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Dec 20, 2020

The End of Quarantine

The End of Quarantine

Passage: Luke 17:11-19

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Advent 2020: O Come Let Us Adore Him

Keywords: mercy, healing, leprosy, distance, outsider, foreigner

For nine months the world has faced a number of separations and isolations and quarantines like it hasn’t had in over a century; we’ve almost had to treat one another if we had a common affliction of leprosy. How many are feeling these various separations in ways they never imagined? How does this short but dramatic encounter between lepers and Jesus reflect something immensely relevant? What does it say to us about the place of adoration?

Order of Worship

OPENING PRAYER: The Gift of Gifts
CALL TO WORSHIP: Ephesians 2:13-14,17-20
ADVENT READING: Isaiah 9:2c, 6-7
MESSAGE TITLE: The End of Quarantine
CENTRAL TEXT: Luke 17:11-19
CONFESSION OF SIN (adapted from The Worship Sourcebook)
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION (adapted from The Worship Sourcebook) RESPONSE: Communion
BENEDICTION: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, NRSV

Readings & Scripture

OPENING PRAYER: The Gift of Gifts
LEADER: O great God. Source of all that’s good and true
What shall we render Thee for the gift of gifts?

ALL: Your own dear Son. Begotten not created.
Our Surety, Substitute, Savior, Redeemer.

LEADER: Herein is wonder of wonders.
ALL: He came below to raise us above.

LEADER: Herein is wisdom. We were undone with no will to return
ALL: Yet you came, to save us and work out a perfect righteousness in us

LEADER: Herein is love
ALL: When we could not draw near, He raised us up

LEADER: O Lord, let our hearts hear good tidings of great joy.
Believing, rejoicing, praising Christ.
ALL: Incarnate. Eternal. A gift from heaven.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Ephesians 2:13-14,17-20
LEADER: 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
ALL: 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

ADVENT READING: Isaiah 9:2c, 6-7
2c The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

CENTRAL TEXT: Luke 17:11-19
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

CONFESSION OF SIN (adapted from The Worship Sourcebook)
Leader: If we look at our own lives,
All: we must confess the mixture of giving and selfishness,
our waiting on the Lord turned to an endless rush, our missing the mark of Advent.
Leader: Lord, forgive our frantic ways and misplaced efforts.
But we can also trust in God,
All: who still brings us salvation,
who still supplies us strength,
who hears our songs of gratitude,
who accepts our joyful praise.
Leader: Let us all draw water from the wells of salvation.
Let us shout it in church and in town:
All: The Lord’s great name will still be praised.
His saving deeds support our lives.
His greatness still astounds us.
The Holy One of Israel is among us.
Praise the Lord and sing for joy.
—based on Isaiah 12

ASSURANCE OF SALVATION (adapted from The Worship Sourcebook)
Minister: The good news of this Advent season is that in Christ there is forgiveness of sin and new life. When we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
All: Let us commit our lives to Christ’s way of hope and peace. Thanks be to the Advent God, who comes among us setting us free to become like our humble Savior.

BENEDICTION: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, NRSV
LEADER: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all,
just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

  • Leviticus 13-14 (esp. 13:19, 13:45-46, 14:1-11)
  • 2 Kings 5:1-19
  • Psalm 30:10-12
  • Psalm 50:22-23
  • Isaiah 66:5
  • Luke 5:14
  • Luke 10:35-42
  • John 19:17-20
  • Ephesians 2:1-3
  • Ephesians 2:13, 17
  • Hebrews 13:10-16

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. We’ve asked you before under vastly different circumstances, but how if at all has this year changed your answers: What makes you happy? What keeps you happy?

QUOTES:

  • There may be no way to permanently increase the total of one’s pleasure except by getting off the hedonic treadmill entirely. - Philip Brickman
  • I believe–whatever one school of moralists may say—that we depend for a very great deal of our happiness or misery on circumstances outside all human control. A right to happiness doesn’t, for me, make much more sense than a right to be six feet tall, or to have a millionaire for your father, or to get good weather whenever you want to have a picnic….- C.S. Lewis
  • . . .in many men’s lives at all periods between infancy and extreme old age, one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring, and the terror of being left outside. . . . unless you take measures to prevent it, this desire is going to be one of the chief motives of your whole life, from the first day on which you enter your profession until the day when you’re too old to care. C.S. Lewis
  • A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes―and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  • I pray that when my time comes I may not grumble that my body has worn out too soon, but hold on to gratitude that I have been so long at the helm of the most wonderful creation the world has ever known, and look forward to meeting its designer face to face.  - Dr. Paul Brand
  • . . .we are creatures; and, as being such, we have two duties, to be resigned and to be thankful. - Leah Libresco Sargeant
  • God's love, and hence the love with which we come to love God, is eros and agape at once: a desire for the other that delights in the distance of otherness. - David Bentley Hart

BOOKS / DOCS

SERMONS / TALKS:

*Opening artwork sequence is by The Skit Guys. Used with permission. See more at www.skitguys.com