Worship

December 1, 2024

Procession Hymn The Lord Is Blessing Me Right Now AA-506
Opening Prayer
Opening Meditation From “Black Liturgies” by Cole Arthur Riley

INHALE God is alive.
EXHALE And God’s breath is freedom.
INHALE Liberation comes in a body.
EXHALE I will honor mine.

Collect Lectionary Insert
Hebrew Scriptures Zechariah (8:1-13)
Canticle Psalm 46
New Testament I John (4:13-21)
Gospel Hymn The Lord Is My Light. AA-160
Gospel Luke (1:5-19)
Sermon Rev. Peter Jarrett-Schell
Nicene Creed BCP pg. 358
Calvary’s Mission Statement (composed by Yvonne Lee)
People: “We, the members of Calvary Episcopal Church, believe in taking the journey of God’s love and service to those who know Christ, and those who seek Christ.”
Prayers of the People Lectionary Insert
Peace
The flowers on the altar are given to the glory of God and in loving memory of our mother, Mary Bain, whose 108th birthday would have been November 18th. From her children Sheila, Margaret, Enoch, Clement, Gemma, and Glaudia.

Offertory Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus AA-384
If you would like to make your offering electronically, you can do so at: www.calvarydc.net/donate
Doxology Praise God From Whom All Blessing Flow AA-402
The Eucharist Our Eucharist Prayer was composed by Rev. Dr. Gayle Fisher-Stewart.
Celebrant: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Celebrant: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them to the Lord.
Celebrant: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give God our thanks and praise.
Celebrant: It is right, because you sent your beloved Son to redeem us from sin and death, and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life; that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing. Blessed are you, O God, who sets the table of creation and invites us to feast with you in a cosmic celebration of love and desire. As we again await, Immanuel, God with us, we thank you for Jesus, whose life, prayer, and ministry opened our eyes to the glory of life and fueled our hunger for your long-anticipated reign of justice, mercy, and peace. You call all people to follow your paths of justice and peace, beating their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks. In the light of your holy Word, we look for the day when nations shall not lift up sword against nations, or learn war any more. Therefore, with the entire company of heaven, and with your people on earth who live in this hope, we praise you and join in the never-ending hymn:
People: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Celebrant: We thank you for Christ’s passionate solidarity with the suffering of all the earth; for as he bore in his own body the wounds of creation, he embraced us in our brokenness and gathered us into his wholeness so that we might know ourselves beloved and serve with him as priests forever in an all-embracing Eucharist. Blessed is our brother Jesus, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; who, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, blessed it and said:
People: “This is my body which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”
Celebrant: In the same way, Jesus took the cup after supper and said:
People: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it, to remember me.”
Celebrant: So, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
People: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Celebrant: Here in this place, we celebrate the life that death could not hold, the life that Jesus has shared among his community through the centuries, and shares with us now. Made one with him, and thus, with each other, we lay before you these gifts of bread and wine, tokens of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, for here we offer and present to you ourselves, our bodies, minds and spirits, to be a holy and continuous sacrifice to you.
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit, Come.
Celebrant: Come and brood over these bodily things, this bread and this wine. May they be for us the body and blood of Christ; healing, renewing, and making us whole.
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit, Come.
Celebrant: Come and embrace us with your life-giving power that as bread and wine are made one with us, we may become one with you; bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh.
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit, Come.
Celebrant: Come and make your gathered people the real presence of Christ for the world, living our prayer and praying our life until heaven and earth are reconciled, and all are free as Christ is free.
People: Glory be to you, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; one God and Mother of all creation; as in the beginning, so now, and forever. Amen!
The Lord’s Prayer AA-663
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: You take away the sins of the world.
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: You take away the sins of the world.
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: Grant us your peace.
Celebrant: These are the gifts of God for you, God’s people. This is the Lord’s table. Come, when you are fearful, to be made new in love. Come when you are doubt- ful, to be made strong in faith. Come, when you are regretful, and be made whole. Come, everyone; there is room for all!
Communion Hymn Lord, Keep Me Day by Day AA-129
Post Communion Prayer BCP pg. 365
Celebrant: May the God who made all things and holds together all things remind you of your making. May you rest in the immanence of your own worth, knowing you have nothing to prove and everything to love. Constant as the moon, which is tethered to us by unseen forces, which is suspended above us in the dark and the light, let our dignity remain, be it visible or invisible to those below. And may we re- member the same dignity that holds us, so too holds together every person and piece of the cosmos at once and evermore. Go, in honor, to claim all that you are worthy of. May it be so. Amen. —From “Black Liturgies”
Announcements
Final Hymn I;m so Glad AA-238

We are blessed to have Mr. James Moore lead worship music today.

LECTIONARY INSERT

December 1, 2024

Today’s scriptural translations are by drawn from “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church” By The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney,

Collect
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away despair and put on hope, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Zechariah (8:1-13)

The word of the SOVEREIGN of heaven’s legions came to me, saying: Thus says the COMMANDER of heaven’s vanguard: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and with great wrath am I jealous for her. Thus says the RULER of the multitudes of heaven: I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called “The Faithful City” and the mountain of the SOVEREIGN of the vanguard of heaven shall be called “The Holy Mountain.” Thus says the HOLY ONE of heaven’s armies: Elder women and elder men shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of girls and boys playing in its streets. Thus says the MAJESTY of the Heav- ens: Though it seems miraculous in the eyes of the remnant of this people, in these days, should it also seem miraculous to me, says the COMMANDER of winged warriors? Thus says the SOVEREIGN of heaven’s legions: It is I who will save my people from the east land and from the west land. Then I will bring them to dwell within Jerusa- lem; they shall be my people and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness. Thus says the COMMANDER of heaven’s legions, “Strengthen your hands—you all who hear in these days these words from the mouths of the prophets, female and male, who were present when the foundation was laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of the RULER of the Multitudes of Heaven. For before those days the wages of human labor was nothing and of animal labor, less; as for those coming and going, there was no security from the enemy and I set every single person against their neighbor. Yet now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the SOVEREIGN of heaven’s legions. For there shall be a sowing of peace: the vine shall yield its fruit, the earth shall yield its produce, and the heavens shall yield their dew; and I will inherit the remnant of this people with all these things. And it will be that just as you have been a cursing among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so it will be that when I save you all, you shall be a blessing. Fear not; strengthen your hands.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Psalm 46
God is for us a refuge and strength, a help in trouble, easily found.
Therefore we shall not fear, though the earth should
change, though the mountains quiver in the heart of the sea;
its waters roar and churn, the mountains tremble with its swell.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God will help her when the morning unfurls.
The nations roar, dominions quiver;
God puts forth her voice, the earth melts.
The WARRIOR PROTECTRIX is with us;
a stronghold for us is the God of Rebekah’s line.
Come, behold the works of the FIRE OF SINAI;
see what desolations she has set on the earth.
She makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
she breaks the bow, and shatters the spear,
she burns chariots with fire.
“Be still and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.”
The WARRIOR PROTECTRIX is with us;
a stronghold for us is the God of Rebekah’s line.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

A Reading from the First Letter of John (4:13-21)
By this we know that we abide in God and God in us, because God has given us God’s own Spirit. And we have seen and so testify that the Father has sent the Son of God as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and have believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in order that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as God is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, rather perfect love casts out fear, for fear relates to punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates their sister or brother, they are a liar; for those who do not love a sister or brother whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from God is this: those who love God must love their sisters and brothers also.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Luke (1:5-19)
Glory to you Lord Christ
And it was in the days of Herod king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the lineage of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living according to all the commandments and righteous requirements of the Sovereign God blamelessly. Now they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were advanced in age. And it happened that when Zechariah was serving as priest and his order had the service before God, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to offer incense and he entered the sanctuary of the Holy God. The whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the time of the incense offering. There appeared to Zechariah a messenger of the Living God, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Now Zechariah was shaken when he saw the messenger and fear overwhelmed him. But the messenger said to him, “Fear not, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son for you, and you will call his name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many at his birth will rejoice, for he will be great in the sight of the Sovereign God. Wine and strong drink he must not drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the women and men of Israel to the Holy One their God. He will go before the Holy God with the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the right- eous, to prepare for the Redeeming God a people made ready.” Then Zechariah said to the messenger, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my woman is getting old herself.” The messenger answered him saying, “I am Gabriel. I stand before God and I have been sent to speak to you and to proclaim to you this good news.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Christ

Prayers of the People
In communion with all the saints, and in the name of Jesus, let our prayers ascend to God whose children we are, saying:
Hear us, O Holy One.
For the Church, that we may daily turn to God for strength, vision, and the courage to be faithful disciples, and to bear witness to God’s love and justice in the world.
Hear us, O Holy One.
For this parish family, that we may love, care for and support one another.
Hear us, O Holy One.
For peace in our world, and in our cities, that God will open our minds and hearts to respect the dignity of every human being.
Hear us, O Holy One.
For those living in the shadows of fear, violence, and poverty, that they may be kept safe in the hollow of God’s hand.
Hear us, O Holy One.
In the wake of our election, we pray that this nation may be guided by the Holy Spirit, and follow in God’s Way of Love.
Hear us, O Holy One.
Lifting our voices with all creation, with Mary, the God-bearer, with the spirits of the blessed, with the holy patriarchs, prophets, and martyrs, and all the saints and souls of God, let us offer ourselves and one another to the living God through Christ.
Hear us, O Holy One.
Lord Jesus Christ, we lift up to you all these prayers. Be with us, strengthen us, guide us and protect us, for your name’s sake. Amen