Morning Service Sunday 1 December 2024

Welcome and Intimations

Advent Candle Liturgy

One:

From deep in the past, Jeremiah calls to us, “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 33:14). Beloved, the days are surely coming when the yearning of the land; the longing of the sun, moon, and stars; the desperate need of the people of earth for flourishing and peace will receive their fulfillment.

All:

While fear, anxiety, misinformation, and suspicion surround us on every side, we choose to watch and wait in hope, preparing our hearts to notice and cooperate with God’s grace already at work in our midst.

One:

We light this candle of hope as a sign of our commitment to pay attention and prepare for the days that are surely coming and are already here—the days when God’s kin-dom of love, justice, and mercy will reign.

Light the first candle of the Advent wreath.

Prayer and 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.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.

CH4 282 Christmas Is Coming!

(verse 1 and refrain only)

1. The first is for God's promise 
   to put the wrong things right, 
   and bring to earth's darkness 
   the hope of love and light. 
   

   Christmas is coming 
   the Church is glad to sing 
   and let the advent candles 
   brightly burn in a ring. 
   

1. Jeremiah 33:14-16
2. 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Special Message “A Baby What?!”

Lead by Jean and Peter Gray

MP 629 Tell Me the Stories of Jesus

1. I love to hear;
   Tell me the stories of Jesus
   things I would ask him to tell me
   if he were here;
   scenes by the wayside,
   tales of the sea,
   stories of Jesus,
   tell them to me.
   

2. First let me hear how the children
   stood round his knee;
   that I may know of his blessing
   resting on me;
   words full of kindness,
   deeds full of grace,
   signs of the love found
   in Jesus' face.
   

3. Tell me, in words full of wonder,
   how rolled the sea,
   tossing the boat in a tempest
   on Galilee;
   Jesus, then doing
   His Father’s will,
   ended the storm saying,
   “Peace, peace, be still."
   

4. Into the city I'd follow
   the children's band,
   waving a branch of the palm-tree
   high in my hand;
   worshipping Jesus,
   yes, I would sing
   loudest hosannas!
   for He is King!
   

5. Show me that scene in the garden
   of bitter pain;
   and of the cross where my Saviour
   for me was slain.
   and, through the sadness,
   help me to see
   how Jesus suffered
   for love of me.
   

6. Gladly I’d hear of His rising
   out of the grave,
   living and strong and triumphant,
   mighty to save:
   and how He sends us
   all men to bring
   stories of Jesus,
   Jesus, their King.
   

Meditation

CH4 21 Lord Teach Me All Your Ways

(based on Psalm 25)

1. Lord, teach me all your ways,
   reveal your paths to me;
   and lead me in your saving truth,
   show me what I should be.
   

2. Remember, Lord, your love,
   your care from ages past;
   and in that love remember me,
   in kindness hold me fast.
   

3. Forget my youthful faults,
   forgive my sinful ways;
   within the kindness of your love
   remember me always.
   

4. God, who is just and good,
   shows all who sin his way;
   he leads the humble in right paths,
   their teacher day by day.
   

5. All pathways of the Lord
   are kindly, true, and sure
   to those who keep his covenant
   and in his ways endure.
   

Offering

Prayer of Intercession

CH4 477 Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending

1. Lo, he comes with clouds descending,
   Christ, the Lamb, for sinners slain;
   thousand thousand saints attending
   join the sing the glad refrain:
   Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
   God appears on earth to reign.
   

2. Every eye shall now behold him,
   robed in dreadful majesty;
   those who set at naught and sold him,
   pierced, and nailed him to the tree,
   deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
   shall the true Messiah see.
   

3. Those deep wounds of cross and passion
   still his glorious body bears:
   cause of endless exultation
   to his ransomed worshipers:
   Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
   See! the day of God appears.
   

4. Yea, amen, let all adore you,
   high on your eternal throne:
   Saviour, take the power and glory,
   claim the kingdom for your own:
   oh, come quickly, oh, come quickly, oh, come quickly,
   Alleluia! come, Lord, come!
   

Blessing