A short service and reflection for Christmas Day

 

You may wish to light a candle before you begin.

May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.

Collect 

Lord Jesus Christ, your birth at Bethlehem draws us to kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth: accept our heartfelt praise as we worship you, our Saviour and our eternal God. Amen.

Confession

Christ the Light of the World has come to dispel the darkness of our hearts. In his light let us examine ourselves and confess our sins.

Christ came in humility to share our lives. When we forget to be humble and grow in pride - Lord, have mercy:

Lord, have mercy.

Christ came with good news for all the world. When we forget to share his word and choose to keep silence - Christ, have mercy:

Christ, have mercy.

Christ came in love to a world of suffering. When we forget our neighbour in need and become self-centred - Lord, have mercy:

Lord, have mercy.

May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

God’s Word - Titus, chapter 2, verses 11 to 14 :-

The grace of God has dawned upon the world with healing for all mankind; and by it we are disciplined to renounce godless ways and worldly desires, and to live a life of temperance, honesty, and godliness in the present age, looking forward to the happy fulfilment of our hope when the splendour of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus will appear. He it is who sacrificed himself for us, to set us free from all wickedness and to make us his own people, pure and eager to do good.

    Luke, chapter 2,  verses 1 to 20 :-

In those days a decree was issued by the emperor Augustus for a census to be taken throughout the Roman world. This was the first registration of its kind; it took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone made his way to his own town to be registered. Joseph went up to Judaea from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to register in the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of David by descent; and with him went Mary, his betrothed, who was expecting her child. While they were there the time came for her to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn. 

Now in this same district there were shepherds out in the fields, keeping watch through the night over their flock. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid; I bring you good news, news of great joy for the whole nation. Today there has been born to you in the city of David a deliverer—the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.’ All at once there was with the angel a great company of the heavenly host, singing praise to God: ‘Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth peace to all in whom he delights.’ 

After the angels had left them and returned to heaven the shepherds said to one another, ‘Come, let us go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child, they related what they had been told about him; and all who heard were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered over them. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for what they had heard and seen; it had all happened as they had been told.

Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.

Reflection on the Readings

Just a few days ago, we were placing this year’s crib figures into the Christmas crib at Holy Trinity Church, Middleton. I say this year’s figures because at Middleton the tradition is that local families make crib figures out of clay, that are then glazed and fired by Owen. So each year’s figures are new, and special, and original. Sometimes very original indeed, but always lovely. And to my untutored eyes, this year’s crib figures were especially fine - each one very new, very different, very personal.

The story is the same every year, located precisely by Luke at a point in history, a census, ordered by the emperor’s representative, requiring people to answer for themselves at their family home town. Jesus is a historical figure. You can go and see the probable place where he was born, albeit now inside a great basilica church in the Manger Square of Bethlehem. That’s where it happened, and that’s when it happened, more than two thousand years ago.

Pope Francis expressed his disapproval of this year’s rather trendy Christmas crib at the Vatican, with figures some of whom looked more like robots than real human beings. Let’s not be trendy just for the sake of it, was his basic message; the idea of the Christmas crib, after all,  is to give us a glimpse of that once and for all event, which did happen in that place and at that time. It’s like a Shakespeare play performed in modern dress. Some people may like it. I don’t, not really.

But then again, I suppose you could call “West Side Story” Shakespeare turned into something modern, and that emphatically does work. Our Christmas carols, the real carols that is, songs designed to be danced to, not sung by stately choirs, also brought the birth of Christ up to date - for of course the ordinary folk who first sung those carols sung about Jesus being born where they were, and into their sort of life. What did they know about first century Palestine?

I asked one little boy what he’d made for the crib; “A monster,” he replied. I think we may have counted it as some kind of sheep, but certainly in the past we’ve had chickens and ducks, a Dalek, an old land rover, and maybe a brontosaurus, though on reflection that might have been a very junior attempt at modelling a camel. It doesn’t matter; and maybe some of the figures Pope Francis didn’t like might not have looked too out of place in our crib. For here’s the point. This is something that happened just once, at one time in history, and we mustn’t lose sight of that; but it is also our story, the story of God’s love for everyone, and in every age.

So it involves historical facts, and very real ordinary folk, shepherds doing their job of watching the sheep up there on the hills. But it also includes angels, not normally seen even on those holy hills, and singing the songs of heaven, glory to God. As our collect reminded us, here we have the wonder of heaven touching earth, and it’s revealed first not to theologians, not to kings, not even to the mayor of Bethlehem, but to shepherds, the most ordinary of ordinary folk.

So it’s everybody’s story: God’s love offered to every soul. No-one is excluded, no-one is left out. The Christ-child, born in that one place then, and yet somehow also born in every place, and in every time, and for you, and for me. So Christina Rossetti, whose poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” places the birth in the frozen waste of a very European winter, asks, “What can I give him, poor as I am?” Her answer is simple - for what else can you give, in response to God’s gift of his Son? “Give my heart.”

Statement of faith - 

We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayers - 

We ask God to grant peace and goodwill to his Church in every place this Christmas, and to enable his Church to offer that peace and goodwill to all around us. We pray especially for the Church in the Holy Land, that it may be blessed. We pray for our Diocese and for Richard our Bishop. We pray for the churches and communities of the Abbeydore Deanery.

We continue to pray for peace, wherever in the world there is conflict or division, and for all that brings healing, blessing and hope to those in need. In this Christmas made difficult by the Covid virus, we pray for all who are having to spend it alone, or far from loved ones. We pray for a calm and measured response to the growth in cases, and for the continued roll-out of vaccines and vaccination. 

We pray for all who are ill, and especially for all who will spend Christmas in hospital or in a care home, especially where it’s difficult for them to be visited. We pray for all who will be staffing our hospitals and our health and emergency services over the holiday, and for their safety and protection. And we pray especially for children who are ill, and for their families.

We pray for our families and friends, and for the life of our churches and communities. We pray for all who will find this Christmas to be a sad and difficult time, for whatever reason. And as we draw to the close of a strange and difficult year, may we look forward in hope to brighter days.  And may we look out for each other through this testing time, and keep safe ourselves.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever.  Amen.

Blessing - 

May Christ the Son of God gladden your hearts with the good news of his kingdom; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.  Amen.

A short service and reflection for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

You may wish to light a candle before you begin.

May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.

Collect 

Eternal God, as Mary waited for the birth of your Son, so we wait for his coming in glory; bring us through the birth pangs of this present age to see, with her, our great salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Confession

When the Lord comes, he will bring to light things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore in the light of Christ let us confess our sins.

Lord God, we confess to you the sin which always confronts us. We are sorry and repent: have mercy on us according to your love. Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin. Renew a right spirit within us, and restore us to the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins and restore us in his image, to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

God’s Word - 2 Samuel, chapter 7, verses 1 to 11 and 16 :-

Once the king was established in his palace and the LORD had given him security from his enemies on all sides, he said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the Ark of God is housed in a tent.’ Nathan answered, ‘Do whatever you have in mind, for the LORD is with you.’ But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: ‘Go and say to David my servant, This is the word of the LORD: Are you to build me a house to dwell in? Down to this day I have never dwelt in a house since I brought Israel up from Egypt; I lived in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I journeyed with Israel, did I ever ask any of the judges whom I appointed shepherds of my people Israel why they had not built me a cedar house? 

‘Then say this to my servant David: This is the word of the LORD of Hosts: I took you from the pastures and from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have destroyed all the enemies in your path. I shall bring you fame like the fame of the great ones of the earth. I shall assign a place for my people Israel; there I shall plant them to dwell in their own land. They will be disturbed no more; never again will the wicked oppress them as they did in the past, from the day when I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I shall give you peace from all your enemies.

‘The LORD has told you that he would build up your royal house. Your family and your kingdom will be established for ever in his sight; your throne will endure for all time.’

    Luke, chapter 1,  verses 26 to 38 :-

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, with a message for a girl betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David; the girl’s name was Mary. The angel went in and said to her, ‘Greetings, most favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was deeply troubled by what he said and wondered what this greeting could mean. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for God has been gracious to you; you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David, and he will be king over Israel for ever; his reign shall never end.’ 

‘How can this be?’ said Mary. ‘I am still a virgin.’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason the holy child to be born will be called Son of God. Moreover your kinswoman Elizabeth has herself conceived a son in her old age; and she who is reputed barren is now in her sixth month, for God’s promises can never fail.’ ‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ said Mary; ‘may it be as you have said.’ Then the angel left her.

Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.

Reflection on the Readings

Last week’s question, to John the Baptist, was “Who are you?” This week’s, from Mary to the angel, is “How can this be?” Mary has just been told what will happen - though in fact it won’t, if she says no. And what the angel has told her will happen can’t. It’s impossible. How can this be? - she asks.

The angel explains that this is God’s work, the child-to-be implanted in her womb will be placed there by God’s holy Spirit. But I can imagine that Mary - who may well have only been about fourteen years old herself - will have been only too well aware that seeing this as God’s work isn’t going to wash with family, friends and neighbours - or indeed with Joseph, her husband-to-be. There is going to be more than a whiff of scandal about this birth. Her status, her friendships, and even her marriage are all placed at risk.

She must have felt she was standing at a cliff edge. Everything in her life was about to change. And yet she says “Yes.” Indeed, she says more than just “Yes” - she declares herself to be the handmaid of the Lord. “May it be as you have said.”

Whenever I read this passage, I always have the sense of the whole universe, and legions of angels, all collectively holding their breath. Everything depends on what this young girl says next. I always place the events of the day in a very ordinary household setting, and imagine Mary doing the dishes, or something. God intervening in just the day to day ordinary stuff, with this utterly amazing and even appalling message.

There is an old tradition that Luke was not only a Gospel-writer and a doctor, but also an artist, and that he painted Mary’s portrait. It almost certainly has no basis in fact, but it may well be that Luke knew Mary, and she certainly figures more prominently in his Gospel than the others. We find her constantly wondering, constantly “treasuring things up in her heart” - as Luke tends to put it. And only Luke tells us this particular story.

More churches are dedicated to Mary than to any other saint. In Wales, Llanfair means “Mary’s church”, and just look how many Llanfairs there are. And certainly the simple faith and wholehearted obedience of Mary should be a mark of the Church in every place. In just the same way that everything in heaven and earth waited that day on what Mary would say, so the outworking of God’s love today, in smaller ways but just as decisively, depends on us. We have the same freedom, to say yes or no. To let God in, or to leave him out. Love doesn’t force, but only asks.

There’s an apocryphal story that has Jesus, newly ascended, standing with Gabriel looking down at the little bunch of disciples stood there on the hilltop. “And you’re leaving it all up to them?” asks Gabriel. “Twelve guys who’ve got it wrong so often, and keep falling out. They’re to take the message of your saving love out into all the world?” “That’s right,” says Jesus. Gabriel stands there for a moment, on his corner of the cloud, looking down. “OK,” he says. “But what’s the plan B?” “There isn’t a plan B,” says Jesus. 

Statement of faith - 

We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayers - 

We ask God to guide us in our preparation for Christmas worship, and in particular that we may be able to worship safely. We pray for the mission of the Church worldwide, and especially for the mission agencies of the Anglican Communion. In our own diocese we pray for Bishop Richard, and today that our diocese may be inclusive and open in the welcome it offers to all who come to worship with us.

We continue to pray for the peace of the world, and for all world leaders, that they may be ready and willing to work for peace, understanding and the welfare of all. As there are signs of a new threat from a mutated form of the Covid virus in the UK and elsewhere, we pray for a calm and measured response, and for the continued roll-out of vaccines and vacciniation. 

We pray for all who are ill or in any kind of pain, anxiety or need, and for the work of our local hospitals and health centres, and the safety of those who work there. We pray for all who are suffering from stress, depressive illness and other mental health issues, and for those who offer help and treatment.

We pray for our families and friends, and for the life of our churches and communities. We pray for all who will be unable to be with family and friends this Christmas, especially as tighter restrictions are being announced. And we pray we may continue to look out for each other in these testing times, and keep safe ourselves.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever.  Amen.

Blessing - 

May Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon us, and scatter the darkness from before our path; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.  Amen.

A short service and reflection for the third Sunday of Advent

May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.

Collect 

God for whom we watch and wait, you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son: give us courage to speak the truth, to hunger for justice, and to suffer for the cause of right, with Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Confession

When the Lord comes, he will bring to light things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore in the light of Christ let us confess our sins.

Lord God, we confess to you the sin which always confronts us. We are sorry and repent: have mercy on us according to your love. Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin. Renew a right spirit within us, and restore us to the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins and restore us in his image, to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

God’s Word - Isaiah, chapter 61, verses 1 to 4 and 8 to 11 :-

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to announce good news to the humble, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, release to those in prison; to proclaim a year of the LORD’s favour and a day of the vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to give them garlands instead of ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourners’ tears, a garment of splendour for the heavy heart. They will be called trees of righteousness, planted by the LORD for his adornment. Buildings long in ruins will be rebuilt and sites long desolate restored; they will repair the ruined cities which for generations have lain desolate. 

For I the LORD love justice and hate robbery and crime; I shall grant them a sure reward and make an everlasting covenant with them. 

Their posterity will be renowned among the nations and their descendants among the peoples; all who see them will acknowledge that they are a race blessed by the LORD. 

Let me rejoice in the LORD with all my heart, let me exult in my God; for he has robed me in deliverance and arrayed me in victory, like a bridegroom with his garland, or a bride decked in her jewels. As the earth puts forth her blossom or plants in the garden burst into flower, so will the Lord GOD make his victory and renown blossom before all the nations.

    John, chapter 1,  verses 6 to 8 and 19 to 28 :-

There appeared a man named John. He was sent from God, and came as a witness to testify to the light, so that through him all might become believers. He was not himself the light; he came to bear witness to the light. 

This is the testimony John gave when the Jews of Jerusalem sent a deputation of priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He readily acknowledged, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not,’ he replied. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ ‘No,’ he said. 

‘Then who are you?’ they asked. ‘We must give an answer to those who sent us. What account do you give of yourself?’ He answered in the words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘I am a voice crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.”’ 

Some Pharisees who were in the deputation asked him, ‘If you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, then why are you baptizing?’ ‘I baptize in water,’ John replied, ‘but among you, though you do not know him, stands the one who is to come after me. I am not worthy to unfasten the strap of his sandal.’ This took place at Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.

Reflection on the Readings

Who are you? That was the question posed by the deputation sent by the chief people of Jerusalem to test out this latest phenomenon, this wild man in the desert whose teaching was enthralling so many of the people of the city and the area around. John had clearly told them who he wasn’t. I am not the Messiah, he had said. Nor was he Elijah, who had been taken up into heaven before death, and was expected by many to return in the last days. Nor the prophet - some people were expecting a prophet, greater than all who went before, perhaps a new Isaiah.

So you are not any of these people. Who are you? We have to give an answer. The answer John gave was basically this: “I am just a voice, a voice to prepare the way. You must listen to me, but you must look beyond me.” Like the way in which the rough roads of the day would be smoothed and straightened if the king were planning to visit some part of his domain, so John was there to prepare the way.

But what exactly is going to happen? Who exactly are we to look for? Those who came with questions probably left with questions too. Our first reading, from Isaiah, may give an answer to some of this. For this is a passage Jesus certainly understood as referring to himself. It’s about the turning of the tables, the same sort of thing we read about in the Magnificat, Mary’s song in St Luke’s Gospel, where the poor are lifted up and the mighty tipped from their thrones.

The Lord has anointed me and sent me to proclaim good news to the poor and humble, to tell those held captive they will be set free, and so that those who mourn and grieve will receive garlands instead of ashes. So wrote Isaiah - and these are the marks of the kingdom Jesus will proclaim, and call his disciples into.

Revolution is of course the way of the world. Read through history and you’ll find time after time where those who were oppressed and downtrodden rise up and turn the tables. And at some point you may be sure someone will say - in nearly every case - it’s our turn now; now we are the bosses. And so you get the tumbrels and guillotines of the French revolution, or the reigns of terror ushered in by such as Josef Stalin or Chairman Mao, or maybe that chilling scene at the end of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, where the pigs who are now in charge are indistinguishable from the human bosses of the neighbouring farms.

And no doubt the whole idea of revolution (and the fear of revolution) was one of the concerns behind that urgent question, “Who are you?”.  The image of Jesus as a revolutionary, looking not unlike Che Guevara, could be seen on many a doorway in Latin America at one time, where those who were downtrodden longed for freedom, and found hope of freedom in liberation theology.

And certainly the one for whom the Baptist prepared the way would come as a liberator and indeed as a table turner - but not to become a leader like the despots of old, as in the Who song “Won’t Get Fooled Again”: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” No, this isn’t like that. Here, the new king remains the one who serves - and he wins his kingdom not by force of arms but through sacrifice, and in love.

That’s why John baptizes: he is preparing the way by preparing people, to see and act and belong in a new way. Where the Church gets this wrong, and becomes authoritarian, or hooked on wealth and power and prestige, it has lost the message. To proclaim this king, we must learn to choose the way of service.

Statement of faith - 

We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayers - 

We ask God to guide us in our keeping of this season of preparation, so that we might be ready to welcome Christ into our hearts and homes this Christmas. Within the Anglican Communion worldwide we pray today for the church in the Falkland Islands. We also pray for the Church’s ministry to and among the migrant and displaced people of our world. And we pray for our diocese and for Richard our Bishop, and for the churches and communities of the Telford Severn Gorge Deanery.

We pray for all in our world who are living in places of poverty, and for all whose lives have been disrupted by natural disaster or by the degradation of land. We pray for all who long for freedom, and for those unjustly imprisoned or denied fair access to law. We pray for international co-operation in the continuing struggle to combat the Covid virus. 

We pray for all who are ill or in any kind of need or pain, and for their relief and healing. We pray for all who staff our hospitals and health centres, and for their safety and protection. And we pray God’s compassion and comfort for all who as Christmas approaches are mourning the loss of a loved one.

We pray for our families and friends, and for the life of our churches and communities. We pray for all who work in the retail trade, and for those who have lost jobs or whose businesses are struggling. And we pray we may continue to look out for each other in these testing times, and keep safe ourselves.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever.  Amen.

Blessing - 

May Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon us, and scatter the darkness from before our path; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.  Amen.

A short service and reflection for the Second Sunday in Advent

You may wish to light a candle before you begin.

May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.

Collect 

Almighty God, purify our hearts and minds, that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again as judge and saviour we may be ready to receive him, who is our Lord and our God. Amen.

Confession

When the Lord comes, he will bring to light things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore in the light of Christ let us confess our sins.

Lord God, we confess to you the sin which always confronts us. We are sorry and repent: have mercy on us according to your love. Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin. Renew a right spirit within us, and restore us to the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins and restore us in his image, to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

God’s Word - Isaiah, chapter 40, verses 1 to 11 :-

Comfort my people; bring comfort to them, says your God; speak kindly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her term of bondage is served, her penalty is paid; for she has received at the LORD’s hand double measure for all her sins. 

A voice cries: ‘Clear a road through the wilderness for the LORD, prepare a highway across the desert for our God. Let every valley be raised, every mountain and hill be brought low, uneven ground be made smooth, and steep places become level. Then will the glory of the LORD be revealed and all mankind together will see it. The LORD himself has spoken.’ 

A voice says, ‘Proclaim!’ and I asked, ‘What shall I proclaim?’

‘All mortals are grass, they last no longer than a wild flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the blast of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass! The grass may wither, the flower fade, but the word of our God will endure for ever.’ 

Climb to a mountaintop, you that bring good news to Zion; raise your voice and shout aloud, you that carry good news to Jerusalem, raise it fearlessly; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Your God is here!’ Here is the Lord GOD; he is coming in might, coming to rule with powerful arm. His reward is with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he will tend his flock and with his arm keep them together; he will carry the lambs in his bosom and lead the ewes to water.

    Mark, chapter 1,  verses 1 to 8 :-

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

In the prophet Isaiah it stands written: I am sending my herald ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice cries in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord; clear a straight path for him.’

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness proclaiming a baptism in token of repentance, for the forgiveness of sins; and everyone flocked to him from the countryside of Judaea and the city of Jerusalem, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. John was dressed in a rough coat of camel’s hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he fed on locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed: ‘After me comes one mightier than I am, whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and unfasten. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.

Reflection on the Readings

I’ve got to admit, I’m not a great watcher of disaster movies - but it’s clear that enough people are for them to be big budget box office successes. But one thing I can say is that in my experience, whenever in a disaster movie one person says to another at some moment of extremely high tension, “Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be all right,” you just know that something really nasty is going to happen to that person in the next five minutes or so. It happens like that so often, you wonder whether it’s a permanent instruction to the script writers. Anyway, our readings this morning marry these two Advent themes: a sense of impending doom, and the promise that, even so, everything’s going to be all right.

We began with chapter forty of the prophecy of Isaiah - words written to a people who’ve had it rough for many a long year, living as exiles, far from their own land. They’ve been travelling through the darkest of tunnels, but now at last they can see the light at the far end. Comfort my people, the prophet is instructed - let them know that I am acting to bring them home, and that it’s going to be all right.

But turning to our reading from Mark, we find that by then the people, though in their own land, were still unfree. Roman soldiers patrolled the streets, taxes had to be paid to the emperor, and the client kings that ruled there were of the family of Herod, and could not claim David as an ancestor. So people found great comfort in words like those of the prophet Isaiah - comfort my people. They believed that God would act decisively and act soon to secure their freedom - a new world was just around the corner, when God’s messiah would re-establish the rule of David.

And it was in this febrile atmosphere that John the Baptist appeared: a strange but charismatic figure, out in the desert, preaching repentance, claiming that, as Isaiah had promised, he was there to prepare the way, and to announce the new thing that was about to happen, and to tell the people to get ready, to get themselves ready.

At last, a prophet like the prophets of old, so many of the people said. Many people flocked to hear John, to be baptized by him too, as a symbol of their determination to make changes, and to start again.  Everything was going to be all right.

But the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah, don’t very often say, “Everything’s going to be all right.” More often, they’re saying, “Everything’s NOT going to be all right” - certainly not if you continue how you are. And John’s teaching was much the same: everything’s going to be all right, he said, BUT you can’t just sit back and let God do it all. You have to change too, and learn how to be his people again. Your lives must enrich the lives of others, and whatever things in your lives that do the opposite, and impoverish the lives of others, you must root them out, and do away with them.

So here we are, in a world that looks more and more like the set for a disaster movie. Interesting to learn a week or so back that someone proposed last year for Coronation Street a story about a pandemic, and it was rejected as far-fetched. But the world of lockdown, with so much on hold, and a lot that’s worrying and scary, is also an opportunity to take stock, and to test out what’s really important, and maybe make, or plan to make, some changes. Because when we’re through this, we don’t have to do all the same things we did before. Everything is going to be all right. The Christ child has been born among us, has journeyed to the cross, has given his all for us, has proved God’s love. But the world will only see him, and find him, if it sees and finds him in us. If our lives give as his life gives; if our hearts love as his heart loves. 

Statement of faith - 

We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayers - 

We ask God to guide us in our keeping of this season of preparation, and that we might be ready to welcome Christ into our hearts and homes this Christmas. On what would normally be the feast day of St Nicholas, we pray for the ministry of the Church to children and families. We pray this week especially for the Christian churches of Spain, and for the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion. We pray for our diocese and for Richard our Bishop, and for all that ensures the safety and protection of children and other vulnerable people in our churches and communities.

We pray for peace wherever in our world there is conflict, and for all who are in need or in fear today. Bless and encourage all who work with children and families in situations of poverty, division and conflict. Pray also today for minority and tribal people who are often exploited or excluded, and for all who are denied access to education, justice or employment. 

We pray for all who are ill or in any kind of need or pain, and for their relief and healing. We pray for all who staff our hospitals and health centres, and for their safety and protection. And we continue to pray for our response to Covid and for the continued work to produce a safe and widely available vaccine.

We pray for our families and friends, and for the life of our churches and communities. We pray for families in need, for those not sure how they will be able to afford Christmas. And we pray we may continue to look out for each other in these testing times, and keep safe ourselves.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever.  Amen.

Blessing - 

May Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon us, and scatter the darkness from before our path; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.  Amen.