FREE Sample Week 15-21 December 2019
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FREE sample week 15-21 December 2019 Issue 104 November | December 2019 Adult & All Age £10.50 Adult & All Age resources Resources for the weekly lectionary Enriching worship and learning with adults, families and all ages £10.50 November | December 2019 Issue 104 Children &Resources Young for the weekly People lectionary Is your path Adve thr nt ful oug l of h dist W rac or h tio ship e Churc ns & learning for the whol ? Children & Young People Where will your A dvent resources journey take you t his ye ar? rch Chu hole e w www.rootsontheweb.com Flexible, engaging materials for or th Worship & learning f toddlers to teens www.rootsontheweb.com Adult & All Age resources Issue 104 November | December 2019 £10.50 Adult & All Age Resources for the weekly lectionary The ROOTS worship and learning resources: • offer brand new resources, all year round For Children • are used by ordained and lay leaders to prepare all & Young People styles of worship resources, go to page 8. • engage individuals and groups in different contexts – on Sundays and through the week. Is your path Adve thr nt ful oug l of h dist W rac or h tio ship e Churc ns & learning for the whol ? Free sample week: key highlights Lectionary Bible readings Prayers The ROOTS resources follow the Revised Common Lectionary. A variety of prayers for different times Where the Church of England’s Common Worship Lectionary within worship. Welsh translations of all differs, ROOTS provides materials online. the prayers are also available online. 15-214 January December 2015 2019 What do youA shining see? • light15-21 • December4 January 20152019 Advent 3 Prayers Lectionary Bible readings Welsh translations. Prayers of intercession What do you see? RCL Advent 3 Year A Lord, we wait. Isaiah 35.1-10 Call to worship We wait for the fulfilment of your promises Psalm 146.5-10 or Come and see the splendour of our God! Matthew 11.2-11 Luke 1.46b-55 and the full and permanent coming of your kingdom. Worship his majesty, enter his presence with joy, John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask whether Jesus really is the promised Messiah. James 5.7-10 In our waiting, we remember those grappling with Matthew 11.2-11 for this is the one who brings blessing, healing and strength. Jesus invites John to look at his words and deeds – they fulfil Isaiah’s prophecies; and he circumstances outside of their control, affirms John as the messenger, foretold by Malachi, sent to prepare the way. A gathering prayer – with Advent candle lighting those who feel that life is passing them by, those who are waiting for hope that never comes. This week’s resources explore: acknowledging doubt and despair; sharing good things. Advent God, who gathers us as your people, gather us today around this flame. We pray for those whose faith is wearing thin, Look out for ways to connect faith with everyday life. We acknowledge before you all our doubts and anxieties, whose patience is strained by the length of their waiting, together with the good things you have given us to share. for those whose eyes are tired Call us to hope, O God, of watching for the dawn. has nurtured growth. Above all, there is healing and mercy (9.12-14). But Jesus to place our faith in you, Bible notes strength to be found in recognising that values John’s work, and appeals to him We wait for light to break on their horizons, the source of all light. the return of Jesus is near. To any who to accept the blessing of taking ‘no for your Spirit to work something new, Amen. Old Testament presume to judge one another, he will offence at me’. Recognising John as the something bright, something enduring, Isaiah 35.1-10 return as Judge. But to those who show climactic prophetic voice, ushering in his A prayer of approach deep within those places endurance, ‘The Lord is compassionate own messianic ministry, Jesus describes that seem the most hopeless. A complacent people responded to Isaiah and merciful’ (5.11). him as the greatest ‘among those born O Lord our rescuer, by becoming deaf and blind to God’s Lord, lift up those who are bowed down, of women’. We are reminded that for we come to you healing (6.8-10). Now, after judgement, those far from home, those estranged and those who are weary, John himself being ‘a child of Abraham’ with our disappointments and scars, they are ready to see, hear and rejoice Gospel Matthew 11.2-11 and encourage the hearts of all those who wait for you. was not about physical descent but about with our weaknesses and struggles. in the good news of salvation (see also Uniquely in Matthew, both Jesus and In the name of Christ. God’s power to give new life (3.9). Jesus We come knowing that you are the God of great reversals: 29.17-19). Seeing God’s glory and feeling John the Baptist proclaim, ‘Repent, for Amen. is the child from the Holy Spirit (1.20), the captives are freed, the blind see, its strength, they will walk in God’s way the kingdom of heaven has come near’ anointed by the Spirit at his baptism as the deaf hear, those bowed down will be lifted up. to the Temple (see Psalm 84.5). One (3.2; 4.17). Their stories intertwine from An active way into prayer ‘my Son, the Beloved’ (3.17). To even ‘the Make your presence known to us, O great deliverer, biblical tradition sees the wilderness as their meeting at the Jordan, where John Give everyone a piece of blue tissue paper, a piece of cardboard least in the kingdom of heaven’, to those and may we rejoice in your promises to us today. the archetypal place of true worship is first characterised as Malachi’s coming and a pen. Invite people to write on their tissue paper (using he baptizes with the Holy Spirit (3.11), Amen. (Amos 5.25; Acts 7.44-50), but here Elijah (Malachi 3.1; 4.5-6), the messenger the cardboard as a support) something that is causing them he reveals the Father whose will is to be the desert’s blossoming signifies God’s preparing the way by turning people to A prayer of confession pain or doubt. They can also write on behalf of someone else, if comprehended by infants (11.25-27). renewed presence in Jerusalem. These God and one another in readiness for O Lord, we are sorry for the times they prefer – or leave it blank. Take some time to acknowledge themes are prominent in Isaiah 40 to 55, the day of the Lord. And Jesus is the very when we shut our eyes to your goodness, these things in silence before God. Thank God that he knows our where the Babylonian exiles hear good presence of the Lord: ‘I am with you’ The links between the when we close our hearts to the joy you offer, tears, our sorrows. Invite people to scrunch up their tissue paper news: ‘I will make a way in the wilderness (28.20; see Exodus 3.14). After John is lectionary readings so busy doing our own thing, and place it in a box or bucket, as a way of offering God their and rivers in the desert’ (43.19). In this arrested, Jesus returns to Galilee to begin trying to work in our own strength. distress and pain. At the same time, invite them to take a fresh Today’s first reading is one of Isaiah’s week’s Gospel reading, Jesus points to his ministry (4.12), and Jesus links John’s piece of tissue paper from a pile or box, to represent a new start. prophecies used to describe the We are sorry when we ignore those this prophecy when replying to John’s fate as Elijah to his own suffering as the deeds that indicate that Jesus is the who are struggling with sadness we cannot comprehend, messengers who ask, ‘Are you the one Son of Man, who will be raised (17.9-13). A sending out prayer Messiah. It was only after calamity those for whom colours have become grey, who is to come?’ Recognition is central to this passage. In God, may we carry your light into this world, prison for denouncing the unrepentant that the people were ready to hear those who need to hear about your love for them. bringing hope and encouragement Isaiah’s good news. Perhaps the (14.1-12), John wonders whether Jesus’ Give us courage and renewed strength to everyone around us, New Testament Baptist’s own imprisonment for his ministry, casting out demons and healing to share hope and joy with others, remembering that you are with us, denunciation of hypocrisy made James 5.7-10 the sick (8.1–9.38), and empowering his and to witness to your unfailing love. and that you can do all things. him ready to hear the good news of James draws on a Jewish tradition disciples to do the same (10.1-42), is really Amen. Amen. condemning the oppression of the the proper work of ‘the Messiah’. Jesus healing and liberation. To those who poor and expecting the vindication of points to the consistency of what he show endurance, says James, ‘the A prayer of praise and thanksgiving A personal prayer Lord is compassionate and merciful’. those who suffer unjustly. The corrupt says with what he does: ‘Tell John what Lord, we praise you Jesus, help me to see you.