Church at Home Sunday 6th December 2020

Sunday worship on is on

The easiest way to find the link to the YouTube meeting each Sunday is to find the link on the Corps web page. Type www.salvationarmy.org.uk/ramsgate and select Church on YouTube

You can also find us by searching on YouTube and on the Ramsgate Facebook page.

But we want to still “meet together” and share our thoughts and prayers and testimonies. It will give a chance to share how God has spoken to us during the meeting – and allow us to encourage each other. Sunday 6h 10 am Ramsgate Church at Home (YouTube) Sunday 6th 11.15 am ZOOM fellowship Sunday 6th 12 noon ZOOM Youth Group Sunday 6th 4.30 pm Zoom Kids Club (up to 11 years) Tuesday 8th 7pm ZOOM Advent Bible Study Wednesday 9th 8pm ZOOM Quiz

Ramsgate ZOOM 8651865167 1 | Page

If you have no internet that we are providing each week’s service on a DVD which we will deliver to you.

Please let us know if you do not want a DVD each week. Also tell us if you need help watching the DVDs we are sending.

Message from our Territorial Leaders. You can find this on the Salvation Army YouTube channel https://youtu.be/r_hf3JqsJpE Commissioner Gill shares a quote from Queen Elizabeth II which says

“ reminds us that love begins small but always grows.”

Songs of Praise Sunday 6th 1.15pm

The Rev Kate Bottley presents the final of the very first joint and Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year competition. As it is the second Sunday of Advent, six of the best girl and boy choristers in the UK perform their chosen Christmas carols or songs for judges John Rutter, Laura Wright and Carl Jackson before one is crowned 2020 champion. The programme includes a performance of O Holy Night by , and all the finalists.

There is a full day of activities on Fortress Radio.

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Maggie is available with the constant prayer line where you can call or text for prayer. You can contact her on 07840 753 603

Daily Hope offers music, prayers and reflections as well as full worship services from the Church of England at the end of a telephone line.

Birthdays Natasha Atkins 8-December Sheila Parfitt 8-December Prayers please for

For Al awaiting further surgery. Pray this will come soon. David also awaiting surgery, Paul, son of Hazel who continues his chemotherapy; Brenda Austin and Liz Harden. Val Read We thank God for returning heath for Mavis and remember her and Peter We continue to pray for Tom and Cherie following their bereavement Please continue to pray especially for Archie – and Lisa and Scott.

Christmas Cards

We will be producing a Ramsgate Corps Card and if you want to write a greeting then we would love to include as many as possible in the card. Please send to us by Tuesday 15th December. A donation of £1 for your message would be appreciated. They will be delivered 19th December

We can also deliver any cards you would like to send personally to your friends at the corps. For a donation of £1 you can send as many cards as you like to members and friends of the corps. We must have these by Thursday 17th December – also for delivery Saturday 19th December 3 | Page

Some thoughts from Major John

Born a child and yet a King.

I was watching one of the Advent meetings on YouTube from one of the Nottingham Corps, which commenced with the Advent song ‘Come thou long expected Jesus’ (104 SASB). The third verse reads… Born thy people to deliver, Born a child and yet a King, Born to reign in us for ever, Now thy gracious Kingdom bring.

The second line, ‘Born a child and yet a King’ seemed to jump out at me and capture my imagination. It pinpoints one of the great mysteries and miracles of the Christian Faith. Peter Chrysologus wrote in the 5th Century words which also speak of the wonder… Heaven on earth, Earth in heaven, Humanity in God, God in humanity, one whom the world cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body.

One of our more contemporary hymn writers Graham Kendrick explores this theme in his song ’Meekness and majesty, manhood and Deity’ (383 SASB). Verse three and the chorus read… Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible, Love indestructible in frailty appears. Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly, Lifts our humanity to the heights of his throne. 4 | Page

O what a mystery, Meekness and majesty. Bow down and worship, For this is your God.

For many years I have enjoyed John Betjeman’s poem ‘Christmas 1955’, it ends in quite a thought-provoking way…

‘The time draws near the birth of Christ’. A present that cannot be priced Given two thousand years ago Yet if God had not given so He still would be a distant stranger And not the Baby in the manger.

I conclude in response with a couplet from another carol...

O may we keep and ponder in our mind God’s wondrous love in saving lost mankind! (103, verse 3 SASB) And as Graham Kendrick suggests, in the face of such a wonder, we simply must…

Bow down and worship, For this is our God.

CHRISTMAS DINNER We are still planning to offer Christmas dinner for those who would like one. We are limiting to 25 people on 24th and 25th December. If you have not returned your slip please do so this week. If it is not Covid safe then we will deliver your dinner – and sing on your doorstep! 5 | Page

Time to Smile

Three Salvation Army Officers were late for an Ecumenical Service. They crept in at the back, but there were no seats. On seeing them standing, the Bishop said to the Verger, ‘Get three chairs for the Salvation Army’, and the Verger stood up and said ‘Three cheers for The Salvation Army’.

A motorist stops at a ford and asks an old yokel sitting nearby how deep the water is. ‘Couple of inches’ he replies. The motorist drives through the ford and disappears in a seething mass of bubbles. ‘That’s funny’ says the yokel. ‘It only goes halfway up on them there ducks.’

A traffic policeman pulls alongside a speeding motorist on the motorway. Glancing into the car, he’s astounded to see that the lady behind the wheel is knitting! The policeman winds down his window and shouts, ‘Pullover!’ ‘No!’ shouts back the woman, ‘a cardigan!’

What is worse than a giraffe with a sore throat? A centipede with chilblains!

1.Adam and Eve were the main characters in in which work by John Milton? 2.Which famous horse riding school is in Austria? 3.Which Copenhagen statue is a memorial to Hans Christian Andersen? 4.Which piece can only move diagonally? 5.At which Southwark inn did Chaucer’s Pilgrims meet?

Winter Quiz 1.In the carol ‘In the bleak midwinter’ what is the second line? 2.Which word is used to mean flying away for winter, as with many birds? 3.Which winter sport uses skates, stones and brooms? 4.What is hit with sticks in ice hockey? 5.Which David Jason TV characters name is the personification of winter? 6 | Page

Anagram What is the only English anagram of EXCITATION?

INTOXICATE.

The only English anagram of EXCITATION is is EXCITATION of anagram English only The

5. Jack Frost Jack 5. inds made moan 2. Migration 3. Curling 4. Puck Puck 4. Curling 3. Migration 2. moan made inds

1.Frosty w 1.Frosty

Winter Quiz Winter Inn Tabard The 5. Bishop The 4. Mermaid

1.Paradise Lost 2. The Spanish Riding School 3. The Little Little The 3. School Riding Spanish The 2. Lost 1.Paradise Quiz

Answers

Memories

Over the next few weeks we are going to ask you to share your memories for Christmas. We will have an opportunity on Sunday to preparation for this….be ready with your thoughts

What makes Christmas Special for you? What Christmas traditions do you in your family? What are you favourite memories of Christmas?

Here are some funky angels, made by Pauline at St Luke’s Church. Pauline has made these to raise money for our food bank and they are £5 each. As you can see Jacqueline needed four!

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The flags and bunting go up in Ramsgate to celebrate a Royal visit to the town. This was the colourful scene in High Street, St. Lawrence when the Prince of travelled to Ramsgate to open the town's attractive new promenade on the West Cliff. The date: 1926. At St. Lawrence, which still retained much of its village atmosphere, High Street had not yet been transformed by road-widening schemes which swept away many old properties and brought a new look to the area.

Thanks again to David Richards.

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The Absence by RS Thomas

It is this great absence that is like a presence, that compels me to address it without hope of a reply. It is a room I enter from which someone has just gone, the vestibule for the arrival of one who has not yet come. I modernise the anachronism of my language, but he is no more here than before. Genes and molecules have no more power to call him up than the incense of the Hebrews at their altars. My equations fail as my words do. What resources have I other than the emptiness without him of my whole being, a vacuum he may not abhor?

It can seem a hopeless poem at a first glance, but it is, actually profoundly hopeful. There is this taut sense of expectation thrumming through each line, a poem written not to a generalised power but to a someone so personal their presence still seems to reverberate in the absence we feel, someone who will not ignore the ’emptiness of our whole being’.

Alfred Delp described Advent, as a time in which we recognise that ‘Space is still filled with the noise of destruction and annihilation, the shouts of self- assurance and arrogance, the weeping of despair and helplessness. But round about the horizon the eternal realities stand silent in their age-old longing. There shines on them already the first mild light of the radiant fulfilment to come.’

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Worship at home 6th December 2020

If we were all together I’d start this morning by asking if you are patient, do you like standing in a queue if you like waiting?

I hate waiting and I do get frustrated. Thursday, I got a call from the winter shelter to ask where the meat was for the dinner – I had forgotten to get it. It was 6.10 and they were hungry. Immediately I jumped to action – two homeless people in the hall who were defrosting themselves and drying their clothes were bundled into my car and I raced around to Asda, I bought the meat and rushed to the checkout. Scanned the first pack – item not recognised, scanned the second pack – item not recognised So I scooped them all up and ran to a cashier and smiled as I placed them in from t of hi. He scanned – item not recognised Argghh Now not only was the item not registered on the system – there was an offer which meant he had to calculate the price for each pack he had to manually enter – for this a colleague had to be summonsed – who then had to go off and check on the system I stood thinking I just want the mincemeat – I hate waiting – please hurry But it got worse – the colleague returned and told him what to do – but try as he might it would not work. Thoughts of running out of the store without paying and seeing how fat I could get surely they would not recognise me. Driving to Tesco. Suggesting the cook used chick peas. Finally my wait was over and I dashed from the shop and drove with all care and attention to the shelter. Arriving at 6.30 What happened to the two homeless people in the car is another story. So this week as we journey through Advent I want to see why God needs us to be good at waiting – why waiting is good for us – and how this advent God might show us something new as we patient anticipate Christmas.

Our themes for the next week are waiting – worship and welcome

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1 All the world is waiting, waiting, Lord for thee. How creation groans in anguish, crying to be free! Lord, we trust thy promises, to quickly come again! Even so, Lord Jesus, come, O come! Even so, Lord Jesus, come, O come!

2 All the world is longing, longing to be free from the power of sin and death and darkness, let it be! Holy Spirit, move the hearts of those in unbelief!

3 All the world is hoping love and peace to see; sons of God are hoping, waiting, trusting but in thee! Glorious that future day, when raised to die no more!

I love that song by Howard Davies – is that conflict?

That we trust – and yet still plead?

Lord we trust your promises to quickly come again Even so Lord Jesus Come O Come

Waiting is never easy. In our day of high speed everything - internet, instant messaging, fast food, waiting for anything longer than ten minutes can seem like an eternity. If I think back to Christmas when I was a child I recognise that waiting has always been a problem for me. I would wake at 4am and since my presents were at the end of my bed they were all open by 5am And that was Christmas – all done I grew up in a family where Christ really had no part in Christmas – so when the wrapping paper had been tidied away and the turkey devoured – that was very much it. And I’m not alone is seeing a huge contrast between my understanding of Jesus then and now. Listen as David and Cliff speak about their own memories of Christmas How will you wait this year?

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Waiting, by its very nature, is demanding and difficult for even the most patient person. I couldn’t wait to open my presents and even now I find myself impatient. Maybe you do too. Maybe its worse than frustration - maybe you are falling into despair as the season of waiting seems to have no end in sight. This week has seen over 60 000 COVID-19 deaths and just as the nationwide lockdown ended – so we in Kent entered into tier 3 and the most severe restriction on movement So may of us are tired of waiting – we want this nightmare to be over – true the vaccine has been announced – but even for that we have to wait.

If you are struggling with these times – do you find waiting for God difficult;

The Old Testament tells of a whole history of Israel in waiting; waiting in the wilderness to enter the Promised Land, waiting for a king, waiting in exile, for a return to the land of Israel, and waiting for God to deliver them from all their oppressors. The psalmists give voice to all who cry out waiting: "How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?"

Watch and listen to the scripture unfold

Come thou long expected Jesus

1 Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.

2 Israel's strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth thou art; Dear desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart. Refrain

3 Born thy people to deliver,

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Born a child and yet a king, Born to reign in us for ever, Now thy gracious kingdom bring. Refrain

4 By thine own eternal Spirit Rule in all our hearts alone; By thine all-sufficient merit Raise us to thy glorious throne. Refrain

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) based on Matthew 16 v27

Let’s share together in prayer and share in the Lord’s prayer

Isaiah 40-41

Comfort for God’s People

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,

13 | Page and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

17 “The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water,

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and the parched ground into springs. Isaiah 40:1 - 41:18

We looked at Isaiah a few weeks ago in bible study and were reminded that the prophet sets out to do two things

To remind the people they have disappointed God and are subject to his judgement. They have been unfair, unfaithful and unfit for worship. Their devotion has became just a ritual – they faith is going through the motions – it is not real worship at all.

God is fed up with them and the consequence of their disobedience is slavery, suffering and sorrow. But the second part of the book are these promises Every hardship they suffered would be replaced with plenty, the desert would be fruitful, the weary would be strong, the thirsty refreshed, the captive free, - and the one who will be our shepherd and care for us – he is coming

Can you imagine how they felt?

In a small way did you feel like that on Tuesday with the Pfizer vaccine announcement? Yet, generations came and went and the years ebbed and flowed with no sign of the promised one. Israel went into exile, and the voice of the prophets became silent. Would there be a way in the wilderness, and a smooth path cut through the desert? Or would God leave the people as exiles in the wastelands?

‘Come Into Our World”:

All around us, darkness holds its sway; Truth and love are faltering, peace in disarray; And if we needed you, we need you now! Come into our world, Come into our world, now, Lord Jesus!

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People sit in loneliness, children cry for bread; Men fight men in hatred, by suspicion led; And if we needed you, we need you now! Come into our world, Come into our world, now, Lord Jesus!

Faced with such confusion, hope has slipped away; Men have stopped believing, forgotten how to pray; And if we needed you, we need you now! Come into our world, Come into our world, now, Lord Jesus, come.

REMEMBERING THE PAST WAITING

Understanding how it must have felt like at the time of the prophets will really help us now. If we can recapture that same sense of eager expectation we can to appreciate what it was like to live on the verge of the New Testament. God poured out some amazing promises on his people throughout the Old Testament: a new king, a new sacrifice, a new spirit, a new heart, a new creation, and many more. For years, God’s people had fed on a steady diet of God’s promises, knowing that he had not abandoned them, fearing that he had done just that.

“Is the promised one really coming?”

“Yes, he’s coming. He’ll be here soon!”

“Is that him?”

“No, not yet.”

“Where is he?”

“Over there!”

“No, that’s definitely not him again.”

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“He’ll never come.”

“Yes, he will. I know it. He’s coming. God promised.”

Advent reminds us that the waiting was not in vain. God kept his promises. He always does. But we must wait – it is part of God’s plan It always has been And it is now. That is why we must take advent seriously

1 O come, O come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! rejoice! Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

2 O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height, in ancient times didst give the law in cloud and majesty and awe.

3 O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny; from depths of hell Thy people save, and give them victory o'er the grave.

4 O come, Thou Day–spring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadows put to flight.

5 O come, Thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home; make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery.

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WAITING IN THE PRESENT

So if we can imagine how it was to anxiously wait for the coming of Jesus maybe we can wait faithfully in our own time.

“Is the promised one really coming?” “I know he promised, but it’s been so long. We keep waiting, but we don’t see anything. Where is he?” Why is this pandemic still raging – why are our family and friend dying Even so Lord Jesus come O come Why do we have to keep waiting?

The same questions that must have plagued God’s people before the first Christmas continue to pursue us now.

Advent helps us see that we are not alone when the waiting gets difficult and the questions loom.

More importantly, at times, Advent reminds us that we are supposed to be waiting.

Advent, this time of waiting - of anticipation is one where the heart is often most troubled

Is your heart heavy now?

Maybe next year will see a change for you at work. You have really struggled and you long for something new that you enjoy – or maybe its simply that the nightmare of not even having a job will end – and you will at last be able to provide for yourself.

Maybe you’re single and you wonder each year whether perhaps next year will be the one you when you finally a lifelong friend.

Or maybe you will find a home – or move from the place that you find so depressing and constraining

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Maybe you have family members who are estranged, and every year you hope that the next will bring them home. Past hurt will be healed and things can return to how they used to be.

What did you hope for as 2019 moved into 2020 ?

No one could ever have predicted what we are living through now and indeed what is still to come

So maybe you want things to be the way they were before.

Majesty Resides

From the starkness of the stable, the light of Heaven shines; In the drabness of the ordinary, God’s precious Son is born. While eager hearts and childlike souls anticipate this child; In humble poor surroundings, Majesty resides! Gloria in excelsis Deo! God is with us, Christ is born! Gloria in excelsis Deo! God is with us, Jesus Christ is born!

2. To the shepherds on the hillside, the voice of angels came; In the tedium of the ordinary, they spoke his glorious name. To eager hearts and childlike souls, the Holy Child was born; In humble, poor surroundings, They worshipped Christ the Lord!

3. In the hearts of all who seek him, the light of Heaven shines; For the struggles of the ordinary, He comes with grace divine. For eager hearts and childlike souls anticipate this Child; In humble poor surroundings, Majesty resides!

Yvonne Field

If your heart is heavier than you’d like this Advent season, then this is for you.

Comfort, joy and strength are given to those who wait upon the Lord.

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And those who wait upon the Lord are not without hope, because Hope is the very one they are waiting on. God is love (1 John 4:8). God is life. God is truth (John 14:6) God is hope (Romans 15:13).

Dear friend, I don’t know what you’re waiting on right now. Generations before us have learned what it is to wait. You also may know that through waiting God will come.

Draw strength from the promises of God and look forward to the days when these promises will come true For our God is not a God of false or empty promises, but of beautiful, certain promises.

Instead of being impatient or disillusioned in our seasons of waiting, let us be like David, who in Psalm 62 shows us a better way to wait.

“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honour come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.” – Psalm 62:5-8

We are not alone when we wait. God is with us and He wants us to pour our hearts out to Him. He wants us to trust and find refuge in Him.

I pray that as we wait, we will hold on to these truths and we will let God’s Word renew our souls. Whatever He has for us is worth the wait. Lord, you are not just the God of time but the God of timing. Help me to trust You as I wait for the things I desperately want. Help me not become discouraged or depressed in this season of waiting, but help me take my place joyfully with all the saints who persevered through the wait you had for them.

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Go in peace— love and care for one another in the name of Christ; —and may the power of the Holy Spirit make the rough places in your life smooth, —may the dark valleys of your hearts be filled and the rugged mountains levelled and the way of the Lord be made ready in you, —and may He come unto you and bless you and shine forth from you both now and forevermore. Amen.

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A Christmas Crossword

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