St. Mark’s United Church, Port Hawkesbury
DLM-R/MDiv Student: Barb MacNaughton (902-302-5832)
Pianist: Adam Cooke
Administrator: Jane MacKinnon
Ministry – The Whole Congregation
Advent 1 - Hope
November 28, 2021
The Community Gathers
Welcome and Announcements
ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING:
Hope admits that we’re not quite there yet.
Hope means that something good is within reach.
Hope calls out to us, so that we come to see the good that awaits.
God is our hope.
Let us taste and see, hear, feel, smell, and anticipate this hope.
May hope be found in a manger and throughout the world.
(Light first Advent Candle – Blue)
Hymn: Hope Is a Star VU 7 verse 1
Call to Worship:
Watch! Wait! The day of God is at hand!
Like a bud on a tree, God’s possibilities are about to blossom!
Stay awake! The reign of God is very near.
We are here. Waiting and watching with hope. May God bring justice to all people this very day.
We rejoice as children of the Light! Come let us worship our God together.
Opening Prayer
Gracious and loving God in this place, we know this Advent season is a time when your light radiates through the world. In as much as we can, let us be bright for you and for one another. Shine your light through us as though we were pieces in a stained-glass window. Flow through us into others as the warm glow of colours seeps into our church. Fill us with your light as though we were lighthouses on the shore. Use us to guide others and to keep them from danger. Set us aflame with your light as though we were candles, even candles in a storm. Enable us to burn steadily with your fiery Spirit and to push aside all forms of darkness. Be present with us God, throughout the Advent season as we live and worship in our waiting for the One who comes to light up the world. Amen
♫ Hymn: God, We Praise You for the Morning VU 415
The Community Explores
Scriptures:
Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 33:14-16
Responsive Reading: Psalm 25:1-10, VU 752
New Testament Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3: 9-13
♫ Hymn: O Ancient Love VU 17
Gospel Reading: Luke 21:25-36
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church through these words today.
Thanks Be to God!
Message
♫ Hymn: Hark the Glad Sound VU 29
The Community Celebrates
Minute for Mission
Offering Hymn: VU 55
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him – give my heart.
Offering Prayer:
Loving God, on this path we will encounter so many different things but we will be faithful to go where we feel called on this day! As we bring those things that we have to share, skills, time, talent and treasure, we celebrate the Hope of this season that will lift all of us into a life filled with the Spirit, and all will be blessed and pleased. Amen
Sacrament of Communion
♫ Communion Hymn: I come with Joy VU 477 verses 1-3
God is with you
And also with you
Lift up your hearts
We lift them up to God
Let us give thanks to God, our God
It is right to give God thanks and praise.
Choir: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel vs 1
All: Sing refrain
God, most holy, we do give you thanks as we gather at Christ’s table, as we remember your love, holy and whole, a love that has held us from the beginning of the beginning, and a love that will hold us for as long as time exists.
Choir: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel vs 2
All: Sing refrain
We need your Wisdom, God. We need your guidance. We need your invitation – your calling – your whispers and your shouts – through the voices of prophets and priests, grandmothers and grandfathers, children and infants, all who listen and speak your love.
Choir: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel vs 3
All: Sing refrain
Because we didn’t always listen - Because we don’t always listen – you gave us your Christ, alive in the world.
Choir: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel vs 4 & 5
All: Sing refrain
Wholly God and wholly human, a tiny baby, a youth, an adult, a teacher, a healer, a challenger, a Saviour, he laughed with those who laughed and cried with those who cried, but, most of all, he loved us with a love that, never, ever ends, a love that surpasses even death, a love that brings new life – not only to us – but to all creation! Alleluia!
Choir: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel vs 6
All: Sing refrain
On the night before he was taken to his death on a cross, Jesus gathered with his disciples. No…he gathered with his friends. He share with them a meal of remembrance and freedom.
After an act of utmost humility and hospitality – washing their feet – he blessed the bread and broke it, saying,
Take this and eat it, this bread is broken as my body will be. Each time you eat bread, remember me!
As the meal drew to a close, he blessed a cup of wine and passed it to them, saying,
Take this and drink it, this wine is poured out as my blood will be. Each time you drink, remember me!
And so we eat, we drink, and we remember! Holy God, send your Spirit upon us, and upon these gifts, that they – and we – might truly be Christ’s body alive in the world!
Through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory is yours, God most holy, now and forever.
Amen
Choir: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel vs 7
All: Sing Refrain
We pray all these things to you, God – Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer – because we know that you are like a mother who gives us life and so we pray together…
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 those who trespass against us; lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Choir: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel vs 1
All: Sing Refrain
These are the gifts of God, for all of Creation!
Thanks be to God
Come for things are now ready
Share the bread and wine
The bread of life – The cup of the new covenant
Prayer after Communion:
With this taste of the bread of Life, with this taste of the cup of Love, send us into the world, God - so that we might whisper your coming, so that we might sing your Advent, so that we might live your birth, now and forever. Amen.
♫ Hymn: I come with Joy VU 477 vs 4-5
The Community Goes Forth
Commissioning/Benediction
♫ Closing: Choral Amen
One License A-401486
Ministering through leadership this morning are:
Minister: Barbara MacNaughton
Pianist: Adam Cooke
Lay Reader: Joyce Oliver-Snair
Mission Moment: Larry Evans
Advent Wreath:
Counters: Clark Brander, Dave Chapman
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Hanging of the Greens Service is tonight at 7:00 p.m. Bring proof of vaccination if you have not filled out our form here at the church. Please join us as we decorate our church and turn on our memorial lights. We will be reading the names of all those for whom a bulb has been purchased. A beautiful service to begin our time of Advent. We will be sharing in a time of refreshments following this service.
Also, we will take time to say farewell and offer our best wishes to Larry and Lucille Evans as they embark on their new adventure in Halifax.
Barb is in the office most mornings Monday -Thursday from 9 a.m. - 12 noon. If you need to arrange a different time, please call her cell: 902-302-5832
Secretary’s OFFICE HOURS: Thursday & Friday 8-12 noon.
Deadline for information for the bulletin is Thursday at noon.
The December calendar is out, please remember to pick one up on the table in the narthex.
Christmas Eve Service is at 6 p.m. with communion and candle lighting.
It is time to renew your Broadview magazine.
Please contact Barb MacIntyre
Collection Counters/Recorders Needed – Please sign up.
The load gets lighter when many helping hands participate.
Bible Study 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Tuesday mornings in church hall.
Lay Readers:
December 5th – Dave Chapman
December 12th – Jean MacPherson
December 19th –
December 24th – Christmas Eve Barb MacIntyre –
Minute for Mission Readers:
December 5th – Barb MacIntyre
December 12th – Anna Marie Langley
December 19th – Yvonne Fox
December 24th – Christmas Eve
Food Bank Sunday – Last Sunday of the month.
