ST ANDREW’S CHURCH

November 27, 2022, ADVENT ONE         HOPE

ANNOUNCEMENTS

LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT CANDLE

We are people of hope.  God longs for a day when weapons will be replaced with tools for rebuilding.

We see your goodness and signs of new life all around us.

The first candle of Advent reminds us that we are called to live as people of hope.  We light this candle to remind us to see God’s hope shining in our world. (Light the candle of hope): Let us pray:

 Holy One, help us to walk in the light of God. May our lives reflect the warmth and wonder of this flame. Make your church a place of hope in our community. Amen

HYMN        Hope is a star

PRAYER OF ADORATION

Almighty and everlasting God, you hold all our days in your hands, and embrace us in your everlasting arms. In a tired and violent world, you are hope. In a hectic and busy world, you are peace. In a cold world, you are comfort. In Jesus Christ, you bring love into this world, and call us to embody his love in all we do and say. In our worship this day, we offer you our love and loyalty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Make us one in worship and service, so that the world will see your hope at work in us and through us, making all things new.  Lord, we confess this day …

UNISON PRAYER OF CONFESSION

God of hope, we confess that we often prefer

accepting half-truths and pleasing ideas,

rather than your challenging word.

We praise our own cleverness rather than your wisdom.

We have exploited others for our benefit

and used the earth without a thought for its wellbeing.

In your mercy, forgive what we have been,

help us amend what we are,

and direct who we shall be through the mercy of Jesus

Christ our Lord.  Amen

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Receive the Good News in hope. With great mercy, God forgives what we have confessed and offers us new life in Christ. Trust in the hope that you are forgiven and that, with God, new things are possible.

THE PEACE

HYMN        Prepare the way, O Zion

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Psalm 33: 12 - 22

Matthew 24:36-44

SERMON

God of hope and healing, we turn to your Word to hear your will and your wisdom for our times.  Open our hearts and minds by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit so that we might hear what you are saying to the church through Christ, your Living Word.

Today marks the beginning of a new year in the Christian Church   the season of Advent, the month before Christmas. But what is Advent?   A simple meaning of this word is Coming. For us it is a time of looking toward the coming again of the Messiah, a time of great expectation and anticipation. But exactly what is it that we anticipate? What do we expect to happen? Are we preparing our hearts and spirits to receive again the coming of the Christ child into the world? Do we anticipate the end of the world, as some religious cults do at this time of the year? Or are we preparing for yet another month-long shopping spree that some have called - willfully and with malice of forethought as “murdering our bank accounts”?

For the many who faithfully observe the consumer Christmas, Advent is often the prelude to disappointment. For the majority of these folks, Christmas somehow hardly ever measures up to their fantasies. Even for those who manage to have some of their Christmas wishes fulfilled, the season is over so quickly that the need to make New Year's resolutions, bears down on them even before the decorations come down.

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Yet the Advent we celebrate in the church - the one that has nothing at all to do with the number of shopping days left until Christmas - is altogether different.

Advent is a time to refocus and regroup. Christ came as a baby, and we celebrate. Christ will come again; of this we are assured. Christ comes into our midst today and that is where the living is today. So, we begin Advent – “preparing for the full revelation of Jesus”. We prepare in the joy and sorrow, the laughter and the tears, the comedy and the tragedies of our daily lives here and now. Jesus urges us to keep watch, guarding against unbelief and indifference so that we don’t lose what he won for us: an eternal life of joy with him.

In our reading, Jesus reminds the disciples that in the days of Noah, people went about life as usual, right up to the moment when the floods came. The emphasis here is on the sudden, unexpected devastation that swept them away, for which there was no warning, no call to repentance, nothing that would alert them to what was coming. “They knew nothing until the flood came” (24:30). Even Noah knew only in general terms what was coming. The same is true for Jesus’ disciples and Christians today, who are expected to know only that the coming of the “Son of Humanity” is certain, but not when it will happen.

In the end, this particular Gospel text doesn’t explicitly promise a changed world full of love and justice to emerge. It promises a person: Jesus   Jesus has promised to return—at the end of times and in the daily routines of our lives

Christians do not-, cannot - and are not supposed to know when the Lord is coming. Watching and readiness are not meant to be switched on and off according to perceived need. These are, in fact, the disciplines to which Jesus calls his disciples more than any other as the end of his ministry draws near. “You’re living at the end, so stay awake and watch”. Jesus rejects the possibility that anyone other than God, including Jesus himself, knows the answer.  This is a condition we are to embrace, not attempt to overcome.   Still His presence transforms our lives and our world and surprises us beyond our expectations.

Advent is a time for us to make sure that we are ready and prepared. Thus, I ask, what is it that makes us unprepared? Jesus said, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the very day it began to rain It’s interesting that He doesn’t mention anything necessarily immoral. He’s just talking about doing the basic things of life. Eating, drinking, and marrying - all of the things that God designed us to do and enjoy. But that’s where perhaps the greatest temptation of life is - in the basic routines and enjoyments of life.

Wakefulness is, a way of living with a posture of embodying attentiveness, and his merciful solidarity. Christian hope is an active force. When Jesus tells us to keep watch, he doesn’t tell us to have sleepless nights, fearing and panicking that Jesus might come back tonight. He tells us to make sure that our lives are ready to receive him when he does come. “You must be ready,” he says in the last verse of today’s Gospel reading. It sounds obvious.

This is not advice for crisis moments, but a call to perpetual, normal readiness, regardless of circumstance. Watchfulness is not a defensive or preventive posture, but heightened attentiveness, attuned both to the signs of God’s presence and power, as well as the signs that the powers of this world are doubling down.

God’s laws, instructions, and commandments are neither impediments nor burdens humans must bear. Rather, they are expressions of God’s invitation to draw closer to know God’s ways.  In his writings, the apostle Paul envisions God’s work in the church and the world as still in progress.

Over the last century, these verses have often been read in support of “rapture” theology, which attempts to plot where we are in proximity to the end—precisely what Jesus tells his disciples not to do. The parallel illustrations in 24:40-41 don’t depict a moment when the righteous are plucked up from the earth and taken to heaven, while others are “left behind” to await tribulations and final judgment. For first century audiences familiar with the ways of the Roman Empire, being left behind was probably preferable to being taken. For the people of Noah’s day, being swept away was definitely not a good thing. Instead, these sayings simply depict sudden, surprising separation, without indicating cause for judgment or reward for those taken or left behind. Rapture theology, which has little scriptural support, may offer comfort for those who seek certainty or presume to have secured the inside track to heaven, However the focus of this is on remaining vigilant amidst the uncertainty of a long wait amidst discouraging circumstances.

Jesus’ gravity might expose our dissatisfaction with the human condition. -can make us admit to a nagging sensation that hope is losing ground all around us.  Put positively, Jesus’ focus is entirely about active anticipation. Put negatively, the passage tells about the dangers of choosing resignation and self-confidence as acceptable ways to live a life.

How do we know if we are really alert and ready though? How about the fact that we still pray? we are still coming to listen to the word of God and receive the sacrament? There are danger signs, like when the Word seems boring to you. When the Lord’s Supper isn’t treasured much. When you don’t find yourself asking for forgiveness. These are warning signs that you are getting sleepy. But in another perhaps strange sense, it doesn’t mean you’re not ready. Salvation isn’t rocket science. When you have faith, even a weak faith in JESUS who was crucified for you, your sins are still paid for.

The vocation of modern disciples is still to watch for the signs of God’s presence in power, especially as revealed through the cross and the resurrection, in healing the sick, standing with the broken and suffering, Attentiveness doesn’t require frenzy or panic. But it’s one way of keeping us awake like Jesus wants us to be.

Living in expectation requires that, at times, we alter the focus of our lives. We must take time to step back and get a truer perspective on life than what we get when we obsess on our daily drudgery. Worship, the fellowship with other Christians, reading and studying the Bible, and prayer are spiritual disciplines that enable us to do this. Advent is a time to remind ourselves that the boundaries of life are not the physical. Life is deeper, richer and more dynamic than that. Life is God’s gift to us and God’s involvement in his gift—our lives—is part of the gift.

Living in expectation is an important part of life, because it brings with it hope and excitement. Christians have a unique expectation—the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. Our hope is in the one who came, who is among us, and who will come again.

Jesus has promised to return, and he keeps his promises. He kept his promise to become one of us, suffer and die for us, so that we might experience fully his gift of life. He has also promised never to leave us nor forsake us, and he certainly has kept his promise. Because of his promises, we can live in the expectation that Jesus will return

” We wait in hope for the Lord: he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice for we trust his Holy Name May your unfailing love rest upon us O Lord even as we put our hope in you AMEN

 

HYMN                 Come Thou long expected Jesus

OFFERING

This Sunday we celebrate the Advent of Hope, coming to us in Jesus Christ. Think of your gifts as seeds of that hope which we can plant in the world which God loves for Christ’s sake.

DOXOLOGY

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise him all creatures here below

Praise him above ye heavenly host.

Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost

OFFERTORY PRAYER

God, our hope and our help, receive our gifts as seeds of gratitude for your gift to us in Christ Jesus. We bring before you our offerings of food for those who rely on the Safe House for help and comfort often in desperate need. Bless these seeds with growth so that hope will sprout in people who struggle with despair, and places trying to rebuild after devastating loss. Be their hope and their help, through Christ our Lord.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Surprising and Steadfast God, In the anticipation of your coming, keep us awake so that we will see you at work in the world. We give you thanks for moments of joy and celebration in our lives, for times of excitement and surprise; for love given and received, for friendships that furnish our life with meaning and happiness, and for family who reflect your unconditional love.  In all our relationships and encounters, allow us to see you in one another.

We pray for the coming of your kingdom week by week. Today we pray for the nations, and for all those who frame laws and shape society, who are charged to keep the peace and administer justice.  We thank you for leaders who are faithful to their responsibilities. We pray for places where justice is twisted in the interests of the powerful, and innocents suffer as a result.

Move in the hearts and minds of leaders for the sake of justice and generosity, so that people everywhere will experience freedom and have hope for their futures. Nourish our hope during this season of waiting, O God, as we prepare to receive Christ among us again.

We pray for those who are suffering this day, for those who are ill, for those who mourn, and for all fear who the future and what it may bring. Surround them with your love, support them with strength, and inspire the hope they need to face another day.

[Congregational concerns]

Please hear us as we offer prayers in silence for all those on our hearts this day:   pause

Eternal God, all souls are precious to you; the dead, as well as the living, are in your care.  We thank you for your saints of every generation. and for those dear to our own hearts, who have entered into your heavenly presence.  Keep us in communion with them and bring us with them at the last to dwell in your light.

Joining our voices into one, we pray as Jesus taught:

 

THE LORD’S PRAYER

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.  Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

HOLY COMMUNION

INVITATION

As we gather at this beginning of Advent Jesus invites us to his table to sit with those who hunger and thirst for a deeper faith. Christ is our host at the banquet in the Kingdom of God. O taste and see that God is good.

HYMN   527 Eat this bread

   

APOSTLES CREED    # 539

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the virgin Mary.
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven
He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving          

 Blessed are you, gracious God,

Creator of light, Source of love. Giver of life

You guide the sun, cradle the moon, and toss the stars.

At your word, the earth was spun on its course among the planets.

You breathed life into humankind and set us among all your creatures,

in a covenant of love and service.

Even when we turned away from you, you did not forsake us.

You sent your prophets to call us back to you giving your people hope in the promise of the Redeemer

Now we rejoice that your Son Jesus Christ has come and will come again in glory making all things new

We give you thanks for your unending mercy to each and to all,

as we join the song of creation to give you praise:

Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Mighty and tender God,

In Jesus of Nazareth, you revealed your light, your life, and your love

in words that confront and comfort us,

in compassion that heals and frees us,

in hope that challenges and changes us.

We gather at this table to give thanks for his gifts to us.

As we take the bread and cup at the table he prepares for us,

fill us with such longing for your kingdom

that our worship leads us to witness to his love through our lives

as we proclaim the mystery of faith

Christ has died

Christ is risen

Christ will come again

God of hope and healing,

we gather at your table to remember Christ’s life and death,

to proclaim his resurrection,

and to await his coming again.

But we also remember those who do not feast in joy today:

Inspire in them the hope we know in Christ Jesus.

Now send your Holy Spirit upon us

and upon these gifts of bread and wine, O God,

that all who share this loaf and cup

may be united Through Christ with Christ and in Christin the unity of the Holy Spirit All glory and honour are yours forever.  AMEN

BREAKING OF THE BREAD

This is the body of Christ – the bread of heaven - broken for you for the complete forgiveness of our sins. Take- eat- and believe Do this in remembrance of him

This is the cup of the new covenant sealed by Christ’s blood – the cup of salvation. Take and drink this in remembrance of him

SHARING THE ELEMENTS

 

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Lord God in deep gratitude for this time together in the sharing of this meal, we give ourselves to you. We bless you O God for the gift of bread and wine - for sustaining us in hope and sending us out as changed people We give to you everlasting thanks and praise. May we continue your work in the world until we come to your glory in the eternal kingdom sending us out in the power of your spirit for the sake of Jesus Amen

HYMN                  May the God of Hope

 

BENEDICTION

Go in hope this day and keep awake! Watch for signs of God at work around you and within you. Look for opportunities to serve others in Jesus’ name. And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

CLOSING SONG

Prepare the way of the Lord; Prepare the way of the Lord

And all people shall see the salvation of our God