The Second Sunday of Advent, December 7th at 10 am

We are happy to have Rev. Stuart Jackson as our worship leader this Sunday. All are welcome to join us on our Advent journey. The service starts at 10 am. There is Sunday School during the service and coffee and visiting afterwards.

Here are Rev. Jackson’s thoughts on the scripture readings for the service this week.

Stuart’s Notes for the Second Sunday of Advent,

Dec. 7, 2025

(based on ideas from “Discipleship Ministries”, The United Methodist Church)

When we hear the phrase “once upon a time,” our ears perk up, and we expect to get lost in a story, perhaps a tale that is beyond reality, and yet somehow all too human. The wonder of stories is that they can engage our souls and communicate realities deeper than mere facts. They help us discover truths about ourselves and our community, about relating to one another, about believing, about how we embody our faith.

One of this week’s stories is about John the Baptist, that locust-and-honey-eating prophet living in the wilderness and calling people to repent. John appears again in the New Year, on “Baptism of Jesus Sunday”. The two parts to John’s story are like bookends to the Christmas Story. The first part calls us to prepare the way, and the second is the “end of the story”, which is really another beginning, as John baptises and commissions Jesus into his ministry.

But in this Season of Advent we live with the tension of “not yet”. God’s Story is unfolding, but not yet complete. John the Baptist calls us to repentance, to choosing again God’s better way, to preparing the way for God’s Good News Story. How can our pilgrimage through Advent help us seek and practice the ways of God’s peace?