MORRIS-ROSENFELD ECUMENICAL SHARED MINISTRY
ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2023
2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
UN HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Due to copyright limitations, we are unable to print the words to many of the songs. However, our musicians have chosen music to fit the scriptures. We invite you to look up the words in your worship book and ponder them. If you do not have a worship book, ponder the words of one of your favourite hymns and listen for God’s voice. Those who have the internet may find the songs on YouTube.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before … What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.
~Jan L. Richardson
BEFORE WE WORSHIP, WE REFLECT…
What is righteousness? We might define it simply as right relationship with God, a state that is driven by God’s work of justice and reconciliation. Today’s texts provide an opportunity to engage with this question. From the psalm we learn that righteousness is a characteristic of God that is outside of us, but that we meet in places of peace. The psalm also tells us that righteousness goes before the Lord in a preparatory way echoed in Isaiah and Mark. The text from 2 Peter indicates that righteousness is at home in the promised new heaven and new earth. Taken together these passages say that God’s righteousness is both the path and the destination of new life. Where is this gift of righteousness reflected in our relationships?
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge we gather and worship on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Our hope is in you because you gave your Son Jesus to reconcile the world to you. We pray for your strength and grace to forgive, accept and love one another, as you love us and forgive and accept us in the sacrifice of your Son.
Help us to share justly the resources of this land. Help us to bring about spiritual and social change to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities, especially the disadvantaged. Help young people to find true dignity and self-esteem by your Spirit.
May your power and love be the foundations on which we build our families, our communities and our Nation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
– taken from Wontulp-Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group, 13 March 1997, Brisbane
CALL TO WORSHIP
The day of the Lord brings grace and blessing.
We come to this day with hearts prepared for praising.
The day of the Lord brings judgment and pardon.
We come to this day with souls set on praying.
The day of the Lord brings wisdom and light.
We come to this day with minds eager to listen for God’s will.
In our praising, praying, listening, and responding,
we come to worship God.
Harry Disher, Grand Bend/Greenway P.C., Etobicoke, Ont.; First published in Gathering, Advent/Christmas/Epiphany, 2004–2005.
CHILDREN’S SONG: MV 138 My Love Colours Outside The Lines
CENTERING PRAYER
God of the unexpected and undreamt: In this holy season, instill your hope in our hearts. Prepare us; prepare us so we can hear again the song of the angels and see again the beckoning star. In the name of the One who comes. Amen.
CANADIAN LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF – Chad & Cameroon | Nature based solutions
The world is warming, extreme weather is increasing, and we’re experiencing a critical loss of biodiversity. Whole ecosystems that have supported life for millennia are rapidly unravelling. And ultimately, real people are suffering—hunger is on the rise, disasters are affecting more people, and lives are at stake.
That’s why we’re so grateful to be part of an exciting new partnership with funding from Global Affairs Canada, focused on regions where ecosystems are showing the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
In consultation with hundreds of families in Cameroon and Chad, we’ve designed an initiative called Nature-Based Solutions which will be carried out alongside thousands of local farmers as we restore land, reforest, push adoption of sustainable farming and water management practices, and include voices that have been left out.
We expect that in the 2.5-year lifetime of this project, over 128,000 people will benefit directly from an improved ecosystem—with better nutrition, water access, crop yields, and sustainable futures—and an additional 640,000 people will be able to live and work in ecosystems that will have been restored.
Your support is enabling us to take care of creation so it can take care of us!
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
O God, beginning and end, by whose command time runs its course: bless our impatience, perfect our faith, and, while we await the fulfillment of your promises, grant us hope in your Word. Amen.
READINGS AND PSALM
First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11
In grand, flowing, poetic lines, the prophet announces that the exile of God’s people in Babylon is over. God will deliver Israel and will care for her as a shepherd cares for the sheep. This word can be trusted, because the only enduring reality in life is the word of God.
1Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
9Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
10See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Psalm: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
1You have been gracious to your land, O Lord;
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
2You have forgiven the iniquity of your people
and blotted out all their sins.
8I will listen to what the Lord God is saying;
for you speak peace to your faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to you.
9Truly, your salvation is very near to those who fear you,
that your glory may dwell in our land.
10Steadfast love and faithfulness have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11Faithfulness shall spring up from the earth,
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12The Lord will indeed grant prosperity,
and our land will yield its increase.
13Righteousness shall go before the Lord
and shall prepare for God a pathway.
Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-15a
This short letter deals with pressing concerns regarding the final advent of Jesus, especially concerns that could arise over its apparent delay. The author of the letter calls on Christians to anticipate the promised coming of the Lord through conduct dedicated to God.
8Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
11Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
14Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15aand regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8
The Gospel of Mark does not begin with a story of Jesus’ birth but with the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord.
1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;
3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ”
4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
HYMN: VU 18 There’s A Voice In The Wilderness
SERMON:
The first verse of Mark is a title. The good news does not refer to the book Mark is writing, nor the teaching which Jesus gave. The good news is the message of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The beginning of the good news was in the preaching of John the Baptist. When he appeared preaching repentance, so began the divine drama of salvation.
It was good news when it was first proclaimed. It moved up and down the country roads of Galilee and the city streets of Jerusalem, and women and men were made whole. Jesus said, “Follow me”,@ and people gladly followed him, their lives deepened with new faith and enlarged with new purpose.
It was good news as it went out to the hard Roman world in the first century. Down into the ghettos and slums of Greek and Roman cities, where life was bound with every conceivable chain, the good news came with a proclamation that lifted people to their feet. They were told that they were children of God.
It has been good news down through the centuries, through all the nooks and corners of the globe, and will continue to be good news until it reaches the last outpost on earth. Jesus, the good news, life itself, has blessed humanity wherever people live in whatever their situation: joy, pain, sorrow, fear, despair. It is good news when LIFE enters and a person hears God’s call. It is good news when LIFE enters just as someone’s world crashes down, it is good news when LIFE enters in the midst of hatred and religious battles, and it is the best good news when LIFE enters just as our life comes to an end.
And so enters John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry on earth. God had full access to John’s heart, and John freely followed his calling from God. He offered the people a baptism of repentance. The mood, the spirit, the act of repentance was the main thing which fitted one for the coming rule of God. Repentance, in John’s preaching, was a complete life change-over, as is all true repentance. Repentance, metanoia, calls for a total change in direction. As a result, repentance is always more than penitence. Repentance is not remorse; not admitting mistakes; not self-condemnation. Who has not recited these rituals? Such words are common and easy to say. Repentance is very different. Repentance is more than being sorry for one’s sins. It is a moral and spiritual revolution.
For this reason, to repent genuinely is one of the hardest things in the world yet it is basic to all spiritual change and progress. It calls for the complete breakdown of pride, of self-assurance, of the prestige that comes from one’s name or one’s success, and most importantly, it calls for the breakdown of self-will.
Genuine repentance must include the subtle sins of the spirit, often so elusive that they are unrecognized and so deceptive that they assume the shape of angels. The classic list of the seven deadly sins contains some of them: pride, anger, envy, covetousness, sloth. Notice that those baptized confessed their SINS. Sin is an infinitely stronger word than mistake. It is also an infinitely stronger word than the easy way in which society uses jargon to try and dilute the seriousness of sin.
Nothing less than repentance can lead the world out of disaster today. Nothing less than repentance can lead the church out of disaster today.
December 6th marked the anniversary of the Montreal massacre. The sad reality of that event is that 14 innocent women were killed just because they were women. Even sadder is that we are now in the 21st Century and we still need to educate humanity that ALL people – including women, the Queer community, those with mental health issues – every person, deserves to be treated with love, respect, curtesy and kindness.
In many schools, the younger grades are taught anti-bullying behaviour and strategies because bullies still exist in kindergarten. Women still have to watch their drinks when they go out because men still roofie women in order to rape them. It seems that people are ready and willing to take offence at anything. We are divided in so many ways that I have no doubt Jesus weeps.
As I reflect on the news, listen to people’s stories of abuse, discrimination and the growing number of hate motivated crimes, I hear the call to repentance from John the Baptist.
We live in a society that supports much of this behaviour, in a warped kind of way. Sadly, Christians are not exempt from this thinking. I confess that I, too, have fallen into the trap. A number years ago there was a situation that involved a male and female colleague of mine. The accusations the woman was making seemed preposterous, after all this was my friend and colleague, he would never do that! And so, with the majority who knew both these people, I turned against my female colleague. Too late to change my opinion, it came out in the courts that the opinions of the majority, including me, were wrong. Indeed, my male colleague did do those things, and indeed, I had not believed an honest woman. The time had come for repentance.
The good news of salvation through Jesus Christ includes accountability and repentance from sin. Jesus broke many social mores by speaking to women in public, eating with prostitutes and tax collectors, healing a gentile woman’s child, and making women his disciples. He advocated looking after the widows and orphans, not just because Jesus was a compassionate human being, but because Jesus knew that these two groups were abused and neglected by society, and God always stands on the side of the poor and oppressed. Jesus was concerned about the welfare and equality of ALL people.
We are now into our second week of Advent. Now is a time of preparation for the coming of our Lord. Now is the time for reflection to repent of our sins. Let us not fool ourselves. Sin is sin. Sin is a broken relationship with God. Isolation. Sin is death. It is in repentance, true repentance, that we are given new life.
Come, O come, Emmanuel. Amen.
HOM: MV 75 Holy Spirit, Come To Us
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
With hope and expectation, we offer our prayers for the church, the world, and all who await God’s day of restoration.
Send forth your faithful people with words of promise and forgiveness. Teach your church to be bold in revealing your good news in word and in deed. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Reveal your majesty in mountain peaks, flowing rivers, and blossoming wilderness roads. Heal the earth where it longs for renewal. Bring wholeness to the earth and all its creatures. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Turn the hearts of the nations toward righteousness and peace. Increase cooperation for justice between countries, commonwealths, political parties, and diplomatic leaders. In times of prosperity, direct leaders to be generous for the sake of all. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Comfort your people with tender words of love and healing. Surround all who are grieving, all who know depression or anxiety, or all who feel lonely or forgotten. Be a steadfast presence when all else feels uncertain. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Grant holy patience to all who are waiting this season. Give hope to those seeking employment. Bring reassurance to people awaiting new diagnoses or treatments. Protect expectant parents. Watch with those who keep bedside vigil. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
With you a thousand years is like a day. Bless the memory of the saints from ages past and the anticipation of saints yet to be born. Inspire us to live with faith as we await your new heaven and new earth. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Listen to these and all our prayers, O God of hosts, and restore us with your great and everlasting mercy.
Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SENDING SONG: VU 29 Hark The Glad Sound
BENEDICTION
Return now to our world with its pain and wonder, remembering the words of the prophets, the faithfulness of Mary and Joseph, and the longing of all who yearn for a sign of hope. And may the blessing of God who is ever faithful, the blessing of Christ who still comes to us, and the blessing of the Holy Spirit who moves within us and throughout our world, rest upon us and abide with us, this day and forevermore. Amen.