The start of the new Church Year, Advent is largely a season of repentant preparation for the annual celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord in the season of Christmas. While we should live each day with sorrow over our sins and trust that God forgives our sins for Jesus’s sake, we especially focus on such repentance in this season, especially as Jesus comes to us now and will come a final time in the future. Advent is often said to focus on the Lord Jesus’s past coming in human flesh in order to die for our sins, His present coming in Word and Sacrament to forgive our sins, and His future coming in glory to judge the living and the dead. The specific themes of our Sunday Divine Services and Midweek Vespers Services do not exactly correspond to that three-fold “coming”, however.

The following are the Sundays in Advent 2019, using the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, as we follow Lutheran Service Book’s Three-year Lectionary Series A.

  • First Sunday (12/01): Jesus is coming whether we are ready or not (Matthew 24:36-44)
  • Second Sunday (12/08): Jesus’s way is prepared by John the Baptizer (Matthew 3:1-12)
  • Third Sunday (12/15): Jesus assures John and us Who He is (Matthew 11:2-15)
  • Fourth Sunday (12/22): Jesus’s birth is foretold to His guardian Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25)

The 10:45 a.m. Sunday services this Church Year are using LSB’s Divine Service, Setting Two.

The Lectionary Series does not appoint any Readings for midweek Advent services, so this year we are adapting suggestions from Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Worship for Psalms, Hymns, and Readings. In general, the focus is on the prophecy of and Gospel-narrated events leading up to the birth of Jesus.

  • Advent I (12/04): Psalm 24; LSB 343; and Isaiah 40:1-5 and Luke 1:5-25
  • Advent II (12/11): Psalm 132; LSB 398; and 2 Samuel 7:4-17 and Luke 1:26-45
  • Advent III (12/18): Psalm 85; LSB 518 (sts. 1, 18, 3); and Malachi 4:1-6 and Luke 1:57-80

The 7:00 p.m. Wednesday services this Church Year are again using LSB’s order of Evening Prayer (243-252), with its Service of Light, Psalmody, Readings (including a Sermon), Canticle, and Prayer. At the suggestion of LCMS Worship, this year Pilgrim is substituting a different familiar hymn version of the Magnificat for the Canticle on 248-249 in each of the three Evening Prayer services.

The blue color of the cloths on the font, lectern, pulpit, and altar, as well as the pastor’s stole, represents hope and anticipation and serves to help distinguish Advent from Lent.

All are welcome to attend every service at Pilgrim or to listen to the sermons online. And, watch our home page for more about December and January’s other seasons.

The banner graphic at the top of this page and the corresponding slider graphic on the front page were composed in part by adapting an image of James Tissot’s “Flight of the Prisoners” found here, an uncredited image of Nathan talking to David found here, and an image of Mattia Preti’s “St. John the Baptizer Preaching” found here.