Sunday, December 21, 2025 The Fourth Sunday of Advent

 As the celebration of Hanukkah comes to an end, we hold our Jewish sisters and brothers in our thoughts and prayers following the events on Bondi Beach last week. We also wish for them a blessed Hanukkah, this year.

Hymn      Angels from the Realms of Glory #36VU

Advent Candle-Lighting Litany:   1:  Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. 

2:  Today our waiting is almost done. 

1:  Today we rejoice in the gift of Emmanuel, God-with us. 

2:  Today we celebrate God’s gift of love. 

1:  Today we light the candles of hope, peace, joy, and love. (Light 4 coloured candles)

2:  Let us give thanks for all these gifts and blessings. 

Scripture Lessons:         Isaiah 7:10-16

                                       Psalm 80:1-7, 17-9 p. 794VU pt 1

                                       Matthew 1:18-25

Message

Prayer:  God, as your children, in this season of Advent, we wait in prayer

We pray for hope— that we may be filled once again with the hope of a child;

And that we may bring hope to those who despair. 

        We pray for peace— that we may be filled once again with the profound peace of a child;

And that we may bring peace to those close to us, in our community and around the world; to those for whom peace is only a dream. 

         We pray for joy— that we may be filled once again with the boundless joy of a child; 

And that we may bring joy to those who live in darkness. 

          We pray for love— that we may be filled once again with the unconditional love of a child; 

And that we may bring the full expression of your love to our families, to our community and to your world. 

         For all this, we pray through Jesus Christ— your child and our Saviour, who comes “with the dawn of redeeming grace”. Amen. (Source ? found in a service prepared by Paul Sales) 

Hymn         Hark the Herald Angels Sing #48

This Sunday’s services will be 11:00 in Ormstown and 7pm in Howick. In both churches we will be celebrating Communion and in Howick will be sharing a family service with a pageant. 

Congratulations to Nash Templeton who will be receiving the Howden-Templeton bursary from Howick United Church for his studies in the coming year. 

There will be a Christmas Eve service held in St Paul’s at 7:30pm and a Christmas Carol service on Sunday, December 28th at 11:00 in the hall. There will be no Sunday service on January 4th as Barbara will be away. Blogs will also be produced for all these services. (Please note that the information for Howick United Church in the Gleaner is incorrect. Our final service in Howick is this Sunday night.) 

We hold in our thoughts and prayers the family of Peter Ednie, who died earlier and who is being remembered at a memorial gathering at his home in Franklin. 

Many thanks to all who have donated so much this holiday season. The food has been delivered to La Bouffe Additionelle and the Howick Christmas basket project, along with cash donations from the Howick UCW, the St Paul’s organ concert, and others; the personal items have been delivered to Residence-Elle, and the hats, mitts, etc. to other organizations. All of this took a lot of work from a lot of people. Many thanks to Allyson Orr and Wendy Denison for organizing the mitten collections, to Ken Rember and Allyson Orr for delivering the food brought in, and many others who helped out, along the way. ( The problem with listing names is that you almost always leave one out!) 

Please note that the financial books for the Memorial Fund of Howick United Church will close on December 30th. If you have a memorial gift you would like to make, please get it to Grace Brown by or before that date. 

The financial books of Howick United Church will close Monday, December 29th. Please get any donations you would like to make in to Wilene Cullen on or before that date. Thank you.