GATHERING THE PEOPLE
Welcome and Announcements
Opening Song
Diana Butler Bass is an American theologian and historian of Christianity, who has a newsletter/think-tank/retreat on sub-stack called The Cottage. This year she provided a virtual Advent calendar with a new soundbite each day. Let’s enjoy the first one, from singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer: https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/advent-calendar-december-2
Diana writes about this song, “I loved the line, ‘Now the old has already passed away, but the new is too new to be born today.’ That’s Advent for you.”
Intro to Advent
Welcome to the third Sunday in Advent, the third Sunday of the liturgical year. The turning from one year to the next is often a time of reflection, both on what has been and what is anticipated in the future.
Advent is a time when we intentionally look with anticipation to the celebration of Christmas. This Sunday is the one designated “Joy”.
It doesn’t matter whether you are joy-filled or joy-less: whether or not you are cynical or despairing, what matters to God is simply that you are here.
We are entering the time of Advent,
in preparation for Christmas.
We need to make the space in our lives where love might be born and flourish.
The season of Advent challenges us
to see God’s vision of what is yet to be,
to hear God’s voice calling anew,
to smell the scent of God in our world.
Our advent candle wreath this year is deliberately not perfect. It is not symmetrical or straight or coordinating. The colours don’t match, and the candles are not new. Why? Each Advent we think about the 4 messages of Hope, Joy, Peace and Love. But as we looked at our lives, our community and the World, a perfect wreath or perfect candles seemed out of place and insincere. So this year we have a crooked, mismatched, imperfect Advent candle wreath representing the reality of our world and the reality of our lives that we bring to Christ this Christmas.
Acknowledgement of country
Since time immemorial, the Indigenous people have been caring for this land. They watched for the seasons, knowing when to harvest and when to plant, knowing when to stay and when to move, knowing how to read the signs of the time. As we gather this morning, we acknowledge the wisdom of the traditional owners of this land, the Dharawal people. We pay our respects to their elders, past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded.
Together: We commit to listening to Indigenous wisdom and walking together for truth, reconciliation and justice for all.
Let us light the Advent candle of joy, and hear the call to worship:
Call to worship
Today and every day,
God calls us into community.
With each other and all of creation,
God calls us into community.
We gather in the hope and peace and joy of God.
We gather in the love of the great creator.
God calls us into community.
Let us worship.
Prayer Of Invocation/Welcome
God of all, remind us today
that your divine energy animates all of creation
– a creation that you declared to be good and very good.
Remind us that your love
is what gives each of us life in this very moment.
We come to worship together
knowing that you are here with us and in us,
that you have been present in this place for all eternity.
We come in great hope.
Amen.
Hymn/Song: Christ, be our light (Farrell/Brownstead)
Longing for light, we wait in darkness.
Longing for truth, we turn to you.
Make us your own, your holy people,
Light for the world to see.
Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts, Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light! Shine in your church gathered today
Longing for peace, our world is troubled.
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has pow’r to save us.
Make us your living voice.
Longing for food, many are hungry.
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us your bread, broken for others,
Shared until all are fed. (chorus)
Longing for peace, our world is troubled.
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has pow’r to save us.
Make us your living voice
Longing for shelter, many are homeless.
Longing for warmth, many are cold.
Make us your building, sheltering others,
walls made of living stone. (chorus)
Many the gifts, many the people,
many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another,
making your kingdom come. (chorus)
Poem 1: Joy Chose You (read by …)
Reader: This poem is called “Joy Chose You”, and is by Donna Ashworth, a best-selling Scottish poet and author.
Joy does not arrive with a fanfare
on a red carpet
strewn with the flowers of a perfect life
joy sneaks in
as you pour a cup of coffee
watching the sunlight hit your favourite tree,
just right
and you usher joy away
because you are not ready for her
your house is not as it should be for such a distinguished guest
but joy cares nothing for your messy home
or your bank-balance, or your waistline, you see
joy is supposed to slither
through the cracks of your imperfect life
that’s how joy works
you cannot truly invite her
you can only be ready when she appears
and hug her with meaning
because in this very moment
joy chose you
Prayer of adoration and confession
God, those who listened to John the baptiser repeatedly asked
‘What should we do?’
His answers were the answers we must all give
if we are to be followers of the way of Christ:
that we are all one community
and must live with and act toward each other as family.
We know this to be true, God.
We know that when we live the lie
that we are only separated out individuals,
that we are not one, connected, interdependent family,
then we build barriers against each other.
When we do this, we all suffer, and Earth suffers.
We have a bitter history of violence
that has torn us apart over and over again.
We know, too, the great truth that we are one – one community, one creation.
And we know so well how far we are from doing the simple things of sharing from our abundance, of treating each other as kin, of living as Jesus.
Forgive us, we pray. Amen.
Words of Assurance/Affirmation
The apostle Paul said: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Friends, let us hear these words. The Lord is near! We are loved! We are forgiven!
Thanks be to God.
HEARING THE WORD
Readings
Let us pray: God, please open our ears and minds and hearts so that as we hear the words of the Bible, you will speak to us and bring us new life.
Reading 1: Philippians 4:4-7
Reading 2: Luke 3: 7-18
Reader: Through these readings we hear God speak.
All: Thank you, God, for your words of life.
Hymn: Come to be our hope Lord Jesus (Text by Jaci Maraschin, 1929-2009; tune by Marcilio de Oliveira Filho)
In his work as a priest and pastor of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, he was simultaneously an educator, theologian, writer, poet, musician, and composer. He studied music in Brazil, completed a doctorate in religious studies in Paris, and studied Gregorian chants in New York, and was probably the most prolific hymn writer in Brazilian christianity.
Alongside traditional Christian virtues – humility, hope, kindness, innocence – the selected songs align the protest against social injustice, the affirmation of freedom, the fight against oppression and the call for Christians to unite in the name of the gospel in an expression of faith committed to love for one’s neighbor and to goodness. He wrote, “Instead of the old emphasis on life after death in visions of heavenly glories, we strive to sing our commitment to the earth, singing from it, knowing that it is the same earth created by God and chosen by him for the incarnation of his Son.”
Come to be our hope O Jesus, come to set your people free. From oppression, come release us, grant us your true liberty.
Come release from every prison those who suffer in our land, In your love we find the reason still to live and understand.
Come to build your new creation through the road of servanthood, give new life to every nation, changing evil into good.
Come and open our tomorrow for your joyful reign so near, Take away all human sorrow, give us hope against our fear.
Sermon/Reflection Rev Bill Loader, via Project Reconnect: “Not Getting into Hot Water” https://projectreconnect.com.au/2024/11/20/15th-december-2024-year-c-advent-3-not-getting-into-hot-water
RESPONDING TO THE WORD
Prayer
God of love, the prophet calls on us to: ‘draw water from the wells of salvation,’ and to do so in joy. We know that the well of your salvation and rescue is deep and inexhaustible.
We know that when our lives are parched and dry, you offer us refreshment, restoration, and re-creation. You give us the living water that constantly bubbles up in and around us. For your great, abundant, never-ending, life-giving, life-sustaining gifts, we are forever thankful, and we rejoice. Amen.
Poem 2: Heaven is here – Joy
Reader: This poem is called “Heaven is here – Joy” and it is by American Madison Morrigan
“I was convinced life was meant to be hard.
Relationships – like sandpaper
Joy – fleeting
Pleasure – sinful
My body – bad
Ease – not to be trusted
Rest – earned
I crumpled up those beliefs, threw them in the fire,
watched them burn bright until they were nothing,
and began again to claim my joy.
I choose to believe Heaven was always here.”
Offertory prayer
“Thank you to everyone as you bring your gifts of loving service and financial support through online giving. If you prefer to use cash, it can be placed in the wooden box at the back, and you can also make one-off donations via the QR code on the box.“
Let us pray:
Do not worry about anything.
Do not worry about anything.
Do not worry about anything.
God is with us.
God of everything, we bring everything in our lives to you.
All: All we have is yours.
We bring all our lives to you, asking that you use this money, our time, and our energy to your kingdom –
All: your world, alive and present. Amen.
Hymn: Comfort Comfort, by Robin Mann
Chorus: Comfort comfort all My people, With the comfort of My Word
Speak it tender to My people, All your sins are taken away
Though your tears be rivers running
Though your tears be an ocean full
Though you cry with the hurt of living
Comfort comfort
Every valley shall be lifted
Every mountain shall be low
Every rough place will be smoother
Comfort comfort
Though your eyes see only darkness
Though your eyes can see no light
Though your eyes see pain and sorrow
Comfort comfort
Every night will have its morning
Every pain will have an end
Every burden will be lightened
Comfort comfort
Though we fracture God’s creation
Though we stand so far apart
Though we fail to love each other
Comfort comfort
Every wall will crack and crumble
Every stranger will be friend
Every one embrace another
Comfort comfort
CCLI Song # 1271882 Robin Mann © 1975 Mann, Robin For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI License # 31951
Prayers of the people Sarah D
Gracious God,
in this time of waiting and listening,
may we be alert to the words of scripture.
The words that call us to repent,
the words that call us to see injustice,
the words that call us to speak truth.
Please help us to hear the message of hope.
Loving God,
in this time of preparation,
may we be thoughtful about what we are preparing for.
May we be open to your guidance.
May we be open to your grace.
May we be open to your love.
Please help us to share your grace and love with those around us.
Merciful God,
at this time when life is often so busy,
may we be conscious of taking time to breathe in your peace.
May we give ourselves and others permission to rest.
May we resist the temptation to get caught in the rush.
May we let go of demands that are not important.
Please help us to have clarity about the importance of the words we use,
and help us to choose words of justice and righteousness.
In Jesus’ name, we pray,
Amen.
Sarah: Some weeks we recite a traditional version of the Lord’s Prayer and other weeks we try out a paraphrase. These different versions can help us think about the words more, what they mean to us. Today we are going to do both! Everyone on this side of the church is side 1, and everyone on this side is side 2. When we read the words on the screen in turn, we’ll have a traditional version side-by-side with a new expression. This one was written for a retreat by an Order of Dominican Sisters in 1993 in Kansas.
Poem 3: (read by Narelle and/or Tim)
Reader: Our last poem today is by Rabindranath Tagore, a writer, composer, artist, philosopher and poet of the Bengali Renaissance. It’s not very long but it contains joy.
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted, and behold, service was joy.”
Benediction
God calls us to life. God calls us to be a community of life. God calls us to be people who are life-givers.
Let us go our way today seeking peace, living in hope, being gentle to each other and ourselves and living full of life.
Let us go our way rejoicing because the Lord is near.
Benediction Song.
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