 The Lord be with you! Good morning, Cheviot Churches – and Good morning to those joining us in other places too! You are all very welcome. This is Colin, and I hope everyone is staying well. Come, people of God, let us worship together on this 4th Sunday of Advent.
Notices:
Passcode: 299267
Call to Worship Even if not everyone is able to gather in person Emmanuel, God with us Even if some Christmas traditions have had to go Emmanuel, God with us Even if we might not get to hug family and friends Emmanuel, God with us Even if we cannot sing carols beside each other Emmanuel, God with us Even if Christmas cheer is harder this year Emmanuel, God with us Hymn 320 – Joy to the world Prayers of Adoration and Confession ‘Joy to the World’ – As we gather, may your joy be in our hearts, that with the shepherds, we may adore you in wonder and praise. “Away in a manger no crib for a bed”: Lord, may we never turn you into some glitzy celebrity, but let you always be the God with us and besides us. “O come all ye faithful”: may we follow you in faith and let the meaning of the story change us that we may be ever more like you. “O little town of Bethlehem how still we see you lie” yet Bethlehem isn’t still. May we find you in all the places people need peace and hope and justice. “It came upon a midnight clear” but sometimes it isn’t clear; we don’t fully understand what all this means so may we live in faith today. “Hark! the herald angels sing!” Yes, may we tell out the news, proclaim the message of peace on earth and goodwill to all people. ‘O Holy Child of Bethlehem… cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today’ Silence For the widening gulf between those in comfort and those who are poor, Come Jesus, forgive and change us For the carelessness that treats our world as if there is no tomorrow, Come Jesus, forgive and change us For the suspicion of what is different that sets human against human, Come Jesus, forgive and change us Come, Lord Jesus, and as a forgiven people, let us serve you with joy and gladness, Lord’s Prayer Lighting of Advent Candle We light this candle for all saying ‘yes’ to God’s challenges. As we wait for your promise, give light, give hope. Hymn 284 –Joy is the candle (v4) Readings – 2 Samuel 7: 1-11 Luke 1: 26-38 Hymn 321 – Come and join the celebration Weekly Prayer Heavenly Father, who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of the promised Saviour. Fill us with your grace, that in all things we may embrace your holy will and with her rejoice in your salvation. Send us out to finish our Advent journey filled with love and joy and peace ready to receive that promise afresh into our lives as we reflect that "nothing is impossible with God". Amen Reflection Christmas can be very messy. Now some people can be very organised and have their cards all written by the end of November; their Christmas cake made and iced; the presents all bought and wrapped. But for many of us cards are still strewn across the table, we are putting off braving the supermarkets which will be packed. Even in this Covid year, Christmas can be messy. Christmas can be messy in other ways too. Somewhere, a husband grips the hand of their wife, awaiting news of diagnosis: “Where is God,” they wonder, “in this uncertainty?” Somewhere, a family member gathers around the bed of a loved one at the end of their long journey, “Where is God,” they wonder, “in the midst of our particular grief?” Or we open the paper or pull out our phones to read the news of the week, a new strain of Covid; Brexit trade talks; children snatched away from school in Nigeria, and wonder, “Where on earth is God in all of this chaos?” Our Advent claim is that God is right here in the middle of the mess with us. And God is in the middle of the mess with Mary. The first thing the angel, Gabriel, says to Mary is “The Lord is with you.” The next thing he says, “Do not be afraid.” Gabriel assured Mary that God was with her, but little did she know how close, how real, and how vulnerable the God she would bear was willing to become. Madeleine L ’Engle, an American poet, describes the birth of Christ in a messy world: ‘He did not wait till the world was ready, till people and nations were at peace. He came when the Heavens were unsteady, and prisoners cried out for release. He did not wait for the perfect time. He came when the need was deep and great’. Year after year we gather to hear the story of Jesus’ birth even when all the world is not sane. We raise our songs throughout Advent with joyful voice because although we know sorrow and despair and uncertainty, Love has been birthed into the messiness of our world, right into the middle of it. So, if it seems hard to live into the joy of Christmas this year because of the heavy burdens you bear, or the messiness of your life or your family, or the pain of being physically distanced from those you love know this: God does not wait. God does not wait until the world is ready or for a perfect time or for perfect peace. God does not wait for pandemics to end. God does not wait for all the messes to be tidied up. God does not wait because “Jesus is being born where people need him most.” God makes God’s home in the messiest of places—a stable—in the messiest of times— under the control of the Roman Empire—and with the most ordinary of people—a teenage girl and her fiancé and the shepherds. Jesus is being born where we need him most. In the messes. In the hard places. In the dark and desperate places. In the lonely and lost places. Jesus is born into exactly those kinds of places and he spends his life with the most vulnerable and ostracized and broken-hearted of people. And it is through the birth of this child into the mess of first-century Bethlehem and into the mess of our 2020 world that compels us to proclaim: Emmanuel, God-with-us, is here. God has become one of us. And today we know that God has become one of us and is in the middle of the mess with us—face mask and all. And so we raise our songs with joyful voice, for Love has come. And for this, we say, thanks be to God. Hymn 305 – In the bleak mid-winter Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession God of love and joy, God of peace and hope, we are so grateful for these Advent gifts, which bring comfort and courage even in the most challenging times. Receive our gifts as tokens of our love and loyalty. Bless them with your grace so that they will bring love to those who need it so much this year. Bless our lives, too, so that we shine with your love, blessing others in the name of Jesus, our friend and Saviour. Spirit of Hope, whenever the world seems confusing and bleak, you pierce the darkness with light, bringing hope and vision for the way ahead. This has been a difficult and confusing year of pandemic, and so we thank you for lessons learned and changes of heart, for new discoveries and hope restored. As nature around us prepares for the long sleep of winter, we pray for those who are ill or dying, and for those who are bereaved or feel any burden of loss. (A silence is kept.) O God, reach out to all of us in Christ, and give us hope for the living of these days. O Creator of Joy, we thank you for moments of joy and celebration in our lives, for pleasure given and received, for quiet times spent in reflection and remembering, and for happy gatherings, even if they had to be small. In these colder, darker days, we remember those who feel left out or neglected, those who have found the months of pandemic restrictions a heavy burden, and those we find difficult to love, even at a distance. (A silence is kept.) Be their light and their warmth, O God, reach out to all of us in Christ, and give us joy to share in the days ahead. O Love Come Down at Christmas, you call us to live in communion with you and one another. You form us into families, circles of friendship, and communities. Today we pray for our family members, whether we’re close or estranged, for our friends, whether nearby or far away, and for neighbours who share our community, like minded or not. (A silence is kept.) Help us express both our love and concern in gentle words and kind actions. O God, reach out to all of us in Christ, and strengthen our love for you and for one another. Amen Hymn 304 – O little town of Bethlehem Benediction May the song of the Angels, the joy of the Shepherds and the peace of the Christ Child be in your hearts this Christmas and may the blessing of God Almighty, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, be with you, now and always Amen
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