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13 December 2020 Advent 3

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13 December 2020 Advent 3 The Parishes of Hobkirk & Southdean with Ruberslaw Weekly Worship Bulletin Sunday 13 December 2020 Advent 3 Joy Sunday Worship Call to Worship “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near” Philippians 4:4-5 Lighting of the Advent Candle Today we light the third candle of Advent, the candle of Joy. We look forward in anticipation of the joy of God’s Son Coming into this world once more to break the power of darkness. We remember too, that Joy is a gift that lives in our hearts when we turn to God in faith. God, as we wait for your promise, Give light, give hope, give peace, give joy. Hymn https://youtu.be/TxSC5WocoOc 1 Praise the One who breaks the darkness with a liberating light. Praise the One who frees the prisoners turning blindness into sight. Praise the One who preached the Gospel, curing every dread disease, calming storms, and feeding thousands with the very bread of peace. 2 Praise the One who blessed the children with a strong yet gentle word. Praise the One who drove out demons with a piercing, two-edged sword. Praise the One who brings cool water to the desert’s burning sand; from this well comes living water, quenching thirst in every land. 3 Praise the one true love incarnate, Christ, who suffered in our place. Jesus died and rose for many that we may know God by grace. Let us sing for joy and gladness, seeing what our God has done. Praise the one redeeming glory. Praise the One who makes us one. Sunday Worship Prayer Lord of Light, We come to you in days of darkness, seeking your light. We wait, some days patiently, some days not so much, For your light to break into the world again, That it may be restored to the new creation that you have planned. We wait for your light to bring good news to the poor, To give freedom to those bound by the chains of captivity, Both literal and emotional. To comfort those who mourn, For whatever reason, from loss of life to loss of livelihood. Forgive us when we are too impatient, When we wonder at how long we have to wait, forgetting that we too have a role to play in revealing your light to the waiting world. Forgive us when we push ourselves forward at the wrong times And fail to recognise that the role that you have given to each of us in life Is the role that you have chosen for us in this world and is part of your eternal plan Forgive us too, those times when we are too reticent, When we ignore the call that you have made upon us, And convince ourselves we are too insignificant to play any part in the revelation of your glory. Eternal God, in this season of Advent, we journey together, conscious of our past, of our faults and failings, may we rejoice in all that you have done for us. As we continue to prepare for a Christmas like no other, we dedicate ourselves to the path forwards, as we seek to find new ways to make known to the waiting world the true significance of the birth of your son, our saviour, Jesus, We ask for the boldness to continue to assert our place in this changing and troubled world as agents of change, workers for peace, and servants of all. Amen Readings: Psalm 126 & John 1:19-28 Sunday Worship Reflection “Who are you?” It was difficult to tell who he was, so that is why they asked. He didn’t look like anyone famous or important so they asked again. “Who are you?” They had heard about him, of course. There were hundreds who had come into the city to say they had been out to see him. So the authorities wanted to know who he was. “Who are you?” Given he lived in the wilderness, wore camel skins and ate locusts wrapped in wild honey, they couldn’t imagine he was anyone significant, yet everyone was talking about him and that made the authorities fright- ened. “Who are you?” Their question wasn’t being answered so they changed it: “Are you the Messiah?” They had heard people say he was. “No, I am not the Messiah!” “Are you Elijah?” “No, I am not Elijah!” “Are you the prophet?” “No, I am not the prophet!” The authorities looked at each other confused, and then at the large following he had. He must be someone! “Come on, give us an answer, who are you?” He looked at the religious folk all dressed in their heavy material sweating under the hot sun, paused and then said: “I am the voice!” They looked even more confused. He went on, “crying out in the wilderness:” They looked at him expecting something clearer. “Make straight the way of the Lord” “Why are you out in the desert then?” They ask because they were getting nothing clear out of him, nothing that made sense so they thought they needn’t be too worried. “Don’t be concerned about me,” he said. Sunday Worship There was a gasp of relief. “Think about the one who comes after me, whose sandal I am not fit to untie. I am only a witness. He’s already here among you.” And the dread in their stomachs returned. Hymn https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=8POKmbK5lF4&ab_channel=EveringhamMusic 1 On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry announces that the Lord is nigh. Awake and harken, for he brings glad tidings of the King of kings! 2 Then cleansed be every life from sin: make straight the way for God within, and let us all our hearts prepare for Christ to come and enter there. 3 We hail you as our Saviour, Lord, our refuge and our great reward. Without your grace we waste away like flowers that wither and decay. 4 Stretch forth your hand, our health restore, and make us rise to fall no more. O let your face upon us shine and fill the world with love divine. 5 All praise to you, eternal Son, whose advent has our freedom won, whom with the Father we adore, and Holy Spirit, evermore. Homily Advent is a time of waiting, a time of reflection and preparation for the coming of the Lord. When the fourth century church began to observe Advent, it was as a time of penitence and preparation for Baptism of new Christians at the Feast of Epiphany. In Advent, Christians were more looking forward to, and preparing for, the return of Christ, rather than re -living his previous incarnation. Its observance as a six-week period of penitence and preparation had more in common with Lent than it does for us today. Consequently, the focus of the third Sunday in Advent on Sunday Worship rejoicing and celebration of joy was probably a welcome relief. In our own more contracted observance of Advent, we still turn from looking at the long term promises of the Messiah and preparing our hearts for his Second Coming, to the more joyful celebration of Christ’s birth and his being in the world here and now. We look for signs that the new world order that he promised is already here. Most years, I find that this is the Sunday when Christmas becomes real. It is at this point when I start to examine how ‘Christmassy’ I feel, and prepara- tions of all kinds take on a new urgency. It is this week when typically I find the joy of Christmas kicks in. At the start of this week however, I found that at Christmas was getting closer, my sense of joy was diminishing. For weeks, ministers and congre- gations have been planning how we can bring the news of God’s love to people in different ways, and although daunting there was a sense of ex- citement in rising to the challenge. If anything, we were at risk of over- whelming ourselves with all the new possibilities that could be explored. But as I looked ahead to the content of our online celebrations of Christ- mas, I was painfully aware of how much we will all miss the fellowship and changing atmospheres of our services – from the fun and excitement of the Christmas Eve family celebration to the quiet, contemplative wonderment of Watchnight, and the renewed joy of Christmas Day. As I explored the many, many online offerings of Christmas Carols that have been shared by Christian musicians up and down the country, I will admit to time spent in quiet weeping for all that we will miss, for all that has been lost and for the fact that we still cannot make a joyful noise to the Lord together in person. I did not feel in the slightest bit joyful as I started to think about this week’s worship. On Tuesday evening, our Advent fellowship theme ‘Singing the Story’ ex- plored the role of mothers in the Bible story, through the carol ‘The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came’, and spent some time reflecting on the experi- ence of Mary. We observed that for Mary, the news of an illegitimate preg- nancy was not just an inconvenience that made things a bit tricky for her relationship with Joseph. It was potentially a death sentence - an offence punishable by stoning. Yet Mary’s only question to the angel Gabriel was ‘How can this be?’ She was more puzzled by the biological impossibility of pregnancy than the long-term implications, and once this query had been satisfied, she joyfully accepted the role that God had given her.
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