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Order of service

Advent Service

10:30 am Sunday 10 December 2023

You are welcome to join in with as much as you feel comfortable to.

There are free refreshments available near to the Corn Exchange.

If you have any questions during the service please ask one of the team.

If you would like to know more about our church please get in touch or if you would like to explore faith and try and Alpha course then please click here to find out more.

 

poem /// Breakthrough

Read by Camila Lloyd

 

What seems impossible is not.

What stands in the way, against us; unmovable, is not.

It can move – when it hears His voice it moves!

For, all things are possible

The unshakable; quakes

The storms cease.

The permanent is erased.

For there is hope.

For there is Jesus.

 

In him … Darkness dissolves.

Grass withers, flowers may fall, but His voice, His truth, his word endures.

Forever

 

We walk obediently by faith and walls come down.

We gather a pebble of certainty and giants crumble

We lift our voice and refreshing rains end the drought

We hold to prayer and lions fail to roar

We take our stand and fires burn but do not scorch or kill

We dare to believe and our wildest hopes are met in Him

 

So, we look to him, to Jesus,

Not just as a baby in a manger

But Jesus … Fully God, fully man, fully sacrifice and saviour.

And in him we find life

We find truth

We find the way.

 

Prayer /// 

Sarah Plowman

 

Bible reading /// 1 John 3:1-8 [NIV BIBLE]

The Lay family

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

 

Welcome ///

Russ Beese

 

Worship  ///

Joy to the World

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King!

Let every heart prepare Him room,

and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns!

Let men their songs employ,

while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

repeat the sounding joy,

repeat the sounding joy,

repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

far as the curse is found,

far as the curse is found,

far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

and makes the nations prove

the glories of His righteousness

and wonders of His love,

and wonders of His love,

and wonders, wonders of His love.

 

Way maker

 

Verse 1

You are here, moving in our midst

I worship You

I worship You

You are here, working in this place

I worship You

I worship You

 

Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper

Light in the darkness, my God

That is who You are

 

Verse 2

You are here, touching every heart

I worship You

I worship You

You are here, healing every heart

I worship You

I worship You

 

Verse 3

You are here, turning lives around

I worship You

I worship You

You are here, mending every heart

I worship You

I worship You

 

Even when I don’t see it, You’re working

Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working

You never stop, You never stop working

You never stop, You never stop working

 

O come all ye faithful

 

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!

O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem

Come and behold Him

Born the King of Angels

 

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

Christ the Lord!

 

God of God, Light of Light

Lo, He abhors not the Virgin's womb

Very God

Begotten, not created

 

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation

Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!

Glory to God

All glory in the highest

 

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born that happy morning

Jesus, to Thee be glory given

Word of the Father

Now in flesh appearing

 

Bible Reading /// From Romans chapter 8

Jan and Bryce

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sermon part 1 ///

Jason Huffadinee

Worship ///

O praise the name

 

I cast my mind to Calvary

Where Jesus bled and died for me

I see His wounds, His hands, His feet

My Saviour on that cursed tree

 

His body bound and drenched in tears

They laid Him down in Joseph's tomb

The entrance sealed by heavy stone

Messiah still and all alone

 

O praise the Name of the Lord our God

O praise His Name forevermore

For endless days we will sing Your praise

Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

 

Then on the third at break of dawn

The Son of heaven rose again

O trampled death where is your sting?

The angels roar for Christ the King

 

He shall return in robes of white

The blazing sun shall pierce the night

And I will rise among the saints

My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face

 

Lighting the second advent candle ///

The Cooper Family

The

Loving God, as we light the second Advent candle, we pray for everyone who lives in the midst of conflict or war. May they find peace that passes understanding. And for all who are gathered here or who live and work in our town we pray, Lord Jesus Christ, Prince of peace, reign in our hearts. Come close to us this Advent.

 

 

Sermon part 2 ///

Jason Huffadine

Worship ///

Hark! The herald angels sing

 

Hark! the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the new born King:

peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!"

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

join the triumph of the skies;

with the angelic hosts proclaim,

"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the new-born king"

 

Christ, by highest heaven adored,

Christ, the everlasting Lord,

late in time behold him come,

offspring of the Virgin's womb:

veiled in flesh the Godhead see;

hail the incarnate Deity,

pleased with us in flesh to dwell,

Jesus, our Immanuel.

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the new-born king"

 

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

risen with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by,

born that we no more may die,

born to raise us from the earth,

born to give us second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the new-born king"

 

closing Prayer ///

Audrey Hobbs

Immanuel, God with us

For all who are grieving or feeling loss we pray: God, be their comfort

For all who are unwell, struggling with mental or physical health: God be their healer

For all who a longing for freedom: God, be their deliverer

For all who are questioning, wondering and searching for purpose: God, be their Wonderful counsellor and their joy.

For all who are lonely, isolated, imprisoned, or rejected: God, be their Immanuel.

For all who all people of every tribe, nation, language, and tongue: God, be their saviour and their everlasting Father.

God of breakthrough as we wait: be our joy and be our hope.

Amen

 

THANK YOU ///

Russ Beese

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