Worship Notes: Sunday, November 30, 2025

Due to inclement weather, there is NO WORSHIP SERVICE for November 30, 2025. Please take time to reflect with these words from Pastor Selva.

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First Sunday of Advent: Hope

Isaiah 2:1–5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11–14; Matthew 24:37–44

Light and Being Awake

Today we step into a new liturgical year. With it begins the season of Advent—a time of waiting, watching, deepening, and preparing. Through this year we will walk with the Gospel of Matthew. Advent invites us to look in three directions: (a) Toward Bethlehem, preparing our hearts for the birth of Christ. (b) Toward the glorious coming of Christ at the end of time. (c) Toward Christ who comes daily—in Scripture, in the sacraments, and in the people around us.

These readings draw us into one beautiful theme: light and being awake.

1. Turn your eyes toward the mountain of the Lord

Isaiah calls a wounded and scattered people to lift their gaze: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord… let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Israel had drifted into darkness—idolatry, injustice, fear. Isaiah redirects them to the mountain where God’s law is light, where clarity returns, and where unity is restored. To turn toward the mountain is to recover purpose. It is to refuse the shadows that slowly dull our soul. It is to let God’s word illumine our path once more.

2. “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

Psalm 122 echoes the joy of a pilgrim whose heart leaps at the call to enter God’s dwelling. Jerusalem becomes a symbol of peace, justice, and wholeness—all because God lives in its midst. When we turn our hearts toward God’s house, hope rises within us. We begin to believe again that peace is possible, that goodness is stronger, that God’s presence makes life whole.

3. “The day is near”

Romans 13 offers a strong, awakening call. This is the very passage that changed Augustine’s life. “Put on the armor of light.” “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul invites an immediate inner transformation. The night is fading. A new day is rising. We cannot wear both the clothes of darkness and the armor of light. To “put on Christ” is to set aside habits that drain our dignity and weaken our freedom. It means shaping our thoughts, desires, and actions according to the mind of Christ.

4. “Be ready”

Jesus adds urgency to the message. His coming is certain but sudden. Those who remain awake and prepared will welcome Him with joy. Those who drift into spiritual sleep will be caught unawares. He names the dangers: the distractions that dull the heart, the pleasures that weaken focus, the complacency that numbs the soul. These are today’s many forms of drunkenness, quarrels, lust, and self-indulgence. Like the frog that sits unaware in warming water, we too can lose our sense of danger. Slowly, the soul sleeps. Slowly, our clarity fades. Advent’s call is gentle but firm: Wake up before it is too late.

Life Lessons

1. Let every day be lived as if it were the final one. Not in fear, but in freedom. Every beginning has an end. The problem is not the final day— it is the illusion that we have more time. “Not today… tomorrow” has delayed many graces. Advent breaks that illusion.

2. Turn toward the mountain. Our journey toward Christ requires purity, readiness, focus, and companionship. Lightness of heart, clarity of purpose, harmony with one another—these are our pilgrim virtues.

3. Let the candle of hope burn bright. Today we light the first candle. Hope has been the heartbeat of this Jubilee Year. “Hope does not disappoint.”

Even in Greek legend, when Pandora’s box emptied every trouble upon the earth, one thing remained inside—hope. And that hope gave courage to face everything else. So it is with us. Hope keeps us awake. Hope keeps us moving. Hope keeps us in the light.

May the light we kindle today awaken us from every sleep of the soul. May our eyes turn always toward the mountain of the Lord. May Christ, the true Light, clothe us with Himself. And may the flame of hope burn steady within us until He comes.