Sunday Worship 8 December 2024
Today’s service is led by the Revd Dr Elaine Colechin
Words of Scripture
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare this ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people.”
Luke 1:76-77a
Welcome and Introduction
On this second Sunday of Advent when we are reminded of the prophets who have gone before us, grace and peace to you from God, who calls us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. I am the Revd Dr Elaine Colechin, and I currently minister in Southeast London serving Bromley United Reformed Church. I am also undertaking some Synod-directed work that is looking at the presence of the URC in one of the deprived areas of the Borough of Bromley. Much of my work focuses on social action within the community—being that physical expression of God’s love for the world. Yet, despite the saying “actions speak louder than words,” the sharing of our faith does require more than actions. We are called by God to speak as well as act. To speak like the prophets of the Old Testament, whose messages of the coming of the Messiah are a central theme for the second Sunday of Advent, does not feel appropriate in the world today. There is more than enough doom and gloom, the people do not need to hear anymore. However, when you dig down into the words of the prophets, ultimately, there is a message of hope. Therefore, how do we share that hope that comes from being in relationship with God through Jesus Christ, while drawing attention to the requirements on our side in that relationship? Our scriptures today lead us to explore these questions. First let us hear the words of the apostle Paul to the church in Philippi, as we open ourselves up to God through our worship.
Words of Scripture
I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:3-11
Hymn Angels Voices Ever Singing
Francis Pott (1861) Public Domain Sung by the One Voice Choir, Ghana
Angel voices ever singing round Thy throne of light,
angel harps, forever ringing, rest not day nor night;
thousands only live to bless Thee and confess thee Lord of might.
Yea, we know Thy love rejoices o’er each work of Thine;
Thou didst ears & hands & voices for Thy praise combine;
craftsman’s art & music’s measure for Thy pleasure didst design.
In Thy house Great God we offer of Thine own to Thee;
and for Thine acceptance proffer, all unworthily,
hearts & minds & hands & voices in our choicest Psalmody.
Honour, glory, might, and merit Thine shall ever be,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, blessed Trinity:
of the best that Thou hast given earth and heaven render Thee.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
With all of creation, mighty God, we praise and thank you
for the good news that is ours through Jesus Christ.
Thank you that through your grace
and the work of the Holy Spirit within us
we can know your love more deeply
and be inspired to share it with others.
However, we know are hearts are not always pure,
that at times we are far from our best selves
and our actions and words do not tally.
Forgive us as we sing with Zechariah
your promise to us and pray for our deliverance.
Benedictus / The Song of Zechariah
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who has come to his people and set them free.
The Lord has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through the holy prophets God promised of old
to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our forebears,
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous before him, all the days of our life.
And you child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Prayer of Supplication
Righteous God, wake us with the dawn
free from fear and doubt of the sins
that holds us back from living our best lives for you.
Unseal our lips and fill us with the Holy Spirit
so that we might praise you with our whole beings
and share that eternal hope
you have given us through Jesus Christ
who lives and reigns with you
as Saviour of all. Amen
Hymn On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry
John Chandler; Author: Charles Coffin Sung by the Grosse Pointe Memorial Church (Michigan) Virtual Choir and used with their kind permission.
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
announces that the Lord is nigh.
Awake and harken, for he brings
glad tidings of the King of kings!
Then cleansed be every life from sin:
make straight the way for God within,
and let us all our hearts prepare
for Christ to come and enter there.
We hail you as our Saviour, Lord,
our refuge and our great reward.
Without your grace we waste away
like flowers that wither and decay.
Stretch forth your hand, our health restore,
and make us rise to fall no more.
O let your face upon us shine
and fill the world with love divine.
All praise to you, eternal Son,
whose advent has our freedom won,
whom with the Father we adore,
and Holy Spirit, evermore.
Reading Malachi 3:1-4
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
Reading St Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” ’
Sermon
How prepared are you?
Advent would not be Advent if preparation was not mentioned at least once. With us being through the first full week of December, the days are quickly ticking down to making sure everything is ready for how ever we might be celebrating the big day this year. How prepared we might be feeling will soon be measurable by how many Christmas cards we have written and actually managed to send. Life, at this time of year, becomes consumed with readiness, or lack of it. However, when the prophets called the people to prepare for the coming of the Lord, do you think they meant all that exhausts us during December? Of course not, but despite the panic buying and endless lists, what we are doing is far the easiest way for us to prepare for the day of our Lord!
Now, for those of us ensconced in the life of the Church, it is very easy to come to the season of Advent and think, “here is an opportune time to tell the world about Jesus!” Therefore, we set about telling the world of the hope brought with Jesus’s birth and sharing its joy. Through Nativity plays, carol singing with mince pies and the unwrapping of the Christmas story, we stand on our chaotic streets trying to do as John the Baptist did in the wilderness—make the way to God clear, and possibly even prepare people to meet God! And there is nothing wrong with this; if we cannot tell the world about Jesus ahead of Christmas, then we have a serious problem because trying to do at Easter is even harder. But, on this second Sunday of Advent, the words of the prophets do not just suggest that it is the world that needs to be told of what Jesus’s coming was all about—the church itself needs to be reminded that Jesus will come again!
When we hear the words of the prophets Malachi and Isaiah together, they contain very similar thoughts. There will be someone who will come before God’s arrival who will prepare the people for what God will do when God comes. Also, when God comes, God will purify the land and its people, bringing justice. However, Malachi highlights a particular tribe of Israel—the tribe of Levi—those who were the priests of Israel.
A simplistic reading of the message Malachi was bringing to the people of Israel in his prophecy is that God promised a reversal of the people’s fortunes if the priesthood changed their ways. Obviously, there was more to what Malachi was saying than this—it was not just the priests at fault. They were, however, the people who looked after the physical covenant—those stone tablets on which the ten commandments were written. They were the people who, when the Temple was central to Jewish rites and rituals, ensured they were administered rightly. They were the people who should have known better and lived accordingly.
Anyone feeling a little uncomfortable on hearing this? This might sound a little harsh, but I hope those of us who see ourselves as God’s representatives through our membership of God’s church, are feeling uneasy. Just as Malachi was pointing out to the priests, our words and actions as God’s church do need to reflect one another. Do not panic, though, the glitter that we have covered Advent with does not need to be swept up and exchanged for sackcloth and ashes. However, we might need to add some camel hair, just to keep us sharp!
It was no consequence that John the Baptist was the son of a priest and, therefore, a descendent of the tribe of Levi. John may not have followed his father into the temple as would have been expected of him, but that did not mean that he did not live out that calling of a priest—one who lived faithfully in accordance with God’s covenant. Rather he did so demonstrating the shift that would come with Jesus and asking the difficult questions of everyone, including himself, about one’s readiness for that new era.
By challenging the priesthood, Malachi sets before us that no one is beyond God’s justice. In the context of the book of Malachi, God’s justice related to judgement. Malachi was saying that being a priest did not make one immune to God’s wrath. Words we seriously have to heed as the church. Justice, however, is also about how one lives—the moral code we hold to which for Malachi, Isaiah and John was God’s. Again, something that we have to take seriously as the church and not just in our preaching!
This brings us to John’s call for repentance. As we will discover next Sunday when we hear some of John’s preaching on the banks of the Jordon as recalled by the gospel writer of Luke, there is no escaping language that is condemning. We find John living up to the idea that he was not just one of the priestly people, he was a true prophet. When it comes to repentance and the world’s need for salvation, it is not hard to see how one’s passion for everyone to hear turns quickly to everyone being condemned. Here, though, as an uncomfortable church, knowing that we are as much in the wrong as everyone else, we have an advantage and the ability to change the heard rhetoric. In reflecting on are worthiness before God, we can interpret John’s words and share the compassion of God he was sharing with the people. In turn this knowledge allows us to show the way to God so that those who do not know can approach God with open hearts.
In preparation, what then does this mean for the Church?
As those in the know, both Malachi and John are, as we reflect on their words, questioning the church about how things stand between us and God. As with the temple priests and other religious leaders, the church and its members are being called to own their own imperfections. With the world, we are being asked where is God present in our lives and how are we honouring that presence?
Luckily, this self-reflection is not only encouraged in the season of Advent or what might seem more fitting, the season of Lent. In our worship, the church is encouraged to lay itself open before God and let go of what might be holding it back. We are urged to look upon the empty cross, see the open tomb and be reminded of God’s immense love and grace for all of humanity despite its imperfections and flaws. Through our worship, our readiness and willingness to let God remodel us, maybe even refine us, should be nurtured.
At the beginning of our service, we heard the apostle Paul’s prayer for the church in Philippi. Paul, as he gave thanks to God for the Church, congratulated the church in its sharing of the gospel. Yet, for the church’s welfare and its ability to keep doing what it was doing, Paul prayed for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the church’s openness so it could do better and live according to God’s justice.
How much do we, as the church, need that prayer as we take on the mantle of John to prepare the way for the coming of Christ?
This Advent, how prepared are we to own our imperfections before God? How prepared are we to hear the words of the prophets and know they are as much for us as for the rest of the world? How prepared are we to receive Christ again?
In our making ready and our excitement to share the good news of the angels, let us keep an ear open to the prophets so that we all will see the glory of God. Amen
Hymn Make way, make way, for Christ the King
Graham Kendrick © 1986, Thankyou Music Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir. Accompanied by Andrew Ellams and produced by Andrew Emison and used with their kind permission
Make way, make way!For Christ the King
in splendour arrives.
Fling wide the gates and welcome Him
into your lives
And those who mourn with heavy hearts,
who weep and sigh,
with laughter, joy and royal crown
He’ll beautify
Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
For the King of kings (For the King of kings)
Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
And let His kingdom in
He comes the broken hearts to heal;
the prisoners to free.
The deaf shall hear, the lame shall dance,
the blind shall see!
We call you now to worship Him
as Lord of all;
to have no gods before Him –
their thrones must fall!
Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
For the King of kings (For the King of kings)
Make way! (Make way!) Make way! (Make way!)
And let His kingdom in
Affirmation of Faith
‘Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great …’ yet this Advent, let us proclaim the faith of the Church universal which the coming of Christ made possible.
We believe in God as parent,
creator and protector,
root of all being.
We believe in Jesus Christ—
God in our midst—
coming as that fragile promise
of a baby yet to be born
and whose birth was heralded with hope.
Who John the Baptist announced
would turn the world upside down
seeing deep into the human heart
separating the wheat from the chaff
and the sheep from the goats.
Yet who passed through the grip of death
so all might know justice and peace—
God’s gifts of mercy and compassion
far beyond our human understanding.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
implanter of truth,
who brings us to birth as the body of Christ,
holds us together,
and empowers us to confront and transform
all that is wrong in our lives and the world
for the glory of God
who draws near, who is always near
and who promises to come near again. Amen
Prayers of Intercession
Gracious God,
as your church strives to be better,
as it endeavours to be the true example,
Jesus commissioned it to be,
of right living in you,
we pray that you will shine on those who find themselves in darkness
and in that land of shadows between life and death.
We pray for the many conflicts of this world,
for the innocent lives that are being destroyed
because of corruption, a hunger for power,
in justification of a position whether true or false.
silence
We pray for the communities of which we are a part,
for those difficult relationships, hidden realities,
the mountain which is injustice within society.
silence
We pray for all those who are ill,
close to death, grieving,
or who find themselves in one of life’s deep valleys
unable to see the way through.
silence
You call your church to be that voice in the wilderness of life,
to tell of your mercy and love, speak up for justice,
making your way in the world clear.
Therefore, we pray for all those
with political and financial power in the world;
our nation’s governments,
local councils and assemblies.
May a heart for change use knowledge wisely
to bring about equity and understanding.
silence
And we pray for ourselves as your church,
for the unconscious bias that is within us
and how that can shape our openness to the world.
As we prepare to celebrate your coming,
Jesus Christ, pour your Holy Spirit upon us
to refine our view of the world
and guide our feet on your path
leading others to a life with you and in you.
All these prayers, and many more that will go unsaid today,
we offer in and through the prayer you taught the disciples
which as your church we pray together:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen
Offertory
Aware of God’s power — God’s ability to change hearts and minds—
we prepare to make our offering to God.
Refining God, you can take all that we offer
and turn it into something better.
Though what we bring might feel limited, not worthy of your greatness,
as we prepare the world and ourselves for your coming,
make these offerings mighty proclaiming your glory for all
through Jesus Christ. Amen
Hymn Hills of the North, Rejoice
Charles Earnest Oakley public domain performed by Ruth and Joy Everingham and used with their kind permission.
Hills of the North, rejoice,
river and mountain-spring,
hark to the advent voice;
valley and lowland, sing.
Christ comes in righteousness and love,
he brings salvation from above.
Isles of the Southern seas,
sing to the listening earth,
carry on every breeze
hope of a world’s new birth:
in Christ shall all be made anew,
his word is sure, his promise true.
Lands of the east, arise,
he is your brightest morn,
greet him with joyous eyes,
let praise his path adorn:
your seers have longed to know their Lord;
to you he comes, the final word.
Shores of the utmost West,
lands of the setting sun,
welcome the heavenly guest
in whom the dawn has come:
he brings a never-ending light
who triumphed o’er our darkest night.
Shout, as you journey home,
songs be in every mouth,
lo, from the North they come,
from East and West and South:
in Jesus all shall find their rest,
in him the universe be blest.
Dismissal and Blessing
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way, to give knowledge of salvation to all people.
Go then, with God’s call ringing in your ears and hearts open to God’s leading ready and willing to share your knowledge of Christ with all whom you meet.
And the blessing of God, who is eternal, incarnate and abiding,
go with you and remain with you this Advent and beyond. Amen