Bulletin – Sunday, December 8, 2024 – Second Sunday of Advent
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Second Sunday of Advent
We Gather as People of Faith
Welcome
Announcements
Call to Worship
One: We gather on the second Sunday of Advent.
All: We gather as companions of the Christ whose birth we remember…
One: We gather as companions of the Christ whose birth we await…
All: We gather as people of peace.
Hymn – “We Raise a Song of Advent Praise”
We raise a song a Advent praise, expectant hope proclaim,
For God who has in Christ once come, comes to us yet again.
The wilderness shall burst in flower, the streams shall overflow,
When God shall bless the earth with love, when God shall bring us home.
The two-fold Call, “Rejoice, repent,” the message for this day,
The we may ready heart and house for God who comes to stay.
For poor and helpless such as we, the Saviour Christ is born;
With Mary we both wait and pray and sing, in faith and hope.
When joy in one small baby’s cry, the promise now fulfilled,
When God shall in an infant’s form be in the earth revealed.
Sing alleluia, O my soul, sing praise to God alone,
For in the advent of the Lord, creation is made whole.
Lighting the Advent Candles
One: Today is the second Sunday in the season of Advent. Last Sunday, we lit the first candle, the handle of hope. We light it again, remembering that the light of hope shines for us in the darkness.
(The first candle is lit)
One: On this second Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of peace.
(The second candle is lit)
One: May the peace of Christ be with us.
All: May all people know the peace of Christ.
One: May all creation know the peace of Christ.
All: This Advent we prepare for the birth of Jesus, source of light.
One: Jesus, agent of peace…
All: Jesus the Christ, God’s gift of peace for the world.
Sung Response – “Light a Candle”
Light a candle for peace in the darkness,
Souls content, we know you are near;
Advent watching and waiting for Jesus,
God with us, resolving our fears,
Emmanuel, peace is here;
Peace is here!
Prayer of Approach and Confession
God, lead us again to the place hope and peace are born. Lead us again to the place of Bethlehem birth. Lead us, and free us from the temptation to be merely spectators. Inspire us to let hope and peace be in us, to be born into the world through us. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Sung Response – “Come, Come Emmanuel” (MV #11)
Come, come Emmanuel. Come, Emmanuel.
Come, come Emmanuel. Come, Emmanuel.
A Story for All
We Hear God’s Word
Scripture Reading: Baruch 5:1-9
1 Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God. 2 Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God; put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting, 3 for God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven, 4 for God will give you evermore the name, “Righteous Peace, Godly Glory.”
5 Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height; look toward the east, and see your children gathered from west and east at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them. 6 For they went out from you on foot, led away by their enemies, but God will bring them back to you, carried in glory, as on a royal throne.
7 For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up, to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. 8 The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God’s command. 9 For God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.
Scripture Reading: Luke 3:1-6
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Hymn – “All Earth is Waiting” (VU #5)
All earth is waiting to see the Promised one,
And open furrows await the seed of God.
All the world, bound and struggling, seeks true liberty;
It cries out for justice and searches for the truth.
Thus says the prophet to those of Israel,
“A virgin mother will bear Emmanuel.”
One whose name is “God with us,” our Saviour shall be,
Through whom hope will blossom once more within our hearts.
Mountains and valleys will have to be made plain,
Open new highways, new highways for our God,
Who is now coming closer, so come all and see,
And open the doorways as wide as wide can be.
In lowly stable the Promised One appeared.
Yet, feel that presence throughout the earth today,
For Christ lives in all Christians and is with us now;
Again, on arriving, Christ brings us liberty.
Meditation
Anthem – “Prepare the Way”
Prepare the Way, prepare the Way,
A flame is burning bright.
For Jesus Christ is coming,
In Love and Truth, and Light.
We are the pathways, winding roads;
Hearts will be opened, love will grow.
We are the rough roads, smoothed and slow,
And the valleys that fill and the mountains made low.
Prepare the Way, prepare the Way,
A flame is burning bright.
For Jesus Christ is coming,
In Love and Truth, and Light.
We are the people God made one,
We are beloved every one.
We are the earth, the stars, the sun,
We’re preparing the way for the Wonder to come.
Prepare the Way, prepare the Way,
A flame is burning bright.
For Jesus Christ is coming,
In Love and Truth, and Light.
For Jesus Christ is coming,
In Love and Truth, and Light.
We Respond to God’s Word
Invitation to Share
Offering Response – “In this Advent Time of Waiting”
In this Advent time of waiting may we serve the Prince of Peace.
Share our gifts with those around us, joy and hope in all increase.
Dream the vision, tell the story, healing bring to those in need.
Share the promises once more, Christ is near, who came before.
Offering Prayer
Prayers for the People
The Prayer that Jesus Taught
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 them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
We Go Into God’s World
Hymn – “When Hands Reach Out” (MV #169)
When hands reach out beyond divides and hope is truly found,
Each chain of hate will fall away and bells of peace shall sound.
And bells of peace, of peace shall sound, and bells of peace shall sound,
Each chain of hate will fall away and bells of peace shall sound.
When fear no longer guides our steps and days of war are done,
God’s dream for all shall live anew; our hearts will heal as one.
Our hearts will heal, will heal as one, our hearts will heal as one.
God’s dream for all shall live anew; our hearts will heal as one.
When race and creed blind us no more, a neighbour’s face we’ll see,
And we shall dance the whole world round, for love will set us free.
For love, yes love will set us free, for love will set us free,
And we shall dance the whole world round, for love will set us free.
Commissioning and Benediction
Response – “May the God of Hope” (VU #424)
May the God of hope go with us every day,
Filling all our lives with love and joy and peace.
May the God of justice speed us on our way,
Bringing light and hope to every land and race.
Praying, let us work for peace,
Singing, share our joy with all,
Working for a world that’s new,
Faithful when we hear Christ’s call.
