WELCOME
Good morning First Baptist. We welcome you to worship this morning. Be sure to remember your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the week as you pray for them, and as the Holy Spirit brings their faces to your mind. Be sure to also connect with them in the ways that are possible. And if you have any questions or would like to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to contact the church through the church telephone and leave a message. (519-733-4144)
Songs
Call to Worship
Today we light the candle of LOVE. Because of her love for God, Mary was faithful to serve as she was called. And through Mary, God would deliver the divine and perfect love of our Redeemer.
We relight the candle of hope, recalling God’s promise to send a Savior. We relight the candle peace, let it remind us of the peace that passes all understanding. We relight the candle joy, let it remind us of the joy of the coming of God with us. As we light the candle of love, let it remind us that Jesus was sent because of God’s great love for us.
We have come from many places to gather in this place—from home and school and work, from next door and some of you online, from miles away.
We have come on foot, by car, with friends, and alone.
Whatever the journey has held so far, wherever we find ourselves in our faith or life, God calls us together now, to see what God has done, and to celebrate the promise of what He will do.
Welcome to worship on this special morning.
Our Hope Has Come
Love
Pastor Marlee Page
Part 1
Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
— John 8:12
How many of you have a Navigation System or GPS?
That’s what the star was all those years ago. God placed it High in the sky so everyone would know where to go. They could see it twinkling and shining brightly to mark the special place where baby Jesus laid.
Now not everyone would know what the star meant so He needed some other helpers to explain and get the word out.
When you put in your where you want to go into the GPS it shows you not only the map, but it also tells you what to do, where to turn and how to get where you are going.
God’s helpers were the Angels.
Angels are spiritual beings created by God to serve Him. They are very powerful beings who function as God’s messengers. Many times, in the Bible they appeared to people and said, I have come as a messenger from the Lord. They were the ones given the important task of carrying the message of Jesus’ coming.
The nativity story, they show up all over the place to many different people.
First, The angel shows up to Zechariah to tell him all about his & Elizabeth’s son, who will be John the Baptist and that this boy will be the one to recognize who Jesus was first.
Then they come to Mary & Joseph to explain all about baby Jesus. They must tell them that He is coming, they even tell them what to name Him. They give very specific and detailed messages so that Mary & Joseph can understand fully what is happening. Just like our Navigation system. The Angels want to make sure they don’t get confused or misunderstand what the plan is.
Next after the birth, they go to the shepherds out in the fields. This time a whole bunch of them show up, it seems like because this message is so important, they want to make sure the Shepherds realize this. So, God pulls out all the stops and it says “A heavenly Host of Angels appears singing,
“Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him!”
A whole army of Angels came to tell the shepherds to go to Bethlehem and find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in the manger.
The wisemen used the star to follow because they were coming from far, far away and they knew all about stars and knew this one was extra special! So, they followed it for days and weeks until they came to where Jesus was.
Just like that star and those bright angels, Jesus is our bright light.
In John 8:12 it says,
Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
— John 18:12
In your bags that you received this morning, you will find a star. Take this home and put it somewhere special, like hang it in a window, or in a special place where you can see it all the time and don’t put it away after Christmas.
We need someone to guide us all the time. Leave it out so you can see it and be reminded that He is our GPS, He is the one we need to be following and listening too… He is the one who should guide our paths and he will give us good directions to follow.
Let us pray….
Lord, we want to be a light for the world like You. Help us to remember during this Christmas season to let our light shine for all the people I see. Help us to say the right words, act like You, and. Help us to shine like the star for Jesus. So, others will see Your love, patience, care, compassion, and strength. In Your name. AMEN.
Laura Gaffan
Part 2
The desert is a dangerous place. It is hot during the day and very cold at night. There is very little water, so not much grows there. The wind blows and changes the sand, and it is easy to lose your way. People only go into the desert when they have to.
Now, prophets are people who come so close to God and God comes so close to them, that prophets know what God is saying. Long before Jesus was born, a prophet named Isaiah, a name that means, “God to the rescue!” said, “The people living in darkness have seen a great light. A baby is coming who will change everything.” The people were lost. We were lost! But God had a rescue plan! Because God just can’t stop loving us.
So, God set His rescue plan in motion. Mary and Joseph went from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem. 145 km through the Judean desert. Dark and cold at night. No streetlights, no flashlights, only the stars to light their way. Mary was about to have this baby who would change everything. Now, it is very hard to walk when you are going to have a baby, so sometimes Mary rode on the donkey. It is also very hard to ride on a donkey when you are going to have a baby, so then she would walk. They must have been the last ones up the road to Bethlehem that night, so there wasn’t room for them. That’s how they wound up in the stable.
I wonder how dark the night sky was when Mary and Joseph finally made it to the shelter of the stable. Mary was so tired. Stars brightened and twinkled slowly in the sky as all of creation held its breath.
Suddenly from the stable, came the cry of a newborn child! Mary gently wrapped the baby in a blanket and laid him in the feed box filled with straw. She named this sweet, precious baby, Jesus. Immanuel that prophet would say, God with us. A great name because that is exactly what He had come to do, be with us.
Out on the dark hills outside of Bethlehem, there were shepherds, watching their sheep, guarding them from wolves. They were used to the dark and the sounds that come in the night. Most people didn’t think too much about shepherds, except that they were stinky and dirty and really, not very important at all, but God must not have thought so. He wanted them to know first! All at once, the dark was lost in light, and in the midst of the light was something even brighter: the faces of angels. The shepherds were afraid, their eyes hurt, and their hearts pounded.
“Don’t be afraid. We bring you happy news for everyone, everywhere! Today, in David’s town, Bethlehem, God’s Son has been born! Hurry! Go see the baby that has come to change everything!”
What would you do? Tell one person around you what is the first thing you would do.
They did as the angels told them! They ran to see this great gift. And there, in a stable was a mama snuggling a tiny baby boy and a papa, so proud. They had heard about this Promised Child and now He was here. This baby would be like that bright star shining in the sky that night. A Light to light up the whole world. Chasing away the darkness. Helping people to see. And the darker the night grew, the brighter the star would shine. And that is the message the shepherds got to tell everyone, “Glory to God and all the hoorays!”
This promised one, this Jesus would grow up. And when He began to teach people, this is how He began, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.”
He did such amazing things and said such wonderful things that people followed Him. And as they followed Him, they began to wonder who He was. They had forgotten or maybe they didn’t know about the baby, the stars, the shepherds, the wisemen. So, they asked Him, “Who are you?”
“I am the light of the world.”
Jesus would die on a cross in an Easter sort of way, but that is good. That is what Jesus said, that if He left, He would send a forever-with-us friend, the Holy Spirit. Watch as I change the light by putting it out. What was once in one place is now every where, all the time. Just because you can’t see something, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Now it is Everywhere.
Take your little light and hold it up.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Our forever-God-with-us friend the Holy Spirit in now our light. God’s gift to the world continues to be our gift.
God. With. US. The little, the rejected, the lonely, the unseen, the unheard.
God with us – The Light of our life – Go bring your light and shine in the darkness of this weary world!
Pastor Dave Page
Part 3
One of the things I enjoyed most in school was a special day called “Hat Day.” All of the students and teachers wore a hat to school on that day. You would see all kinds of hats — big hats, small hats, cloth hats, and straw hats. Some were very funny. You know, you can tell a lot about a person by the kind of hat he wears. Sometimes, you can even tell what a person does for a living by the kind of hat he or she wears. I have a bag full of hats to show you. As I take a hat out of my bag, raise your hand if you think you know who would wear that kind of hat.
Who knows who would wear a hat like this? (Fire Fighter’s Hat) Right! A fire fighter. That was easy, wasn’t it?
How about this one? (Hard Hat) Oh, you are right again. Someone who works in construction would wear a hat like this. It is sometimes called a hard hat. People who build buildings, highways, bridges, and things like that.
Have you ever seen anyone wearing a hat like this? (Cowboy Hat) Who would wear a hat like this? Yahoo! You got that right, it is worn by a cowboy or cowgirl.
Now, this next one is a little different. Let’s see if you can get this one. I wonder who would wear something like this? Can you guess? I can’t fool you, a crown is worn by a king or queen, isn’t it?
During the Advent Season we celebrate a King – The King, a King who was born many years ago. This king was different from most. What made this king different? Well, for one thing, He didn’t live in a palace. He didn’t wear a beautiful robe or a jeweled crown. He had no servants to wait on Him – and no soldiers to fight His battles. He didn’t even have a country over which to rule and there were no coins engraved with His face or His name, but He had a tremendous influence over the people and still does today.
“…He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
— 1 Timothy 6:15
Help me with something:
I imagine that most of you have probably guessed who this king is. The King is Jesus. He is not just any king, He is the King of Kings. His kingdom is not on earth, His kingdom is in heaven. That is why many people never chose to make Him their king. When Jesus was on earth, the people were looking for a king who would set up a kingdom on earth. A kingdom where they would share the wealth and power.
What’s wrong with calling Jesus the king? Well, there are three things in the Gospels that have become very clear that we identify with kingship, with someone who is a king. Kings have power; kings have wealth; kings lorded over others. Kings use force and killing to get their way. With Jesus, none of these is true.
Look at the idea of having power over others. There’s that incident in the Gospel where James and John come to Jesus seeking the first place in His kingdom. They’re thinking of a human kingdom; they want to be at His right hand and His left hand.
Or take wealth: Kings are identified with wealth. They have everything they need. Too often they drew money from the poor and build up their own wealth so they can always do whatever they want that money can obtain.
Third thing: Kings use force. They go to war to get their ways. Jesus rejected violence. Look, even in the garden, at the risk of his life – they’re coming to take Him prisoner, to torture Him, put Him to death – one of His disciples says, “I must defend Him. I must prevent this,” and so he draws his sword and began to flail with the sword, slices off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
Jesus says, “Put away your sword; don’t use violence. Those who live by the sword die by the sword.”
Violence brings violence — always greater violence — and so instead of the violence, Jesus heals the person whose ear has been severed. He reaches out in love.
These are the ways of Jesus, and they are dramatically difficult. It reminds me of what the prophet Isaiah says when he says about God: “My thoughts are not your thoughts; my ways are not your ways. As high as the heavens are above the earth, my ways are above your ways; my thoughts above your thoughts.” We can’t just follow the ways of the world, the ways of our flawed humanness that want to dominate over others, that want to accumulate in wealth, who want to use force. “My ways are not your ways; my thoughts are not your thoughts.”
This morning then, I want you to think of Jesus as the King, I think we must acknowledge that in so many ways, this idea of Jesus being a king as we commonly consider a king goes against the genuine way of Jesus because He rejected power over others. He wanted to be the slave, the servant of all. He rejected excessive wealth; and above all, Jesus rejected violence. He chose the way of suffering and death, showing love for those who were doing this to him. He was willing to suffer rather than inflict suffering; willing to be killed rather than kill, because He knew that the way of active love was the only way to transform our world into the reign of God. So even though we acknowledge Jesus as king, we must recognize not a king according to the ways of the world. If we follow His way, we will enter into that fullness of life, His risen life.
Jesus did finally wear a crown, but it wasn’t a crown of gold with jewels, it was a crown of thorns. A cross became His throne and above his head was a sign that read, “This is the King of the Jews.”
Some people still refuse to recognize Jesus as King. But all around the world today the Word is spoken, “Jesus Christ is and will always be the King of Kings.”
Jesus, today we crown You King and make You Lord of our life. Amen.
Prayer
Gracious God, we anticipate and await Your coming to us this Advent season. We believe the unbelievable message that in love you came to be one of us – a person both human and divine. We rejoice that You have not kept your distance from us but have shortened the distance between us and You through the birth of Jesus.
Father God, teach us anew that You have not abandoned us, but that you have surrounded us with love, peace, hope, joy, and good news…and have called us to live a life worthy of Your calling in our lives. God, You are the atmosphere of our lives and the environment by which our lives are sustained.
Finally, God, remind us that the world is not a cold and empty space, but a place filled with your presence and power and love. Help us to be bearers of your light in the midst of the darkness that often surrounds us.
Loving God, we pray this morning for those we know, and for those throughout our community and world, who are weathered by illness, of grief, or injustice, or unrest and the many other ways and kinds of suffering. May the good news of your compassion and grace bring peace and hope. Help US to make our world, our homes, our communities, and our church, and our lives worthy to receive the Christ who comes to us with open arms and with boldness. Grant that we may seek after Christ’s Love and follow after Christ’s justice, so that his kingdom may be born again in our lives.
O God, give us the spirit of this Advent season, that our lives may more closely shape and resemble the life of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Make us ready and deserving of your coming. Amen.
Song
Benediction
Be people of love.
Let love live in your heart and share the love of Christ with all you meet.
Share love by loving those you see regularly. Start by loving your community.
Share love by loving those you do not know. How do your actions affect the rest of God’s creation?
Share love by praying for our world.
Church, in this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share love.
As you go out into the world this week before Christmas – the example of the love that God sent to us through His Son. The one who will come again. Amen.