St Ansgar Lutheran Church, London

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Sunday Morning

We invite you to join us for the following worship services:

Sundays
10:30 a.m. Worship service

Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance and other locations in the church for
your use.

Washrooms will be available for use.

In the service: The service will be shown on the screen. The offering will not be gathered and presented, but there will be an offering plate at the back of the sanctuary where you can put your offering as you enter or leave. Pastor David distributes the communion wafers and an Assisting Minister distributes wine or grape juice in individual glasses.

We have coffee and fellowship time available again in Luther Hall after the service.

We will continue to evaluate our worship service procedures on a monthly basis.

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT, DECEMBER 7, 2025.

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Outline for Worship (with sermon)
Sunday, December 7, 2025 – Second Sunday of Advent
Based on ELW Setting Four

GATHERING

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

LIGHTING THE SECOND ADVENT CANDLE
Waiting, Preparation, Joy, Light
Advent is a time of waiting. We light the first candle to remind us that we are
waiting for God to come. We sing the first verse as the first candle is lit.

ADVENT SONG – Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah (ELW # 240)
Light one candle to watch for Messiah:
let the light banish darkness.
He shall bring salvation to Israel,
God fulfills the promise.
Advent is also a time of preparation. We decorate, shop, and bake to get ready
for Christmas. We also prepare ourselves for Jesus to come, by reading his
story, by praying and singing, and by sharing with others.

We light the second candle to remind us to prepare.
We sing the second verse as the second candle is lit.
Light two candles to watch for Messiah:
let the light banish darkness.
He shall feed the flock like a shepherd,
gently lead them homeward.
From Mark 1: 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.”
Let us pray: God of peace, we look forward to the time when the earth is full of
your glory, when righteousness is at home, and peace reigns in all the world.
May we prepare for that day by working together for justice and peace.
Amen.

BRIEF ORDER FOR CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
P: Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, whose home is heaven
and earth, whose salvation is sure.
C: Amen.

P: Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.

Silence is kept for reflection.

P: Long-expected God,
C: we confess that we look to ourselves for the peace and security
only you can provide.
We reach for swords and spears, reluctant to release our grip on
the ways of war.
We become impatient while waiting and weary of keeping awake.
Free us from self-reliance, and teach us to live in harmony with
our neighbours. Increase our trust in God’s timing, and awaken
us to your advent among us, that we may abound in the hope
you have promised. Amen.

P: God judges us not as we deserve, but according to God’s
own righteousness. ☩ You are freed and forgiven, saved by grace,
and ready to welcome the Saviour.
C: Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN - Blessed Be the God of Israel (ELW #250)

GREETING
P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C: And also with you

KYRIE
A: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God,
and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise,
let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.
C: Amen.

HYMN OF PRAISE (sung) (ELW p. 149)
P: This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
C: Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain,
whose blood set us free to be people of God.
Power and riches and wisdom and strength,
and honour and blessing and glory are his.
This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
Sing with all the people of God
and join in the hymn of all creation:
Blessing and honour and glory and might
be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen.
This is the feast of victory for our God,
for the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign.
Alleluia. Alleluia.

PRAYER OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray.
P: Stir up our hearts, Lord God, to prepare the way of your only Son. By his
coming nurture our growth as people of repentance and peace; through Jesus
Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen

WORD

FIRST READING: Isaiah 11:1-10
1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out
of his roots. 2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the LORD. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not
judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with
righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of
the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath
of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling
together, and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child
shall put its hand on the adder's den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy on all my
holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the
waters cover the sea. 10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal
to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

PSALM 72: 1-7, 18-19
1 Give the King your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the King’s son;
2 that he may rule your people righteously
and the poor with justice;
3 that the mountains may bring prosperity to the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
4 Let him defend the needy among the people,
rescue the poor, and crush the oppressor.
5 May he live as long as the sun and moon endure,
from one generation to another.
6 Let him come down like rain upon the mown field,
like showers that water the earth.
7 In his time may the righteous flourish;
and let there be an abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more.
18 Blessed are you, Lord God, the God of Israel;
you alone do wondrous deeds!
19 And blessed be your glorious name forever,
and may all the earth be filled with your glory. Amen. Amen.

SECOND READING: Romans 15:4-13
4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction,
so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we
might have hope. 5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant
you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,
6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. 7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed
you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of
the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm
the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might
glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you
among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name"; 10 and again he says,
"Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people"; 11 and again, "Praise the Lord, all you
Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him"; 12 and again Isaiah says, "The root
of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles
shall hope." 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
C: Alleluia. Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia.

GOSPEL
P: The Holy Gospel according to Matthew 3:1-12
C: Glory to you, O Lord.

1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,
2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 3 This is the one of whom the
prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'" 4 Now John wore clothing
of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and
wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him,
and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were baptized by him in the
river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many Pharisees
and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance.
9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor';
for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does
not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I baptize you with water
for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not
worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will
gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON
Matthew 3:1-12
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the prayers of our hearts,
always be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength, and our Redeemer.
AMEN
We have come together this Advent Sabbath morning to prepare ourselves for
the coming of our Lord. This task of preparing for the arrival of the Lord is not
as easy as we might think it is. We have let the culture around us take away
much of the meaning of the birth of the baby Jesus. We need to reclaim that
meaning if we really want to be ready for what God is still doing in the miracle
of Christmas.
No one is better for helping us get back to the basics than John the Baptist.
John was about as outrageous as they come. No one ever slept through one
of his sermons. The people considered him a prophet, one who interpreted
God’s ways to the people. Maybe that is why John drew such large crowds.
Let’s not miss the significance of what Matthew tells us about the crowds that
came to hear John preach. People came from Jerusalem and Judea to hear
John preach in the wilderness near the Jordan river. People from the cities
and those from the country do not usually like the same kind of preaching,
but John drew both in. John’s followers came a long way to hear him speak.
His sermons must have been so compelling and so prophet-like that people
made the extra effort to follow him.
Would we even tolerate John’s preaching today? John certainly had an
interesting preaching style. Most preaching professors tell their students to
say “we” instead of “you,” as in “we need to repent,” not “you need to repent.”
John ignored the niceties. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from
the wrath to come?”
When John really got going, his words must have blistered the ears of all
those people who came such a long way to hear him. When John begins the
heart of his sermon in verse 10, the judgement roars out. Judgement seems
to be John’s favourite threat. John presents two images of judgement. The first
is an axe chopping down a tree that bears no fruit. The dead wood will be
tossed into the fire. In the second image the farmer sifts the grain with a
winnowing fork. The heavier wheat falls to the ground. Usually, the chaff
blows away. John tosses the chaff into the fire along with the dead wood.
These two images are what we wrestle with this morning. John sees the
arrival of the Messiah with a heavy emphasis on wrath. John may well have
been furious about the corruption of the people of God. If scholars are correct
that John was an Essene, then he believed in a purified form of Judaism,
that the end times were imminent, and God’s kingdom would be established.
One of the prayers of the Essenes was, “Lay Thy hand upon the neck of
Thine enemies.”
How does this work for us as preparation for Advent? We usually think of the
Christmas season as a time for peace. During a war, both sides often honour
a cease-fire around Christmas. We hope Christmas will be a kind of cease-fire
in the stress and strain of life. We are used to reading the quotes from the
Bible in our Christmas cards that bring comfort and joy. How often do we find
Christmas cards that talk about the chaff being burned in unquenchable fire?
Not only do John’s words grate on our ears during Advent, but they are also
not an accurate depiction of Jesus’ actual ministry. If John expected the arrival
of Jesus the Messiah to be the time when corrupt leaders, both religious
and secular, would be put in their places, that is not what happened.
Jesus healed and taught, both signs of the coming near of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus’ ministry was not a time when the trees were cut down or the chaff
separated out, with all of it burned. The religious and secular leaders did
not change because of Jesus’ ministry. The did not face punishment for their
sins or God’s wrath for their corruption. Even the Essenes understood that the
coming of the Messiah would be a time of healing. As one of their prophecies
put it, “For He will heal the wounded, and revive the dead and
bring good news to the poor.”
Ironically, John understood his own ministry in connection with Isaiah’s
words about preparing a way in the wilderness. Isaiah’s words originally were
a message of comfort and hope to people whose souls were hurting. Isaiah’s
words offered forgiveness and encouragement to those who thought God had
turned God’s divine back on them. Jesus’ earthly ministry was closer to Isaiah’s
original intent than to what John had in mind. In the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus offers blessings to those who are downtrodden and at the end of their
spiritual ropes.
Matthew records John’s words, even if they did not quite fit with what the first
coming of the Messiah meant for the world. The church assigned this passage
for this morning. If we hang in with this passage it still might help us
understand Christmas.
Do we not share some of John’s apparent anger at the corruption of this world
we live in? Do we not grieve over war, crime, hatred, abuse, and a host of
other ills impacting our world? Isn’t it true that we read every year at Christmas
time of someone who steals from a charity that is trying to help needy children
or families? One of the questions John’s sermon raises is why the evil of the
world is still as strong as it is if the Messiah has already come. And, if we are
honest with ourselves, we know that we are not all of what we ought to be.
Maybe the persistence and willfulness of sin is a good background for reading
John’s words this second week of Advent. John gives us powerful, almost
frightening images: trees chopped down and thrown into the fire and chaff
thrown into unquenchable fire. What exactly does this mean? John does not
specify who the trees and chaff are. We often think he means the Sadducees
and Pharisees. We can sometimes be too self-righteous looking at the Jewish
leaders in the New Testament. We want to make them the bad guys. We forget
that we can be just as legalistic, unseeing, stubborn, and arrogant as we
think they were. Even if the New Testament seems to condense all human
shortcomings into the Jewish leaders, we should remember that they are
a mirror for us. If all the evil people are chopped down, where would the
chopping stop? What if the chopped down trees and burned up chaff refers
not to specific people, but to evil itself? Some of the writings of the Essenes
support that idea. One of their documents talks about what God will do with
evil and injustice. The document says that at the appointed time of judgement,
“God will then purify every deed of man with His truth.” Might John be promising us
not the destruction of evil people, but the destruction of all evil and injustice?
John’s timing may seem to be a bit off. The first coming of the Messiah did
not accomplish the destruction of evil. Still, John holds out this hope for God’s
continuing work in creation. We might not be ready to put John’s sermon on a
Christmas card, but a promise of the complete destruction of evil is cause for
joy and celebration. Let us be thankful to John for helping us understand what
we celebrate this season. Let us hold on to the promise of a time when the evil
of the world has been chopped down and burned up.
AMEN

Silence is kept for reflection.

HYMN OF THE DAY – There’s a Voice in the Wilderness (ELW #255)

NICENE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
A: In our waiting and watching, we come to you in prayer, O God, trusting your
promise to renew the church, the nations, and the whole creation.
A: God of our church, send forth your Spirit as we pray for our Bishops Larry
and Carla. Empower them with your wisdom to lead the church. We also pray
for the Thames Ministry area, especially Pastor Sylvia Swiatoschik and the
people of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Leamington. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: With wisdom and understanding, inspire the faithful around the world.
Unite hearts and minds in work to address poverty, access to housing,
and equity among peoples. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: With counsel and might, move us to care for creation. As we dream of the
day when all creatures will flourish alongside one another, guide us in ways
humanity and all creation will mutually thrive. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: With righteousness and faithfulness, encourage nations to live in harmony
with one another. We pray for international student and teacher exchanges,
for our partner churches, and for the shared mission of Canadian Lutheran
World Relief and other disaster relief agencies. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: With steadfastness and encouragement, strengthen those who have
lost hope in the face of grief, depression, or disease, especially Beth, Jean,
Mary Margaret, Kristine, Karen, Emma, Cathy, Lene, Heather, Grethe, Lyra,
Donna, Ahlan, Regena, and those others who are in our hearts. Renew the
spirits of those recovering from surgery and medical procedures. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: With welcome and hospitality, embolden us in our shared ministry to
overcome all that divides. In acts of repentance, reconciliation, and reparation,
may we serve in the way of Christ. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Merciful God, we pray for peace as war continues to rage in Ukraine and
in Israel and Gaza. Shelter all living in fear; protect those seeking refuge in
neighbouring countries; sustain families separated by the horrors of war;
tend to those who are injured; comfort all who mourn their dead.
Direct your people into the way of peace. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: With joy and peace, we remember our ancestors in the faith. Fill us with
the hope of the Holy Spirit now and into the ages of ages. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Draw near to us, O God, as we commend all for whom we pray,
trusting in your mercy through Jesus Christ, Emmanuel.
C: Amen.

PEACE
P: The peace of Christ be with you always.
C: And also with you.

LORD’S PRAYER
P: Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.
C: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.

SENDING

BLESSING
P: May God who comes among us, Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit,
grant you patience in waiting, peace in the darkness, and good news
to share today and always.
C: Amen.

SENDING HYMN – Hark, the Glad Sound! (ELW #239)

DISMISSAL
A: Go in peace. Keep awake.
C: Thanks be to God.

DISMISSAL HYMN – Go Now in Peace
Go now in peace, never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of every day.
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true.
Know He will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others, so all the world can see.
God will be there, watching from above.
Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.