Freelton Strabane United Church
To live our discipleship with integrity and grace.
Horseshoe Falls Regional Council
Advent 2
December 10 2023
Minister: Rev. Will Wheeler, B.A. M. Div. 905-659-3380 E-mail: wwwheeler@sympatico.ca
Music Director Joan Simpson
Announcements
Gathering
God rest ye merry gentle folk
Let nothing you dismay
For Jesus Christ our savior will come to us this day
To bring us hope rejoicing and all shall sing again.
O tidings of comfort and hope comfort and hope
O tidings of comfort and hope
Call to Worship
One There is a voice that calls our from the wilderness.
All: what is this voice? We can only hear Christmas music playing in the stores and on the streets.
One: it is the voice of the prophets, a voice that calls us to prepare for the coming of God.
All: but how will we prepare for God when we are so busy preparing for Christmas/
One: the prophet is not telling us to bake cookies and wrap presents. The prophet is calling us to peace; the peace that Christ can bring to our hearts, to our lives and to our world.
All: this kind of peace is good thing but how do we come to this peace?
One: Let us sit in stillness and silence for just a moment and give God and God’s peace a chance to enter in. into our hearts and into our beings.
Advent Candle lighting
One: Imagine two friends sitting looking out a window and one says “What are you doing?”
All: waiting.
One: Waiting for what?
All: That is a good question Waiting helps us to slow down long enough to perhaps sense the a ribbon of the peace of God wrapping itself around us. . To perhaps see that piece int he kindness of people.
One: I guess the care and kindness that we find in our lives is like a ribbon encircling the earth
All : That is true. In the waiting we find time to reflect on the promise of hope and peace that we can find on our journey towards the Christmas coming.
One: Well I will wait with you and we light this candle a candle for waiting in a quiet moment to know God’s peace. A light that continues to dispel the darkness.
Candle is Lit
All Peace giving God, let your spirit burn in our hearts, let your light of peace shine in our world and as we wait through the advent season for the baby Jesus’ birth let your peace calm our lives so that we may journey to where the Christ would be born Today
Sing Hope is a star vu7
Peace is a ribbon that circles the earth,
giving a promise of safety and worth.
When God is a child there's joy in our song.
The last shall be first and the weak shall be strong,
and none shall be afraid.
Prayer of Confession
All Your prophets are easy to dismiss, God. They often tell us things we would rather not hear, things that will challenge us and change us. So we ignore them, or discredit them so that we don’t have to hear or act upon their message. Forgive us, god. Make us more attuned to the prophetic voices around us, especially when they belong to those we’d rather exclude.
Silent prayer
Lord have Mercy
Christ have Mercy
Lord have Mercy
One Our God has shown us mercy and granted us salvation. His truth shall reign in our hearts and his love shall pour out upon us.
Tune pg 37
Glory to God
Glory to God
Glory in the highest
Glory to God,
glory to God,
Hallelujah Hallelujah
All our ears are open
One: A reading from Isaiah 40:1-11
One This is the word of the Lord
All Thanks be to God
One: Hear the word of God
All our ears are open
Gospel Mark 1:1-8
One: This is the Gospel of our Lord
All Thanks be to God
Prayer
Lord as we ponder your words open our hearts that we may understand and know you. Amen
Sermon
Ah the season of Advent. Which means Advent of the Advent calendars that come in the form of chocolates, toys, wine and yes liquors and even rocks. Someone gave me a really nice Rock advent calendar last week.
Advent Calendars are part of the getting ready for Christmas which suggests the best way to prepare for Christmas is to be somewhat three sheets to the wind.
This is not a sound theological or religious context to approach the season.
We are lead to believe that this is ok for this is not truly a religious concept. It is just advent, not Christmas. Oh I beg to differ
In the Great swing of what is politically correct or not. We find this season hung with the seasonal garland of controversy.
The annual social media arguments of Is it a Christmas tree or seasonal tree has begun following on the heals of Seasonal Greetings, vs Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays. The gloves come off.
Christmas and controversy is not new. In early church there was no Christmas. Just a lot of argument.
If observed at all, the celebration of Christ's birth was usually lumped in with Epiphany (January 6), one of the church's earliest established feasts. Some church leaders even opposed the idea of a birth celebration. Origen (c.185-c.254) preached that it would be wrong to honor Christ in the same way Pharaoh and Herod were honored. Birthdays were for pagan gods.
Not all of Origen's contemporaries agreed that Christ's birthday shouldn't be celebrated, and some began to speculate on the Date. (someone had lost Jesus Birth Certificate and we all know how hard they are to replace.) Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) favored May 20 but noted that others had argued for April 18, April 19, and May 28. Hippolytus (c.170-c.236) championed January 2. or November 17, or November 20, perhaps March 25 all had backers as well. A Latin treatise written around 243 pegged March 21, because that was believed to be the date on which God created the sun. Polycarp (c.69-c.155) had followed the same line of reasoning to conclude that Christ's birth and baptism most likely occurred on Wednesday, because the sun was created on the fourth day.
Can we have the Christian message without the Christmas story.
Some would argue yes, as it is the Resurrection event which defines who we are and the notion of the nativity comes some 300 years after the fact.
Amongst the packages, boxes and bows, amongst the 7ft fully digital LED lighted tree that plays 20 of your favorite Christmas songs, frosty Rudolf, white Christmas and silver bells, Amongst mid night madness, and Manic Monday’s and eating the chocolate cookies you baked for gifts which now means baking another batch, where do find the time for hope, peace, joy and love and a story that reminds us of God’s in breaking love. (in the bottom of 25 wines in the advent calender.)
As Early Christian built a scaffolding faith around others traditions now it seems secularism has built a scaffolding around our Holy days (not just Christmas) slowly claiming what we have held sacred for its own and we seem to only be able to sit and give way to what we seem to be unable to change.
The irony is that stores put out the Christmas wares closer to the time that Jesus was born.
Like trying to untangle the strings of Christmas tree lights we, I believe, need to begin to work at pulling down the scaffolding of secularism that has built up around our sacred Christian feast days.
We need to hear John’s message from the wilderness. To set the paths strait.
Luke’s Gospel is a little more vocal for John, calls those that came out to see him vipers. Jesus would latter ask what did you go out to see John and what were you expecting to find?
When we stop in these Sundays of Advent for just a moment in the dash to the 25 of December, when we ponder Christmas what is it that we are expecting to find? The long awaited desired gift? The long awaited promise of God? Or the pending Credit card bill.
My challenge in advent is not to allow myself to be so jaded by the secular world which has closed in Christmas like the outer shell of a geode but allow the holy presence of God in the Spirit to allow me to see the beauty of what lies within and in that know the advent promise of peace. Peace beyond the cliché line of peace and good will to all men (people) but the personal inner peace of God in my, in our lives.
My Prayer for you is the same, as last week may you be in Advent, if even for a brief moment. May we work at claiming our birthright of the faith and see what we wait for as sacred and holy.
At times we are the strangely dressed people eating the weird things (perhaps me more so than you ) coming out of the wilderness, we can be like John. A voice crying in the wilderness of tangled mall parking lots and endless list. Prepare ye not the Christmas pudding but prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make well your advent journey, know the Hope of God’s promise of being with us in the world, in long quiet breath of the moment know the peace of God that surrounds you. Know the embrace that reminds you that you are not alone.
Prayers of the people
Slow me Down Slow me Down
Still my restless mind Still my restless mind
Quell my fears Quell my Fears
Quench my Thirsty soul Quench my thirsty Soul
Fill me with your love Fill me with your love
God of Truth God of Truth
God of love God of love
God of the Peaceful moments be with us on this advent journey as we once more honour our story. Help us to see beyond lists and errands and last minute moments of panic. To breath and be. Send your peace upon us oh God.
Your world does not know Peace. It is a long lost gift forgotten to be open. We pray for all the regions of your people that know conflict and violence, war and oppression. We pray that eyes be open and see the suffering that is there.
We know even peace within the body can become lost. Lost with disease, lost in the dark forests of the mind. We pray for those who we shall never know. We pray for those that we are called to walk with. We prey the cooling hand of healing of your spirit rest on those that are sick. We pray the light of your love may guide those that have become lost.
Still our souls so that we may once more know the Hope of Your promise of being with us in the world, in long quiet breath of this moment May we know the peace that surrounds you. May we know you hear our prayers which offer to you. We offer you the great prayer which your Son gave us saying…Our Father…
Offering
We give thee but thy own. The work of the Church continues and there are three ways you can continue to support that work. Consider using PAR, use the donate button on our Web Site or drop your gift at the Manse. Let us make our offering and give thanks.
This discovery of your blessings in our lives is cause for celebration. We give thanks, O God, for the gift of your presence and the gift of our faith. Accept the offerings we give in love
Commissioning and Blessing
One: Among the poor
All: Among the proud
One among the persecuted
All Among the privileged
One Christ is coming
All Christ is coming to make all things new.
One With us
All without us
One among us
All before us
One in this place
All in every place
One for this time
All for all time
One Christ is coming
All Christ is coming to make all things new.
Blessing
Know the Blessing of God whose love is coming into the world
Know the Blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ whose story we are called to tell
Know the Blessings of the Holy Spirit who will inspire our each new day
The Hope of God be with you.
Yesterdaywe honour our heritage.
Todaywe know that we are not alone,that we live in God's world.
Tomorrowwith God,we will discoverthe undiscovered country.
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