All of Us Welcome - Poem by Raymond A. Foss

All of us welcome
at the feet of Jesus
all of us called
to come before God

The example of Christmas
of the first visitors
the shepherds in the night
answering the angels’ call

The Magi, the strangers
the foreign mystics
coming to the star
to see the holy child

None of the expected
the leaders, those worthy
they did not come
to bow at this bed

All of us welcome
like the outcasts at Christmas
the homeless, the doubting
those wracked with pain

We all are called
to the throne of judgment
to answer for our lives
when our time here is through

What will we say then
when we come before Jesus
will we talk of our reverence
our love for our fellow man

Or will we be like the leaders
who ignored Jesus
holding onto their power
while Christ came to the earth

December 20, 2010
Matthew 2:1-5
Hebrews 12:28-13.3
Matthew 25:31-46
John 4:9 (bulletin cover)
Psalm 98:4-9 (“Joy to the World”, UMH #246)
Matthew 2:1-12 (“Star-Child”, TFWS #2095)
Luke 2:6-20 (“Angels We Have Heard on High”, UMH #238)
Advent Candle Liturgy, by Dean McIntyre (with Matthew 1:18-25)
Worship Theme: “You never know where you will encounter God.”
Unison Prayer
and sermon, “Meeting Angels”
by Reverend Huntley Halvorson
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
December 19, 2010
Fourth Sunday of Advent

Copyright by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage.