Service 11th December 2022, Advent 3, Luke 1v46-55,

Take us to Bethlehem, House of Bread

Where the hungry are filled 

And the satisfied sent empty away

Where the poor find riches 

And the rich recognize their poverty

And all who worship are filled with awe.

 

Song  “Canticle of the turning”

https://youtu.be/F9QeTmRCpW4

 

When the light is low

Kindle in us hope, compassion, breathing life into the

The embers of our lives

Fire in our beings

Resolve in our souls.

 

The candle is lit.

 

We light a candle for light, sending our

prayers high into the inky heavens and

dreams deep into our human soul.

 

We light a candle for light. May it light our way.

 

We say the Lords Prayer in our own language

 

Reflection on Luke 1v46-55

 

On this Sunday we remember Mary, chosen by God to give birth to Jesus. Mary was a young girl probably a teenager. She suddenly finds herself pregnant and visited by angels. It was potentially a bad day!  But the child she is carrying is destined to fulfil the prophesies concerning the Jewish Messiah. He will change history and be a beacon for those who are oppressed, a standard for all to live by in opposition to the standards of society. She knew it was going to be hard and she was very young. In her life she had some hard journeys to make. 

 

Mary went to stay with her cousin Elizabeth who also was expecting a baby but was further advanced in her pregnancy. She went to a town in the hill country of Judea. The Song of Mary is in the form of a hymn of praise directed to God for his kindness toward Mary, with particular reference to remnant Israel and reflecting the Old Testament sense of God's covenant loyalty and loving kindness toward Israel, his hesed, (Heb., his faithful love). To those who acknowledge God's position and authority, his mercy will extend to all people in all ages.  Mary stayed approximately three months, probably until the birth of John (the Baptist).

 

There will be light in the darkness for Gods people, because as the passage goes on to say a child will be born who will save the people. This child, this Jesus. And so like the rest of the church throughout the world we are waiting this Advent time for that child to be born again, in our hearts, in our lives, in our communities, our countries. God with us. Immanuel.

 

Some of us have travelled long journeys away from our place of birth to where we are today. Some of us have travelled hard journeys.

 

Mary knew what her son's birth was meant to bring and the message the angel gave to Mary was a manifesto, an agenda.  The Magnificat sung by Mary as she carries the baby born to be such an important person in human history, gives us hope of material relief from poverty. We know from Matthew that Joseph, thinking the worst, planned to divorce her. It's a story with ominous beginnings. A story of crisis. Many of us have our own crisis this Christmas. 

 

So the Christmas story begins with shame, the shame of a pregnant unmarried mother and an imminent divorce. It goes on to release its power through the childless, the dumb, the poor. This Christmas they are all with us. Those who are vulnerable because they are women or young or powerless, homeless, refugees. It is to these and to us that the Christ light gives hope, lifting up the lowly, proclaiming release to the captives. God is with us.

 

May this Christmas be a vehicle, a carrier of hope for us all to feed our spirits and our imaginations and to inspire us, with the angel’s message, to bring good news and peace on earth.

 

This week take time and space to be still before God, and the God of Hope, the God of Light will be with you, and you will know it by the peace in your heart. And of such stuff are dreams made of and of such stuff is the journey that as Christians we embark on when we decide to truly follow the Light of All Lights. Amen

 

We pray for those who have no money, no food and no home today.

For those far from home in a strange country

For those experiencing war and hatred 

Especially the children.

The poor of our world are thirsty for justice

Our God is thirsty for justice.

May we bring it to pass. Amen

 

Song “The Angel Gabriel to Mary came”

https://youtu.be/Lg-poKtEAPs

 

Come to us Holy one

shatter our coldness

Whisper through our lives

Scatter the darkness

Be born in us today.

 

Advent 3

The Old Testament prophets spoke of a return to God and to keeping Gods laws as a basis for living in peace, peace with God, with one another and themselves. When God’s people wander away from their true calling, and forget the plight of others, they become aimless and empty, and their souls are not fed. Only God can satisfy the hungry soul, and so Gods prophets cry in the emptiness and chaos, because in their hearts is a dream which refuses to die. Isaiah speaks of a light in the darkness. Its an everlasting promise, there will be light in the darkness for Gods people, because as the prophets say a child will be born who will save the people.

And so like the rest of the church throughout the world we are waiting for that child to be born again in our hearts, in our lives, in our communities, God with us. And so the preparation is a spiritual one, we turn to God to put ourselves in order, much as a confession before receiving communion, in order to be ready for the coming of Christ in our own lives. The Christmas festival is symbolised by light, a light shining in darkness and the coming of hope. The story of the coming of Christ is a vehicle, a carrier of hope for us all to feed our spirits and our imaginations.

On this the third Sunday of the season of Advent we traditionally remember John the Baptist and his call to repentance. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia and it means a change of direction. We are not concerned with a superficial change. We are being asked to stop doing what is destructive.

The passage in John reminds us of the symbiotic relation of God to the incarnation. This is God with us, born as a human being suffering as we suffer. Today this message challenges us to live lives according to gospel values rather than those of the society that surrounds us. God given hope is not optimism, or sentimentality, based on ignorance or naivite. It is based quite simply in a trust in God., the God who brings light into darkness. and speaks to us.

This Christmas there will be no hope in the noisy shopping rituals and the exchange of presents if there is not also a humbling, a waiting, a vulnerability, to Christ’s coming again, the perspective of God with us-Immanuel, can change us, forever, completely. For many of us we need to feel the brush of angels wings and the whisper of hope this Advent, this waiting time, to give our lives to Christ, knowing our own inadequacies and failings and by the presence of the Holy Spirit living a new and changed life.