{"id":11124,"date":"2023-12-12T10:43:30","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T15:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/?p=11124"},"modified":"2023-12-12T10:55:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T15:55:19","slug":"december-10-2023-second-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/?p=11124","title":{"rendered":"December 10, 2023 Second Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Worship Leader:<\/strong> Brad Lepp
Speaker:<\/strong> Alison Li
Song Leader:<\/strong> Peter Voth
Pianist: <\/strong>Audrey Wichert
Ushers: <\/strong>Sherry and David Nelligan
Tech Team (In-Person \/ Online): <\/strong>Dennis Giesbrecht\/ Lewis Stubbs
Activity Period:<\/strong> Christine and Andrew Sloss
Coffee: <\/strong>Doreen Martens\/ Jeff Taylor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gathering Processional with Children: <\/strong>Come Light of the World
Gathering Hymn: VT 218 <\/strong>\u2013 Come, Though Long-Expected Jesus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call to Worship \/ Candle Lighting:<\/strong>
In the darkness there is a way.
God always makes a way to us.
We light this candle to see God’s way.
And God makes a way for us.
We light this candle to find our way.
We go the way of love and justice.
In the dark, God, show us the way.
Come, O Jesus, come, and lead us in your way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
Announcements<\/strong>
Giving with Gratitude<\/strong> \u2013 Gift from Mennonite New Life Church
Kindom Reflection<\/strong> \u2013 Youth
Hymn: VT 210<\/strong> O Come, O Come Immanuel (verses 1,2,4,6,7)
Scripture Reading:<\/strong> Mark 1:1-8
Children\u2019s Story<\/strong>
Hymn: VT808<\/strong> – Between Darkness and Light
Scripture Reading:<\/strong> Isaiah 40:1-11
Congregational Prayer<\/strong>
Hymn: VT216<\/strong> \u2013 Lo, how a Rose e\u2019er blooming
Sermon<\/strong>
Hymn: 212 <\/strong>\u2013 Comfort, Comfort, O My People
Benediction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture
Mark 1:1-8<\/strong>
1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God\u2019s Son, 2 happened just as it was written about in the prophecy of Isaiah:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look, I am sending my messenger before you.
He will prepare your way,
3 a voice shouting in the wilderness:
\u201cPrepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 John the Baptist was in the wilderness calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. 5 Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins. 6 John wore clothes made of camel\u2019s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He announced, \u201cOne stronger than I am is coming after me. I\u2019m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 40:1-11<\/strong>
40 Comfort, comfort my people!
says your God.
2 Speak compassionately to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her that her compulsory service has ended,
that her penalty has been paid,
that she has received from the Lord\u2019s hand double for all her sins!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 A voice is crying out:
\u201cClear the Lord\u2019s way in the desert!
Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God!
4 Every valley will be raised up,
and every mountain and hill will be flattened.
Uneven ground will become level,
and rough terrain a valley plain.
5 The Lord\u2019s glory will appear,
and all humanity will see it together;
the Lord\u2019s mouth has commanded it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 A voice was saying:
\u201cCall out!\u201d
And another said,
\u201cWhat should I call out?\u201d
All flesh is grass;
all its loyalty is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass dries up
and the flower withers
when the Lord\u2019s breath blows on it.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass dries up;
the flower withers,
but our God\u2019s word will exist forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9 Go up on a high mountain,
messenger Zion!
Raise your voice and shout,
messenger Jerusalem!
Raise it; don\u2019t be afraid;
say to the cities of Judah,
\u201cHere is your God!\u201d
10 Here is the Lord God,
coming with strength,
with a triumphant arm,
bringing his reward with him
and his payment before him.
11 Like a shepherd, God will tend the flock;
he will gather lambs in his arms
and lift them onto his lap.
He will gently guide the nursing ewes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to the service here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to the sermon here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the sermon here<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this, the second Sunday of Advent, we continue to explore the theme of darkness and light. This week, a reflection on the limitations of what we as humans can see, and realize that here on earth there is so much that is beyond our sight. Surely there are lessons for us in knowing that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11124"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11129,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11124\/revisions\/11129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}