The weekly parish email for the First Sunday of Advent: 1 December 2024
Being also the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of Christ Church Anglican, Southern Pines, North Carolina
Contents:
- On the Sundays of Advent, and their Candles
- A liturgical note on the First Sunday of Advent: Chanting the Litany
- Propers (Collect and Lessons) for the Sunday next before Advent, with Hymns.
- Link to the Parish website, whereon is found the YouTube live-stream of our 10:30 a.m. (EDT) service.
- Parish Announcements for the week of December 1st, 2024.
On the Sundays of Advent, and their candles
The advent candles correspond to the themes of each week of advent. Families and church congregations begin lighting a candle on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and they light another candle each subsequent Sunday.
The first candle symbolizes hope and is called the “Prophet’s candle.” The prophets of the Old Testament, especially Isaiah, waited in hope for the Messiah’s arrival.
The second candle represents faith and is called the “Bethlehem candle.” Micah had foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, which is also the birthplace of King David.
The third candle symbolizes joy and is called the “Shepherds’ candle.” To the shepherds’ great joy, the angels announced that Jesus came for humble, ordinary people like them, too. In liturgy, the color rose symbolizes joy: therefore, this Sunday is also called Rose or Gaudete (which means “Rejoice”) Sunday.
The fourth candle represents peace and is called the “Angels’ candle.” The angels announced that Jesus came to bring peace: to bring people close to God and to one another once again.
The fifth candle represents light and purity, and is called the “Christ candle”: “the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not” (John 1:5). It is place in the center of the wreath, and is let on Christmas Day (or after sunset on Christmas Eve, First Evensong of Christmas)
A liturgical note on the Chanting of the Litany
for the First Sunday in Advent
As is our custom on the First Sunday of Advent (as also on the First Sunday in Lent), we will be chanting The Litany, or General Supplication, as found beginning on page 54 of The Book of Common Prayer 1928. The Litany with its musical notation will be provided as a bulletin insert, and the congregation is encouraged to join in on the responses.
If you would like to prepare in advance (which we recommend, if you are not familiar with the chanting of the Litany), please click on the following links:
The Litany of General Supplication, p. 54 in the 1928 BCP, with modern musical notation.
A video recording of the chanting of the Litany (beginning at 31:06 in the linked video).
Propers for the First of Sunday Advent.
The Book of Common Prayer 1928.
The Collect.
ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be repeated every day, after the other Collects in Advent, until Christmas Day.
The Epistle: Romans xiii. 8.
OWE no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
The Gospel: St. Matthew xxi. 1.
WHEN they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name ‘of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Hymns:
There will be no Processional Hymn; instead, we will chant The Litany, or General Supplication, in procession: see details above.
Sermon Hymn: “Watchman, tell us of the night” – #440 (second tune)
Communion Anthem: “Creator of the Stars of Night”
Recessional Hymn: “Come, thou long-expected Jesus” – #6
The service of Holy Communion, 10:30 a.m. on Sundays, is broadcast weekly via YouTube and on our website:
Watch this Sunday’s live-stream!
Our new website is live and may be found at cca-nc.org. This website should simplify and streamline our information-sharing quite a bit, including the fact that our most current YouTube live-stream will always be found at “Watch this Sunday’s live-stream,” accessible from the menu-bar at the top of the page.
The website is also a place to check our “Current operating status” – in other words, whether or not the church is open for services, in case of inclement weather (or unusual episodes like the sabotage of transformers a few years ago). If in doubt, check us out! Other options include Meet Our Clergy, Who We Are, Services and Office Hours, and How to find us.
All of these links can also be found by scrolling down the main page, as can also sections on “Find Your Place” – ministries of the parish, which you may wish to join – “Recent Media,” both video and audio, and “Recent Posts” on our nascent blog page. The goal is for this to become a “one-stop shop” for information about Christ Church Anglican.
If you have any questions or issues, please contact our media team at [email protected]. And if you wish to volunteer for our media team, please contact our IT/AV/Social media specialist, John Fesq, at [email protected].
Announcements for the Week of Sunday, December 1st, 2024
If you are visiting us: Welcome to Christ Church Anglican, Southern Pines! Thank you for being with us. We are very pleased to have you join us for the service, and hope that your worship here is a blessing to you. Please sign the guest book on the table in the narthex, and provide appropriate contact information. Include your email address in order to be placed on our parish email list: you won’t be bombarded with mail, but it’s a good way to keep in touch. And may God bless you!
Christ Church Anglican’s 20th Anniversary Celebration! A reminder that our parish turns twenty years old on this Sunday: Advent Sunday, the First Sunday in Advent, December 1st! This is a significant milestone for Christ Church, and we will have a special celebration following the Sunday service. Please plan to attend, if at all possible, to celebrate our first two decades in this parish!
In addition to a fellowship meal, and a presentation on our Parish Oral History Project, recording the memories of many of our earliest members, there will be an opportunity, during this celebration, to have your picture taken for our first-ever pictorial directory: another 20th-anniversary project! Please contact Cynthia at our church contact page for additional info.
Personal note from Father Tom: the First Sunday of Advent is also my third anniversary as Rector of Christ Church Anglican – my first official day as your Rector was Advent Sunday of 2021 (which happened to be the 28th of November that year). It is a joy and a blessing to be serving God and His people here at Christ Church, and I am most grateful!
Christmas Services: Christmas, the Feast of the Nativity, falls on Wednesday this year. After due consideration, consultation, prayer, and pondering, we have made the decision to have but two services: our Christmas Eve service will consist of a Service of Lessons and Carols, incorporating the Holy Communion, at 4 o’clock on Tuesday evening, the 24th of December, for the sake both of our older members who do not wish to drive in the dark, and also for families with young children who might not want to get home too late. Our Christmas Day service of Holy Communion will be at 11 o’clock on the morning of December 25th: a time intended to fit in between early-morning present-opening and midday or afternoon Christmas dinner. We will re-evaluate next year, if necessary!
In brief:
Christmas Eve, December 24th – 4:00 p.m. Lessons & Carols, with Communion
Christmas Day, December 25th – 11:00 a.m. Holy Communion of the Nativity
Holy Days for the Week of December 1st, 2024:
Monday, December 2nd: Channing Moore Williams, Missionary Bishop (1910)
Wednesay, December 4th: St. Clement of Alexandria, Priest (c. 210)
Thursday, December 5th: St. John of Damascus, Priest (c. 760)
Friday, December 6th: St. Nicholas of Myra, Bishop (c. 342)
