Worship
Service for November 30, 2025
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Christ is coming!
P: We see the signs.
L: Christ is coming!
P: We will be ready!
L: Christ is coming! Raise your heads because your redemption is
near!
P: Praise be to God! We will worship and prepare.
Lighting of the Advent Candles
L: The prophet Isaiah calls to us from the
past to imagine the future when God’s reign will be fully realized and
recognized throughout creation. When
that time comes, God “shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for
many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither
shall they learn war anymore.”
P: Today, we choose to live in hope,
believing that the time of God’s reign has come and is coming among us.
L: We call this first candle – Hope.
(Light the candle.)
P: We light this candle of hope as a sign of
our promise to follow the Light as we answer God’s call to transform our hope
into reality today and in the days to come.
Opening Hymn – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel #9/245
Prayer of Confession
Prince of Peace, the wars and
rumors of wars betray our addiction to violence, our destructive and
dehumanizing ways. We deserve Your
judgment and condemnation. Yet, You
remain faithful, a steadfast source of peace in the midst of our warring
madness. Holy God, turn us from
evil. Return us to Christ and His path
of peace. Forgive us our sins against
You and against our neighbor. Forgive
us, merciful God, when we spend so much time looking for the scary things in
life. Focus our attention on ways in which
we can be of service with whatever time we have. Forgive us when we seek the darkness of anger
and fear and turn our backs on the light of possibilities and peace. Open our hearts once again to your redeeming
love and transforming peace, for we ask these things in Jesus’ name. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Anyone who is in Christ is a new
creation. The old life has gone; a new
life has begun. Know that you are
forgiven and be at peace.
P: You call us Your people, O God, and we are
eternally grateful.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Almighty and merciful
God we believe, despite all the strange coming and goings of humanity, that our
history belongs to you. We give thanks
that your eternal purpose is weaving its way through the events of time and
space. Sometimes, O Lord, it’s a
challenge to hold on to this belief, but our confidence is in Christ, your Son
and our Savior. We believe his birth,
life, death and resurrection are our confirmation that even though we can’t
understand the big picture of things, we can know history’s final outcome. Gracious God, we watch with eager expectation
for the return of Christ. Our souls buzz
with anticipation of seeing the One, face to face, who authored and sustains
the universe, the One in whom and through whom all things hold together, the
One who will one day sit in judgment. We
believe that on that last and great day all of history’s scoffers will drop to
their knees in recognition of your Son.
In this season when the darkness is banished and the light
has come, we look to You for comfort and strength. We hand over to You the concerns of our
hearts and pray for….
Not only these do we pray for, but we also pray for the
burdens that are too difficult to share…hear us, Lord, in this time of silence.
With hearts of endless joy we pray to You this morning, the
prayer that your Son taught us to pray together saying……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.
Hymn – Lift
Up Your Heads, Ye Might Gates Hymn
#8 Blue
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Isaiah
6:1-8
Second Scripture Reading – Matthew
24:36-44
Sermon – Angels and Advent
Angels
and Advent
(based
on Isaiah 6:1-8 and Matthew 24:36-44)
Every year, I try to find a theme to
preach about during Advent. This year as
I reread the Christmas story, I found a thread that I haven’t really explored
before. Angels. Angels are so prominent throughout the gospel
accounts of Jesus’ birth, told both by Matthew and Luke and oddly so because unlike
all other mentions of angels in the Bible, they are present throughout the
whole story. Of course, angels are
mentioned in both the old and new testaments, but not to the extent that they
are mentioned in the gospel accounts of Christ’s birth. They appear at least 5 times in the story
about Jesus’ birth and then again as he is about to begin his ministry when he
was tempted in the wilderness.
As
a group angels are mentioned in nearly every main Old Testament story we have –
they are mentioned several times in Genesis; guarding the Garden of Eden and
the Tree of Life after Adam and Eve were expelled, appearing to Hagar in the
wilderness to strengthen her, rescuing Lot and his family from Sodom. They interacted with the Patriarchs, stopped
Abraham from killing his son Isaac, appeared to Jacob in his dreams, also to
Moses within the burning bush, and led the Israelites to the Promised Land. But angels also executed justice; killing all
the firstborns in Egypt during the Passover, killing 185,000 Assyrians
soldiers, bringing a plague upon Israel for David’s sin of numbering the people. They ministered to the Prophets, giving
strength to Elijah with food and water when he was in despair, and shutting the
mouths of lions in the den with Daniel.
Angels are described as part of the “host of heaven” who worship God. They are called malak in Hebrew, which
means messenger, or “the angel of the Lord.”
They are called the seraphim and cherubim. They
have been called in Genesis and in Job, “Sons of God”, bene ha Elohim. As named angels; Michael and Gabriel. In general, all the angels are considered
guardians and messengers for God.
In
the New Testament, aside from the gospel account of Christ’s birth and
appearing again to minister to him after his ordeal in the wilderness, they
appear at the tomb to announce his resurrection and at the ascension to tell
the disciples he would return one day. The
only book that lists angels more is in the book of Revelation which is filled
with angelic activity, where they pour out God's wrath, lead armies in
spiritual warfare, and reveal end-times prophecies to the Apostle John. In
other books of the New Testament, they are simply worshippers of God.
But
how much do we really know about angels?
Let’s go through some artists’
rendering of some of these creatures based on their descriptions in the Bible.
First, we have the Seraphim, described
in Isaiah and Daniel as fiery, six-winged beings who attend God’s throne and
are involved with proclaiming God’s holiness.
However, in Ezekiel (next slide) they are described more like a being of
all wings with intertwining spheres that spin.
It is unclear whether the spinning sphere is part of the creature or
separate from it that simply moves with it at all times. The Seraphim are also described as having many
eyes (next slide). Now the cherubim, described
in Ezekiel 10, are different (next slide).
No, they are not the cute little baby looking things with wings, but
rather (next slide) fearsome, composite creatures with four faces (something like
that of a bull, an eagle, a lion, and a man) with four wings, known as the
protectors of sacred space.
Michael, the Archangel or principal angel,
(next slide) mentioned in Daniel, Jude, and Revelation is nearly always depicted
as a majestic angel with a flaming sword and shield who carries out justice and
protects the innocent. Then there is
Gabriel who visits Zechariah and Mary, also mentioned in Daniel, often depicted
holding a stem of lilies. There are
other angels mentioned by name in other Apocryphal books of the Bible that the
Catholics include, but we don’t. Such as
Raphael who is listed in the book of Tobit and Enoch.
And finally, angels appear in the likeness
of humans. In the Bible, angels
frequently appear as humans. For
example, they visited Abraham and ate a meal with him, and the disciples at
Jesus's ascension saw two men dressed in white. When angels appear in human form, it is
typically for a specific mission, such as delivering a message, warning, or
guidance from God. At times, their human
guise is so convincing that people do not realize they have encountered an
angel. Therefore scripture advises us to
show hospitality to strangers, as some have unknowingly entertained angels.
So, seeing some images of artists’
rendering of what the descriptions might look like – particularly of Seraphim
and Cherubim, no wonder the common refrain when seeing an angel was for the
angel to say, “Fear Not.”
A
radio show had a Christmas special one year where an angel showed up to tell
the shepherds about the birth of Christ and the conversation in heaven that
followed. The comical conversations went
something like this:
Angel: “Fear Not”
Shepherds: *screaming*
Angel: “I said, Fear Not.”
Shepherds: *screaming LOUDER*
Angel: “What part of Fear Not are you not
understanding?”
Narrator: “Maybe that’s why so many Christians see
visions of Saints or the Virgin Mary instead.”
Jesus: “No, no, see, being human made me realize
sending angels might not be the best idea.
I don’t know if humans can handle it.
So, I’m just gonna’ send mom.
It’s either Mom or the thousand eyed flaming wheel. Dad, do you really think humans are gonna be
chill with that when they’re terrified of spiders already?”
God: “Hey now, some of those spiders eat birds.”
Jesus: “DAD!”
God: “ Well to be fair, Australian wildlife was my
dark creation phase.”
We
can’t relate the Christmas story, watch a Christmas pageant, or even walk city
streets or the aisles of otherwise secular department stores during the
Christmas season without encountering images of angels – however, unlike they
are to the angels described in the Bible.
Some of our most enduringly popular Christmas movies, such as It’s a
Wonderful Life and The Bishop’s Wife, have angels in central
roles. They appear not with wings but as
everyday human beings sent to earth to teach the meaning of Christmas and offer
hope to distracted, misguided individuals who have lost their way – to bring
hope and light into the bleakness of their lives.
As mentioned earlier, angels are not
unique to the Christmas story. They
appear throughout the Bible during significant moments in the history of God’s
people. However, their role as God’s
messengers of hope, peace, salvation, direction, warning, and especially of
Jesus’s identity, make their words in the birth narratives of Jesus messages we
need to hear, heed, and claim today in this season of Advent.
The word Advent actually comes not from
Greek or Hebrew, but from Latin adventus, which means “coming.” Specifically, it referred to a visitation by
the emperor – an event that required people to make special preparations. During Advent, as Christians have done for
centuries, we prepare and wait expectantly for the coming of our King; for the
birth of the Christ Child in the midst of our lives and hearts once again, for
the return of Christ, whose arrival was announced even in Elizabeth’s womb by
John the Baptist, inaugurated at Jesus’ birth, and evidenced in his life on
earth; and for the consummation of His kingdom.
The angels in the stories of Jesus’s
birth are significant to our time of waiting and preparation in Advent. They are not just beautiful decorations for
our trees. They are more than the
coolest costumes for the Christmas pageant.
But it’s dangerously easy to reduce them to such roles, even in our formal
church celebrations. The about the
Christmas hymns we know well. Notice how
many of them include, or even begin with, the angels:
“Hark
the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King.”
“Angels
we have heard on high, sweetly singing o’er the plain.”
“It
came upon a midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near
the earth to touch their harps of gold.”
These
and more, we’ll sing during this Advent season, take note of the angels and
what they tell us.
The one role angels have in each of
these hymns – singing – is not mentioned at all in the Gospel stories. I don’t want to burst your bubbles here, but
in the Gospel accounts, angels don’t sing.
They speak. Of all the most
familiar Christmas hymns, the only one I can recall that makes this key
distinction begins like this, “The first noel the angels did say was to certain
poor shepherds in fields where they lay.”
I’m sure a bunch of you want to open up your Bibles right now and head
to Luke and the story of the angels visiting the shepherds and how the one
angel was joined by a host of others singing, “Glory to God in the Highest and
on earth peace to all.” But I’ll tell
you right now, it’s not in there and we’ll talk about that specific story
later.
But the word noel is borrowed from the
French referring both to news and to a birth.
In the Middle Ages it came to mean specifically the news of the birth of
Jesus. The angels in the birth
narratives of Jesus aren’t actually depicted as singing. Yet, we refer to the words of praise that
Jesus’ mother, Mary and Zechariah offered at the announcements of their sons’
births as “songs” due to their beautiful poetic nature. The words of the angelic host have similarly
captured our imaginations and those of the writers of our favorite Christmas
hymns – as a song of the good news of Christ’s birth.
Our concentration on the angels of
Advent and Christmas will bring our focus back to the central role of angels as
bringers of news, not members of a heavenly chorus. They came to deliver important messages to
people who were hoping for God to intervene in a mighty way, both in the fears
and darkness of their personal lives and in their world. One of those angels reminded the
doubt-plagued recipient of his message, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God” – implying
that the message the angels bring are to be heeded as carefully, and met with
the same awe and wonder, as messages that come straight from God. More than that: messages from God through the
angels demand a response from us, by word or action.
As we prepare for our own Advent, we
will look at the messages delivered by the angels regarding the birth of
Jesus. We will carefully read, sing, hear
the stories told anew, and hopefully ponder them in our hearts, as Mary did,
not just for the four weeks of the Advent season and into Christmas, but far
beyond. We will examine how these human
recipients responded to the messages from God.
And I hope ask ourselves not just how we would have responded had we
encountered the same angels in these gospel stories, but how we recognize and respond
to the angels that I believe are still making their appearance in our own
everyday lives, for they still bring “good news of great joy for all the
people,” including you and me.
Thanks
be to God. AMEN.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Eternal
God, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. The whole earth is full of Your glory. Please accept our humble offerings of
ourselves and our resources. Please use
them to herald Your hope to all persons everywhere who are living in physical,
moral, and spiritual poverty. Bless our
gifts this day, O Lord. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus Hymn #2/244
Benediction –
Dance,
celebrate, sing, and shout for joy while we wait for Christ’s return. He already goes before us into this world of
fear and pain. He has called us to bring
the Good News of healing and hope, and of redemption. Go in peace, and feel the
presence of the Risen Lord with you, now and forever. AMEN.
Postlude
