November 30, 2025
WELCOME TO THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT!!
COMMUNION SUNDAY
A Service of Prayer, of Song, of Meditation, and of Coming Together Soon, to Witness the Birth of Jesus
Lead Minister: The Rev. Jope Langejans
Music Director: Cody Obst
Minister Emeritus: Rev. Gerry Scharff
Honorary Associate Ministers: Rev. Clint Mooney & Rev. Kelley Warner
Chair of Council: Vacant
Reader: Beth Elliot
“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without, first, brightening our own” (Ben Sweetland)
Gathering
(*Indicates that you may stand if you are able…)
PRELUDE
INTROIT VU # 19 “Kindle a Flame to Lighten the Dark”
(We will sing this together 3 or 4 times as a grounding hymn…)
WELCOMING INTO THE LIGHT LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE of HOPE:
Rev. Jope: As the snow falls and days grow shorter, we hope for
warmth and light in our hearts.
Niesje Bates: We hope for the warmth and the light of Jesus’ birth in
our hearts.
Rev. Jope: We hope that warmth and light may reach the cold and
shadowed places in our land and all over the world.
Niesje Bates: So, we light a candle, hoping that the Light of the World
may shine brightly.
(First blue candle is lit)
ALL: God of all hope, help hope be born in our hearts today. As we hope for the good things of Christmas, help us rest our deepest hope in you. Help us bring hope wherever we go; in the name of the Christ-child, the Light of the World…Amen.
Leader: As we begin our Advent journey, our time of eager anticipation, our time of waiting…waiting for the arrival of the one who will redeem us from our brokenness: brokenness within our lives, our families, our communities, and our world. We open our hearts and minds to divine Hope as we pray:
ALL: As the demands of the festive season close in on us, we sometimes feel like dead stumps left in the wake of a ruthless clear-cutting. Without vitality and without expectation, we do not look up from our lists and our routines; our hearts are not stirred by the sound of angel songs. Nurture life within us, O God; coax the fragile shoots and tend them until they rise up to
greet you at your coming. In the season of grey and cold, let there be a greening among us. We pray in the name of Jesus, righteous branch from David’s line….Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGING THE TERRITORY (Unison)
We acknowledge the traditional territories and the value of the traditional and current oral practices of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut’ina and Stoney Nakoda Nations, the Metis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
OPENING CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)
Leader: God is coming in Christ to push back the shadows of this world.
ALL: God is coming in Christ to announce the dawning of a new day.
Leader: God is coming in Christ to bring life where there is no life, hope where there is no hope, love where there is no love.
ALL: During the long nights of November and December, we dance in Advent Light because we know our God is coming once again.
Leader: If you have come seeking a sign, may you find it here today.
ALL: Yes, we have come seeking signs.
Leader: We open ourselves to all possibilities for sometimes signs come from places where we least expect them!
ALL: In the fashion of the moment, we come to experience the Holy Mystery that transcends all.
Leader: It is in this place, in this time, surrounded by and with community, where we begin our Advent journey.
ALL: Let us worship and open with the singing from
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
*HYMN: VU # 1 “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
(Verses 1, 2, and 5)
ALL: In the glory and the beauty of this coming season of Advent, we turn to you O God as the source of all glory and beauty and power. We may have come here for many reasons, but now we realize that you are the real reason, the one behind our comings and our goings. You are the one who pulls and draws us to come together and to be an integral part of this community of faith. So, this morning, prepare our hearts for hearing your word of confrontation and comfort, for approaching you in prayer and submission, for reaching out to one another in love and in forgiveness, and for going out to serve those who may dwell in hunger and poverty in the world beyond. Draw us now inward and downward toward the centre of ourselves, where we may know ourselves and meet your transforming Spirit. We pray this in the name of the Child of Bethlehem…Amen.
ASSURANCE of PARDON: (Leader)
Like the unconditional love of a tiny baby holding its arms out for a hug, so Jesus holds out arms of forgiving welcome to all of us. In that tiny embrace, we find ourselves once again made whole and truly fulfilled – never alone but always accompanied by a spirted companion… Emmanuel…thanks be to God!
*HYMN MV # 158 “Dream a Dream”
MEDITATION: (A Creed for our Advent Pilgrimage)
I believe in the promise of Christmas and the importance of celebrating it in the church. I believe in the God at the centre of Christmas, whose hope for the world was imagined by prophets. I believe in Mary, who sang of turning the world upside down and who allowed her life to be disrupted by God. I believe in Joseph, whose broken heart broke the rules to do the right thing. I believe in the smell of the stable – I believe that there is no place where God will not go. I believe in the shepherds, those simple ones open to hear the angels’ song. I believe in the Magi, the ones outside the faith, outside the community, who searched out the Holy. I believe in Jesus, born in poverty, soon a refugee, raised in faith, lived seeking justice, died speaking forgiveness, rose with a love that could not be stopped. I commit to use the season to seek out the Holy both in God among us, and in God beyond us. I open myself to an Advent journey of great joy that will change my life.
(barb janes, Crescent Fort George U.C., Winnipeg, Man. Taken from Gathering – 2010-2011
Engaging the Sacred Text
(Reader: Beth Elliot)
FIRST SCRIPTURE
ISAIAH 2:1-5 (550) Swords into ploughshares…
SECOND SCRIPTURE
ROMANS 13:11-14 (923) Wake up! The day is near…
HYMN of ILLUMINATION VU # 8 “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”
GOSPEL PASSAGE
MATTHEW 24:36-44 (806) (Rev. Jope) No one knows the hour…
SERMON / MESSAGE / HOMILY ‘tis the season of active waiting
Responding
OFFERING INVITATION (Leader)
As we contemplate the journey through the Christian year, from Advent to Reign of Christ, we think of our own journey of faith, our call and our response. As part of our response in faith, we will now present our offerings…
CHOIR OFFERTORY MUSICAL SELECTION
“You Raise Me Up” by: Josh Groban
PRAYER of DEDICATION (Rev. Jope)
Sacrament of Holy Communion
Leader: May God be with us as we share in this Holy Meal together.
ALL: God is surely here among us!
Leader: Let us open our hearts to God.
ALL: We open our hearts to God and also to one another!
Leader: Let us give thanks to God.
ALL: It is right to give our thanks and praise!
Leader: (Words of invitation)
ALL: “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, Power of Life and Love! Heaven and earth are full of your glory! Hosanna through the ages! Blessed is the One who comes to bring your justice to earth!” Let us remember that vision of God’s reign shown to us in Jesus at table.
Leader: (Words of fractioning…)
CLOSING MEDITATION (Leader)
“The Many Disguises of Emmanuel” -- Joyce Rupp
Blessing
COMMISSIONING (unison):
May we now enter into this Advent week with HOPE. May we enter this week with patience. May our waiting be rich and the presence of our God full and near to us. May we bear God’s HOPE to this world like one candle overcoming the shadows…
*HYMN VU # 9 “People Look East”
BLESSING (Rev. Jope)
RECESSIONAL
POSTLUDE MUSIC
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SCRIPTURE PASSAGES for SUNDAY, December 7
Second sunday of advent - Peace
Isaiah 11: 1-10
Psalm 72: 1-7, 18-19
Romans 15: 4-13
Matthew 3: 1-12