Sunday 3rd December

Parish Mass for the First Sunday of Advent

Watch this service on our Facebook page here

Collect

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put

on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son

Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall

come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may

rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the

unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Reading

Isaiah 64: 1-9

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence - as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil - to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.

From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on your name or attempts to take hold of you, for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered[c] us into the hand of our iniquity.

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.

Gospel

Mark 13: 24-37

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘In those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in

the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of

Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he

will send out the angels and gather the elect from the four

winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch

becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that

summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking

place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I

tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these

things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will not pass away.

‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

Post Communion Prayer

O Lord our God, make us watchful and keep us faithful as we await the

coming of your Son our Lord; that, when he shall appear, he may not find us

sleeping in sin but active in his service and joyful in his praise; through Jesus

Christ our Lord.

Amen