Sunday 14th December 2025 (Advent 3)

ADVENT 3A 14th December 2025

Opening Prayers

O come, O come Immanuel, Come that I might know you close, Come that I might encounter you, Come that your Spirit might be in the midst of today’s conversations and stillness, This day’s working and playing, My striving and my resting. Ever faithful and loving God, I come before you today on the third Sunday in advent.

Come, O come, I pray

Amen.

Hymn / Song 176 STF – Like a candle flame, flickering small in our darkness – YouTube

You may now wish to say the Lord’s Prayer in a version or translation with which you are familiar

Reading: Matthew 11:2-11 – Click for reading

Responding to the reading

John the Baptist is in prison. The wild prophet who once stood in the wilderness proclaiming God's coming kingdom is now behind bars, facing the uncertainty of his own future. And in that vulnerable place, he sends a question to Jesus:

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

It’s a question that carries weight. John had devoted his life to preparing the way for the Messiah. And yet now, he wonders, was it all for nothing? Is Jesus really the one?

Jesus doesn’t respond with a simple “yes” or “no.” Instead, He says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed… the poor have good news brought to them.”

In other words: Look at the fruit. Look at the healing. Look at the hope.

For us, this passage speaks directly to those seasons of life when faith feels uncertain. When hope is hard to hold onto. When we ask our own version of John’s question: Is God really at work in all of this?

Jesus’ answer invites us to look again, not for lightning bolts or dramatic signs, but for the quiet, consistent work of love. It reminds us that God’s kingdom doesn’t always come with power and spectacle, but with tenderness, justice, and transformation that grows from the ground up.

This message helps affirms that Christ is present wherever people are being healed, lifted up, and loved back into life. It reminds us that faith doesn’t require certainty, it requires attention. To look for God not in perfection, but in liberation. Not in control, but in compassion.

Jesus then turns to the crowd and speaks about John, not to shame him for his doubt, but to honour his role. Even in his questioning, John is still the one preparing the way.

So today, reflect on this:

• Where in your life are you longing for signs of God’s presence?

• Where are healing, justice, and hope quietly taking root, perhaps unnoticed?

• How might you, like John, be preparing the way for Christ, even if you can’t yet see the outcome?

Discipleship is not about having it all figured out. It’s about looking, listening, and trusting that the signs of the kingdom are already among us, especially in the unexpected, the overlooked, and the everyday.

May we keep asking, keep watching, and keep walking in hope. Christ is coming—and already here.

Hymn: 404 STF – God's spirit is in my heart – YouTube

Blessing

May you go out into a world in need, a person of the light,

And may you go out to discover that the Spirit of God is already there, ahead of you, guiding the way.

May you act with grace, with love, and seek peace in your own hearts and the hearts of all you meet,

By the power of the Prince of Peace himself, Jesus Christ,

Amen. ____________________________________________________________________

Prayers and Prayer Pointers For This Week

Monday 15th December

• Opening the curtains, blinds or shutters:

• Take time to pray for the world and in particular those who live and work in your community. The shopkeepers, restaurants and bars. For service providers, hairdressers, beauticians and the Post Office. For health providers like the Doctors and Chemist.

Tuesday 16th December

• Advent God, in these last few days of waiting and preparing, create a stillness in me, I pray – that I might be able to hear your promptings, notice your love, be awake to your call on my life.

• Come, in the stillness, Immanuel. Amen.

Wednesday 17th December

• Why not find one of your favourite pieces of Christmas music and use it as a prompt for prayer today. Are any of the lyrics a helpful guide into prayer, or does the feeling the song creates in you help to take you towards a prayerful prompt? Praying can be festive too!

Thursday 18th December

• Today is International Migrants Day. Amongst all the sad and divisive narrative we are getting from politicians and the media, let us remember at this time of year that the Holy Family were themselves a migrant family, seeking refuge in a foreign land.

• Migrant God, move amongst us today, that we might build kingdoms of welcome, not islands of exclusivity. Amen.

Friday 19th December

• Look around you, right now. Where are the signs of light, of hope, of possibility? Give thanks for those, and see what other thoughts are prompted as you say your prayers of gratitude. ‘There is a crack, a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in’ – Leonard Cohen.

Saturday 20th December

• International Human Solidarity Day is observed on December 20 and is an annual unity day of the United Nations and its member states, inviting us to stand in solidarity with those most in need around the world.

• Who are you standing with today? Why not pick a news story from this morning’s headlines and pray about that – find out a bit more about the country or people involved and spend some time thinking and praying about God’s desire for them and their lives.