twice) Taize In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful; in the Lord I will rejoice!

Look to God; do not be afraid, Lift up your voices; the Lord is near,

Lift up your voices; the Lord is near.

THE FIRST TESTAMENT LESSON  Isaiah 61:1-4, 8

SERMON Rev. Stephen J. Mather “Time to Rebuild Ruins”

*HYMN OF DEDICATION, No. 74 Resignation

“When God Restored Our Common Life”

*BENEDICTION and POSTLUDE Edward Caswall/John Goss “See amid the Winter’s Snow”

The Hymns This Morning

No. 100 - By employing an energetic Irish folk song for its melody, this ballad-like paraphrase of the Magnificat, Mary’s song at her meeting with Elizabeth (Luke 1:46-55) captures both the wonder and the faith of the young woman who recognized what God was doing in the midst of difficult circumstances.

No. 74 – The words are a paraphrase of Psalm 126, our first scripture this morning. It brings the psalm to life in two ways: by turning the “they” of the final verses of the psalm to “we,” and by adding a prayer for all who still wait for release from oppression. The tune is a familiar American folk melody, published by W. Walker in his Southern Harmony in 1835.

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REFLECTION

Christmas Morning at the Trout Hatchery

Your small shadow with its cuppedhand poised above the tanktransfigures them with joy.

Leaping from dark water, so manycopper filaments, they break

the surface, curve into slipperyarcs, and disappear to feed.

Some day when you ask if miraclesare real, you’ll remember this:

bare branches and a sudden splashof light, how love is born again

from winter’s need, an open palmhopeful, generous, a clear voice

calling, calling to the fish. -Diane G. Scholl

The Blind Faith of Mary and Joseph

Kingdom people are history makers. They break through the small kingdoms of this world to an alternative and much larger world, God’s full creation. People who are still living in the false self are history stoppers. They use God and religion to protect their own status and the status quo of the world that sustains them. They are often fearful people, the nice proper folks of every age who think like everybody else thinks and who have no power to break through, or as Jesus’ opening words put it, “to change” (Mark 1:15, Matthew 4:17).

How can we really think that Mary, if she thought like any good Jewish girl was trained to think, could possibly be ready for this message [from the angel]? She had to let God lead her outside of her box of expectations, her comfort zone, her dutiful religion of follow-the-leader. She was very young. Perhaps theology itself is not the necessary path but simply integrity and courage.

-Richard Rohr, Preparing for Christmas