First Sunday of Advent
What follows is a worship service which, I pray, you can participate in at a time(s) that are convenient to you. This 'service' will take about forty five (45) minutes.
I pray that you will feel called to ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE in this service.
The text that is in regular typeface (that is what you are reading at the moment) is to be read quietly, while the text that is in bold face (like you are reading right now) is meant to be read aloud.
Opening Hymn:
Let us continue by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we commence our praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
A Call To Worship:
We meet in the name of God,
Creator of the universe,
source of true humanity,
mother and father of all. Amen.
An Assurance of Forgiveness:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
The Sentence For Today (let us say aloud):
To you Lord I lift up my soul; my God I have put my trust in you; you are God my Saviour; for you I have waited all the day long. (Psalm 25:1,4)
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Our first reading for today:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
Our second reading for today:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
Gradual Hymn:
Let us continue by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we raise out voices in praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
A reading from the holy gospel according to Saint Luke.
Listen to David speak to this gospel.
or, if you prefer, you can read the sermon, below:
Sermon for Advent 1, Sunday, 1st Dec 2024
MAY the words of my mouth and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. <Amen>
Grace and mercy are yours, now and forever, through Jesus the Christ. <Amen>
Jesus said, “There will be signs”
When I was a child one of the signs I always looked forward to was my Advent calendar. Every year I was given a new Advent calendar. It was usually a beautiful picture that had a lot of little numbered doors, one for each day of Advent. Each day I would open a little door on the calendar. Behind the door was a Bible verse, part of the Christmas story, or a religious picture.
Each door I opened was a sign Christmas was getting closer. I was counting down the days. In those days, I looked forward to the future one day at a time.
Then something happened. Somewhere along the way life and Advent changed. Advent was no longer just the season before Christmas, a countdown. Instead it began to describe the reality of life and the world. The gospel texts about the destruction of the temple, war, earthquakes, famines, plagues, and betrayals took on new meanings.
Advent became a season of change, letting go, and looking to a future that was not yet clear or known. I’m not exactly sure when it began or how it happened but I know it did! That’s the reality we all live with today … continued bloodshed in The Holy Land, Russia and Ukraine, a new President in the US … a world with a future not yet clear. <PAUSE>
Over the years - my life has changed. Your lives have changed. The world has changed.
So you, like me, have lived, and are living, through seasons of change, letting go, and stepping into an uncertain future, maybe even a future we do not expect, do not want.
Maybe that’s why every year on this day, the First Sunday of Advent, we always hear a gospel text that SEEMS to describe the end of the world and the signs that will accompany that ending.
Jesus said, “There will be signs”
HOWEVER FROM JESUS THESE ARE WORDS OF HOPE (AND REASSURANCE), NOT DIRE WARNINGS AND THREATS!
These words of Jesus are not meant to be, and MUST NOT be, used as words predict a future of impeding doom and loss. They are not to become indicators that the world will end and you better shape up or God is going to get you.
This misinterpretation of “the signs” serves only to push us further into darkness and deeper into our fears. It blinds us to the COMING OF THE SON OF MAN with power and great glory.
Jesus DOES NOT ask up to predict the future. He NEVER says these are the signs that the end of the world has come.
Instead, he says that when we see the signs we are to stand up, raise our heads, and know that help is on the way; our redemption, our healing, our Saviour have drawn near. The signs are not a reason to hang our head in despair or shrink from life into a fear of what MIGHT be.
That we can see signs in our lives and the world means that the circumstances we face, and the events that happen, contain and reveal the promise of Christ’s coming. Signs are our hope and reassurance that God has not abandoned us, that God notices us, that God cares, comes to, and participates in our life’s circumstances.
The Advent signs are as ordinary and common as the cherry trees near my home. They’ve flowered, they have sprouted new leaves. I see the new leaves and I know something is happening. Summer is so near. Look to a NEW season, look to NEW growth, look to NEW fruit … look to NEW LIFE. That is the promise and good news of the Advent signs.
The kingdom of God is near. We are entering a new season. We will see new life and new growth around us.
We will produce new fruit.
We will open the doors of our life with new courage and confidence.
We will look on the world with a new sense of hope.
We will be strengthened to do the work God has given us to do.
I runga e te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu. <AMINE>
In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit <AMEN>
Pause and Reflect
Just take a moment now to pause. Bow your head, close your eyes.
Allow these words of Holy Scripture and this interpretation of them today to speak to you.
An Affirmation of Our Faith
Let us affirm our faith by saying aloud, and together, "The Apostles Creed":
... and now let us pray for the Church, the World, and Ourselves, giving thanks for God's goodness.
Let us pray aloud, and together:
In response to the call today “Lord, in Your mercy” Our plea is, “hear our prayer”
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy : Hear our prayer.
Almighty God, as the new day dawns on this Advent Sunday, we give thanks for the first glimmers of the light which remind us of the coming of Your Son Jesus Christ.
We believe that Your light has the power to overcome all our darkness and pray that throughout the Season of Advent we may we share in the mystery of Your coming into the world.
(LONGER pause for silent, personal reflection)
In response to the call today “Lord, in Your mercy” Our response is, “hear our prayer!”
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Loving God, we dedicate to you all of the activities organised by faith communities during Advent and pray for all who will attend. Let it be that through prayer, praise and music they may make their own preparations for a Holy Christmas.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Today our hopes for our troubled world are for an end to the wars still raging throughout the world, an end to terrorism, an end to poverty and hunger, a resolution to the migrant crisis and a positive outcome to Climate Change negotiations. Come to Your world as King of the Nations and before You rulers will stand in silence.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Father God, although we are sometimes separated by language and culture from the people we live amongst, our hope for our community is to see Your will done here on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for our neighbours, not only with words, but day by day, that through our actions we might demonstrate our Christian faith in a very real sense.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Gracious God, we raise before You the ill, the lonely and distressed and especially those without hope for the future. We pray for healing, wholeness and hope in their lives and we pray for ourselves. Help us to bring life and love, joy and hope, to those who live in despair.
We especially raise before You now all those who have asked for our prayers from around the world … those we know in New Zealand, in Singapore, in Argentina, in France, in Australia, in the US, in Canada, in Austria, in Ukraine, in China and any others we now name aloud, or in the silence of our hearts, and those who are known only by You.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Merciful God, we remember those who have died and pray for those who are bereaved. May the light of Christ which eternally shines bring hope to their dark places.
May all the faithful departed now rest in peace as they most surely have risen in glory.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your Mercy: Hear our prayer
In a moment of silence we pray for ourselves, our families, friends, for all whom we love and for our personal ministries. Make the things that we choose to do worthy of the life, death, and rising again of Your Son.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Loving God, as we go into our Advent journey in faith, we ask you in hope to minister to our needs.
O come, O Come, Emmanuel and fill the hearts of Your faithful people and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Forth in the peace of Christ we go; Christ to the world with joy we bring; Christ in our minds, Christ on our lips, Christ in our hearts, the world’s true King.
Merciful father: accept these prayers for the sake of Your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Remembering that we are confident to pray this day, and every day, because Jesus Christ continues to teach us:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
Let us conclude our prayers by praying together and aloud:
God of mercy,
you have given us grace to pray with one heart and one voice,
and have promised to hear the prayers
of two or three who agree in your name,
fulfil now, we pray,
the prayers and longings of your people
as may be best for us and for your kingdom.
Grant us in this world to know your truth,
and in the world to come to see your glory. Amen.
The Blessing
May The Risen Lord Christ turn His face towards each and every one of you.
May He cause His light to shine upon you, and
may He grant you His peace, and
The blessing of Almighty God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you and all of those whom you love,
on this day and forever more.
A Closing Hymn:
Let us conclude our worship today by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we unite in another hymn our praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
The Dismissal
Go now, go out into the world
to love and serve The Lord.
Go in peace.
AMEN, we go in the name of Christ.
