You are invited to the Second Sunday of Advent with Holy Communion on December 7 at 10 am. The bulletin for this Sunday is available for viewing HERE.
You can worship live on ZOOM by clicking the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9658816441 Meeting ID: 965 881 6441
You can also watch Sunday services at your convenience by going to our website “watsonville1stumc.org” and click YouTube or Facebook. Each Sunday worship will be uploaded on Sunday afternoon for your viewing.
Second Sunday of Advent with Holy Communion
Sunday, December 7, 2025, 10 am
Children’s Time: “Mary, the Mother of God” by Pastor John
Special Music: Christmas the Way I Remember by Brandon & Trisha Kett
Composed by an Irish group of men, The High Kings
[The High Kings is an Irish folk group who composed the words of this song in 2019 as a fond look back at Christmas in the past. The words were put to the traditional Scottish tune “The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond.”]
Message Advent with Mary: Rev. John Song
Part 1) “Echoing Mary’s Yes”
A teenage girl living in occupied Palestine at one of the most dangerous moments in history said “Yes”, yes to God, yes to a wholehearted call she could not possibly understand, yes to vulnerability in the face of societal judgment, yes to the considerable risk of pregnancy and childbirth… yes to a vision for herself in a world where God’s son would bring down rulers and lift up the humble, that would turn away the rich and fill the hungry with good things, that would scatter the proud and gather the lowly [see Luke 1:51–53], yes to a life that came with no guarantee of her safety or her son’s.
By becoming human, God took vulnerable risk by entrusting God-self in the hands of humans. By doing so, God also encourages us to risk vulnerability of our own lives by entrusting our lives to God. And through Mary’s example, God invites us to take the risk of saying “yes” to God.
Luke 1:26-38
The Annunciation: The Birth of God is foretold
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
