Service Sunday December 14, 2025
HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH
Minden, Ontario
All are Welcome!
Third Sunday of Advent - Joy
Worship Leader: Rev. Max Ward
Music Director: Melissa Stephens
Watcha video recording of the whole service below using YouTube
(For a Printer Friendly PDF version click this link)
The Gathering
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LAND:
Let us, in this place, remember, acknowledge, and give thanks for the Indigenous Peoples, who have had ties to this territory from time beyond memory. We honour and acknowledge Treaty 20, which was signed in Port Hope 200 years ago, with the Curve Lake First Nation, the Hiawatha First Nation, the Mississaugas of Scugog Island, and the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. We acknowledge their stewardship and commit to join with them to care for the territory and the waters.
THE APPROACH
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: We are called into worship and fellowship by the words of John the Baptist:
ALL: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
One: We bring our wishes for the world and its people:
ALL: Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall encounter the salvation of God.
Written by George Allan, Chatham, Ont.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.27. Used with permission
HYMN: “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” VU #8
1 Lo, how a rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung,
of Jesse's lineage coming, as seers of old have sung.
It came a blossom bright,
amid the cold of winter, when half spent was the night.
2 Isaiah 'twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind,
with Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God's love aright
she bore for us a Saviour when half spent was the night.
ADVENT CANDLE-LIGHTING LITANY:
One: Today is the third Sunday in Advent. Last week we lit the first two candles in our Advent wreath, the candles that represent hope and peace.
(Relighting the Candles of Hope and Peace)
One: Today we light the third candle, the candle that represents joy.
ALL: We live in a world longing for joy: a joy that releases silence that erupts into laughter and singing.
One: A joy that opens a spirit blocked by disappointment, a joy that dreams beyond all constraints.
ALL: Knowing the need for joy in our own lives and in our world, we light this candle as a symbol of joy promised in the coming of Jesus.
(The candle of Joy is lit.)
ADVENT HYMN: “A Candle Is Burning” VU #6 – verses 1-3
1 A candle is burning, a flame warm and bright,
a candle of hope in December's dark night.
While angels sing blessings from heaven's starry sky,
our hearts we prepare now for Jesus is nigh.
2 A candle is burning, a candle of peace,
a candle to signal that conflict must cease:
for Jesus is coming to show us the way;
a message of peace humbly laid in the hay.
3 A candle is burning, a candle of joy,
a candle to welcome brave Mary's new boy.
Our hearts fill with wonder, and eyes light and glow
as joy brightens winter like sunshine on snow.
MINISTRY OF MUSIC
THE WORD
Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10 & Matthew 11:2-11
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE:
“Are You the One?”
Listen to an audio recording of the message below or read it at the bottom of this page.
OUR RESPONSE
HYMN: “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” VU #44
1 It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold,
'Peace on the earth, good will to all,
from heaven's all-gracious King!'
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.
2 Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled;
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.
3 Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel strain have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and warring humankind hears not
the love song which they bring.
O hush the noise, and cease your strife,
to hear the angels sing.
4 For, lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophets seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold,
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendours fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.
Candle Lighting Liturgy
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and
THE LORD’S PRAYER: (spoken VU #921)
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY PRAYER: In Unison
God, our strength and salvation, we glorify your name. With acts of joyous delight, we show others your timeless grace. Our offerings are presented, knowing that those who are grieving, those who are hungry, and those who are hopeful will be served. May all that we are and all that we give reflect your great joy! Amen.
Written by Laura J. Turnbull, Penticton, B.C.
Gathering, Pentecost 2 2025, p.30. Used with permission
SUNG BLESSING: (MV #220)
Joy shines as the solitary star.
Faith is the inner light.
You and I together mirror the Light of Lights,
and illumine the pathway home. ©
SENDING FORTH:
A Time of Fellowship
© Music Reproduced with permission under License number A-605748, Valid for: 26/10/2025 - 25/10/2026; One License - Copyright Cleared Music for Churches.
Sermon 2025 12 14
“Are You the One?”
Isaiah 35:1-10 & Matthew 11:2-11
Gracious God, be with us today in this place, in the Scriptures and in our words.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts praise your Holy name. Amen.
John the Baptist was in prison and he sent messengers to Jesus to ask a question.
He sent them to ask Jesus if he was the one to come or should they look for another.
It seems strange that John should ask this question.
A careful reading of the four Gospels shows us that John should already know the answer to this question.
After all, only about a year before this John baptized Jesus and acknowledged Jesus as Messiah.
Plus, the Spirit in the form of a dove landed on Jesus and a voice from heaven declared that Jesus was God’s beloved Son.
Could John the Baptist have forgotten all that so quickly?
Apparently, he had.
You know human memory is often faulty.
We tend to forget past events rather quickly.
It is not just older people who forget.
Sometimes younger ones do too.
The events of the intervening time get in the way of remembering.
It’s like the story of the man who was asked by his preacher if he believed in the hereafter.
The man replied, “Believe in it! I’ve experienced it!”
The preacher thought the man must have had a near death experience, so he asked the man to relate his experience.
The man said, “The other day I was standing right here in this room, I had just walked here from the other room and I stopped and said to myself,
‘Now, what am I here after.’”
What were we talking about?
Oh, I almost forgot.
We were talking about John the Baptist, again.
Last week, Rev. Diane Bennet Jones talked about John the Baptist too but what I’m talking about is near the end of his life.
Apparently, the intervening events clouded John’s memory so that he was unsure of the past.
Had it really happened the way he thought it had or was that really his imagination?
John was in prison and the months of bad food, rats, lice, and dampness of the dungeon had affected his memory.
If Jesus was really the Messiah come to free the prisoners, why was God’s prophet stuck in a pit?
If the Son of God had arrived to pour out the Holy Spirit on the faithful and fire on the wicked, why hadn’t he done it?
Maybe he remembered it wrong?
Maybe God hadn’t said, “This is my beloved Son.”?
Maybe God had said, “This is just another prophet and my Son is coming later.”?
Months in King Herod’s dungeon had dulled John the Baptist’s memory.
They had also dimmed his eyes.
He could no longer see that Jesus was the Messiah as clearly he had that day that he was honored enough to baptize God’s Son.
So, Jesus decided to help his old friend see more clearly.
Jesus sent a message and he said, “Look, what do you see?
The blind see again, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the sick are strengthened, lepers are cleansed, and the dead are raised.
Brother John, even the poor and oppressed hear Good News.”
The answer to John the Baptist’s question was right there in front of him but he failed to see it.
The answer was in the works that Christ was performing all around.
It was in the healings, the proclamation of Good News, and the resurrections.
Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, was at work in the world.
The evidence was all around to be seen.
Yet, John the Baptist couldn’t see it.
John’s own situation kept him from seeing that reality clearly.
The dilemmas of the present clouded his memory of the past.
I like John the Baptist.
In many ways he is, you and me, writ large.
Often, we see Christ in a moment of glory as John did.
The heavens open and we hear God’s voice.
It is clear to us that God is at work in the world.
God has sent the Messiah to bring life and light and all those wonderful blessings we read about in Isaiah.
But then the years pass.
And like John, we find ourselves in a pit.
Our memory of the time when we saw Christ so clearly is clouded.
We wonder, “Is that how it really happened, or was I imagining that heavenly light.”?
As we look around, we fail to see the evidence that Christ is in the world bringing comfort and salvation.
Like John, we need someone to open our eyes again.
We need someone to uncloud our memories and remind us of what Christ has done in our lives.
Someone to open our eyes to see the works of Christ in our world today.
Maybe that is what this season is all about.
Reminding us that Christ came, is coming and will come again.
Like John the Baptist, many people ask, “Is he the one or should I look for another.”?
I am here today to tell you that he is the one.
Jesus, the salvation and light of the world, is here.
He is bringing light and life to human hearts.
The sick are healed, the hungry are fed.
Those who are spiritually dead are given new life, the blind see.
The lost have Good News preached to them.
Do you want to see God’s Son at work?
Look into the faces of the people of Jamaica who have hope because people are committed to helping them rebuild.
Go to any of the homes of those who access the Minden Community Food Centre on Christmas day and see the poor fed.
Go to the stores and see people giving toys for tots or filling a Police Cruiser or giving change to the Salvation Army in one of their kettles.
Look at what your own church is doing this holiday season through the Outreach committee suggestions.
If like John the Baptist you find yourself asking, “Has God’s salvation come or should we keep looking for it,”? then look around.
Ask Jesus, as John did, to show you God’s salvation at work.
It may be hard to see that salvation at times but look for it.
The pits that we live in blur our eyesight and dull our vision.
The commercialism of this season often clouds the true meaning of it.
The hustle and bustle creates noise in our lives that makes it hard to hear angels singing to shepherds.
The electric lights and electronic gadgets seem so far removed from that stall in Bethlehem.
So sometimes we forget.
We forget a poor homeless baby, born the Son of God and son of Mary.
Look for Christ in Christmas.
He is here.
The signs are all around us, and they are not red and green neon billboards.
They are the same signs Jesus pointed out to John the Baptist:
the sick are healed,
the enslaved are freed,
the lifeless are given new life,
and the Good News is preached to poor souls.
Ask God to help you see these signs.
Ask God to restore that lost vision of Christ that you had in the past.
Or perhaps ask God to give you a new vision of Christ in this season of light and hope.
And ask God to show you that we need not look for another.
The light of the world has come.
His name is Jesus, Son of Mary, Son of God.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
