Time Change
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For November 30, 2025:
Time Change
by Chris Keating
Matthew 24:36-44
Like thoroughbreds pawing at the track, the restless crowds outside Wal Mart were impatient as the clock inched toward midnight on Black Friday. Few looked affected by their tryptophan overdose at dinner. Some otherwise well-behaved citizens looked like race horses eager to hit the turf.
That was my one and only late night Black Friday adventure, and thankfully it was at least a decade ago. Today there are fewer maddening midnight starts to the Christmas shopping race, especially as Black Friday has morphed from a day into a season. The change mirrors the ever-expanding secular season of Christmas, though peak anticipation still rises after Thanksgiving leftovers are put away.
Tom Willadsen witty wisdom in his Second Thoughts article “What Time is it?” helps to point the church toward its Advent journey. Advent time is distinct from secular time. When we cross into the Advent time zone, scripture reminds us that we are called to mark time differently. We don’t march in place like a band practicing for the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, but neither do we fling ourselves anxiously at the frenetic ever-churning chaos produced by the Christmas machine.
Advent standard time calls us to not be distracted by confusing actions or misleading reports. Don’t assume that the bromance shown by New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump means a sudden shift in policies. Don’t be distracted into assuming Marjorie Taylor Greene’s planned resignation from Congress signals the immediate failure of far-right wing ideology.
Instead, as Liuan Huska suggests in this month’s Sojourners magazine, disciples are called to look beyond present signs to the “new pathways and possibilities” that are emerging underfoot like “fungal networks in the humus.”
“I am sittin’ among you to watch,” Sojourner Truth once said, “and every once and a while I will come out and tell you what time of night it is.” (Quoted by James K.A. Smith, How to Inhabit Time.) Entering the Advent time zone invites us to that sort of watching — a reminder that the world’s fleeting pace may end, but Jesus’ words shall never pass away.
In the News
“It’s time,” cries Mariah Carey. But then we already knew that. We know it is time to start/continue/finish (choose the appropriate verb) Christmas shopping in a season made more complicated by the full-effects of President Trump’s tariffs. Signs of the impact of tariffs on Christmas shopping might include changes in how much merchandise retailers will have on hand, or complications in making international purchases.
Realizing that it’s time for higher prices on just about everything will make shopping for deals and discounts harder. Caroline Weaver writes that she believes price increases will generally be in the 10-15% range this season. “Most goods are affected by the cost of tariffs — even if they’re manufactured domestically,” she writes. “There are almost no products that can be made in America, entirely of American parts, so products that use imported packaging, ingredients, or materials are still affected by tariffs.”
It’s also time for higher grocery prices, including a whopping 40% increase in wholesale turkey prices. Most grocery prices are up around 3% over last year, though certain cuts of beef are more than 20% higher than a year ago. Orange juice, coffee, and bananas are also higher, though President Trump has ordered tariffs on those items to be rewound.
And, of course, it’s also time for confusing politics. It remains unclear that that Congress’ action on forcing the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein will yield any new information, as the bill included significant exceptions, including barring the release of any materials related to current investigation. Some of Epstein’s victims hope Congress has heard the cries of survivors, but it is uncertain how much will be revealed.
White House observers were also unclear how to interpret what CNN called the “bizarrely chummy” Oval Office meeting between mayor-elect Mamdani and Trump. What was expected to be a clash between Mamdani’s socialist views and Trump’s conservative policies, became an “unexpected lovefest.” After the meeting, Trump told reporters that “Some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have.” While most of the praise came from Trump, it seemed to result from the president’s appreciation of Mamdani’s political strategies.
Don’t be distracted by such things, Jesus tells the disciples. It is indeed Advent time, and inhabiting that time zone calls us to remain awake, alert, for no one fully knows when the kingdom will arrive.
In The Scripture
Matthew’s apocalyptic theology may not be the holiday warm up most people expect. Rather than a holly-jolly cup of cocoa and Christmas carols, this Sunday emphasizes the differences between the Advent Time Zone and the world’s Christmas celebrations. Advent is, as the late Richard Gaillardetz wrote, the invitation to “not just to carve out some time for God, but to undergo conversion in our very experience of time. It is in Advent that we learn, not to master time, but rather to submit ourselves to the flow of God’s time. In Advent we can learn the spirituality of waiting.”
Matthew’s words introduce this spirituality of waiting by providing hope and consolation to believers caught in the maelstrom of the world’s confusion. Chapter 24 shifts the location of Jesus’ public ministry in the temple to private conversations held with the disciples. He speaks directly to their concerns about the signs of his coming (24:3), and the importance of marking this time.
Matthew appears concerned about the community’s survival in these in-between times. Navigating these times is tricky, and filled with the temptation to become distracted. Literal readings that assign exact dates to Jesus’ return are no more helpful than assigning particular significance to historical or contemporary events. Jesus makes this clear in 24:4, as he advises the disciples to avoid being led astray.
To those wearied by the constant turmoil, Jesus offers hope and encouragement. Reading these verses during Advent is a reminder that the hope of Jesus is found in the knowledge that God remains firmly in control of history, despite what we may see. Our hope becomes real in the everyday activities of grinding grain, or working in the field. In those times, says Jesus, we must be ready and alert, not weighed down by worry or struggles.
Becoming alert and awake offers us the true hope of life in the Advent Time Zone.
In the Sermon
“A lot of contemporary Christianity suffers from spiritual dyschronometria,” writes James K.A. Smith, “an inability to keep time, a lack of awareness of what time it is.” (Smith, How to Inhabit Time.) His reflections are insightful:
Too many contemporary Christians look at history and see only a barren, textureless landscape. We might think of this as the temporal equivalent of color blindness — a failure to appreciate the nuances and dynamics of history. We can’t discern why when makes a difference. We don’t recognize how much we are the products of a past, leading to naivete about our present. But we also don’t know how to keep time with a promised future, leading to fixations on the “end times” rather than cultivating a posture of hope.
This can be especially true during Advent, particularly because the church has stopped paying attention. We ignore the Advent Time Zone at our own peril, just as Jesus warns the disciples in Matthew 24. For some this means placing restrictions on what music is sung prior to December 24, but the argument goes deeper. While our liturgies are important, my experience has been that Christmas time is not the time to lecture about liturgical correctness.
Rather, Matthew 24 places our attention right where it should be. Even as all around us are singing Christmas songs — and we might be singing them as well — the First Sunday of Advent comes as a solitary candle that offers hope. We are shown a better way of telling time. It is a time that speaks true hope to victims of sexual assault, and a time that delivers the hope of abundance to families who have little. The church incarnates that hope by its presence in the world. We are sent out to demonstrate what it means to inhabit time differently.
To be blunt: the world may run on Dunkin, but the church runs on hope. It tells time differently, with great anticipation. We see the signs of the kingdom, much like a fungal network of spores joining together. At times these signs may be obscured by the chaos and tumult around us. But those are the moments when Jesus’ words about staying awake and alert resonate so deeply.
We enter this time zone not with a frantic list of things that need to be done, but with the still patient hope of those who know “salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers” (Romans 13:11).
Yes, it’s time. Be filled with the blessings of Advent.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTS
What Time Is It?
by Tom Willadsen
In the News
It’s the first day of the church year. Either at sundown Saturday, November 29, or midnight, Sunday, November 30, the church started lectionary Cycle A. In more than 30 years of ordained service, I have never had a member admit they’d been up, waiting for the ball to drop from wherever the Universal Christian Church gathers to mark the start of its New Year.
We commonly conceive of Advent as a season of preparation, of getting ready for the celebration of the Christ’s birth. In starting our season a mere four Sundays before December 25, we are somewhat behind the curve. The radio station I wake up to switched its format to “Deck the Wall-to-Wall Christmas!” November 15. I may be alone in not loathing Wham!’s “Last Christmas” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” but 40 days before the big day is simply too early.
While I’m ranting (I only rant on days that end in “y;” ask anyone!) I wish the Secular Season of Preparation — the one marked by shopping days rather than Sundays, which has expanded to more than six weeks, could be balanced by giving the Season of Christmas its full twelve days. Last year, during worship on the Sunday following Christmas, I pointed out that my supermarket had pulled egg nog from its dairy case on Boxing Day. Three members came to my rescue. One muttered something about her blood sugar level and told me she left her unfinished bottle in the refrigerator for me. The second, who identifies as Danish, brought me some of her family’s secret recipe, saying that she wished me “hygge.” The chair of the Personnel Committee brought me a fifth of a 30 proof concoction she purchased at the liquor store. Some churches drive their pastors to drink; this church encourages my drinking! By the time we reach Epiphany, even the local sanitation service has stopped collecting live trees! Give me a full Season of Christmas!
Advent Calendars have proliferated since I was a child. Now you can get them with a Lego Mini-figure, piece of candy, or shot of whiskey for each day, starting on December 1. Technically, the season only starts on December first every seven years... the rant continues, sorry.
In the Bible
Preachers commonly approach the First Sunday in Advent is the one Sunday each year to talk about the second coming. That term does not appear in Matthew’s gospel. Throughout Matthew 24 Jesus is preparing his disciples for…something. Finally, in v. 30, Jesus mentions “the sign of the Son of Man.” What could this have meant to his original followers? Today’s reading advises Christians to be ready all the time, because no one knows when the Son of Man will come (return?).
Let’s put aside the question of when the Son of Man will come and turn to what the Son of Man’s coming means.
We’re talking about two different kinds of time here, and that means two different kinds of waiting.
We know when Christmas will come. Thursday, December 25 — you can set your watch by it. And with careful planning all our cooking, shopping, decorating, and card sending will be accomplished before then. Chronological time is measurable, and while not controllable, certainly reliable.
This Sunday, as we begin the church year, we’re talking about a different kind of time — moments, not minutes. The former is the one we don’t control. Even Jesus himself says he doesn’t know when it’s coming.
One of my favorite theologians, Snoopy, once held a sign that said, “Jesus isn’t coming today — it’s already tomorrow in Australia!”
Paul, writing to the first Christians, brought a sense of urgency to his letters. He really believed, and wanted his people to know, that the resurrected Jesus really was going to come back, soon! Don’t get married! Don’t buy green bananas! While it would be unimaginably stressful to always live with that kind of urgency hanging over one’s head, if you take a breath, you can see that his advice to the Romans — walk decently, in the light — applies to every situation. Paul lifts up a common dichotomy of light/darkness, good/evil, which may be a little too “black-and-white,” (sorry about that one) but is advice one can always default to.
Today’s lesson from the prophet Isaiah looks ahead to a time when God’s peace will reign over all of creation. The peace will be centered in God’s word as Israel has received it. Nations will gather, and the nations — not God — will destroy their weapons. As marvelous as we imagine this day to be — people, the nations, will have a role to play. And the Isaiah passage ends with some advice for what we are to do in the meantime:
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
As The Immediate Word’s Curator of Popular Music Insights, I must begin this year with the sage words of Carly Simon and her song “Anticipation” which reached #13 on Billboard Hot 100 in early 1972:
We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasing after some finer day
Anticipation
Anticipation is making me late
Is keeping me waiting
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days
We don’t know when the Son of Man will come/return. Be faithful. Be alert.
Pass.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Isaiah 2:1-5
Peace or Anxiety
Isaiah offers a vison of peace that would transform us and the world, although Molly Phinney Baskette says we may not be ready for such a gift. She writes, “We Christians worship anxiety. We are keenly aware of every injustice, and our own complicity, and mistake our worry for virtue… anxiety can curdle into judgment of self and others. Judgment can curdle into hatred, deep alienation, and a gray sort of inability to experience the most basic joy in living.”
She adds:
We pray for peace, but would we know it if it set a little blanket around our shoulders and encouraged us to curl up and take a nap? We think that getting all our most noble prayers answered, the way we think God should answer them, will bring us peace. But Paul describes God’s peace as one that “passes all understanding.” It’s not a sensible peace, a denouement after the crisis, the Hollywood ending when the good guys win. It’s a peace that doesn’t make any sense. One that can steal upon our souls even in the midst of the madness, because we’ve earnestly prayed (not worried, not thought, but prayed) and given thanks for what we can, and then truly surrendered the rest — just as Jesus will do next week when the final confrontation comes. Don’t miss that peace that passes all understanding when it arrives. Accept it, receive it, don’t worry about when and if it will take flight again. You have it for now. And it will do you — and others around you — more good than you know.
We can receive and savor the gift Isaiah promises.
* * *
Luke 24:36-44
Ready or Not
“Be ready,” Jesus says, whether you’re ready or not.
No one embodies this principle better than Saturday Night Live, which goes on the air whether the production is finished or not. As Emily P. Freeman sums it up in How to Walk into a Room:
Saturday Night Live starts on Mondays, with a fast pace through the week. Thursdays they work out the schedule, budget, and logistics. On Fridays, hundreds of people work overnight to build sets in preparation for filming in three different locations across the city. As soon as the shoots wrap, post-production takes over and the show editors work with the producers to ensure they’re focusing on the right things. And then on Saturday, no matter what, something has to air. The editors and producers work all day alongside the people doing visual effects. And then they have the dress rehearsal where they show the clips to a live audience. Based on their reactions as well as the reactions of the show’s creators, they may still have things to change, effects to add, or scenes to cut. By now it’s 10 p.m. on Saturday night. Sometimes scenes make it to air with missing special effects, accidental green screens, or random cuts in wrong places. They do incredible work, but in a war between timing and readiness, timing will always win.
In her book Bossypants, Tina Fey repeated what show creator Lorne Michaels often said: “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.”
That’s a lesson in readiness for all of us!
* * *
Luke 24:36-44
Awake, Not Afraid
Jesus tells his followers to keep awake, for “no one knows” when God will pop up. He’s asking for alertness and attention, and he doesn’t give them any indication that they should be afraid. In For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional, Hanna Reichel says, "There is a second contender for shortest verse in the Bible. In the English translation, it is “Jesus wept” (John 11:35 KJV). In the original Greek, it is “Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16). It is important, the Teacher knows, to make space and time for both “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Eccles. 3:4). Paul, too, exhorts believers to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15).
She adds:
Terror inspires fear and rules by fear. One of the most persistent refrains of the Bible is “Do not be afraid.” The horror is real, but it is not the only thing that is true. Joy comes before, endures throughout, and comes after terror. Joy is the radiance of the grace of every new morning’s dawn. Joy despite and beyond despair is its own testimony that suffering cannot determine what your life is about or what your life is for. Joy despite and beyond suffering is its own testimony to God’s sovereignty over the powers that be.
Guard little pieces of God. Guard little pieces of joy. Look further around you, look deeper inside you, at all that is there that does not bear the name of suffering. Behold the sparrows, behold the trees, all beings whose glory is much shorter- or longer-lived than what you think of as a historic moment. Pay attention to your body, your mind, your heart, your friends and chosen family, your miraculous encounters. Where do joy, glory, and gratitude break through gloom and suffering in your own life? Make space for that joy and let it grow. Let it roar through your life and expand ever further. Laugh vibrantly, celebrate unabashedly, enjoy fully, and love without constraint.
There’s no need for fear.
* * *
Romans 13:11-14
Seeking Light
“Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light,” Paul writes to the churches in Rome.
On this First Sunday of Advent, we light the Advent candle dedicated to hope. In Hope: A User's Manual, MaryAnn McKibben Dana connects light and hope. She says:
Hope can be the small candle flame that illumines a dark room. Often there isn’t much difference between one candle and ten — it’s the first one that makes the biggest impact. Perhaps Rabbi Adam Kligfeld has this in mind when he reflects on the meaning of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday commemorating an ancient miracle that kept the lamp oil flowing for eight days. Kligfeld suggests that the real miracle isn’t that the lamps never ran dry; the real miracle is that someone had enough hope to light them at all.
We light our first Advent candle, and turn toward hope, as Paul urges us.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Matthew 24:36-44
What time is it?
When you are in a family of primary ADD people — the admonishment to not have to know what time it is becomes very easy. Most everyone is time blind, not knowing what time of day it is is second nature, meals are skipped all too easily, hours fly by or creep very slowly, and emotions become the primary driver behind anything and everything that is going on. On the other hand, the instruction to remain ready is very difficult. The hyper focus of ADD means that either you are so hyper-focused on being prepared to do one thing, that you cannot possibly do anything else. Or the idea of preparing for something can become debilitating, causing an anxiety that causes one to shutdown. My eldest’s therapist describes it like a computer that is stuck on thinking mode, processing for all time, and never being able to actually complete an action without a reboot. Humans are not good at remaining prepared. Matthew is talking about holy time — Kairos — that in God’s time it will happen, but in the end, we are only able to keep track in human time — Chronos. This is why we need routines, schedules, and rituals. Calendars help us mark the time as it passes, so we can keep track of our progress, and so that we do not feel stuck. The ideal is to be prepared, but the reality is to practice preparedness and to mark out what we have done, for in the end, we are only human, making our way through Chronos, catching glances of Kairos along the way.
* * *
Isaiah 2:1-5
My favorite part about this passage is that it seems to be from their own impulse that everyone will naturally want to learn from God and will stream to God’s mountain. There does not seem to be any need to “sell” God. There is no argument over who belongs and who does not. Everyone is welcome, everyone belongs, and everyone comes. “Y’all just come,” seems to be the overwhelming attitude on God’s mountain. The hospitality venture here is non-competitive — so it is not about bigger, better, faster, it is about welcome. A word that is so overused, I doubt it has meaning anymore.
I recently heard a preacher say he was equally suspicious of the word community. There is no way to say community, you just have to do it. It is streaming to be in fellowship together, learning how to co-exist, developing the tools to feed one another, concretely creating ways to grow food and doing away with weapons of war — all at the same time. Doing community is what it’s all about, this God thing.
* * *
Romans 13:11-14
Paul is reassuring us that we are not just going through the motions. In the world of social media, capitalism, AI, and the tireless demands on our time, the promise that God is nearer today than yesterday, and what we are doing counts, is a salient one. Goodness is worth it, standing up to fascism and injustice is worth it. A mutual online said that the Wicked movie is really dark, in that all that it is addressing — wrapped up in a happy singing bow. I didn’t think it was so relevant when it came out 18 or so years ago. I thought it addressed more historic and underground fascist events. (I saw the show pregnant with the eldest so it is a little older than them.) However, it is good to know that there are stories out there addressing the realities worth fighting for today, just as Lord of the Rings did in the past. God’s reality is worth it. God believes in us, even when we do not believe in God — and these earthly things are less important than the fact that God is with us, believing in us, and that good things still count. God will not sleep on the good things, so we don’t have to either if we do not want to. God’s reality is worth it.
* * *
Psalm 122
Every night we pray “Now I lay you/me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my/you soul to keep, watch over you/me all through the night, and wake you/me safe by morning light, God bless you and your siblings now and as you grow up and your whole family, and the cats (can’t forget the kitties) and everyone you love — and we pray for peace. Amen.” And some nights we name where we are praying for peace: Ukraine, Gaza, Somalia, and occasionally, we give thanks, for fragile peace agreements, for people free from immigrant camps, for other signs of peace in the world — but usually it’s just a line for peace because we are praying for the sake of our relatives and friends. We pray for peace across the world because we know that there is not yet peace in the world, and so we pray, “May peace be within you.” As best we can.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Be glad for we have been called to God’s house.
All: Our feet are standing within the gates.
One: Let all the peoples go up to God’s house.
All: Let us give thanks to the name of our God
One: May peace always reign in this sacred place.
All: We seek the good of the house of our God.
OR
One: Prepare your hearts! The Christ is coming to us!
All: We open our hearts in welcome to our Savior!
One: We must learn to wait in hope for God’s time.
All: We will trust in God’s ways and God’s timing.
One: Remember Christ comes when we least expect him.
All: We will look for him in the faces of those we meet.
Hymns and Songs
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
UMH: 196
H82: 68
PH: 1/2
GTG: 82/83
NCH: 122
LBW: 30
ELW: 254
W&P: 153
AMEC: 103
People, Look East
UMH: 202
PH: 12
GTG: 105
CH: 142
ELW: 248
W&P: 131
STLT: 226
Savior of the Nations, Come
UMH: 214
PH: 14
GTG: 102
LBW: 28
ELW: 263
W&P: 168
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
GTG: 377
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
GTG: 734
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
Soon and Very Soon
UMH: 706
GTG: 384
AAHH: 193
NNBH: 476
ELW: 439
W&P: 523
Renew: 276
God of the Sparrow God of the Whale
UMH: 122
PH: 272
GTG: 22
NCH: 32
CH: 70
ELW: 740
W&P: 29
My Hope Is Built
UMH: 368
PH: 379
GTG: 353
AAHH: 385
NNBH: 274
NCH: 403
CH: 537
LBW: 293/294
ELW: 596/597
W&P: 405
AMEC: 264
Arise, Shine
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
Change My Heart, O God
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who holds for us a future of joy and unity:
Grant us the hope that sees beyond what the world sees
and enables us to work for your coming reign;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the one who holds our future of joy and unity. In you alone is our true hope. Fill us with you hope so that we may work with you for your coming reign. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we allow the world to upset our sense of God’s time.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are easily led astray by all the voices around us telling us what we should think and do. We allow ourselves to see time in the world’s terms. We forget that God’s time is made of moments; moments of clarity, insight, compassion, and hope. Reset the clocks of our hearts and help us to wait with you this Advent season. Amen.
One: God is always ready to renew us. Receive God’s grace and blessing as you wait for the Christ.
Prayers of the People
Praise to you, O God, who sends your Son to bring our salvation. Blessed are you because of your love for all your created.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are easily led astray by all the voices around us telling us what we should think and do. We allow ourselves to see time in the world's terms. We forget that God's time is made of moments; moments of clarity, insight, compassion, and hope. Reset the clocks of our hearts and help us to wait with you this Advent season.
We give you thanks for this time that calls us to slow down and attend to the serious work of making room in our lives for the Christ. We thank you for the reminders that time is more than the ticking away of seconds; real time is measured in moments of awe and reverence. We thank you for the hope that keeps us grounded in our faith.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your world that seems to always be in such a rush that there is never time to think about the meaning of life. We pray for those who are pushed aside because no one wants to take the time to listen to them or care for them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Advent Wreath Readings
The following is meant to be used in one of two ways. It can be used as a separate section in worship in which case singing just one verse of a hymn is probably a better choice. Or it can be used as the opening hymn and prayer for the day. One could do a call to worship before or let the candle lighting reading with is responses be the call to worship.
Advent Wreath Lighting
This is the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the church year. It is a time to celebrate hope; the hope we have that God is coming among us to save us.
The prophet Isaiah says that God is going to act.
Read Isaiah 2:4-5
God comes to light our path to peace and faithfulness.
Shine your Light, O God, and we will walk in your way.
The psalmist proclaims joy at being called to worship God.
Read Psalm 122:1
Rejoice in the hope God brings to us.
With hope we come to worship you, Our God and Savior.
We light this candle as a sign of the hope God brings to us.
(Light the first candle)
Sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel v1 OR
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Let us pray:
O God who is the only true hope of the world:
Grant us the grace to seek our future in you
that we may also bring hope to your people. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 24:36
You will need: One small potted plant and some seeds, preferably, but not necessarily, like the ones from which the plant grew.
Say something like:
Good morning, boys and girls. Today is the First Sunday of Advent. Do you know what that means? It means there are only three Sundays left before Christmas when the baby Jesus arrives. Just three Sundays to go until Christmas! I don't know about you, but I can hardly wait. Are you as excited as I am for Christmas to get here?
Well, in our lesson this morning Jesus says that no one knows when he is coming. Like when we plant seeds, we know that a plant is going to grow, or at least we hope it will, but we don't know exactly when. We plant the seeds, and we water them and we put them in the sun and then we watch and wait and one day...SURPRISE! A little plant pokes up through the dirt. Before long it's grown into a big plant like this one. But we didn't know when it would happen, did we?
Jesus says that he's like that for us. We know he's coming but we don't know when. Well, sure we do. He's coming on December 25, right? But maybe he means something else. Maybe he's saying that he doesn't just come on December 25. Maybe he comes at other times as well. And it's always a surprise when he comes.
Like sometimes he comes to us through our friends or our family or our teachers, whenever we're with someone we love and care about, and how he loves and cares about us.
The thing is, though, Jesus says that when he comes it's always a surprise. So, we'd better be getting ready to receive him at any time.
End with a prayer asking God to come into our hearts and help us be prepared to recognize and receive Jesus at any time and any place.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 30, 2025 issue.
Copyright 2025 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Time Change by Chris Keating. The First Sunday of Advent invites God’s people to tell time differently. While the secular Christmas machine keeps rolling, the church is called to a time of waiting and remaining alert.
- Second Thoughts: What Time Is It? by Tom Willadsen based on Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children’s sermon: Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! by Dean Feldmeyer based on Matthew 24:36-44.
- More to come...
Time Changeby Chris Keating
Matthew 24:36-44
Like thoroughbreds pawing at the track, the restless crowds outside Wal Mart were impatient as the clock inched toward midnight on Black Friday. Few looked affected by their tryptophan overdose at dinner. Some otherwise well-behaved citizens looked like race horses eager to hit the turf.
That was my one and only late night Black Friday adventure, and thankfully it was at least a decade ago. Today there are fewer maddening midnight starts to the Christmas shopping race, especially as Black Friday has morphed from a day into a season. The change mirrors the ever-expanding secular season of Christmas, though peak anticipation still rises after Thanksgiving leftovers are put away.
Tom Willadsen witty wisdom in his Second Thoughts article “What Time is it?” helps to point the church toward its Advent journey. Advent time is distinct from secular time. When we cross into the Advent time zone, scripture reminds us that we are called to mark time differently. We don’t march in place like a band practicing for the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, but neither do we fling ourselves anxiously at the frenetic ever-churning chaos produced by the Christmas machine.
Advent standard time calls us to not be distracted by confusing actions or misleading reports. Don’t assume that the bromance shown by New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump means a sudden shift in policies. Don’t be distracted into assuming Marjorie Taylor Greene’s planned resignation from Congress signals the immediate failure of far-right wing ideology.
Instead, as Liuan Huska suggests in this month’s Sojourners magazine, disciples are called to look beyond present signs to the “new pathways and possibilities” that are emerging underfoot like “fungal networks in the humus.”
“I am sittin’ among you to watch,” Sojourner Truth once said, “and every once and a while I will come out and tell you what time of night it is.” (Quoted by James K.A. Smith, How to Inhabit Time.) Entering the Advent time zone invites us to that sort of watching — a reminder that the world’s fleeting pace may end, but Jesus’ words shall never pass away.
In the News
“It’s time,” cries Mariah Carey. But then we already knew that. We know it is time to start/continue/finish (choose the appropriate verb) Christmas shopping in a season made more complicated by the full-effects of President Trump’s tariffs. Signs of the impact of tariffs on Christmas shopping might include changes in how much merchandise retailers will have on hand, or complications in making international purchases.
Realizing that it’s time for higher prices on just about everything will make shopping for deals and discounts harder. Caroline Weaver writes that she believes price increases will generally be in the 10-15% range this season. “Most goods are affected by the cost of tariffs — even if they’re manufactured domestically,” she writes. “There are almost no products that can be made in America, entirely of American parts, so products that use imported packaging, ingredients, or materials are still affected by tariffs.”
It’s also time for higher grocery prices, including a whopping 40% increase in wholesale turkey prices. Most grocery prices are up around 3% over last year, though certain cuts of beef are more than 20% higher than a year ago. Orange juice, coffee, and bananas are also higher, though President Trump has ordered tariffs on those items to be rewound.
And, of course, it’s also time for confusing politics. It remains unclear that that Congress’ action on forcing the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein will yield any new information, as the bill included significant exceptions, including barring the release of any materials related to current investigation. Some of Epstein’s victims hope Congress has heard the cries of survivors, but it is uncertain how much will be revealed.
White House observers were also unclear how to interpret what CNN called the “bizarrely chummy” Oval Office meeting between mayor-elect Mamdani and Trump. What was expected to be a clash between Mamdani’s socialist views and Trump’s conservative policies, became an “unexpected lovefest.” After the meeting, Trump told reporters that “Some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have.” While most of the praise came from Trump, it seemed to result from the president’s appreciation of Mamdani’s political strategies.
Don’t be distracted by such things, Jesus tells the disciples. It is indeed Advent time, and inhabiting that time zone calls us to remain awake, alert, for no one fully knows when the kingdom will arrive.
In The Scripture
Matthew’s apocalyptic theology may not be the holiday warm up most people expect. Rather than a holly-jolly cup of cocoa and Christmas carols, this Sunday emphasizes the differences between the Advent Time Zone and the world’s Christmas celebrations. Advent is, as the late Richard Gaillardetz wrote, the invitation to “not just to carve out some time for God, but to undergo conversion in our very experience of time. It is in Advent that we learn, not to master time, but rather to submit ourselves to the flow of God’s time. In Advent we can learn the spirituality of waiting.”
Matthew’s words introduce this spirituality of waiting by providing hope and consolation to believers caught in the maelstrom of the world’s confusion. Chapter 24 shifts the location of Jesus’ public ministry in the temple to private conversations held with the disciples. He speaks directly to their concerns about the signs of his coming (24:3), and the importance of marking this time.
Matthew appears concerned about the community’s survival in these in-between times. Navigating these times is tricky, and filled with the temptation to become distracted. Literal readings that assign exact dates to Jesus’ return are no more helpful than assigning particular significance to historical or contemporary events. Jesus makes this clear in 24:4, as he advises the disciples to avoid being led astray.
To those wearied by the constant turmoil, Jesus offers hope and encouragement. Reading these verses during Advent is a reminder that the hope of Jesus is found in the knowledge that God remains firmly in control of history, despite what we may see. Our hope becomes real in the everyday activities of grinding grain, or working in the field. In those times, says Jesus, we must be ready and alert, not weighed down by worry or struggles.
Becoming alert and awake offers us the true hope of life in the Advent Time Zone.
In the Sermon
“A lot of contemporary Christianity suffers from spiritual dyschronometria,” writes James K.A. Smith, “an inability to keep time, a lack of awareness of what time it is.” (Smith, How to Inhabit Time.) His reflections are insightful:
Too many contemporary Christians look at history and see only a barren, textureless landscape. We might think of this as the temporal equivalent of color blindness — a failure to appreciate the nuances and dynamics of history. We can’t discern why when makes a difference. We don’t recognize how much we are the products of a past, leading to naivete about our present. But we also don’t know how to keep time with a promised future, leading to fixations on the “end times” rather than cultivating a posture of hope.
This can be especially true during Advent, particularly because the church has stopped paying attention. We ignore the Advent Time Zone at our own peril, just as Jesus warns the disciples in Matthew 24. For some this means placing restrictions on what music is sung prior to December 24, but the argument goes deeper. While our liturgies are important, my experience has been that Christmas time is not the time to lecture about liturgical correctness.
Rather, Matthew 24 places our attention right where it should be. Even as all around us are singing Christmas songs — and we might be singing them as well — the First Sunday of Advent comes as a solitary candle that offers hope. We are shown a better way of telling time. It is a time that speaks true hope to victims of sexual assault, and a time that delivers the hope of abundance to families who have little. The church incarnates that hope by its presence in the world. We are sent out to demonstrate what it means to inhabit time differently.
To be blunt: the world may run on Dunkin, but the church runs on hope. It tells time differently, with great anticipation. We see the signs of the kingdom, much like a fungal network of spores joining together. At times these signs may be obscured by the chaos and tumult around us. But those are the moments when Jesus’ words about staying awake and alert resonate so deeply.
We enter this time zone not with a frantic list of things that need to be done, but with the still patient hope of those who know “salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers” (Romans 13:11).
Yes, it’s time. Be filled with the blessings of Advent.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTSWhat Time Is It?
by Tom Willadsen
In the News
It’s the first day of the church year. Either at sundown Saturday, November 29, or midnight, Sunday, November 30, the church started lectionary Cycle A. In more than 30 years of ordained service, I have never had a member admit they’d been up, waiting for the ball to drop from wherever the Universal Christian Church gathers to mark the start of its New Year.
We commonly conceive of Advent as a season of preparation, of getting ready for the celebration of the Christ’s birth. In starting our season a mere four Sundays before December 25, we are somewhat behind the curve. The radio station I wake up to switched its format to “Deck the Wall-to-Wall Christmas!” November 15. I may be alone in not loathing Wham!’s “Last Christmas” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” but 40 days before the big day is simply too early.
While I’m ranting (I only rant on days that end in “y;” ask anyone!) I wish the Secular Season of Preparation — the one marked by shopping days rather than Sundays, which has expanded to more than six weeks, could be balanced by giving the Season of Christmas its full twelve days. Last year, during worship on the Sunday following Christmas, I pointed out that my supermarket had pulled egg nog from its dairy case on Boxing Day. Three members came to my rescue. One muttered something about her blood sugar level and told me she left her unfinished bottle in the refrigerator for me. The second, who identifies as Danish, brought me some of her family’s secret recipe, saying that she wished me “hygge.” The chair of the Personnel Committee brought me a fifth of a 30 proof concoction she purchased at the liquor store. Some churches drive their pastors to drink; this church encourages my drinking! By the time we reach Epiphany, even the local sanitation service has stopped collecting live trees! Give me a full Season of Christmas!
Advent Calendars have proliferated since I was a child. Now you can get them with a Lego Mini-figure, piece of candy, or shot of whiskey for each day, starting on December 1. Technically, the season only starts on December first every seven years... the rant continues, sorry.
In the Bible
Preachers commonly approach the First Sunday in Advent is the one Sunday each year to talk about the second coming. That term does not appear in Matthew’s gospel. Throughout Matthew 24 Jesus is preparing his disciples for…something. Finally, in v. 30, Jesus mentions “the sign of the Son of Man.” What could this have meant to his original followers? Today’s reading advises Christians to be ready all the time, because no one knows when the Son of Man will come (return?).
Let’s put aside the question of when the Son of Man will come and turn to what the Son of Man’s coming means.
We’re talking about two different kinds of time here, and that means two different kinds of waiting.
We know when Christmas will come. Thursday, December 25 — you can set your watch by it. And with careful planning all our cooking, shopping, decorating, and card sending will be accomplished before then. Chronological time is measurable, and while not controllable, certainly reliable.
This Sunday, as we begin the church year, we’re talking about a different kind of time — moments, not minutes. The former is the one we don’t control. Even Jesus himself says he doesn’t know when it’s coming.
One of my favorite theologians, Snoopy, once held a sign that said, “Jesus isn’t coming today — it’s already tomorrow in Australia!”
Paul, writing to the first Christians, brought a sense of urgency to his letters. He really believed, and wanted his people to know, that the resurrected Jesus really was going to come back, soon! Don’t get married! Don’t buy green bananas! While it would be unimaginably stressful to always live with that kind of urgency hanging over one’s head, if you take a breath, you can see that his advice to the Romans — walk decently, in the light — applies to every situation. Paul lifts up a common dichotomy of light/darkness, good/evil, which may be a little too “black-and-white,” (sorry about that one) but is advice one can always default to.
Today’s lesson from the prophet Isaiah looks ahead to a time when God’s peace will reign over all of creation. The peace will be centered in God’s word as Israel has received it. Nations will gather, and the nations — not God — will destroy their weapons. As marvelous as we imagine this day to be — people, the nations, will have a role to play. And the Isaiah passage ends with some advice for what we are to do in the meantime:
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
As The Immediate Word’s Curator of Popular Music Insights, I must begin this year with the sage words of Carly Simon and her song “Anticipation” which reached #13 on Billboard Hot 100 in early 1972:
We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasing after some finer day
Anticipation
Anticipation is making me late
Is keeping me waiting
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days
We don’t know when the Son of Man will come/return. Be faithful. Be alert.
Pass.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Isaiah 2:1-5
Peace or Anxiety
Isaiah offers a vison of peace that would transform us and the world, although Molly Phinney Baskette says we may not be ready for such a gift. She writes, “We Christians worship anxiety. We are keenly aware of every injustice, and our own complicity, and mistake our worry for virtue… anxiety can curdle into judgment of self and others. Judgment can curdle into hatred, deep alienation, and a gray sort of inability to experience the most basic joy in living.”
She adds:
We pray for peace, but would we know it if it set a little blanket around our shoulders and encouraged us to curl up and take a nap? We think that getting all our most noble prayers answered, the way we think God should answer them, will bring us peace. But Paul describes God’s peace as one that “passes all understanding.” It’s not a sensible peace, a denouement after the crisis, the Hollywood ending when the good guys win. It’s a peace that doesn’t make any sense. One that can steal upon our souls even in the midst of the madness, because we’ve earnestly prayed (not worried, not thought, but prayed) and given thanks for what we can, and then truly surrendered the rest — just as Jesus will do next week when the final confrontation comes. Don’t miss that peace that passes all understanding when it arrives. Accept it, receive it, don’t worry about when and if it will take flight again. You have it for now. And it will do you — and others around you — more good than you know.
We can receive and savor the gift Isaiah promises.
* * *
Luke 24:36-44
Ready or Not
“Be ready,” Jesus says, whether you’re ready or not.
No one embodies this principle better than Saturday Night Live, which goes on the air whether the production is finished or not. As Emily P. Freeman sums it up in How to Walk into a Room:
Saturday Night Live starts on Mondays, with a fast pace through the week. Thursdays they work out the schedule, budget, and logistics. On Fridays, hundreds of people work overnight to build sets in preparation for filming in three different locations across the city. As soon as the shoots wrap, post-production takes over and the show editors work with the producers to ensure they’re focusing on the right things. And then on Saturday, no matter what, something has to air. The editors and producers work all day alongside the people doing visual effects. And then they have the dress rehearsal where they show the clips to a live audience. Based on their reactions as well as the reactions of the show’s creators, they may still have things to change, effects to add, or scenes to cut. By now it’s 10 p.m. on Saturday night. Sometimes scenes make it to air with missing special effects, accidental green screens, or random cuts in wrong places. They do incredible work, but in a war between timing and readiness, timing will always win.
In her book Bossypants, Tina Fey repeated what show creator Lorne Michaels often said: “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.”
That’s a lesson in readiness for all of us!
* * *
Luke 24:36-44
Awake, Not Afraid
Jesus tells his followers to keep awake, for “no one knows” when God will pop up. He’s asking for alertness and attention, and he doesn’t give them any indication that they should be afraid. In For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional, Hanna Reichel says, "There is a second contender for shortest verse in the Bible. In the English translation, it is “Jesus wept” (John 11:35 KJV). In the original Greek, it is “Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16). It is important, the Teacher knows, to make space and time for both “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Eccles. 3:4). Paul, too, exhorts believers to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15).
She adds:
Terror inspires fear and rules by fear. One of the most persistent refrains of the Bible is “Do not be afraid.” The horror is real, but it is not the only thing that is true. Joy comes before, endures throughout, and comes after terror. Joy is the radiance of the grace of every new morning’s dawn. Joy despite and beyond despair is its own testimony that suffering cannot determine what your life is about or what your life is for. Joy despite and beyond suffering is its own testimony to God’s sovereignty over the powers that be.
Guard little pieces of God. Guard little pieces of joy. Look further around you, look deeper inside you, at all that is there that does not bear the name of suffering. Behold the sparrows, behold the trees, all beings whose glory is much shorter- or longer-lived than what you think of as a historic moment. Pay attention to your body, your mind, your heart, your friends and chosen family, your miraculous encounters. Where do joy, glory, and gratitude break through gloom and suffering in your own life? Make space for that joy and let it grow. Let it roar through your life and expand ever further. Laugh vibrantly, celebrate unabashedly, enjoy fully, and love without constraint.
There’s no need for fear.
* * *
Romans 13:11-14
Seeking Light
“Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light,” Paul writes to the churches in Rome.
On this First Sunday of Advent, we light the Advent candle dedicated to hope. In Hope: A User's Manual, MaryAnn McKibben Dana connects light and hope. She says:
Hope can be the small candle flame that illumines a dark room. Often there isn’t much difference between one candle and ten — it’s the first one that makes the biggest impact. Perhaps Rabbi Adam Kligfeld has this in mind when he reflects on the meaning of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday commemorating an ancient miracle that kept the lamp oil flowing for eight days. Kligfeld suggests that the real miracle isn’t that the lamps never ran dry; the real miracle is that someone had enough hope to light them at all.
We light our first Advent candle, and turn toward hope, as Paul urges us.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:Matthew 24:36-44
What time is it?
When you are in a family of primary ADD people — the admonishment to not have to know what time it is becomes very easy. Most everyone is time blind, not knowing what time of day it is is second nature, meals are skipped all too easily, hours fly by or creep very slowly, and emotions become the primary driver behind anything and everything that is going on. On the other hand, the instruction to remain ready is very difficult. The hyper focus of ADD means that either you are so hyper-focused on being prepared to do one thing, that you cannot possibly do anything else. Or the idea of preparing for something can become debilitating, causing an anxiety that causes one to shutdown. My eldest’s therapist describes it like a computer that is stuck on thinking mode, processing for all time, and never being able to actually complete an action without a reboot. Humans are not good at remaining prepared. Matthew is talking about holy time — Kairos — that in God’s time it will happen, but in the end, we are only able to keep track in human time — Chronos. This is why we need routines, schedules, and rituals. Calendars help us mark the time as it passes, so we can keep track of our progress, and so that we do not feel stuck. The ideal is to be prepared, but the reality is to practice preparedness and to mark out what we have done, for in the end, we are only human, making our way through Chronos, catching glances of Kairos along the way.
* * *
Isaiah 2:1-5
My favorite part about this passage is that it seems to be from their own impulse that everyone will naturally want to learn from God and will stream to God’s mountain. There does not seem to be any need to “sell” God. There is no argument over who belongs and who does not. Everyone is welcome, everyone belongs, and everyone comes. “Y’all just come,” seems to be the overwhelming attitude on God’s mountain. The hospitality venture here is non-competitive — so it is not about bigger, better, faster, it is about welcome. A word that is so overused, I doubt it has meaning anymore.
I recently heard a preacher say he was equally suspicious of the word community. There is no way to say community, you just have to do it. It is streaming to be in fellowship together, learning how to co-exist, developing the tools to feed one another, concretely creating ways to grow food and doing away with weapons of war — all at the same time. Doing community is what it’s all about, this God thing.
* * *
Romans 13:11-14
Paul is reassuring us that we are not just going through the motions. In the world of social media, capitalism, AI, and the tireless demands on our time, the promise that God is nearer today than yesterday, and what we are doing counts, is a salient one. Goodness is worth it, standing up to fascism and injustice is worth it. A mutual online said that the Wicked movie is really dark, in that all that it is addressing — wrapped up in a happy singing bow. I didn’t think it was so relevant when it came out 18 or so years ago. I thought it addressed more historic and underground fascist events. (I saw the show pregnant with the eldest so it is a little older than them.) However, it is good to know that there are stories out there addressing the realities worth fighting for today, just as Lord of the Rings did in the past. God’s reality is worth it. God believes in us, even when we do not believe in God — and these earthly things are less important than the fact that God is with us, believing in us, and that good things still count. God will not sleep on the good things, so we don’t have to either if we do not want to. God’s reality is worth it.
* * *
Psalm 122
Every night we pray “Now I lay you/me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my/you soul to keep, watch over you/me all through the night, and wake you/me safe by morning light, God bless you and your siblings now and as you grow up and your whole family, and the cats (can’t forget the kitties) and everyone you love — and we pray for peace. Amen.” And some nights we name where we are praying for peace: Ukraine, Gaza, Somalia, and occasionally, we give thanks, for fragile peace agreements, for people free from immigrant camps, for other signs of peace in the world — but usually it’s just a line for peace because we are praying for the sake of our relatives and friends. We pray for peace across the world because we know that there is not yet peace in the world, and so we pray, “May peace be within you.” As best we can.
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Be glad for we have been called to God’s house.
All: Our feet are standing within the gates.
One: Let all the peoples go up to God’s house.
All: Let us give thanks to the name of our God
One: May peace always reign in this sacred place.
All: We seek the good of the house of our God.
OR
One: Prepare your hearts! The Christ is coming to us!
All: We open our hearts in welcome to our Savior!
One: We must learn to wait in hope for God’s time.
All: We will trust in God’s ways and God’s timing.
One: Remember Christ comes when we least expect him.
All: We will look for him in the faces of those we meet.
Hymns and Songs
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
UMH: 196
H82: 68
PH: 1/2
GTG: 82/83
NCH: 122
LBW: 30
ELW: 254
W&P: 153
AMEC: 103
People, Look East
UMH: 202
PH: 12
GTG: 105
CH: 142
ELW: 248
W&P: 131
STLT: 226
Savior of the Nations, Come
UMH: 214
PH: 14
GTG: 102
LBW: 28
ELW: 263
W&P: 168
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
GTG: 377
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
GTG: 734
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
Soon and Very Soon
UMH: 706
GTG: 384
AAHH: 193
NNBH: 476
ELW: 439
W&P: 523
Renew: 276
God of the Sparrow God of the Whale
UMH: 122
PH: 272
GTG: 22
NCH: 32
CH: 70
ELW: 740
W&P: 29
My Hope Is Built
UMH: 368
PH: 379
GTG: 353
AAHH: 385
NNBH: 274
NCH: 403
CH: 537
LBW: 293/294
ELW: 596/597
W&P: 405
AMEC: 264
Arise, Shine
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
Change My Heart, O God
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who holds for us a future of joy and unity:
Grant us the hope that sees beyond what the world sees
and enables us to work for your coming reign;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the one who holds our future of joy and unity. In you alone is our true hope. Fill us with you hope so that we may work with you for your coming reign. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we allow the world to upset our sense of God’s time.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are easily led astray by all the voices around us telling us what we should think and do. We allow ourselves to see time in the world’s terms. We forget that God’s time is made of moments; moments of clarity, insight, compassion, and hope. Reset the clocks of our hearts and help us to wait with you this Advent season. Amen.
One: God is always ready to renew us. Receive God’s grace and blessing as you wait for the Christ.
Prayers of the People
Praise to you, O God, who sends your Son to bring our salvation. Blessed are you because of your love for all your created.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are easily led astray by all the voices around us telling us what we should think and do. We allow ourselves to see time in the world's terms. We forget that God's time is made of moments; moments of clarity, insight, compassion, and hope. Reset the clocks of our hearts and help us to wait with you this Advent season.
We give you thanks for this time that calls us to slow down and attend to the serious work of making room in our lives for the Christ. We thank you for the reminders that time is more than the ticking away of seconds; real time is measured in moments of awe and reverence. We thank you for the hope that keeps us grounded in our faith.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your world that seems to always be in such a rush that there is never time to think about the meaning of life. We pray for those who are pushed aside because no one wants to take the time to listen to them or care for them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Advent Wreath Readings
The following is meant to be used in one of two ways. It can be used as a separate section in worship in which case singing just one verse of a hymn is probably a better choice. Or it can be used as the opening hymn and prayer for the day. One could do a call to worship before or let the candle lighting reading with is responses be the call to worship.
Advent Wreath Lighting
This is the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the church year. It is a time to celebrate hope; the hope we have that God is coming among us to save us.
The prophet Isaiah says that God is going to act.
Read Isaiah 2:4-5
God comes to light our path to peace and faithfulness.
Shine your Light, O God, and we will walk in your way.
The psalmist proclaims joy at being called to worship God.
Read Psalm 122:1
Rejoice in the hope God brings to us.
With hope we come to worship you, Our God and Savior.
We light this candle as a sign of the hope God brings to us.
(Light the first candle)
Sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel v1 OR
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Let us pray:
O God who is the only true hope of the world:
Grant us the grace to seek our future in you
that we may also bring hope to your people. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMONSurprise! Surprise! Surprise!
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 24:36
You will need: One small potted plant and some seeds, preferably, but not necessarily, like the ones from which the plant grew.
Say something like:
Good morning, boys and girls. Today is the First Sunday of Advent. Do you know what that means? It means there are only three Sundays left before Christmas when the baby Jesus arrives. Just three Sundays to go until Christmas! I don't know about you, but I can hardly wait. Are you as excited as I am for Christmas to get here?
Well, in our lesson this morning Jesus says that no one knows when he is coming. Like when we plant seeds, we know that a plant is going to grow, or at least we hope it will, but we don't know exactly when. We plant the seeds, and we water them and we put them in the sun and then we watch and wait and one day...SURPRISE! A little plant pokes up through the dirt. Before long it's grown into a big plant like this one. But we didn't know when it would happen, did we?
Jesus says that he's like that for us. We know he's coming but we don't know when. Well, sure we do. He's coming on December 25, right? But maybe he means something else. Maybe he's saying that he doesn't just come on December 25. Maybe he comes at other times as well. And it's always a surprise when he comes.
Like sometimes he comes to us through our friends or our family or our teachers, whenever we're with someone we love and care about, and how he loves and cares about us.
The thing is, though, Jesus says that when he comes it's always a surprise. So, we'd better be getting ready to receive him at any time.
End with a prayer asking God to come into our hearts and help us be prepared to recognize and receive Jesus at any time and any place.
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The Immediate Word, November 30, 2025 issue.
Copyright 2025 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
