St Albans and Welwyn Methodist Circuit Service for Advent Sunday – December 18, 2022
prepared by Revd Rosemary Mutopo
Call to Worship
We come to worship. We seek the love born among us in Christ Jesus. We seek the light that shines in the darkness. Shine into our lives and your world this Advent. Renew our trust in your undying love.
Advent Liturgy – 4 (for Advent 2022)
GIVE YOU A SIGN (Isaiah 7:10-16, Matthew 1:18-25)
Reader One: Isaiah said that the Lord spoke to the king and said, “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven” (Isaiah 7:11 NRSV). But when the king refused, God would not be stopped. “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14 NRSV).
Reader Two: God wants us to know, even when we aren’t sure ourselves. God wants us to experience God’s presence, even when we think we can handle life on our own. God sends us signs of God’s presence with us; all we need to do is keep our eyes open and look.
Reader One: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, ‘God is with us.’” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus (Matthew 1:23-25 NRSV).
Reader Two: We light these candles, the candle of joyous hope, of proclaimed peace, of deep everlasting joy, and today of presence that speaks of love, as a sign that no matter our circumstance, we know we are not alone.
Reader One: The candles of Hope, Peace, and Joy shine. Today, we light the candle of Love, remembering Mary’s love for her Son and God’s love for us all. (The Fourth Candle is lit)
STF 174- Light a candle in a darkened place (verse 1-5, especially verse 5)
Clare Stainsby (b. 1959)
Advent prayers
God of love, through the Virgin Mary who placed her life at the service of your plan, your eternal word took flesh on earth. You sent your Son, Jesus to shine and light the way for all who walk in darkness. May the light of Christ’s hope, peace, joy and love shine bright in us as we approach his coming, so that we may be ready to welcome him. In watchful hope, lift our minds to hear the voice which announces Christ’s glory and open our minds to receive the Spirit who prepares us for his coming. Amen.
Forgiving God, we confess our unwillingness to see the light and to walk in your ways. Forgive us when we fail to be humble like your servant Mary, in whom we see humility and obedience that is so often lacking in our own lives. Create new hearts in us so, we may walk in humility, obedience and love. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV) Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
STF 178- ‘Long ago, prophets knew’
Reflection
Today marks the beginning of the fourth week of advent as we draw closer to Christmas. This week, the main focus is on love. The great love that is unveiled by God as he sends his only begotten Son to live among us and reveal to us that God is love.
Matthew’s gospel presents the infancy narrative from Joseph’s perspective. While we generally talk about Mary’s humility and obedience, today’s gospel passage centres on Joseph’s obedience. According to the custom of those days, there were two stages for a couple to get married. First was the betrothal or a marriage contract, which could be broken only by death or divorce. This was followed by a second step sometimes a year later, often including a marriage feast, after which the groom took his wife to his home.
Today’s narrative is set between these two stages in the lives of Joseph and Mary. The first step had taken place but the second was now under threat as Mary had ‘scandalously’ fallen pregnant. The Jewish law meant death by stoning for Mary. The angel intervened assuring Joseph in a dream to go ahead with the second step of the marriage custom. It took the angel’s message to say to Joseph take Mary into your home, name the child ‘Jesus,’ raise and mentor him without minding the shame and the scandal for this was God’s will for Joseph. Joseph was to be part of this holy family.
The child born to Mary would save his people from their sins. Although Joseph was in the middle of a crisis, with his life plans being interrupted, he still trusted and obeyed God. He was a righteous man. The reading highlights the importance of obedience to God’s voice in our lives. We are called to emulate Joseph, who obeyed God’s voice and will even when things were not so clear for him.
Joseph and Mary are models for us to be faithful servants of God. Too often, we have our life planned out and when God shows us a better plan, we are too scared to give our plans up. God showed his love for us by sending his beloved son Jesus to rescue us from our sins. How are you responding to this amazing love? As we are nearing Christmas, may our ability to love each other continue to grow and may we become more attentive to God’s voice and will in our lives.
Prayers for others/ intercession
O God of love, we pray for everyone who will find Christmas preparations difficult this year as they face financial difficulties. We pray for those who are ill, bereaved, lonely and in despair; that the coming of Jesus may bring hope, peace and healing to their hearts. We pray for all in leadership- in the universal Church, in our communities and across the world. May our leaders everywhere focus their eyes on Jesus and increase in humility, compassion, wisdom, obedience and love. May they use their power to exercise justice and equality for the good of all, especially those on the margins for whom Jesus so dearly loved. May the well-being and restoration of all creation be their concern.
In your mercy Lord, hear our Prayer
Silence
We humbly pray for all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer: Our Father…
STF 187- ‘The angel Gabriel from heaven came’
| 1 The Angel Gabriel from heaven came, his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame; ‘All hail,’ said he, ‘thou lowly maiden Mary, most highly favoured lady.’ Gloria! 2 ‘For known a blessèd Mother thou shalt be, all generations laud and honour thee, thy son shall be Immanuel, by seers foretold; most highly favoured lady.’ Gloria! |
3 Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head, ‘To me be as it pleaseth God,’ she said, ‘My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name:’ most highly favoured lady. Gloria! 4 Of her, Immanuel, the Christ was born in Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn, and Christian folk throughout the world will ever say, ‘Most highly favoured lady.’ Gloria! Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) |
Blessing
During this final week of Advent, may God help us to reflect on the magnitude of love that was made manifest in Jesus, and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among us, and remain with us always. Amen.
Copyright Notices
Hymns
Hymn words where displayed are in the Public Domain.
Hymn organ recordings where used are from Small Church Music. Copyright notice: Rev. Clyde McLennan, performer in this collection, has assigned his performer rights in this collection to Hymnary.org. Non-commercial use of these recordings is permitted.
Other hymns are from YouTube and covered by YouTube copyright processes. The majority of these have been recorded by the Hatfield Road Music Group.
Bible Readings
Bible readings are from the New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Images
Images where used are from pixabay.com and free for commercial use no attribution required.
