This Sunday is the second Sunday in Advent.
Christians will like the second candle in the Advent wreath – the candle of peace!
In our time of Advent preparedness, the candle of peace prepares us for the Christmas Eve story of angels greeting shepherds with the words, “Peace on earth…”
At the time of Jesus, citizens of the Roman Empire could have told you when peace came to earth – and it wasn’t when Jesus was born.
It had come nearly four decades earlier, on September 2 in the year 31 B.C.E.
On that day, off the northwest coast of Greece, the 20-year Roman civil war came to an end.
It ended as a ship bearing Anthony and Cleopatra fled from the war ships of Octavian.
By the end of that day, Octavian was Emperor of Rome – essentially making him Emperor of the World. Following this victory, Octavian became Caesar Augustus, and was proclaimed Saviour of the world!
When the angels proclaimed “Peace on earth” to the shepherds, it may have sounded like old news about Caesar Augustus.
But it wasn’t ‘old’ news – it was ‘gospel’, which means ‘good news.”
It was an angelic declaration that peace does not come through victory. Peace comes through the birth of another brand of world saviour – a saviour of healing and compassion; a saviour who distributes and shares food freely to all who are hungry; a saviour who sees glory in the flowers of the field, and in the quiet of the wilderness and in the image of the Sacred dwelling in every person, dwelling throughout all of creation.
We invite you to reflect upon the Candle of Peace. When have you experienced peace in your life? How does your faith shape your understanding and experience of peace? In what ways does Jesus bring peace on earth?
In-person worship and Sunday School continue during Advent at 10 a.m. Sundays. Everyone attending TMUC’s in-person worship (unless under 12 years of age) must show proof of full vaccination or proof from the Government of Manitoba that there is a medical reason for the person not to receive a vaccine for COVID-19.
Masks are mandatory and everyone needs to enter the church building via the glass doors of the ‘Community Extension’ entrance. Thanks!
Returning to in-person worship means that greeters are needed for Sunday morning. If you would like more info or to volunteer as a Sunday morning greeter, please contact Shelley Schau, Chair of TMUC’s Worship and Welcome Team. Shelley’s phone is 431-275-9169. Thank you.
In addition to the weekly Advent online worship resources and Sunday morning in-person worship services, we will also be offering a Blue Christmas service and a Christmas Eve service.
The Blue Christmas service will be on Sunday Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.
There will be one service on Christmas Eve, at 7 p.m. on December 24th. Both of these services will be in-person and will also be live-Zoomed.
On December 26th there will NOT be an in-person service. There will be an online ZOOM communion service at 10 a.m.
TMUC continues to share God’s gifts of food and resources within our community. We thank you for all the additional gifts of food, toys, and money that are so generously given to the Transcona Food Bank, this Christmas season, TMUC is also supporting the Holiday Hamper program of the Plessis Resource Centre. The Centre will provide Christmas hampers to every family in the Plessis, Robson, Kernighan Manitoba Housing community.
The staff of the Centre, Melissa, Debra, Erin and Rick are looking for gifts of:
Canned vegetables (corn, peas, mixed vegetables)
Canned soups (vegetable, chicken noodle, tomato)
Stove Top stuffing
Pasta (spaghetti, macaroni)
Pasta Sauce
Cereal
Peanut Butter
Jam
Granola bars
Cookies
Grocery Gift Cards or cash for purchasing perishable items like chickens, potatoes, carrots, onions just before delivery!
And…
They are also hoping for new unwrapped gifts for children aged 4-12 years. Please donate toys, books, or games that are not gender specific. NOTE: The Centre asks that toys be delivered to the Centre or to the church prior to December 10! (That makes this the only Sunday to bring toys!)
Any donations may be dropped off at the Plessis Resource Centre (1190 Plessis Road – you can call 204.777.1215 to confirm a drop-off time)
or
at TMUC on Sunday mornings before church (9:30 – 10:00 a.m.) on Dec. 5 or Dec. 12; or at the church office between 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Thursdays – Dec 9 or 14.
Thank you for helping us share in this community act of gift-giving.
Finally, a note from Harvey Hochkievich about Caught in the Act Dinner Theatre:
As of the writing of this announcement we have not filled the positions necessary to make this production a go. Regretfully this means we will be putting the scripts back on the shelf until, hopefully, later this year.In the meantime, we are still in need of an individual (or team) to fill the role of producer.If you like to organize things, work well with others and are looking for a challenge then this is the role for you. I will be available to provide guidance, offer suggestions and ideas and I promise to support to you in any other way I can.So, if you are interested in seeing dinner theatre making a comeback in 2023 or just want moreinformation before deciding on which role you will take on, I will leave you with an open invitation to contact me directly at hochkieh@mts.net or (204) 795-7323.Best regards
HarveyHochkievich
As this news is shared, let’s thank all the people who have been our leaders and supporters in this fun share of ministry! Here’s hoping for another year!
While we have returned to in-person worship, we are continuing with our weekly email of worship resources.
The Prayer List is distributed separately and allows us to remember specific people with our prayers. If you want to receive the Prayer List, or add a name (with their permission), please be in touch.
Thanks again to everyone for engaging with us on this COVID-19 journey. We are grateful to share ministry with you and really appreciate your efforts to stay in touch and to continue to care about TMUC with your prayers and your financial support. Donations on PAR (note: the PAR program now accepts monthly credit card donations as well as automatic monthly bank withdrawals), CanadaHelps through www.canadahelps.org, e-transfers to the church’s email address: tmuc@shaw.ca, and cheques mailed to the church are making a difference. Thank you.
Even though we cannot be together in one place, let’s continue to be a community at prayer together. If you are not in the Sanctuary with us on Sunday at 10, please think about the gifts we have in our lives, and needs of our world, and then pray the Lord’s prayer (you can pray silently, or out loud).
And, sometime, when you want to have a longer worship time, we are including some words and videos for your use.
As we share this week’s TMUC worship service, we are called again to listen to our faith community’s words of reconciliation:
We are gathered for worship and work in Treaty One territory, which is the traditional land of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dené peoples and the homeland of the Metis Nation. For thousands of years Indigenous Peoples walked this land and knew it to be the centre of their lives and their spirituality. We respect the Treaties that were made on these territories, we acknowledge the harms and mistakes of the past, and we dedicate ourselves to move forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.
Worship for Sunday, December 5, 2021
Advent 2 – The Candle of Peace
Introit: “Hope is a Star”:
Come, Holy Spirit!
Come to awaken our faith,
to inspire our hope
to embolden our love
and to let Christ live in us!
Come, Holy Spirit!
Today’s opening hymn is “Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming”:
Candle lighting – the candle of peace:
In a world of uncertainty.
Peace is a star that shines.
In our lives of uncertainty,
Peace is a star that shines.
Peace is Advent’s first gift.
We are called to share God’s gift of peace:
Esther and Emmett wanted to talk about “If God had a Farm!”, but Emmett has a bad cold and has lost his voice. What they were going to say is at the end of this worship resource for your reading.
Printable Version:
Esther and Emmett_Dec 5
Scripture readings:
Isaiah 11:1-10
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
Luke 1: 24-38
After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Carol offers a reflection:
Printable Version:
Carol reflection – Dec 5
Let us pray:
Advent God,
God of hope, peace, joy and love;
God of prophetic vision and reconciling grace;
rest Your spirit upon us,
Your spirit of wisdom and understanding.
Awaken our hearts to compassion;
Awaken our courage to nurturing just relations;
Awaken our imaginations to new ways of living in creation in harmony and well-being;
Awaken our lives to the ways of peace.
God, we live in a time of diverse challenges. Heal us of our pursuit of power and dominance.
Heal us of our prejudices and pretensions.
Heal us as we seek to be healers in this world.
God, in this time of diverse challenges, we offer our prayers for this world of Your creation:
We pray during a continuing time of anxious monitoring of COVID-19 and now of the Omicron variant. We pray for vaccines to be available globally, we pray for patience and responsibility as people live with health protocols and restrictions, we pray for health and safety for all people.
We pray for the healing of this planet as it convulses with climate change. We pray for the people of eastern and western Canada dealing with rains and floods.
We pray for people throughout the world living in places of severe weather. We pray for the people of Madagascar who are suffering from a drought.
We pray for peace in our world. We pray for all who live in places of war, conflict and tensions. We pray for the easing of confrontation along the border between Russia and the Ukraine.
We pray for the people of Afghanistan, Syrian, South Sudan, Yemen, Libya and people in all places of conflict.
We pray for those who experience violence in their communities, their workplaces, their homes.
We pray for migrants throughout the world, fleeing from environmental disasters, poverty, or political upheaval. We pray for their safety. We pray for a global community that welcomes and cares for all people.
We pray for those who are in hospital. We pray for those awaiting surgeries. We pray for those at home coping with illnesses or with periods of recovery. We pray for healing, for caring and for supportive communities of caregivers.
We pray for all who are enmeshed in poverty. We pray for economic systems that provide everyone with access to life’s necessities and we pray for people of compassion to share food and shelter and resources.
We pray for all who carry wounds of abuse, of betrayal, of unjust systems and structures. We pray for a world in which all can live in safety, with respect and dignity.
We pray, as an Advent people, as companions of the resurrected Christ, for peace in this world; for a peace grounded in awareness that we all dwell in Your Spirit, and that Your Spirit dwells in us; a peace that seeks healing and reconciliation and affirmation; a peace expressed in attitudes and actions of friendship and cooperation and love.
We pray that the light that shines through Christ might guide us and shine through our living, that we might be Your children, peace-makers in Your world.
In Christ’s name we pray. AMEN
Our closing hymn is “Ring a Bell for Peace”
May God bless you and keep you.
May God’s face shine upon you.
May God grant you peace and joy.
Be in the peace of Christ, this day and always. Amen
We keep you in our prayers,
Jeff and Carol