December 4
For Such a Time as This
Year 1 ( 2022 – 2023 )
Text:
Esther 4:1-17
Summary:
Esther consults Mordecai in the face of the King’s cruel proclamation.
Prayer of Confession
Liberating God,
We pray to you from the midst of your broken, beloved world.
We lift our hearts to you,
hungry for you to do something to set things right.
We look to you, and yet
we find you looking back at us –
eager for us to live in the Way you have taught us.
You hunger
that we might share our prosperity with the poor,
that we might give from our fullness to the empty,
that we might set aside our comforts for those who struggle to survive.
These are fearful times, O God.
Forgive us when we shy away from your calling.
Though we falter,
you call us to be your people,
even in such a time as this.
Give us trust. Give us courage. Set us free from fear.
Here. Now. Today – you call us.
Help us to follow.
Congregational Song Suggestions
“Do Not be Afraid”
GTG 76
“Don’t Be Afraid”
VT 596
“Enviados somos de Dios (We Have Been Sent by God)“
GTG 747, VT 771
“Faith Begins by Letting Go”
GTG 684, VT 585
“God of Grace and God of Glory”
GTG 307, VT 716
“God of Our Life”
GTG 686
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
O Antiphon for the day: O come, thou Root of Jesse…
ELW 257, GTG 88, VT 210
“Now the Heavens Start to Whisper”
GTG 94 (JEFFERSON), VT 237 (SUO GAN)
Available from Unbound at giamusic.com
“What Does the Lord Require of You?”
GTG 70, VT 207
A Song for Esther – Magnificat
What might Esther have sung? Perhaps she, like Hannah or Mary, could sing of tyrants overturned,
and a feast of hope for the oppressed.
“My Soul Cries Out with a Joyful Shout (Canticle of the Turning)”
ELW 723, GTG 100, VT 412
Beyond the Hymnal
“No Day but Today”
from the musical RENT, by Jonathan Larson
“Our Time”
from the musical Merrily We Roll Along
“Roar”
by Bonnie Leigh McKee, Henry Walter, Katy Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, and Max Martin
(made popular by Katy Perry – try slowing this into a ballad.)
“The Best of Times is Now”*
from the musical La Cage Aux Folles, by Jerry Herman
(*While typically sung as a brassy anthem, what if this were recast in a more reflective tone?)