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First Sunday of Advent: Confronting the Darkness
Good morning brothers and sisters. From last Sunday to today, our sanctuary has been transformed—filled with purple banners and overlays, candles and Christmas decorations. That’s because today is the Christian New Year, the first Sunday of the liturgical season of Advent. The word “Advent” comes from a Latin word that simply means “coming.” And it’s a time to do two things simultaneously. First, we prepare for Christmas by putting ourselves in the shoes of ancient Israel. We read the Old Testament prophecies of Christ’s first advent, and remember what it was like for Adam and Abraham and Moses and David and Simeon and Elizabeth to wait year after year for the Savior to finally come. But at the very same time, we remember that we too are a people who are waiting. Because although Christ came the first time, and dealt a death blow to the devil by his cross and resurrection, the world is still groaning under the weight of sin and death. And so Advent is a time to lean in to the darkness—to acknowledge our own desperate longings for Jesus to come again to make all things new. It’s a time to cry out together, “How long, O Lord?” It’s a time to exclaim, “Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!” And as we seek God’s face to dispel the darkness around us, it’s also a time to confess the darkness that is still within us. During Advent, we invite the Lord to come not only to Bethlehem and Mount Zion, but to the secret place of our own hearts, and to make us vessels fit for a King.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Holy God, holy and mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
ALL: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
The call to worship is immediately followed by the lighting of the first candle.
First Sunday of Advent: Hope (Responsive)
Brothers and sisters, we have gathered to worship our great God and Savior, and to join the saints of all ages in looking for the glorious appearing of his only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ is coming.
Today, on this first Sunday of Advent, we put ourselves in the place of ancient Israel, awaiting the first advent of Christ at Christmas, while looking also for our blessed hope, his second coming to judge the living and the dead.
Christ is coming.
Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.
Christ is coming.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
Christ is coming.
The first candle of advent symbolizes hope—the dawning hope of our coming King, and a happy anticipation of his heavenly reign.
Christ is coming.
The call to worship is immediately followed by the lighting of the first candle.
Second Sunday of Advent: Peace
Brothers and sisters, we have gathered on this second Sunday of Advent to worship the God who always keeps his promises. The ancient cry of God’s people, “Maranatha—Come, Lord!” will soon be answered.
Maranatha!
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.
Maranatha!
Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Maranatha!
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Maranatha!
The second candle of advent symbolizes peace—the promised reign of peace on earth and peace with God through Christ’s atoning blood.
Maranatha!
The call to worship is immediately followed by the lighting of the first and second candles.
Third Sunday of Advent: Love
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The call to worship is immediately followed by the lighting of the first, second, and third candles.
Fourth Sunday of Advent: Joy
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The call to worship is immediately followed by the lighting of the first, second, third, and fourth candles.
Christmas Day
Brothers and sisters, we have gathered to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord. Come, let us worship!
Christ has come!
He is a child, and yet God. He is a babe, and yet the Lord. He is a man, and yet divine. Without ceasing to be what he was, he became what he was not.
Christ has come!
The Almighty became weak. The fleshless one took flesh. The motherless one became fatherless. The invisible one was seen. The inpalpable one was touched. The eternal one made a beginning.
Christ has come!
The Son of God became the Son of Man that the sons of men might become the sons of God. He was born of a virgin that we might be born of the Spirit. He came down to earth that we might be raised to the heavens.
Christ has come!
The white candle, the Christ candle, symbolizes our pure and spotless Savior, born of a virgin to save us from our sin. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Christ has come!
