* Denotes all are invited to stand.
Bold text indicates portions of the service to be spoken or sung by the congregation.
November 30, 2025
First Sunday of Advent
Music for Gathering:
“Wide, Awake, for Night is Flying”
Brian Jay, Organist
Welcome & Announcements:
Rev. Cindy Harvey
Minute for Mission:
Christmas Joy Offering | Cleve Evans
Call to Worship:
Wake up; wake up! The day of God is near.
We do not know the hour, so we will live like the time is here and now.
God is here, now!
Let us go to the house of our Living God.
We journey with all peoples of all creeds.
Let us go and bask in Holy Wisdom’s warmth
so that we can learn her ways and choose her paths.
To enter the house of God, we must wake up to the nightmare of hate and violence; all oppression must cease.
We will beat our weapons into tools for love. We will take the walls we raise against the stranger and build a house where all can live in peace.
Lighting of the Advent Wreath
Hymn #137 “We Came Down”
Led by: Bret & Chad King
Please see screens for congregational response.
* Hymn #620 “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven”
Confession of Sin:
Darla Holycross, Worship Leader
O God, we are steeped in a world of violence. War is one of the first things we learn, and we let it work its way into our lives. Your promises of peace sound like impossible dreams, and we become accustomed to cruelty. Forgive us. Wrest our weapons from our hands, and show us how beautiful life can be when you forge them into instruments of peace.
Silence for personal confession.
* Assurance of Pardon:
Beloved, know this: the God of Presence, the God of Transformation, the God of Peace, hears our prayers and gives us power to love.
Through Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God.
* Song of Praise #583 “Gloria, Gloria”
Please see Sanctuary screens for lyrics.
* Passing the Peace
Prayer for Illumination:
Darla Holycross, Worship Leader
First Scripture:
Isaiah 2:1-5
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Anthem:
PCM Chancel Choir
Second Scripture:
Matthew 24:36-44
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Time for the Children:
Rev. Cindy Harvey
Sermon:
Rev. Cindy Harvey
Pastoral Prayer
Congregation Response: Come, Lord Jesus.
* Hymn #97 “Watchman, Tell Us of the Night”
Please see screens for lyrics.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Invitation to Discipleship
* Hymn #350 “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning”
Please see screens for lyrics.
* Charge & Blessing
The psalmist writes, “For the sake of the house of [our God Adonai], I will seek your good.” As we go forth in this new church year, preparing to celebrate God’s birth into this world, let us go out and seek the good of others. And as we go, may the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the Spirit’s joy surround us as we walk in the light of our Sovereign God!
Alleluia! Amen!
* Music for departing
Today’s Scripture readings are from the Inclusive Bible: The First Egalitarian Translation. © 2007 Priests for Equality.
Liturgy for today’s worship service is adapted with permission from the following sources: Liturgy used when “Lighting the Advent Wreath” from Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching, and the Arts. Vol 56.1 (digital version) © 2022 The Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “Prayer for Illumination” and “Blessing” from Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year A, Volume 1 © 2013 Westminster John Knox Press. “Invitation to Discipleship” and “Charge” from Connections Worship Companion, Year A, Volume 1. © 2022 Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. All other liturgy from Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching, and the Arts. Vol 59.1 (online version) © 2025 The Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).