Bulletin – Sunday, December 14, 2025 – Third Sunday of Advent
Sunday, December 14, 2025
Third Sunday of Advent
We Gather as People of Faith
Welcome
Lighting the Advent Candle
One: Today is the third Sunday in Advent. Today we embark on a path leading to the wilderness, to the riverside, to the Baptizer whose voice calls in the desert,
“Prepare the way for the Lord.”
All: Leading to John who cried, “Repent for the kingdom of God is near!”
One: Who said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God.”
All: Today we light the candles of hope, peace, and joy.
The First, Second, and Third Candles are lit
Sung Response – “We Light This Candle” (Then Let Us Sing #55)
We light this candle for joy.
Await the new life within.
May our hearts now live each day,
So joy can find a way,
So joy can find a way.
Announcements
Call to Worship
What a joyful day as we gather as the body of Christ. Our hearts are warmed on this cold day by the light and love of God among us. Like the Prophet John the Baptist prophesized long ago we too are expectant and preparing for the coming of Jesus into our lives. Joyful as we await the fullness of God’s kingdom on earth. On this day, let us be glad and rejoice.
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “On Jordan’s Bank (Voices United #20)
On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry announces that the Lamb is nigh;
Awake and hearken, for he brings glad tidings of the King of Kings.
Then cleansed by every life from sin; make straight the way for God within;
And let each heart prepare a home where such a mighty guest may come.
In you, we find, abundant life, our refuge in the midst of strife;
Without your grace we waste away, like flowers that wither and decay.
Stretch forth your hand, our health restore, and help us rise to fall no more.
O let your face upon us shine, and fill the world with love divine.
All praise to you, eternal Son, whose advent has our freedom won;
And praise to God whom we adore, with Holy Spirit evermore.
Prayer of Approach and Confession
With humility we come before you O God. We are a people in need of your grace, aware of our need for forgiveness and the difficulty in forgiving ourselves and others. We thank you for our failings that keep us reaching out to you for new life. We recognize that we are a broken and blessed people awaiting your redemption. Help us to live with real joy in the midst of suffering that is life with you.
Words of Assurance
God is the maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. Through the power of the holy spirit and the risen Christ here among us God sets the prisoners free and gives food to the hungry, the oppressed are cared for the lonely given comfort. Into the darkness of our lives and in our realms of sorrow, God’s eternal promise of hope, peace, and joy is wrapped up, as our true gift, in our eternal covenant with God, the protector of all creation. Let us now rest and be glad in it. Praise be to God, Amen.
Sung Response – “Come, Come, Emmanuel” (Move Voices #11)
Come, come Emmanuel, Come, Emmanuel.
Come, come Emmanuel. Come, Emmanuel.
Time for All Ages
We Hear God’s Word
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “From Advent to Christmas”
From Advent to Christmas we watch for the Lord.
We listen and pray—and ponder God’s word.
The prophets foretold it: a saviour would come.
From Advent to Christmas we look for the One.
From Advent to Christmas we hear John’s great voice
The beckons us all: repent and rejoice!
The Baptist proclaimed it; we must change our ways.
From Advent to Christmas, we pray for that grace.
From Advent to Christmas we pray for the world
That warring may cease—and peace be restored.
The Scriptures demand it, oh, let them be heard.
From Advent to Christmas, we cling to God’s word.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 146:2-10
2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, 8 the Lord gives sight to the blind, The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, The Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:2-11
2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written:
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Sermon: “Prepare the Way of the Risen Christ Among Us”
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “Hark the Glad Sound” (Voices United #29 verses 1, 3, 4)
Hark, the glad sound! The Saviour comes, the Saviour promised long:
Let every heart prepare a throne, and every voice a song.
He comes, the broken heart to bind, the bleeding soul to sure,
And with the treasures of his grace to bless the humble poor.
Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace, your welcome shall proclaim;
And heaven’s eternal arches ring with your beloved name.
We Respond to God’s Word
Invitation to Share
Offering Sung Response – “In This Advent Time of Waiting”
In this Advent time of waiting may we serve the Prince of Peace.
Share our gifts with those around us, joy and hope in all increase.
Dream the vision, tell the story, healing bring to those in need.
Share the promises once more, Christ is near, who came before.
Offering Prayer
Oh God, maker of heaven and earth, it is our joy to offer these gifts to you today. Give us the gift to see with your eyes and to open wide our hearts for others as you do for us that we might know best how to serve you, that through our caring justice seeking actions with others. The real hope, peace, and joy of Christ will be known to all we encounter. Amen.
Prayers of the People
Invitation to the Passing of the Peace
The Prayer that Jesus Taught
One: Please join me in praying the prayer Jesus taught us to pray:
All: Our Creator who is like our Mother and our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
We Go Into God’s World
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “My Souls Cries Out” (More Voices #120)
My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great,
And my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight, and my weakness you did not spurn,
So from east to west shall my name be blest.
Could the world be about to turn?
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the first of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn!
Though I am small, my God, my all, you work great things to me,
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame, and to those who would for you yearn,
You will show your might, put the strong to flight,
For the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the first of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn!
From the halls of power to the fortress tower, not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears every tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, every mouth be fed,
For the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the first of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn!
Though the nations rage from age to age, we remember who holds us fast;
God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard is the promise which holds us bound,
‘Till the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
Who is turning the world around.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the first of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn!
Commissioning
Our lives are filled with gifts and with challenges, as we experience the excitement of the season and even the darkness of being alone without those we love. Let us remember the gift of true and abiding joy in our hearts knowing, that God our Loving Creator is with us always.
Benediction
Let us share this truth with a world calling out for connection and love. Let us go out this week rejoicing in God our Creator and Redeemer. Remembering that Christ abides within and between us in the sharing of our gifts. And in the mending of our wounds. Embraced by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, let us go now in the peace, hope, and joy we know in God. Amen.
Sung Response – “A World of Hope”
May we be filled with joy in our hearts, in our lives.
May we be filled with a world of joy.
May we be filled with joy in our hearts, in our lives.
May we be filled with a world of joy.
Peace, now the promise begins.
Peace is the light within.
Peace in the mystery.
Peace holds all that can be.
May we be filled with joy in our hearts, in our lives.
May we be filled with a world of joy.
May we be filled with joy in our hearts, in our lives.
May we be filled with a world of joy.
