Order of Service for Sun Dec 11, 2022 Third Advent
Worship Leader: Brad Lepp
Speaker: Lori Unger
Music: Sandra Horst/ Audrey Wichert
Technical Team: Alison Li/ Ben Thiessen
Ushers: Christina Reimer/ Lara Munro
Coffee Hour Hosts: Elizabeth and Dennis Giesbrecht
Gathering Hymns: VT 418 – From the Parent’s Heart, the Firstborn
VT 249 – Angels We Have Heard on High
Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
Announcements
Call to Worship
Leader: Look, I am sending my messenger, go tell what you have seen!
People: Hosanna! For the Lord, our God is coming to us!
Leader: Tell the poor, gather the lowly
God’s awesome wonders fill the earth,
The lost are found, the blind receive sight,
The deaf hear, the lame walk,
And those who are dead in spirit receive new life.
People: For the Lord, our God is coming to us!
Leader: The trees of the fields and all nature are awaiting eager the restoration of the earth
People: For the Lord, our God is coming to us!
Leader: Let us praise the God of our salvation. Let us hail God’s Anointed One with shouts of joy.
All: Our God is coming to us. Let us worship God!
Lighting of Advent Candle of Joy
Hymn: VT 70 – Praise God
Giving with Gratitude
Kingdom Reflection – Aurora House – Jana Lepp
Congregational Prayer
Scripture Reading: Matthew 11: 2–11
Children’s Time
Hymn: VT 738 – Open My Eyes That I May See
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 35:1–10
Sermon
Hymn: VT 252 – Go Tell it on the Mountain
Benediction
Scriptures this week
Matthew 11: 2–11
2 Now when John heard in prison about the things the Christ was doing, he sent word by his disciples to Jesus, asking, 3 “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
4 Jesus responded, “Go, report to John what you hear and see. 5 Those who were blind are able to see. Those who were crippled are walking. People with skin diseases are cleansed. Those who were deaf now hear. Those who were dead are raised up. The poor have good news proclaimed to them. 6 Happy are those who don’t stumble and fall because of me.”
7 When John’s disciples had gone, Jesus spoke to the crowds about John: “What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A stalk blowing in the wind? 8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in refined clothes? Look, those who wear refined clothes are in royal palaces. 9 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 He is the one of whom it is written: Look, I’m sending my messenger before you, who will prepare your way before you.
11 “I assure you that no one who has ever been born is greater than John the Baptist. Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Isaiah 35:1–10
35 The desert and the dry land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom like the crocus.
2 They will burst into bloom,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
They will receive the glory of Lebanon,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the Lord’s glory,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and support the unsteady knees.
4 Say to those who are panicking:
“Be strong! Don’t fear!
Here’s your God,
coming with vengeance;
with divine retribution
God will come to save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
and the ears of the deaf will be cleared.
6 Then the lame will leap like the deer,
and the tongue of the speechless will sing.
Waters will spring up in the desert,
and streams in the wilderness.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
and the thirsty ground, fountains of water.
The jackals’ habitat, a pasture;
grass will become reeds and rushes.
8 A highway will be there.
It will be called The Holy Way.
The unclean won’t travel on it,
but it will be for those walking on that way.
Even fools won’t get lost on it;
9 no lion will be there,
and no predator will go up on it.
None of these will be there;
only the redeemed will walk on it.
10 The Lord’s ransomed ones will return and enter Zion with singing,
with everlasting joy upon their heads.
Happiness and joy will overwhelm them;
grief and groaning will flee away.
Listen to the service here.
Listen to the sermon here.