Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ‘I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. I declare that your steadfast love is established for ever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.’ (Psalm 89:1-2)Hymn: Tell out, my soul...2 Samuel 7:1-11,16; Romans 16:25-27When the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore in the light of Christ let us confess our sins: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.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.Prayer for the day: God our redeemer, who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of your Son: grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour, so we may be ready to greet him when he comes again as our judge; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.Luke 1:26-38 Please see the message from the minister.Let us join in prayer, asking for the light of the Lord to be known to everyone: We pray for the Church throughout the world, that people will know and share God’s love; We pray for our planet, that all of its creatures will thrive, and work together in peace; We pray for our friends, families and neighbours, that relationships will be strong;We pray for people who are sick or suffering, that they will know Christ’s healing presence;We pray for those who have been bereaved, that they will be held and comforted.Let us pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in the prayer that Jesus taught us: 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.Hymn: O come, O come, Emmanuel...May Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon us, scatter the darkness from before our path, and make us ready to meet him when he comes in glory; and may the blessing of God Almighty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and remain with us always.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
Advent, as we’ve heard over the last couple of weeks, is a time to prepare ourselves for the day when Jesus comes. We’ve recalled the example of the patriarchs and prophets, and now we come to John the Baptist. So who was John? What can we learn from him?John the Baptist is spoken of in all four of the gospels. Mark’s gospel includes John in chapter one, and so does John’s as we heard in our reading. He was an important figure, a man of influence, an essential character in the story of Jesus, and yet he didn’t big himself up. Quite the opposite was true - he prepared the way of the Lord, as he was called to do, and then not only did he back off gracefully, but he became a martyr for speaking out. He did speak out quite vociferously! He upset the authorities. He challenged Herod, upsetting his wife (Mark 6:18,19). He called the Pharisees and Sadducees a ‘brood of vipers’. (Matthew (3:7). John’s father was a temple priest in the order of Abijah - this was one of the orders of Levites set up by King David to look after the temple he intended to build. John’s mother was a Levite too, descended from Aaron. And so he was from the priestly ancestry of the patriarch Jacob. He was a prophet too, proclaiming the words given to him by God, some of which were from the scriptures, particularly from the prophet Isaiah.Prophecy isn’t only about foretelling the future. Everything we are given by God to pass on to other people is prophecy. We’ve all been asked to pray that this year will be a prophetic one in our diocese of Norwich.The angel Gabriel told John’s father that the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit of God even before he’d been born. He was never to drink wine or strong drink. John lived in the wilderness. He wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. This was not a comfortable lifestyle, he must have been very self-disciplined. Over the centuries, God had sent prophets to call the people to task when they went astray. John the Baptist reminded the people of that, through his appearance, lifestyle and words. He proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and used water as a symbol for the spiritual cleansing people would receive if they confessed and changed their ways. They went out to him, in their droves, to accept, surely knowing that they hadn’t been doing what was right in God’s eyes - not sharing their resources, not caring for their fellow human beings. Tax collectors had been over-charging people. Soldiers had been threatening people or falsely accusing them, to extort money.The people were also filled with expectation as they had been promised by God through the prophets a Messiah, an anointed King. Was it John? No. John made it clear that he was the messenger, the front runner who had come to announce the good news that the king was near, so get ready.On the one hand, then, we see the people reflecting upon their own lives, recognising their wrongdoing and changing their ways as they face the future prospect of the day of the Lord. On the other hand, they’re excited at the good news of the coming of a powerful king, sent by God. These two aspects remain with us. They stand hand in hand through the Advent season. It’s a time of preparation, and a time of anticipation for all of us.So - what can we learn from John the Baptist?We might follow his example of courage, speaking out loudly and clearly against those who are harming others: encouraging repentance, influencing others for the good, teaching people the right way to behave, preparing the way for the coming of Christ.We might follow his example of humility, being ready to bow before Jesus and to accept his service graciously. We might follow his example of self-control, living a simple life which works with the natural environment we find ourselves in. We might follow his example of readiness to listen to God and the words of the scriptures, and to pass on what we are given by the Holy Spirit in a prophetic way, one which glorifies God and not ourselves.We might follow his example by telling people the good news about Jesus, encouraging them to see for themselves, to accept him into their lives, and to be baptised or confirmed. This would not be the baptism by water alone which John offered, but the baptism of the one who calls us, the one who is faithful, the one who came to us 2000 years ago, who is with us now, and who will be with us, the one whose sandals we are not worthy to tie, the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit and with fire, the one who invites every one of us to feast at the table with Him - the one John the Baptist was sent to proclaim, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.Julie Rubidge, Lay Minister
Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ‘May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.’ (Psalm 126:5,6)Hymn: Hail to the Lord’s Anointed...Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24When the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore in the light of Christ let us confess our sins: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.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.Prayer for the day: 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.John 1:6-8, 19-28 Please see the message from the minister.Let us join in prayer, asking for the light of the Lord to be known to everyone: We pray for the Church throughout the world, that people will know and share God’s love; We pray for our planet, that all of its creatures will thrive, and work together in peace; We pray for our friends, families and neighbours, that relationships will be strong;We pray for people who are sick or suffering, that they will know Christ’s healing presence;We pray for those who have been bereaved, that they will be held and comforted.Let us pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in the prayer that Jesus taught us: 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.Hymn: Hark, my soul, it is the Lord...May Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon us, scatter the darkness from before our path, and make us ready to meet him when he comes in glory; and may the blessing of God Almighty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and remain with us always.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
The gospel according to Jesus Christ presents us with a radical and inconvenient truth - ‘All are welcome!’ There is an inclusivity that is formed by the breath of the Holy Spirit and exemplified in the crucified Christ who dared to say, ‘You belong.’Belonging is a deep psychological, emotional and social need. We all want to belong and we all need to feel safe. At this point and as we move towards Christmas, it may be helpful to remember the image of a welcoming table set before us. Think of the table where Abraham welcomed and ate with three visitors in Genesis 18; the table at which Jesus ate his final meal and at which he washed the disciples’ feet; the table we gather around to celebrate Holy Communion in the breaking of bread. Sadly, there are always those people who like to think of the table as a place where only a select few are welcome, a place where another select group has deemed us worthy of belonging, or not.We can all probably recall instances of exclusivity that do not chime with the truth rooted in the transformation of the wilderness of our human failings into the fertile ground of God’s welcome. We read in Isaiah 40 of the ‘herald of good tidings’, the good news for which we should all lift up our voices. The displacement of exile is referenced by Isaiah, but there is good news too. As one commentator writes: ‘Jerusalem is the place of divine self-revelation.’ It is the place where Jesus died, was buried and rose again. These historical moments capture a transcendental reality: at the table of the Last Supper, here is our God. The integrity of the table, therefore, has not been set by us. It is not up to us to decide who can be at the table and who should stand aside. Our job is to protect and promote the integrity of the table.In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, we anticipate meeting this Jesus. Mark’s Gospel is like listening to and watching a mini-series on the telly, written in a fast-paced Greek that isn’t necessarily sophisticated, but it is very real and captivating. The beginning of Mark’s Gospel echoes the passage from Isaiah. John the Baptist is introduced with a mix of references from the Hebrew Bible, speaking to the hopes of the Jewish people at the time. Mark moves us out of Jerusalem only for John the Baptist to point us back towards it, towards a sense of exilic return to the source of all life and the source of all love. Jesus is not even on the scene yet, but we know he is not coming alone: ‘He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit’ (Mark 1. 1-8). We are asked to get ready; we are asked to watch and wait.And so we come back to Advent, to the deep questioning of our relationship in, and with, time during this season of reflection. We recognise that our place at the table of this eternal banquet has been prepared and remains through time and space. We celebrate with confidence that the invitation is authentic and the calling to be at the table is constant and consistent. We come to this table through pain, suffering, and rejection, and loss, loneliness and labelling, betrayal and anger. And Jesus gets all of that because he lived through these experiences too.The Church still has much to learn, so much for which to repent and lament, and so much work to do to remember that the news is good, that the good news is Jesus Christ, and that his table is a non-negotiable space of belonging. As we, the Church, preach the gospel we need to think about the effect our words and interpretations have on others. As we preach Jesus Christ crucified, we preach about the table, and the resurrection and the life.God knows it is not easy to be a follower of Christ, but encourages us to hold onto the image from Isaiah 40. We worship a God who is safe and steady, loving, kind and understanding. We worship a God who is absolutely inclusive, presiding at a table where all are welcome, whoever you are. We can come home to God at the table and relax, because God will feed us through the love, light and healing of his Son. It is here we all belong. This is our feast, this is our fire, this is our resting place.With Advent blessings,Christian
