8 am Holy Communion led by Revd David Commander 10am Morning Worship led by Richard & Sue Fisher
ScriptureSo this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 - The Message Bible)ReflectionLove is…not what we expect. Not just warm feelings, as we think when we are young and keen. If it should have meaning, and if it should have lasting value, it needs to be tempered, to be tested and tried, much like a piece of metal in a furnace. Another reading for this Sunday comes from the prophet Malachi, who says of the One who is to come, that ‘he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver’ (Malachi 3:3). God in Jesus, who is Love through and through, teaches us to live a life of love, fruitful and abundant, overflowing in goodness, but also full of discerning wisdom, being able to see the truth and act accordingly.Revd Ylva
Advent Sunday prayer:O Lord our God, make us watchful and keep us faithful as we await the coming of your Son our Lord; that, when he shall appear, he may not find us sleeping in sin but active in his service and joyful in his praise; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</font>ReflectionAdvent is a season of expectation and preparation; a season of hope and of joy. Part of the expectation and the preparation is, of course, for Christmas; preparing ourselves for the joy of remembering not just Jesus born a baby, but God come down to live on earth. Another part of the preparation is shown in the prayer: Jesus is coming again. We have been promised that; are we ready?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">For both of these wonderful events – Christmas and Jesus coming again – there is great hope and joy. Right now though, with all the news about Covid variants, it can be hard to feel hope and joy! But maybe if we can say and mean the Aramaic word, </span>“Maranatha” <span style="font-size: 1rem;">– </span>“Our Lord, come”<span style="font-size: 1rem;">….come into my life - then, despite the anxieties we will know the hope and joy of Jesus Christ in our daily lives; and we can then say </span>“Amen”<span style="font-size: 1rem;"> to this prayer.</span>Revd David
Reflection: Sunday 21st November and for the week ahead:The Collect for today, the last Sunday before Advent, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Reflection:The opening words of the Collect have given this Sunday the nickname of ‘Stir up Sunday’, traditionally the time to make the Christmas pudding. I still have the large pudding I made for last Christmas, when Covid restrictions prevented my scattered family from joining us. At least by now it must be well and truly matured! So no need for me to stir this year.But I still pray to be stirred. According to the Collect it’s not unbelievers but God’s faithful people who need to be stirred up, rescued from apathy, energised, renewed. The gift of faith brings with it a call to action. We pray that God will take our will, so that we may come to want what God wants. To be blessed in this way is itself our ‘plenteous reward’.Revd Rosemary Kobus van Wengen
