It’s the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new Church Year (Year A – the Year of the Gospel according to Matthew). Last Sunday, we ended the Year in praise, celebrating the Reign of Our Lord. Today, we begin the Year in hope, awaiting our Lord’s Second Coming, and his coming in greater fullness into our lives and our world. Look for blue hangings and vestments, the Great Litany, a special Children’s Time by Kerin our Sunday School Coordinator on the Five Marks of Mission, the Lighting of the Advent Wreath, a Sermon by Norman, and the first singing of the great Advent Hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
As the Service is a Holy Eucharist, we’re most blessed to share Holy Communion together, physically or spiritually, feeding by faith with thanksgiving on the One who laid down his life for us, so that we may have his life within us always. When our Liturgy ends, the service begins, with a “Sending” forth into the world to spread, in word and in deed, Our Lord’s reign of love, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today’s Service of Holy Eucharist will be livestreamed on our main Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/stpaulscalgary) at 9:30 am. Following the service, the video will be posted on our YouTube Channel, and a link to the service will be added here. To watch this service in full screen mode, please click on the “Watch on YouTube” button in the lower left-hand corner of the video. Please download the Order of Service in the Sermon Notes above if you would like to follow along. If you are sharing this Service online and don’t have Reserved Sacrament, you are invited to say the Prayer for Communion for those receiving Spiritual Communion also available above.
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from:
(a) ONE LICENSE with license # A-713985, and/or
(b) CCLI with Streaming License # 20351479.
All rights reserved.