 We welcome everyone to our services at Yetholm (10am) and Linton (11.15am) on the First Sunday of Advent.
Hymn 284 – Hope is the candle (v1) - Lighting of Advent Crown A candle burns, the sign of our hope. In the darkness of our world we dare to hope. God of hope, come to us again this Advent. May your hope live within us, burning as a light in our lives. Call to Worship The nights are long and the days are short, And so we wait for Jesus. The heavens are trembling with anticipation, And so we wait for Jesus. Our redemption is drawing near, And so we wait for Jesus. Let us put our hope in God as we prepare to welcome the birth of new life once more. Hymn 273 – O come, o come Emmanuel Prayer of Adoration and Confession Creator God, You made the heavens and the earth. You set the planets in their courses, lit the sun with fire, caused the stars to shine and the world to turn. Life springs up wherever your breath moves. In Jesus Christ, you brought hope into a world full of fear and despair. You sent your Spirit to enliven our hope and guide us on the way. Now we wait in anxious times for the world to be made new. Move in us and in all your creation to bring forth new life, while we wait with hope in your grace and goodness. Redeeming God, We confess that waiting is difficult when the world around us is on edge. We are impatient with each other, waiting for someone to make a difference. We are impatient with you, O God, waiting for a sign that things will improve. Forgive us, O God. Turn our hearts to you again and again, and show us how to act in hope for Jesus’ sake. Hear the Good News! There is nothing we have done, nothing we will ever do, that can separate us from the love of God made known in Jesus Christ. Take hope in this love, and live as forgiven and forgiving people. Lord’s Prayer Readings – Isaiah 64:1-9 (Pg 750) Mark 13:24-37 (pg 1019) Hymn 543 – Longing for light (1,2,5) Weekly Prayer Almighty God, as we come before you at the start of the Season of Advent, we ask you to prepare us for the coming of your son Jesus Christ. We thank You for your word which will never pass away, and as your people, we pray in faith for the needs of the Church and the world. Amen Sermon The newspapers can make a depressing read. In fact, when the news comes on the television, I sometimes switch it off. The war in Ukraine goes on, and lives are lost. Snow has come to that area, and the soldiers, and indeed everyone else, must be miserable. But somehow the world’s attention has now switched to the Middle East and what has been happening in Gaza. There has been joy this week at hostages and prisoners being released, but still the future still seems gloomy. Bombing, disease, more suffering seems to be just on hold, and no-one seems to have a clue at what will happen afterwards. Meanwhile those of us who zoomed in to the Christian Aid event on Monday saw horrific treatment of Palestinians on the West Bank by Israeli settlers. The world leaders seem powerless. If only God could just come down and solve Gaza and the whole Middle East problem. If only God could come and bring Ukraine and Russia to peace and end the suffering. In Isaiah the prophet addressed God, ‘O that you would rend the heavens and come down’. We look at the wars of our world, the climate crisis with COP meeting now, the mass movements of people, the rising prices and want something to be done and, not surprisingly, we don’t have much confidence in our political leaders and so, as people of faith, we want God to intervene. Even in our personal lives, we see people struggling to get by; others who have received knocks regarding their health. It can be a depressing world. O that you would rend the heavens and come down, O Lord. Solve our problems! This part of Isaiah was written when some of the Jews living in exile in Babylon were allowed to return to Palestine and rebuild Jerusalem. Their dreams had been answered, but the reality was very different from their dreams. There seemed to be so many problems. The area was still devastated, and other people had moved in. Those who had remained in Jerusalem resented those who came back from Babylon. They cried out, Lord, tear open the heavens and come down, solve our problems, wave your magic wand. But of course, God doesn’t act like that. The people of Isaiah’s time even cited how God had acted before, had heard the cries of oppressed in Egypt and sent Moses to lead them to the Promised land. Why not now? It is a common cry. Mark was writing his Gospel to the early Christians, and they were going through all sorts of horrors of persecution, who were crying out for the Lord to come and bring judgement and better times. This part of Mark is called the Little Apocalypse, which used imagery of a cosmic struggle between good and evil and the coming of the Lord. This is the first Sunday of Advent, and Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas, but also, not so cosily, to look to Christ’s coming in glory at the end of time, when all will be resolved. We light our Advent candles, and the first of the candles is Hope, and hope is a precious thing. And in our passages, we are given two pictures of hope. The first, in the Isaiah reading, is of God as the potter, making us of his clay, and we are precious in his sight. You could say we were God’s masterpiece, but… pottery can be broken. It is so easy to drop a cherished dish or mug. AS the Cop representatives in Dubai are very aware, the earth is fragile, and can often be broken – treat with care. But as human beings we are also broken; sin has broken us. We need the Advent message; we need the Advent hope, and so God comes to be born among us to redeem us and redeem our world. There is a hymn: ‘We lay our broken world in sorrow at your feet.. we bring our broken selves, confused and closed and tired – but to unite us all in you, you lived and loved and died. We are broken, but the potter can remake us. The other image of hope is in the Gospel – that of the fig tree. Jesus says to look to the fig tree for signs of blossoming. The leaves are a sign that good things are coming. Just as our gardens in winter look pretty bleak, but underground the plants prepare themselves for Spring. Hope is there, if we but look. 1st December is World AIDS day. AIDS was a death sentence in Zambia when I was there and decimated the population, but once the stigma was broken by people like the former president Kenneth Kaunda, people were very supportive. Now drugs give a life line. Life and Work tells the story of a pastor’s daughter in Bolivia, who was raped and later discovered that she was HIV+. She told her family who were supportive. She told the church with trepidation, but they were supportive. She has been the figurehead of the AIDS movement in Bolivia and a symbol for hope. We are surrounded by Bad news, but Advent is a time of hope. Let us wait and watch, for hope is ever at hand. Hymn 339 – Sing of Andrew Prayers of Dedication and Intercession The first Sunday in Advent celebrates God’s gift of hope. It is not easy to be hopeful in stressful times. But God’s steadfast presence gives us the courage to hope. So we offer whatever we have to share, knowing our gifts can spread hope in the world God loves by touching lives in Jesus’ name. God of hope, we offer you our gifts, knowing you can do with them more than we can ask or imagine. Bless what we offer as tangible signs of your love at work in a world on edge, and as symbols of the hope we share in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Friend. Amen. Merciful God, We thank you for the light you shine into our lives as we wait on the coming of the Christ Child this year. The signs of our times are worrisome. The earth itself groans in pain, and people have grown suspicious of each other. As the days grow shorter and the nights, longer, comfort those who dread the short days and direct any who have lost their way. Wherever people feel overwhelmed by the demands of this season, let them catch a glimpse of your brilliance. Generous God, we remember that the days leading up to Christmas are difficult for many, year by year. We pray for those who are hungry and cold, stressed by rising costs all around. Alert us to ways to help those in our community and beyond whose cupboards are bare. Warm them with your love. We pray for those who are grieving. Make us patient, compassionate companions to those in mourning, even when we’re not sure what to say. Fill sorrowing hearts with your comforting presence. We give thanks for all the folks who quietly go about their daily work as they support and care for those living with HIV and AIDS. We rejoice with the voices raised in communities around the world who seek a fair and just life for all. On this World AIDS Sunday we we continue to pray for all who are infected and affected and those who lead their community response from the grass roots. We pray for those who feel like the world is ending; for whose lives have been uprooted by fire, flood, or storm, and for those who worry about the future of the earth itself. Steady us amid the upheavals around us and remind us that your steadfast love will see us through. Help us trust in you, no matter what is happening. Amen Hymn 477 – Lo he comes with clouds descending Benediction Go in hope this day and keep awake! Watch for signs of God at work around you and within you. Look for opportunities to serve others in Jesus’ name. The blessing….
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