Bulletin – Sunday, December 21, 2025 – Fourth Sunday of Advent
Sunday, December 21, 2025
Fourth Sunday of Advent
We Gather as People of Faith
Welcome
Lighting the Advent Candle
One: Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent. Today we embark on a path of wonder and trust. A path that beckoned to Mary of Nazareth as an angel proclaimed to her, “You will give birth to a Son and name him Jesus.
All: Mary replied, “I am a servant of God, let it happen as you have said.”
One: And Mary sang, “My heart is overflowing with praise to God. My soul is full of joy in God my Saviour.
All: Today we light the candles of hope, peace, joy, and love.
The First, Second, Third, and Fourth Candles are lit
Sung Response – “We Light This Candle” (Then Let Us Sing #55)
We light this candle for Love.
Await the new life within.
May our hearts now live each day,
So Love can find a way,
So Love can find a way.
Announcements
Call to Worship
One: This is a time for angels and wonder…
All: This is a time of waiting and hoping…
One: This is a time of birthing…
All: This is a time of good news.
One: Good news of God’s love embodied in a baby in a manger.
All: Good news of a saviour to be born on a silent, holy night.
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “O Come, All Ye Faithful” (Voices United #60, verses 1-3)
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold Him, Born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
God of God, light of light,
Lo, he abhors not the virgin’s womb;
Very God, begotten, not created:
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above;
Glory to God in the highest;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
Prayer of Approach and Confession
God, we gather to worship in the light of the candle of love, confessing that we are confused about love. We listen to songs about love. We watch movies about love. We speak of loving our family, our friends, as well as loving baseball and chocolate and summertime. God, teach us again to love as Jesus loved. Teach us to love as we are loved by You, God. Let us choose to love with attitudes and actions that seek the well-being of all people, that build just relations, and that respects the sacredness of all people and all creation. God, may this Advent season inspire us to be agents of hope, peace, joy, and love in our communities in the world. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Sung Response – “Come, Come, Emmanuel” (Move Voices #11)
Come, come Emmanuel, Come, Emmanuel.
Come, come Emmanuel. Come, Emmanuel.
We Hear God’s Word
A reading from the Gospel of: Matthew 1:18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit.
19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly.
20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”
24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,
25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Anthem – “On a Silent Night”
On the first Christmas night, so the scriptures proclaim,
A man and a woman to Bethlehem came.
Searching for shelter, they went to an inn;
But the lodgings were taken, no room was within.
But there was a stable, the innkeeper said,
Where they could lay their head.
On that cold winter night so long ago,
A star shone bright with a heavenly glow.
Shepherds and wise men were led by the star,
To Bethlehem they came from afar.
There in a stable the Baby was born;
The Holy Babe was born.
On a silent night, this holy night,
When all is calm, and all is bright.
‘Round yon virgin, mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly, heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Story: “A Christmas Eve of Angels”
Sing-Along Anthem – “Carols of the Angels”
All: Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King:
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise, join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King.”
Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply echo back their joyous strains.
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
The first Noel, the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay—
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.
Noel, noel! Noel, noel! Born is the King of Israel!
Noel, noel! Noel, noel! Born is the King of Israel!
Hail the Heav’n born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the songs of earth, Born to give them second birth.
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the new born King.”
Choir: Glory to the newborn King.
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
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 – “Joy to the World” (Voices United #59, verses 1, 2, and 4)
Joy to the world! The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth! The Saviour reigns:
Let all their songs employ,
While fields and floods,
Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
He rules the earth with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders, wonders of his love.
Commissioning
Let us share God’s love, blessed by the angels of Christmas Eve, Blessed to be angels of hope, peace, joy, and love in the world.
Benediction
Let us go knowing we go in the amazing grace of God; in the transforming friendship of Jesus the Christ, and in the healing power and presence of the Holy Spirit, now and always, Amen.
Sung Response – “A World of Hope”
May we be filled with love in our hearts, in our lives.
May we be filled with a world of love.
May we be filled with love in our hearts, in our lives.
May we be filled with a world of love.
Love, now the promise begins.
Love is the light within.
Love in the mystery.
Love holds all that can be.
May we be filled with love in our hearts, in our lives.
May we be filled with a world of love.
May we be filled with love in our hearts, in our lives.
May we be filled with a world of love.
