Dear friends,
This Sunday, we welcome Edythe Arnott to lead us in worship.
This Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent. The word advent comes from the Latin term adventus, meaning “arrival” or “coming”, with a particular emphasis on something great and important. But the term is marked with a deeper, fuller and richer meaning. The term adventus was also a ceremony in ancient Rome, in which an emperor was formally welcomed into a city either during a progress (a royal journey marked by pomp and pageant) or after a successful military campaign.
This word advent is fitting, for Jesus Christ our risen Lord has conquered death, and in Him we are made victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57), and in this season of Advent, we not only hope and anticipate for His second coming, but we also prepare for the celebration of His birth (his first coming). The celebration of Advent can trace its roots all the way back to the fifth century AD.
Join us as we light the candle of hope, and think about what kind of hope Jesus brings us for today and for the future.
Order of Service
Prelude
Call to Worship
Lighting of the Advent candle
Hymn 124: “People in darkness”
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
Declaration of Grace and the Lord’s Prayer
Responsive reading: Psalm 122
Gloria Patri
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 2: 1-5
New Testament Reading: Matthew 24: 36-44
Hymn 416: “Blessed Jesus, at your word”
Sermon: “Ready for Advent”
Hymn 661: “We give thee but thine own”
Offertory
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Hymn 110: “Come, thou long-expected Jesus”
Benediction
Postlude