The Worship Bulletin for Sunday morning, the Second Sunday of Advent We hope you find this helpful in following along with the service. You are encouraged to respond in the appropriate places. The service is taken from the Book of Common Prayer. If you do not have a copy, you can access it at either https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/BCP.pdf or http://prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/.
St. Stephen’s Anglican Parish
10:30 am St. Stephen’s On-line Service, Chester
Second Sunday of
Advent
6 December 2020
God’s people in the spirit of Christ….
MORNING PRAYER
(Book of Common
Prayer – The “Red” Book)
The Lighting of the Advent Wreath
The Penitential Rite:
p. 4
Responsory:
p. 5
Venite:
p. 6
The Proclamation of the Word
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 p. 438
Lesson: Isaiah 40:1-11
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her
penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted
up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become
level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken." A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I
cry?" All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the
field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows
upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but
the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion,
herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald
of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah,
"Here is your God!" See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm
rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will
feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry
them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
The Word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God
Te
Deum:
p. 7
Epistle:
2 Peter 3:8-15A
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that
with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like
one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but
is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass
away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the
earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Since all these
things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in
leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming
of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and
dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his
promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at
home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be
found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our
Lord as salvation.
The Word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God
Benedictus:
p. 9
Gospel
Lesson:
Mark 1:1-8
The beginning
of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the
prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will
prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the
way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'" John the baptizer appeared in
the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of
sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of
Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather
belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed,
"The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy
to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with
water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
The Word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God
Reflection:
Apostles’ Creed:
p. 10
The Lord's Prayer and Versicles and Responses - p. 11
Collect of the Day
Almighty God, who sent your servant John the Baptist to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth, to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge, we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Collects for Peace & Grace - p. 11
The Prayer for All in Authority & for the Clergy & People - p. 13
The Prayer for All Conditions - p. 14
A General Thanksgiving, A Prayer of St. Chrysostom, & The Grace - p. 15
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Announcements
** Early this
week, the Rector and Wardens will be assessing our ability to reasonably safely
come to together for worship. Please watch for further announcements on this
Advent Program!
**If you
missed the first session this past week, and still wish to join in, please feel
free to contact us!
We will be hosting an Advent Program this year. Please note that this program will be run via the Zoom teleconferencing app - but you do not need to download it in order to participate. You do not even need a computer to do so, as people may "phone in". Please email the Rector at ian.wissler@gmail.com or call the Parish Office before Tuesday morning if you would like an invitation which will enable you to participate.
About the Advent Program: Four sessions will be held, each Tuesday through the 22nd of
December, at 1:30 p.m. Each session will last an hour.
JOURNEYING THE WAY OF LOVE:
ADVENT CURRICULUM
For the season of Advent, Journeying the Way of Love
offers four sessions to be explored as we await the coming of Christ by moving
through the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke
Luke’s gospel provides a pattern for understanding how
we can live the Way of Love as individuals, as families and friends, as a
community, and out in the world.
Contents
• Advent One: The Annunciation: Saying “Yes” to the
Journey
• Advent Two: Mary and Elizabeth: Journeying with Family
and Friends
• Advent Three: The Birth of John the Baptist:
Journeying with Community
• Advent Four: The Birth of Jesus: Journeying with the
World
Participants are encouraged to read and reflect on these
passages in Luke throughout the season of Advent and “try on” the spiritual
practices of the Way of Love.
We pray that you will be able to join in!
Update! Missions
to Seafarers Shoe Box Campaign 2020
15 boxes from St. Stephen’s
and 12 boxes from Saint George’s were delivered and were gratefully received. Very
thanks for your generosity and efforts!
Advanced Care Planning and Personal
Directives Workshops
A free workshop
offered by the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA), is available, and will be
running for the coming months. Learn about how to write your personal
directive for healthcare. They will be offered every month until
March, and are free! For anyone thinking about their health,
wellness and getting their personal affairs in order, this is a wonderful tool.
Advance Care
Planning and Personal Directives – INSPIRED Program, NSHA
Explore what advance care planning is
and what to include when creating a personal directive. To register, please
call Andrew Comstock at (902) 483-8943
• Tuesday, December 8th from 1:00 to 3:00 pm (online via Zoom for Healthcare)
Rector's
Discretionary Fund - Our Parish
maintains the Rector's Discretionary Fund, for the relief and assistance of
both parishioners and members of the broader Chester Municipality Community,
should they have a material difficulty which we may be able to alleviate. In
addition to your alms to the general ministry of the Parish of St. Stephen, you
may also donate directly to it. All donations should be identified as being for
the Rector's Discretionary Fund, while all cheques for that purpose need to be
made to St. Stephen's Parish, Chester, with "Rector's Discretionary
Fund" in the memo line.
PWRDF Update -As the Saint Stephen’s Church PWRDF
representative, I participated in a virtual Diocesan meeting of parish
representatives. We had excellent presentations by two staff members of PWRDF.
We learned that PWRDF spent $6.6 million on Development last year throughout
Canada and the world. The Federal Government has given PWRDF $1.9 million as an
extension of the All Mothers and Children Count campaign to buy PPE”S and other
equipment to ensure their partners in Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Mozambique
are able to keep their health clinics safely open during the Covid-19
pandemic. Any donation to this programme
is matched 6:1 by the Government of Canada. If you go the the webpage,
pwrdf.org, you can see how to donate the this very worthwhile programme.
We also learned that PWRDF is ranked in the
top 100 of Canadian charities. They manage their resources very well with only
10% of their budget going to staff expenses and fundraising efforts. With this
mind, I hope you will join me in using the World of Gifts to give very
meaningful gifts to family and friends especially over the Christmas season.
Some of the larger items are suitable
for a group or organization to consider as a fund raising project. Details of
the World of Gifts were sent out with the Anglican Journal and are available at
pwrdf.org. Of course donations can be made to PWRDF through their website or
through the special church envelopes.
Hiya Field (hiyafield@gmail.com)
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