Our November Mission is ROCKY MOUNTAIN KIDS.
With over 29 years of service to teens, we have four community based residential homes in Colorado Springs.
The children and teens ranging from ages 12-20 are supported by a caring staff in a safe environment where they can heal from the abuse and neglect in their past. They are given opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities, including school sports and enrichment programs. The teens are also provided with life skills training, educational support, and assistance for employment. These skills will help them succeed in life, whether their goal is to return home, or emancipate and live independently. We see these kids Trauma and help repair the wounds.
One of the homes even have an innovative apartment program, where a young man emancipating into self-sufficiency can use the upstairs apartment and "try out" his new independent status to prepare to transition out of our homes.
Typically, the length of stay for a teen in our program varies from 6 months to 2 years.
In December we have a hands on mission project of decorating Christmas stockings for the RMKids during Fellowship time. The exact Sunday to be announced.

“King of Kings”
Advent 1

GATHERING

Like the iconic figures gathered around the Christ Child in our nativity scenes, we gather together because we want to know Jesus more as we seek to bring his Reign of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love on earth.
 
Prelude
Cynthia Hibbetts

Welcome
Rev. David Petty

We Gather at the Scene
 
Erin Couitt: In 1865, William Chatterton Dix penned a poem that would become the beloved Christmas-time favorite, “What Child is This?” This year for Advent and Christmas, we will be prompted by this carol to ask deeper questions of Jesus’ identity, “what child IS this?” When we look beyond the lullaby, what we discover is that the answers are much more complicated than the lilting lullaby tune conveys. The time of Jesus’ birth was fraught with difficulties. This is the scene into which Jesus was born. We are called, as his disciples, to enter the scene in the midst of our own complicated and difficult time in history, offering
Hope as the Christ Child did.

What Child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?

Erin Couitt: The nature of humanity seems to point to the need for a “savior,” especially when we feel things are out of control. People in the time of Jesus’ birth were no different. They hoped for a new reality of communal wellbeing in the midst of corruption and violence. Peace only existed by definition of the empire. The collaboration of religious and state authorities for the sake of the rich and the demise of the poor was a hard reality for most.
 
Katie & Owen Leukhardt

Reader 1: We light this candle of Hope for those who need it most.
Reader 2: For all who search for a place to belong.
Reader 1: For all who are frightened by imposing forces.
Reader 2: For all whose future seems uncertain.
Reader 1: Our question for today at the scene of the nativity is this: “For what do
                           we hope in our time that will be ‘good news for ALL people?’”
Reader 2: What child IS this? This, this, is Christ the King who reigns with hope
forever.

All Sung: This, this is Christ, the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!
 
Prayer of Invocation
Erin Couitt

All: Here, at the nativity of your birth,
give us the courage to face this moment
with humility and hope.
Open us to new understandings of
the unfolding story of your presence among us.
Show us the true meaning of the kingdom on earth
as it is in heaven.
We pray in the name of the Child,
the One Who Reigns in our hearts and lives.
Amen.
 
“Bring Him Laud”
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
v. 1, 2, 4, 7 UMH #211
WORDS: 9th cent. Latin; trans. st. 1, 3, 5ab, 6cd, 7ab, The Hymnal, 1940; st. 2,
Henry Sloane Coffin, 1916; st. 4, 5cd, 6ab, 7cd, Laurence Hull Stookey, 1986
Sts. 1, 3, 5ab, 6cd, 7ab © 1940, 1943, renewed 1981 The Church Pension Fund;
trans. sts. 4, 5cd, 6ab, 7cd © 1989 The United Methodist Publishing
House; antiphons © 1962 Sisters of St. Benedict
 
1. O come, O come,
Emmanuel,
and ransom
captive Israel,
 
that mourns in
lowly exile here
until the Son
of God appear.
 
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel
shall come to thee,
O Israel.
 
2. O come, thou wisdom
from on high,
and order all things
far and nigh;
 
to us the path of
knowledge show
and cause us in her
ways to go.
 
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel
shall come to thee,
O Israel.
 
4. O come, thou Root
of Jesse’s tree,
an ensign of
thy people be;
 
before thee rulers
silent fall;
all peoples on thy
mercy call.
 
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel
shall come to thee,
O Israel.
 
7. O come, Desire of
nations bind
all peoples in
one heart and mind.
 
From dust thou brought
us forth to life;
deliver us from
earthly strife.
 
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel
shall come to thee,
O Israel.
 
Passing the Peace
Rev. David Petty

“Haste, Haste” – The Mystery Box

We Hear the Story
 
Erin Couitt: We begin today with a scripture from the Hebrew Bible, Lamentations 3:46-57. In the book, The First Advent in Palestine, author Kelley Nikondeha says this, “…grief work is the seedbed for Advent hope. We cannot grasp the fullness of the Advent narratives to come without attending to the brokenness of our world. Lament is how we name and honor what has been lost or taken from us by one empire or another.” This lament comes from the time of Babylonian exile.
 
Our enemies laugh at us with open mouths.
The snare and pit of the hunter lie ahead of us—
         devastation and ruin! 
Rivers of water run from my eyes
         because my people are destroyed.
Tears flow continuously from my eyes,
         refusing all comfort— 
         all of this while YHWH watches from the heavens.
My spirit is grieved as I see the fate of children in my city. 
Those who became my enemies without provocation 
         chased and harangued me like a bird.
 
Erin Couitt: Our second reading is from Luke 2:1-5. It places us in the scene before the arrival of the Holy Family when the manger in Bethlehem was simply serving as a place for the animals’ feed.
 
In those days, Caesar Augustus published a decree ordering a census of the whole Roman world. This first census took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All the people were instructed to go back to the towns of their birth to register. And so Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to “the city of David”—Bethlehem, in Judea, because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David; he went to register with Mary, his espoused wife, who was pregnant.
 
Message
King of Kings
Rev. David Petty

RESPONDING
Our faithful response is to praise God for this story of Emmanuel, God-With-Us, even and especially in the midst of difficulty, for God is indeed with us even still.
 
“We Keep Watch” – Prayers
Rev. David Petty

Emmanuel
UMH #204
WORDS: Bob McGee, 1976 (Mt. 1:23)
© 1976 C. A. Music (div. of Christian Artists Corp.)
 
Emmanuel,
Emmanuel,
his name is called
Emmanuel.
 
God with us,
revealed in us,
his name is called
Emmanuel.

Rev. Daivd Petty: In this moment of silent contemplation, we lift up our hopes for the world, for its people, for the kind of kin-dom embodied by the child who became the Christ.
 
Time of Silent Contemplation
 
Holy Living One,
Child of Hope,
Spirit of Benevolence,
we come to you today weary of the rulers of history,
weary of continued misguided power,
and the tenuous peace heralded through control
and perpetrated by violence.
We know you are with us,
for you came to our human story when we needed your message so much.
We still do.
We ask, “what child is this that we follow, and who are we
in the scene of this unfolding story?”
As the manger waits for your arrival surrounded by the daily needs of family and flock,
we again plead for your presence to break into our lives
and show us the light of hope.
And we ask for the courage to step into the scene,
preparing the way for your reign.
 
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.
Lead us not
into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
 
For Thine is the Kingdom,
and the Power
and the Glory forever.
Amen
 
Emmanuel
UMH #204
WORDS: Bob McGee, 1976 (Mt. 1:23)
© 1976 C. A. Music (div. of Christian Artists Corp.)
 
Emmanuel,
Emmanuel,
his name is called
Emmanuel.
 
God with us,
revealed in us,
his name is called
Emmanuel.

“So Bring Him…”
Erin Couitt: What gifts are adequate for the King of Kings, the Child of Hope? Our theme song says, “so bring him incense, gold, and myrrh; come peasant, king, to own him.” Whether what we have to give is simply the gift of our presence and gratitude, or if we are privileged with coffers of precious resources, we give what we can. In this way we “take ownership” of our role in the scene, in the unfolding story of Hope.

Offertory
Sanctuary Choir

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Rev. David Petty

Doxology
Praise God from Who All Blessings Flow
UMH #94
 
Praise God, from whom
all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures
here below: Alleluia! Alleluia!
 
Praise God, the source
of all our gifts!
Praise Jesus Christ,
whose power uplifts!
 
Praise the Spirit,
Holy Spirit!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia!

SENDING FORTH
Just as our theme carol asks, “what child is this?” we, too, have come with our questions this day. We go into the world with answers of Good News, being the Body of Christ through our words and deeds. 
 
*We Ask, We Answer
Rev. David Petty

As we prepare to go into the world,
let us ask and answer the question we came with.
 
What child IS this?
This is the one born into a time when
hope was hard.
What child IS this?
This is the one whose lowly status would send a message of hope
that alleviation of oppression is a holy endeavor.
What child IS this?
This, this is the “King of Kings”
who shows us the way of true hope for all people.

*Closing Hymn/Song
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
UMH #196
WORDS: Charles Wesley, 1744
1. Come, thou long-
expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears
and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
 
Israel’s strength
and consolation,
hope of all
the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
 
2. Born thy people
to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign
in us forever,
now thy gracious
kingdom bring.
 
By thine own
eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all
sufficient merit,
raise us to
thy glorious throne.
 
*Benediction
Rev. David Petty
 
May the Sovereign of All,
the Child of Hope,
the Spirit of Resistance to Injustice
be with you now and as you go.
Amen.
 
*Postlude
Cynthia Hibbetts