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We are glad that you are here this morning. We hope this time of worship nurtures
your faith enlivens your spirit and engages your mind as we celebrate God’s
love and healing for the world with the resurrection of Christ, our Risen Lord.

Before you begin, remember to download and print the 11.27.22 – Bulletin
Then grab your Bible, a cup of tea or coffee, and prepare your heart for worship.

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READ THE SERMON

November 27, 2022 – 1st Sunday of Advent

Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

“ALERT BUT NOT AFRAID”

Today we enter the season of Advent and the beginning of the church’s liturgical year. Advent is Latin for “coming.” It celebrates the most important news about the past and the most important news about the future. Christ has come, and Christ is coming back. In this morning’s Scripture readings, the prophet Isaiah promises the people of Israel that one day in the future, God will come to earth and dwell in Jerusalem. At that time, God will initiate a new era when all people make pilgrimages to Jerusalem to worship and be instructed in God’s ways. The psalmist speaks as one of these pilgrims, who comes to the temple in Jerusalem and prays “for the peace of Jerusalem.” In our epistle reading, the apostle Paul urges the Roman church to cease their worldly ways and follow God’s laws, which can only be accomplished in the spirit of love. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus urges us to be watchful and spiritually awake for the second coming of the Son of Man. Just as the coming of Christ as a baby in Bethlehem took everyone by surprise, so too the coming of Christ in glory take everyone by surprise. The first Sunday of Advent commemorates the hope of Israel for a Messiah.

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Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“Throughout the week, there are many worldly things pulling me away from my commitment to God.  I come to church on Sunday at Westminster to reconnect and renew my relationship with Him.  Part of my worship is to ask him for forgiveness for my lack of faithfulness.  I leave, reminded that he loves me, forgives me, and walks beside me every day.  What a profound blessing that is!”