THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

14 December 2025

SUMMARY OF PREACHING THEME

THEME: HOPE IN GOD – REBIRTH OF CREATION

In Isaiah, the chapter functions as an oasis between the visionary wasteland of chapter 34 and the chapters 36–39, which depict war, sickness, and folly (D.A. Carson, R.T. France, et al., eds., New Bible Commentary, 21st Century edition, Intervarsity Press: England, 1994, p 653). It offers hope that when God arrives, He transforms every inability into ability and every insufficiency into miraculous sufficiency. Our failure to care for creation is turned around, and we begin to do so because of God’s presence. The waters will burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The patched ground will become a pool (35:6–7). This signifies the rebirth of creation. Note that Prophet Isaiah uses language that evokes themes of creation, such as wilderness, wasteland, and desert. However, he shows that through God’s presence, there will be a rebirth of creation. God’s salvation not only affects human beings but also nature (35:1-7). God wants us to strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. A transformed person will care about others’ well-being, including that of nature. Sorrow and sighing shall flee (35:10).

LINK TO THE WORLD:

In this chapter, the prophet invites us to reflect during this Advent season not only on God’s coming in Christ but also on our return home, where sorrow and sighing will flee and creation will be transformed (35: 6-10). Our return home demonstrates God’s love for His people. He will never forsake us (see Deut. 31:6). We may lose hope amid many atrocities and events, including environmental degradation, deforestation, pollution, and other issues, but one day God will restore all lost glory. In fact, He is our hope. This hope should be active, not passive. It should inspire us to seek transformation through God’s presence, allowing us to turn inability into ability and inaction into action. God makes the impossible possible, like water bursting in the wilderness. He transforms every inability into ability and every insufficiency into miraculous sufficiency. The entire creation has been groaning, but salvation is found in God (see Rom. 8:22 – 24 cf. 35:4). God loves us along with what He has created.

THINK ABOUT GOD’S CALL:

God is the creator of everything. However, what God created is groaning, waiting for believers to act. The fact that creation is groaning means that the salvation agenda includes nature. There is a need for consolidated efforts on environmental issues. Environmental issues are everybody’s concern. 

RESPONSE:

Pray that we will genuinely care about environmental issues, for God loves us and everything He has created. We must act now, as this is our hope in God!

SERMON NOTES

Old Testament Reading

The Old Testament lesson offers hope that when God arrives at a situation, He transforms every inability into ability and every insufficiency into miraculous sufficiency. God is our hope in times of uncertainty (Ps. 146:5). He makes the impossible possible, like water bursting forth in the wilderness, a mute tongue singing, and parched ground turning into a pool. Although God is the one who saves, He has instructed us to strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. We are also to encourage the fearful-hearted. There is a role for us in God’s salvation plan. 

New Testament Reading

The Book of James uses a farmer as a metaphor to teach about waiting patiently. Believers are encouraged to live in harmony with one another. Unity is essential in the Kingdom of God. Successfully addressing environmental issues undoubtedly requires harmony. There is strength in togetherness, but harmony or unity without patience is impossible.

Gospel Reading

The saying, ‘action speaks louder than words,’ aligns well with the message of the Gospel reading. What we do speaks louder than what we say (11:4). Jesus used nature in His teaching to highlight a point (11:7). Therefore, we must care for nature. It serves as a teaching aid, among many other purposes. We also need to be God’s messengers on environmental issues, always remembering that it is all of creation that needs salvation (see Rom. 8:22).

SERMON ILLUSTRATION/STORY

All of us need to take environmental issues seriously. In 2014, I visited my hometown, about 240 kilometers away from where I live. While there, I met a man who was selling charcoal and asked him why he was doing so. He cited poverty as the reason. I then told him about his future and said that if he continues to burn charcoal, his children will face the consequences. He told me directly that it will be their problem, not his. I felt sad because here was a father with children who didn’t seem to care about their future. This short story clearly shows that, for some people, caring for creation isn’t a concern. But it shouldn’t be like that. Everyone should be involved. We are all stewards of God’s creation.

Environmental and Sustainability themes / links:

 
Groaning of the Whole creation.
 
The salvation agenda includes caring for nature. As the Church preaches about going to heaven, we should also consider the salvation of the environment.
 
Consolidated efforts in environmental care. There is power in togetherness.
 
Environmental issues concern everyone. As Christians, we should be heavenly-minded, yes, but also practically relevant here on earth.

God is our never-failing hope.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi 

A. Carson, R.T. France, et al, eds. New Bible Commentary, 21st Century edition, Intervarsity Press: England, 1994.

https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary

The New King James Version (NKJV)

https://acen.anglicancommunion.org/media/309609/Season-of-Creation-Five.pdf.

https://acen.anglicancommunion.org/resources/season-of-creation.aspx

WORSHIP / LITURGICAL RESOURCES:

Gathering & Penitence

Opening sentence:  When the Lord comes, he will bring to light things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart (1 Corinthians 4: 5).

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Leader: The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.

Confession:  God our Creator and Hope, we confess that we have sinned: we have used creation, not cherished it; we have lived selfishly;  and failed to act where we should have acted; we have been greedy, not sharing earth’s gifts; and our footprints are heavy, not gentle. Forgive us for the damage that disturbs our planet. Grant us the grace to live for the world’s healing and our own. Bless the seasons of the year, may they be restored to Your design. (https://acen.anglicancommunion.org/media/309609/Season-of-Creation-Five.pdf. accessed 29/11/2019).

Service of the Word

Almighty God, you are the source of our hope in times of hopelessness; help us to live in harmony with each other and learn to act together as we address issues affecting us in this world. Fill me with hope and give me a tangible reminder today that hope is an unbreakable spiritual lifeline. Deepen within us an awareness of our place in creation so that we can hear the groaning of the whole creation and, as your stewards and servants, be moved by passion to take necessary actions. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Affirmation of Faith: We believe that God creates, renews, and celebrates all things. We see Earth as a sanctuary, a sacred planet filled with God’s presence, a home for us to share with our kin. We believe that God became flesh and blood, became a part of Earth, as a human called Jesus Christ, who lived among us, spoke, suffered, and died on a cross for all humans and all creation. We believe that the risen Jesus is the Christ at the heart of creation, reconciling everything to God, renewing all creation, and filling the universe. We believe the Holy Spirit restores life in creation, groaning in empathy with a suffering world, and waits with us for its rebirth. We believe that with Christ, we will rise, and with Christ, we will celebrate a new creation.

Response to the Word

Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness,
O God of our salvation, *
O Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away.
You make fast the mountains by your power; *
they are girded about with might.
You still the roaring of the seas, *
the roaring of their waves, and the clamor of the peoples.
Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs; *
you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.
You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous; *
the river of God is full of water.
You prepare the grain, *
for so you provide for the earth.
You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges; *
with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase.
You crown the year with your goodness, *
and your paths overflow with plenty.
May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing, *
and the hills be clothed with joy.
May the meadows cover themselves with flocks, and the valleys cloak themselves with grain; *
let them shout for joy and sing.

MEMORY VERSE: “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God”, (Psalms 146:5)

Holy Communion

Invitation to the Table: Jesus invites us to come to the table. Here, in this bread and wine, may we encounter Christ who calls us to care for the poor, the earth, and all who are in need. All who long for Christ are welcome at this table.

Preface: Jesus Christ, teach us to empathize with Earth. Make our spirits sensitive to the cries of creation, cries for justice from the hills and the trees. Jesus Christ, make our faith sensitive to the groans of the Spirit, groans from the deserts, the salt plains, the winds. Jesus Christ, make our souls sensitive to the songs of our kin, Songs of celebration from the sea, the land and the air. Christ, teach us to care. https://seasonofcreation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/liturgy-outback-sunday-1.pdf

The altar may be decorated with fresh flowers only.

Altar vessels (if possible) to be used on this Sunday may be those made from wood.

Sending out

Post-communion prayer: Creator of all, we give you thanks and praises that when we were still hopeless, you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living, you declared your love for the whole creation. Give us grace to be able to work together for the care and preservation of nature. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so that we and all your children may be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessings: May God, who is the source of our hope and is above all and in all and through all, fill you with the knowledge of God’s presence in Earth and the impulse of Christ within you and make you able to hear the groaning of the whole creation. Go in peace, serving Christ and loving Earth!

All: We go in peace, serving Christ and tending Earth!