Advent 4 Sunday, 21/12/2025

A person walking a dog in the snow

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SENTENCE FROM SCRIPTURE:

Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved (Psalm 80)

HYMN-

GREETING

Grace and peace to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

COLLECT FOR PURITY

Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

SUMMARY OF THE LAW

Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”

The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these. Amen. Lord, have mercy.

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CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

God is love and we are God’s children. There is no room for fear in love. We love because God loved us first.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith.

SILENCE

God our Father,
we confess to you
and to our fellow members in the Body of Christ
that we have sinned in thought, word and deed,
and in what we have failed to do.
We are truly sorry.
Forgive us our sins,
and deliver us from the power of evil,
for the sake of your Son who died for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

ABSOLUTION

God, who is both power and love,
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by the Holy Spirit,
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

KYRIE
sung by Dougie Byers

COLLECT

Stir up your power, Lord, and come:
and strengthen us by the might of your love;
that, although we are hindered by our sins,
your abundant grace and mercy
may quickly come and save us;
for you live and reign with the Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

PROCLAIMING & RECEIVING GOD’S WORD

FIRST READING Isaiah 7.10–16 read by Annette Beagrie

¹⁰ The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹ ‘Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.’ ¹² But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.’ ¹³ Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.

A close-up of a plant with red berries

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Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. ¹⁵ He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶ For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.’

SECOND READING
Romans 1.1–7,
read by Kay Solaja

¹ Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, ³ the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh

A manger with a baby in a manger

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⁴ and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through Christ we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, ⁶ including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, ⁷ To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

GRADUAL HYMN

GOSPEL
Matthew 1.18–25,
read by Rev Chris Wren

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Chapter , 1, beginning at verse 18.

Glory to Christ our Saviour

¹⁸The birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ ²²All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

A star above a manger

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²³ ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’ ²⁴ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵ but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel
Praise to Christ our Lord.

SERMON

The season of Advent – a time of preparation, expectation and waiting – is drawing to its close. In just a few days we will again be celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus, Immanuel – God with us. And in today’s Gospel reading, on this the 4^th Sunday of Advent, Matthew begins the telling of that story: “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way…” [Matt 1 v 18]. Mary and Joseph fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah Ch 7 that we have also read today.

A purple background with white text

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But none of that is really where the Christmas story begins, the glorious truth of God coming to His world in love in Jesus His Son. That this is the case is clear from today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul is writing ahead of his intended visit to Rome. He is setting out his stall, who he is, his calling to the gentile world and the message, the gospel, he is coming to proclaim: “…the gospel of God…concerning his Son…declared to be Son of God…by resurrection from the dead.” [Rom 1 vv 1, 3 & 4]. Matthew declares Jesus to be the Messiah, the expected One of God and tells the story of His birth. But Matthew can only tell that story – we can only tell the Christmas story – because of the fact of resurrection.

A purple and pink candle with text

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The Gospels, all that we read in the New Testament, all that we have recorded of Jesus and who He is, is set down for us decades after the events recounted and all is viewed and understood in the light of the resurrection. It’s the fact of the resurrection – the fact that God has raised Jesus from death – that, as Paul says, declares Jesus to be the Son of God. It is because of the resurrection that the story of Christ’s birth can be told. Everything is viewed, understood, makes sense with hindsight, in the light of the resurrection. Now that the risen Christ is with us, we can look back and tell the story of His birth.

Jesus, of course, is born of Mary, but tied into the lineage of Joseph. Matthew begins his Gospel, not with the familiar story of the birth, but with a genealogy, which takes the genetic and cultural heritage of Jesus back through the generations from Joseph to King David and to Abraham. Here is Jesus, born of woman, as we are – human as we are – tied into His human family. Yet here too is God Himself – all that could be contained within our human form, with all its limitations – of the very nature of God Himself. Here is the human and divine, bound together in Jesus – Immanuel, God with us. And the ‘proof’ is the resurrection.

A lighthouse on a hill

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And there’s something still more wondrous here. Jesus is a baby born of woman, as we are born; born into a human family; God Himself – yet utterly dependent on a young woman for life itself, for food, for nurture. Here, in this utter vulnerability, hope is born, light shines in our darkness. God shows His love for all His creation in that total vulnerability and dependence.

We are loved as we are, in our frailty and vulnerability. And we are invited to open ourselves to God’s need of us still to continue His work in this His world, here to build His Kingdom of love, justice, peace and hope for all.

Whilst Christmas, for most of us, will be a time of joy and celebration, that will not be the case for everyone. For some – for a whole variety of reasons – this is a difficult time of year. Whatever our situation, may we never lose sight of the reason for Christmas; God with us in love – Immanuel – light shining in our darkness and with that light is hope for us and our world. So, we journey on in hope with Christ our companion, into His future for us.

Amen.

THE CREED

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one substance with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father.
With the Father and the Son,
he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Prayer Requests – Baildon Methodist Church

PRAYERS

Everlasting God we come today on the last Sunday of our Advent journey towards Christmas and we give thanks as we remember those journeys that were being taken 2000 years ago.

Mary and Joseph – travelling by foot to enrol in the Roman census; The Wise Men following the signs in the heavens; The unsuspecting Shepherds moving from pasture to pasture with their flocks; The ancient israelites, also unsuspecting, moving through history towards a world changing event.

(Short Silence)