Longest Night Service // First Baptist Church

 While the holiday season is often fun and festive, for many it can be full of painful memories and tearful nights. During this darkest season of the calendar—and perhaps on this longest night of the year—please use this liturgy as an individual or family to help you reflect on the pain, grief, and anger you may be experiencing during this season and how God can still comfort you with God’s hope and peace.

Opening Words / Call to Worship

We cry to the Lord who counts and collects our tears.

Be with us now.

In our grief and our pain, our bodies and spirits cry out.

Hear us, O Lord. Amen.

Prayer

The days are short. The nights are long. Lord, your universe mirrors the reality of our hearts, revealing your gracious spirit that mourns with us in grief, cries with us in sorrow, sits with us in despair. You are not a distant God, removed from human pain, but a faithful companion closer to us than our tears. Help us to feel your presence now as we remember and reflect, seeking your healing touch and the hope that was promised and delivered in Jesus Christ your Son. Amen.

Lighting of the Advent Candles (any candles would do)

[Reader 1]:  We light these candles in thanksgiving for loved ones lost,

                    for past health and joy that now seems distant.

[Reader 2]:  We light these candles in prayer, that we will feel God’s love

  in our present sorrow.

[Reader 3]:  We light these candles in hope, for the promises of God to be revealed.

[All]:            Glory to God. Amen.

Scripture Readings

Psalm 13 

¹ How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

⁴ and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,

for he has been good to me.

Psalm 61:1-4; 62:1-2 

¹ Hear my cry, O God;

listen to my prayer.

² From the ends of the earth I call to you,

I call as my heart grows faint;

lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

³ For you have been my refuge,

a strong tower against the foe.

⁴ I long to dwell in your tent forever

and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

^62:1 Truly my soul finds rest in God;

my salvation comes from him.

² Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Psalm 139:7-12 

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 23 

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

² He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

³ he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

Sermonette: a short video from Pastor Jason

Charge and Blessing

May Jesus, the life—the life that is light for all people—

      shine in your heart.

No matter how small, no matter how dim, that light

      will stubbornly shine.

And the darkness will not overcome it.

Go in peace, with courage to face the coming days

      with hope, with God by your side. Amen.

The Power of Worship

I preached about desire last Sunday - that at the most basic level of our humanity, we are lovers - we desire. So then the question for us isn't whether we desire, but what we desire. Are our desires pure and altruistic? Do they benefit the rest of creation? Are they selfish and harmful? What do we desire?

Many of these thoughts were aided by a philosopher named James K.A. Smith. Smith argues, in a book called Desiring the Kingdom, that we naturally create cultural liturgies around our desires. We form rituals and practices that reinforce that which we love and desire. These desires are varied and diverse, ranging from sports and art and hobbies to social justice, spirituality, and volunteer work. We form rhythms around our desires. Borrowing from Augustine, Smith reminds us that,

"We are what we love."

Which leads me to worship. As a Christian, if I claim to love and desire God and relationship with God, then my cultural liturgies I create will manifest themselves in what we normally think of as worship. But we don't just create these cultural liturgies - we don't just create worship liturgies - they also create us. There is a symbiotic power in worship, where we don't shape a worship gathering, but it shapes us as well. Too often worship is thought of as a passive event that you simply attend. But worship isn't just some boring, rote ritual we perform. It's not placebo; it's not a crutch; it's not a task to cross off in our weekly schedule. It's not even something we go to. Once again, from Jamie Smith,

"Liturgy isn't something that you do; it does something to you." 

Worship shapes us; forms us; takes us from one place to another. We don't stand on the outside of a worship gathering and witness the liturgy. Worship is no spectator sport. We join in; we play a role; we get implicated into something bigger than ourselves. We join together with thousands of years and millions of people who have stepped into the formational process and allowed themselves to be moved, changed, transformed. So if you love God - if that's where your desire is located - then show up to the worship gathering expecting to get changed; for something to happen; for the liturgy to do something to you - because I guarantee it will.

Musical Prayers

I don't know about you, but some of my best insights come in the shower. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but I would opine that during this season of my life, the shower is about the only place in my home where I can escape from my ever-curious toddler. Something about changing diapers, watching PBS Kids, playing with toys, and reading stories to a baby doesn't leave much room for deep contemplation and introspection.

During my Monday morning shower I had another one of those 'aha' kind of moments. Every Monday night we host a student-led worship and prayer service at the youth center where I work and often I am in charge of leading the music for that event. In the midst of my warmth-induced shower coma, I suddenly had a an idea about how I might lead the students in worship and prayer that evening - I would use the themes from our songs to lead us into intentional times of prayer.

I began by choosing six songs that all had a certain theme that I wanted us to pray about. Then, during our actual time of worship that evening, we would sing a song and then follow that by breaking into small groups to pray over the theme that the song had just addressed. For example, I began by playing the song "Your Grace is Enough" and then we broke into groups to thank God for God's incredible grace and forgiveness in our lives. We went on to sing five more songs, focusing on the themes of love, God's strength and greatness, God's intimate and personal nature, following Jesus through discipleship, and serving the world through justice.

I didn't know how this idea would work and whether the students would enjoy the process, but it worked great and they LOVED it. And I did too. It was a lot of fun and was a really meaningful way of worshiping and praying. I look forward to making this idea a consistent part of these student gatherings, and may even try it with our church in a Sunday worship service. The picture below is my rough outline of the songs I chose and the themes we explored in prayer. I think I'll call this form of worship and prayer "Musical Prayers" (see what I did there?!?).