FREELTON STRABANE UNITED CHURCH
To Live Our Discipleship With Integrity And Grace
Horseshoe Falls Regional Council
Advent 2
December 8 2024
Rev. Will Wheeler BA M. Div. E-mail: [email protected]
Organist : Joan Simpson
Announcements Please see the home page
Call To Worship
Take this moment sign and space
Take my friends around
Here among us make the place
Where your love is found me
(Iona Abbey Music book pg 122)
Call to Worship:
One; This is the second Sunday of Advent are you ready
All We are ready for peace; we long for peace.
One: Let us worship God who brings us hope.
All: Let us worship God who promises peace.
One: Let us open our hearts to God’s Spirit of Peace.
Advent Candle Lighting
The holly and the ivy When they are full grown Of all the trees in the wood The holly bears the crown The rising of the sun
The running of the deer The playing of the organ Sweet singing in the choir The holly wears a blossom
One: Mary Mary how does your garden grow?
All: With Holly branches, ivy. Snowdrops, and violets all in a row.
One: Violets? That is not a winter plant.
All: That is true. Violets are the purest symbol of peace, healing, and serenity. According to Roman tradition, these flowers offer calm to the afterlives of those who have passed away. These small blooms emit a soothing aura.
One: Advent is a time of Peace. The peace of Advent comes in many ways.
All Advent is the promise of the one who will offer healing and serenity
One that promise comes in a small child who will bring peace to the all who turn to him. Jesus
All: So as the violets bloom so does this candle of Peace bloom…
Candle lit.
Prayer In the seed there is flower, a promise O God from you. A promise of peace. The world we live in does not know peace. It is a world torn by strife and so needs your Spirit to send peace upon it’s wounds like a balm to the soul. In our own lives in all the rushing to get things done we fail to stop and know your peace. We pray for your world and we ask that we may slow our lives enough to calm our day so that we may know our peace upon us. May we this Advent season know that peace and share it with those we meet. Amen
One: Are you ready to Hear the word of God
All our ears are open
One : The good word comes to us from Philippians 1:3-11
One This is the good word of the Lord
All Thanks be to God
One: Will you listen to our story once more
All: Yes. We come once more to hear our story hope
One: The story today is found in the Gospel of Luke 3:1-6
One: This is the Gospel of our Lord
All Thanks be to God for our story.
Most people know that I am a huge Titanic Fan. I could almost be called a rivet counter. In 1993, One of the four sets of whistles from Titanic were salvage I recently watched a clip about the recovery and restoration of These whistles . In 1999 they were part of an R.M.S. Titanic Inc. exhibition in St. Paul, Minnesota, The whistles were sounded, although using compressed air instead of steam for fear of causing permanent damage to them. Organizers, expecting 2,000 or so people to turn-up to hear Titanic’s whistle sound for the first time in 87 years were amazed when an estimated 100,000 people turned-up to witness the event! The one comment the commentator and interviewed experts said again and again. That is was the first time since mid April 1912 that anyone has heard these whistles. In many ways this is the voice of Titanic speaking. It is a voice out of time, a voice in the wilderness. After the event it was decided it was too much of a danger of damaging the whistles to sound them again. A voice that cried out in the wilderness.
The deeply cynical would state that the idea of Christmas is an ancient politically motivated movement fuelled by marketing which spans at least a century, underscored by a fear of not wanting to offend anyone leading it to be a happy holiday as compared to a holy event.
And yet a Voice in the wilderness calling. The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
Like Titanic’s Whistle John’s voice speaks across the vastness of time. What is the voice in the wilderness saying today,
That change comes in many ways. That just because something is the way it is does not mean it has to be that way.
Can we honestly reclaim what was sacred?
No. The world has moved well beyond the Bethlehem event. Frosty the snow man and minions (those yellow pill shaped creatures that love bananas ) will be the blow ups on front yards. Yes there will be those that will put the flimsy sign on the front yard saying “let’s put Christ back in Christmas” The truth is that Christ never left Christmas. The truth is that Dr Suess says it best Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.
The question is how far it is for us today to go back to the Bethlehem event. To hear John’s voice speak. Yes the way the story is told may not be historically accurate but it is the touch stone of faith in which we can look to. The when the what the how do not matter as much as the spiritual presence of what the birth meant.
The crooked that shall be made straight, the rough ways that will be made smooth, our preparing the way of the Lord is not getting caught up in the trapping the boxes bows, the lists of who gets what. Our preparing is searching for the peace with in ourselves. That piece that helps to reveal the divine with in us. Peace and good will to all is just not going to happen. The peace offered us is the peace of Christ found in the love of God.
How far do we need to travel to reclaim for ourselves as Christians what is our holy tradition? Not all that far. We just need to look to those touch stones which connect us to God.
The Christ with in us will empower us to say with confidence Blessings on this Christ mass tide, or the more common saying which did not start to mid 1500s Merry Christmas. To not allow this line to just become a scripted response . To own what it means to our own peace.
In this ever evolving world in which we find ourselves spinning may we take the time to Journey to the tradition of Bethlehem the journey from Holly to thorns. and seek out daily in this time preparation to find ways to claim again our faith in the promise of the coming Christ. To prepare ye the way of the Lord, for in him we are not alone thanks be to God.
Prayers of the people
Hear our prayer we humbly offer
Grant to us your peace O God
Hear our prayer we humbly offer
Grant to us your peace O God.
Prayers
Lord we pray for peace. Peace to be in this moment. Peace that will calm our souls. Peace that will take us away from baking, decorating. Peace that will take us away from shopping wrapping and fretting that there is no mail service. Peace that will take us away from the worry of how’s turn is it for Christmas dinner, will it snow, will we be able to travel. Peace to be in this moment.
In this moment, the who the when the how all may fade into a back ground noise. In this moment we draw closer to the Bethlehem gift. A gift of peace which brings hope.
That is what we pray for, for your world. Peace that stills the soul to see that there is hope. A peace that sees that revenge and power is not what will create security or happiness.
We pray for that peace to be with those whom we are called to journey with. Those whom we name aloud and those whom we hold in our hearts.
We give thanks for this place. A place of peace where the soul can rest. A place where the soul can be nurtured and feel safe protected from the concerns of material world. A place where we can nurture hope. In this place in this time we come to you with our own personal prayers. Lord hear our prayers
Offering
We give thee but thy own.
This discovery of your blessings in our lives is cause for celebration. We give thanks, O God, for the gift of your presence and the gift of our faith. Accept the offerings we give in love Amen
Prayer
Sending Forth and Blessing.
One: Among the poor
All: Among the proud
One among the persecuted
All Among the privileged
One Christ is coming
All Christ is coming to make all things new.
One With us
All without us
One among us
All before us
One in this place
All in every place
One for this time
All for all time
One Christ is coming
All Christ is coming to make all things new.
Blessing
One: May God the one who brings us comfort surround you, May Christ our Joy walk with you. May the Continued presence of The Holy Spirit illuminate our path and keep us safe until we can gather again in community. Amen
amen amen amen
Yesterdaywe honour our heritage.
Todaywe know that we are not alone,that we live in God's world.
Tomorrowwith God,we will discoverthe undiscovered country.
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