Lessons & Carols: Complete Service of God's Word & Sacred Music

King of kings that are worth it nobody will give to all the sun.

The Lord is coming soon.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Please be seated.

Dear friends, welcome to New Song Church.

My name is uh Pastor Creighton, and uh sharing the word with us this morning will be Pastor Matt, who is somewhere probably busy.

There he is.

And uh we're just delighted to have you uh join us this morning.

Lessons and Carols is a service of worship that I look forward to all year round.

And lessons and carols is a bit of an old-timey phrase, isn't it?

But we like to get old-timey the closer we get to Christmas.

I wonder if we could call this service something like sharing and singing.

Because I think the essence of what we're gonna do here today is we're gonna share good news.

There's good news to be found in God's word, so we're commits of that in the software.

We believe that God created the world and created us in his image, and he loves the world.

But the world went astray, and he has sent his only son to enter into our world to draw us back to himself.

That's the great love of God that he shows to us.

And the baby born on Christmas and the crucified Messiah on Good Friday, and the risen one on Easter Sunday.

We get to share good news in God's word today.

And good news has this way of inspiring us to say, doesn't it?

So whether we're going to take in the words that the choir is going to share with us, whether we ourselves are going to respond, we're going to offer a joyful noise at the good news shared with us in God's Word.

That's what gets me excited for lessons in Carol.

So a couple of housekeeping uh items for folks who may be uh new for here uh new with us here at Newsong.

Uh I'm just so glad you're here.

Take a moment, if you will, and fill out one of the connection cards in the seat in front of you, and you can just go ahead and drop that in the offering uh box at the back of the sanctuary there at a time that's convenient to you.

That's all you have to drop in the offering box, by the way.

But uh we'd just love to connect with you.

If you'd love to connect with us, please just share a little bit of your information.

We'd love to reach out.

If you need washrooms, there's one available right here in the Narfex, in the foyer, I should say.

Oh sorry, Anglicanese.

And uh and then there's washrooms available downstairs uh as well.

Our nursery is available, it's unstaffed, but parents, if you uh want to use that, go ahead.

And we do have craft stations set up downstairs uh for children, or if you're just really into craft, go ahead and uh and and avail yourself.

Everything you need to join us in worship this morning is going to be on your bulletin, it's gonna be on the screen.

Uh it's a delight to worship together because our God is good.

Let's hear good news this morning.

Let me invite us to worship.

In the name of God who has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, we welcome you with grace and pleasure to you.

We are gathered together to proclaim and receive in our hearts the good news of the coming of God's kingdom, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate with confidence and joy the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We pray that we may respond in penitence and faith to the glory of his kingdom, its works of justice, and its promise of peace, its blessing, and its hope.

May God of his grace and mercy grant to all his people a new trust in his good providence and a new obedience to his sovereign word, for to him is most justly due all glory, honor, worship, and praise, world without end.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

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.

May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting now and at all times.

Amen.

And I want to invite our wreath lighters to come on down.

Amen.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shone.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and there was evening and there was morning the first day.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him, and without him there was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.

Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

For have been as I sought, and pleasure dearly I have bought.

It keeps my dying faith alive.

It makes my soul in hand Jesus Christ.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty for the captives, and to the opening of the prison for those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.

And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.

He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.

And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

And he began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Speak tender.

To Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand a double for all her sins.

A voice cries, In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God, and every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, and the uneven ground shall become plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

A voice says, Cry, and I said, What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, and the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it.

Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Go up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of the good news.

Lift up your voice with strength.

O Jerusalem, herald of the good news, lift it up, fear not, and say to the cities of Judah, Behold, your God.

Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules over him.

Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with him.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip, a Tetrarch of the region of Ituria and Draconidas, and Lysanius a Tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Anas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness, and he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness Prepare the way of the Lord, and make his path straight, and every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, by the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Annaphthalai.

But in the latter time, he has made the glorious way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, the Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in the darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shone.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.

And he said, Hear then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also?

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.

But as Joseph considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, the son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife.

For that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

All this took a place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

So we can do us you are straight up in your presence before strength.

Oh everything are redemption.

You are God, will you come to me?

Oh God, do you come to God?

You want straight up detection, you are God, you are here, you are holy, we are standing in your glory, you are here, you are holy, we are standing in your glory, you are here, you are holy, we are standing in your body, and you can't get it.

Thus says God the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it.

I am the Lord.

I have called you in righteousness.

I will take you by the hand and keep you.

I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind and bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness.

I am the Lord.

That is my name.

My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare, before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple.

And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people, Israel.

Or smell like a bird of beauty short, a song, a song seed, because my face was free to be so.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God.

He will come and save you.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

For the waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert, and a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness.

The unclean shall not pass over it.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing.

Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.

They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and singing shall flee away.

Jesus said, Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.

I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.

The Spirit and the bride say, Come.

And let the one who hears say, Come.

And let the one who is thirsty come.

Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming soon.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

And he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.

And this is the name by which he will be called.

The Lord is our righteousness.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Zat Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.

And the virgin's name was Mary.

And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.

But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin?

And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

For nothing will be impossible with God.

And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.

And the angel departed from her.

So I have ten minutes to explain the Christmas story to you.

So just before we begin, let us pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you that we can be present here, uh, either in person or online, um, to sing your praises for Jesus Christ coming into the world.

Father, I thank you for that blessing.

And now as we come to hear your word um spoken into our hearts and into our minds, ask, Lord, that any distractions would just fall away.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

So since being married now, uh, it's been over six years, something that uh myself and Amy have come to realize is that many people struggle with infertility problems, um, whether it's through um certain things, but a lot of people, a lot of couples struggle with infertility.

And two years ago, Amy and I found out that we also, like many others, are it'd be very difficult for us to get pregnant naturally.

And it's this has been an interesting journey for us because growing up, we're always told that it is so easy to get some for someone to get pregnant.

And this has been a roller coaster of emotions for us for the past few years and for the foreseeable future.

But the Christmas story, the story that we've been singing about, all the passages that we've been reading and hearing, they're all passages of hope.

And the Christmas story, the main theme is hope.

So we're gonna look at it.

And you might be thinking, why do I need another thing in my life to think about constantly?

Why do I need another thing, uh, another hope to think about?

I already have a hope for my kids to do well in school, to live good, to be good people in society.

I have also a hope that uh when my mortgage comes up, I'll be able to make the payments at the new mortgage rate.

I have many other many hopes in my life that maybe I'll meet the love of my life, maybe my body will be healed, maybe I'll succeed in my job, or maybe I'll become pregnant.

Why do I need another hope to occupy my mind?

Or you might also be thinking, how can I believe in a God that allows so much pain and suffering?

Haven't you been reading the news, Matt?

Haven't you seen what is on TV or what's in the paper?

This is a very good question to ask, but because I have very limited time, I cannot go through it.

This is something though, um, if you have questions about pain and suffering, or if you have questions about the Christmas story, please come and talk to us.

We'd love to buy you a coffee.

But one thing I can say about pain and suffering very quickly is that if there was no God, there would be no grid for us to say what is good and what is evil.

Anyone can deem what is good and what is evil.

It doesn't matter.

There's no moral compass.

But if there is a God, one who is truly great, truly loving, created everything in his image, and is perfectly good, that means there's a moral compass within us, deep within us.

Whether you can believe there's a God or not, there's a compass within us.

And this gives us a grid to look at terrible acts in the world and say that they're terrible.

You might be also thinking, well, why would you even bring this up?

This is the Christmas story.

Why are you talking about pain and suffering?

Well, maybe you're here and you're experiencing pain or suffering or injustice, or you're deeply disturbed by what you see on TV.

And if you don't believe in God, you have no way to explain it.

In 2020, during the right starting of COVID, a good friend of ours who stood in her wedding, she took her life.

She was someone who was just in the prime of her life, just finished med school.

She recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her marriage.

She had a great group of friends, but she still took her life.

Without the Christian hope, the Christmas story, this would just be another act of survival of the fittest.

This would just be just accept it, fuck up, and move on.

But the Christian hope allows us to be able to discern, to say, because evil entered the world at the fall of humanity, that evil, that God in his loving mercy will redeem everything.

In our minds, in movies that we see online or as we stream or in books, all the way back to the Greek myth mythologies, it's always a hero figure, a triumphant figure that comes in and saves the day.

Everything is based on that, the hero narrative.

But what we've seen in the text that we've been reading, and the text that we're going to read some more, is that God chose a different way.

Through the lowly state of a nobody, someone who was not well off, was not a part of a powerful family, but through a poor woman, in the middle of nowhere.

By all standards, Mary was just completely destitute.

She had nothing going for her.

But God chose to use her.

And because Jesus, through Mary, was fully God and fully man.

He knows what it's like to suffer because he walked this earth.

He knows what it's like to be sick, to cry, to be abandoned, to experience the silence of God and to die.

We all have hopes, whether they're good or bad ones.

Amy and I have a both have a hope for a baby to experience seeing the joy in their eyes as they come on Christmas morning and seeing that Christmas magic that only a child can experience.

I'm sure you have hopes you want in your life as well.

So what's the Christmas story?

What is it?

It is a story far greater than any hope that we can ever have.

Because it is the hope, it's the story of hope entering into the world in history.

It's not lofty far off.

It happened.

God came into the world through a baby.

And through that, Jesus grew up, lived a perfect life.

And as this event, like Jesus coming to the world, points forward to Easter and to the cross.

That hope came in and died for us.

Took the death that we deserved, that we can never repay, that we had to give, that judgment would have came to us, but Jesus took it for us.

And when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you have this hope that one day He will return.

And we get to say to ourselves always, through all the terrible things that have in this life, that one day it will be made right.

It allows you to say to yourself, one day.

It allows you to say when a friend dies unexpectedly, one day.

It allows you to say when your health is declined, one day.

Or when you're stuck in the deep pits of depression.

It allows you to say one day.

Or maybe you're frustrated and you're experiencing the horror of losing your mind, your memory.

You can say one day.

That's all you remember, one day.

Or maybe your marriage or friendships are crumbling before you, but you can say one day.

Maybe you're alone in isolation.

You can say one day.

Maybe you can't understand the suffering in this world, but you can say one day.

One day it'll be all be made right.

He will heal the brokenhearted.

He will heal the wounds.

He will gather the outcast.

Jesus, the hope of the world, came into the world.

Glory to God in the highest.

On earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.

Amen.

Indeed, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem and gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

He heals those who are broken in heart and binds up their wounds.

He counts the number of the stars and calls them all by their names.

Great is our Lord, and great is his power.

Indeed, his wisdom is infinite.

The Lord lifts up the meek and brings the ungodly down to the ground.

He has no pleasure in the strength of a horse.

Neither does he delight in any man's strength.

But the Lord's delight is in those who fear him and put their trust in his mercy.

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah.

And she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

And she exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.

For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.

For he who is mighty has done great things for me.

And holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm.

He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.

He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever.

And for me.

I want to thank you for joining us in worship this morning.

This is what we've been doing.

Sharing good news.

Singing in response.

Thank you for joining us in doing it.

I'd like to join you or invite you to join us again in worship as we head into this Christmas off season.

You'll see on the back of your bulletin a number of our Christmas services coming up.

It's more opportunities to share good news and to sing in response to come and hear God's hope proclaimed.

I'm really excited.

And say that uh on Christmas Eve, it's going to be our pleasure as a church family to see our brother Aidan Wilcox baptized, uh, which is going to be something to celebrate, New Life in Christ.

How about that on Christmas?

So let's pray for our brother Aiden.

It has been a real pleasure to meet with Aiden as he's been doing his studies uh at UBC over uh we've been meeting over Zoom to prepare for this baptism.

So I'm very pleased that we'll share that with him.

So uh please plan to join us, worship with us as we head into this four sacred season.

Uh don't scuttle off after service.

Um we've got coffee and tea uh being served downstairs, so we'd love for you to spend some time with us and uh and fellowship.

And boy, I just have a few thank yous, I suppose, I'd I'd like to say before we conclude.

So it's such a unique service that takes a lot of effort.

And I want to thank those who are responsible for it.

I want to thank our Newsong Choir uh for your contribution this morning.

Thank you for leading us in New York.

And I just want to thank Newsong uh Justin Choirs Director, Jonathan Leebock, uh, for all of his efforts in seeing today come together.

It's a pleasure to serve with you.

I want to thank our company's uh Heather, and I want to thank our television and I want to thank our very faithful tech team, which is Justin Susan and today.

Thank you for all that you do.

Uh I'm missing any missing Susan Brown or Wordshire forget every year.

And I was going to like all Susan Brown after service.

I said, Susan, I forgot again to thank you in service.

I said, And I don't want to think about it.

I know that we want to thank Rebecca, our choir librarian, who I also want to thank Matt for your very faithful word this morning.

It's true, it's great to be the rector and call it.

I but I will say I didn't give you ten minutes, I gave me seven minutes.

But it was wonderful.

Thank you for your faithful word.

The spirit and the bride will say, Come, come, all you unfaithful.

Maybe there's some of you here today who know that in your heart of hearts you've yet to take up that invitation to come and know the Lord Jesus as your Lord, as your Savior, as your hope this Christmas.

And maybe there's some of you here today who know this is hope you've been running from.

Can I invite you to do some business with the Lord today before you leave?

Can I invite you to silence your hearts or just take the time that you need to do that business and take up that invitation to come?

Let's continue.

You are the second coming to judge the world.

We may be found in evil accountable in your second world.

For with the Father and the Holy Spirit, you live and reign one God now and forever.

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts.

Will you not give us life again?

Show us your mercy, O Lord.

And go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Thanks be to God.