Do You Love Me? Reflections on the Baptism of Christ

 

Do You Love Me?

Reflections on the Baptism of Christ

 

RCL Baptism of Christ C

12 January 2025

 

Church of the Epiphany

Surrey BC

 

         As I was preparing for today’s sermon, I had an idea for a book title – The Gospel according to Broadway.  When I was growing up, Broadway musicals were a regular feature of the music life of my family.  Paula and I brought a shared loved of musicals into our own family life.  Just get our three children together and, with the right incentive, you’ll get a performance of Cats or A Muppets’ Christmas Carol staged right in front of you.

 

         One of my favourite musicals is The Fiddler on the Roof.  It tells the story of Anatevka, a Jewish village in Czarist Russia before the upheavals of World War I and the Communist Revolution of 1917.  Despite its setting, the themes of the musical touch on things that are not so foreign to us:

·      religious persecution of minorities,

·      ethnic cleansing,

·      political repression and violence,

·      social and economic inequality,

·      the tension between tradition and modernity.

 

         Early in the musical Tevya, the lead character, a poor, hard-working milkman, struggles with his eldest daughter’s refusal to agree to the marriage he has arranged with one of the wealthiest men in the village, the local butcher.  She loves a poor but enterprising tailor whom she has known since childhood, and, in a rejection of tradition, they have pledged themselves to each other.

 

         Tevya doesn’t understand this.  His own marriage was arranged by his parents and his wife’s parents twenty-five years ago.  For twenty-five years they have had children together, struggled to make a life for themselves, met the expectations of their community.  Love played no part in the matter.

 

         Faced with his daughter’s refusal and the potential scandal it will cause, Tevya is at a loss.  He turns to his wife and asks her, ‘Do you love me?’  She is as startled by the question as Tevya.  She responds by giving a summary of all that she has done for him, all that she has suffered for him, all that people of expected of her as a wife and mother.  But, by the end of the duet, she and Tevya agree that they do love one another.  They sing, ‘It doesn’t change a thing, but after twenty-five years, it’s nice to know.’

 

         Every human being needs to hear the words, ‘I love you’, spoken by someone who knows us as we are, who knows our strengths and our weaknesses, who cares for our very being.  We want to hear the words spoken by someone who is actively seeking to nurture us so that we can become who we are truly meant to be and who is willing to speak hard truths to us when we need to hear the truth.

 

         Without such an affirmation it is difficult, if not downright impossible, to navigate the rapids of the river of life.  If we do not know that we are loved, we may lose the incentive to venture into paths unknown and choose to remain firmly in ‘the straight and narrow’ of the status quo.  If we do not know that we are loved, it is not easy to love anyone else.  The writer of 1 John writes to his community, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. . . . There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.  We love because [God] first loved us.” (1 John 4.16b, 18-19 NRSVue)

 

         Even Jesus needs this affirmation.  As I read today’s gospel, I was struck by a simple observation.  When Jesus shows up and joins the crowd coming to be baptized by his cousin John for the forgiveness of sin, Jesus hasn’t actually done anything significant.  It’s true that in Luke’s gospel we learn about several episodes in his childhood, but Jesus hasn’t done anything noteworthy.  But here, at the river, God speaks these words, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3.22b)

 

         With this affirmation Jesus embarks on his three-year mission that will transform the world forever.  With this affirmation Jesus faces the testing in the desert and emerges victorious.  With this affirmation Jesus proclaims God’s kingdom to sympathetic and unsympathetic crowds from north to south, from west to east.  With this affirmation Jesus faces that lonely night in the garden and chooses to follow the path that will lead to his trial, condemnation and execution.

 

         My friends, I think that there are many people in the world today, some of whom are even members of the Church, who do not believe that God loves us.  I cannot deny that there are many reasons why it is difficult to believe this – wars, injustice, poverty, inequality – the list of obstacles to belief in God’s love is lengthy.  And so we go about ‘looking for love in all the wrong places’ [1]  We look for love in the ownership of possessions, in the search for power of one form or another, for physical gratification – a list at least as long as the list of obstacles to belief in God’ love for us.  But what we’re all looking for is to be found in the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

         What Jesus has taught us is that knowing we are love empowers us to build life-giving communities that are unafraid to confront the powers that deny the dignity and full humanity of every child of God.  What Jesus has taught us is that knowing we are loved empowers us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves regardless of where they come from, when they became our neighbours or which faith they profess.  What Jesus has taught us is that knowing we are loved empowers us to take responsibility for our failures as well as our successes and to live a life of gratitude that safeguards the integrity of God’s creation and works to respect, sustain and renew the life of ‘this fragile earth, our island home’.

 

         We begin this civil new year of 2025 with a variety of emotions, concerns and uncertainties.  Some of these are the product of political and economic forces at work in Canada and beyond.  Others are the natural emotions that accompany times of transition and change.  All can become overwhelming and lead us to be motivated by our fears rather than our hopes and values.  But on this day when we remember the baptism of Christ in the river Jordan, we receive the antidote to such fears and to believing that we are powerless to act.  It’s an antidote that like flu and COVID vaccines we need to receive more than once.  The antidote God offers us is the same that he offered to Jesus when he joined the crowd and walked into the water:  ‘People of the Church of the Epiphany, people everywhere, you are my children, the Beloved; in you I am well pleased.  Let my perfect love cast away any fear that may seek to take hold of you.  I am with you until the ending of the worlds.’

---

[1] ‘Looking for Love’ is a song written by Wanda Mallette, Bob Morrison and Patti Ryan.  It was released in June 1980 and recorded by Johnny Lee.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookin%27_for_Love#:~:text=%22Lookin'%20for%20Love%22%20is,Urban%20Cowboy%2C%20released%20that%20yearaccessed on 11 January 2025.

 

Don't Let the Light Go Out!

 There are songs that remind us of what we are meant to be and to do.  This is one of them.  I have chosen it to be my theme song as we begin this year of 2025 and beyond.

… Light one candle for the Maccabee children

With thanks that their light didn't die

Light one candle for the pain they endured

When their right to exist was denied

Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice

Justice and freedom demand

But light one candle for the wisdom to know

When the peacemaker's time is at hand 

… Don't let the light go out!

It's lasted for so many years!

Don't let the light go out!

Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2) 

… Light one candle for the strength that we need

To never become our own foe

And light one candle for those who are suffering

Pain we learned so long ago

Light one candle for all we believe in

That anger not tear us apart

And light one candle to find us together

With peace as the song in our hearts 

… Don't let the light go out!

It's lasted for so many years!

Don't let the light go out!

Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2) 

… What is the memory that's valued so highly

That we keep it alive in that flame?

What's the commitment to those who have died

That we cry out they've not died in vain?

We have come this far always believing

That justice would somehow prevail

This is the burden, this is the promise

This is why we will not fail! 

… Don't let the light go out!

Don't let the light go out!

Don't let the light go out!

The Work of Christmas Begins: Reflections for the 1st Sunday after Christmas

 

RCL Christmas 1C

29 December 2024

 

Church of the Epiphany

Surrey BC

 

         Of the four gospels, the Gospel according to Luke is most interested in the childhood of Jesus.  Matthew tells us of the Magi and the flight into Egypt, but Mark and John say absolutely nothing.  Luke tells us about two visits to the Temple in Jerusalem, one when Jesus was a little more than a month old, another when he was twelve.  Luke knew that his non-Jewish, Greek-speaking Gentile readers had been raised on stories of great people, stories that always included details from that person’s childhood – important people always were special children.

 

         Today’s story has always been one of my favourites.  I think anyone who has ever been responsible for taking care of a child has had the experience that Mary and Joseph had.  One minute the child is right next to you, the next minute nowhere to be seen.  And, when you finally find the child, the little toad does not appreciate your panic!  If there is any doubt that Jesus was a fully human person, this story reminds us of how annoying a twelve-year-old can be – even if they are the Son of God.  I always have deep sympathy for Joseph.  Did you notice that he is not even mentioned by name in Luke’s story?  Did you notice how Jesus, with that casual cruelty that teenagers possess, dismisses this man who has put up with a great deal with these words, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2.49b NRSVue)

 

         After such an episode I have a mental image of Mary and Joseph, as they rejoin their family with Jesus in tow, having the same kind of conversation that parents have.  ‘Now what?,’ one of them says to the other.  ‘How do we take care of a kid like this?  I’m not sure I signed on for this.’

 

         Paula, David and I arrived in Canada on the 23^rd of June 1987.  Within ten days I began my teaching career at Vancouver School of Theology and all three of us began our crash course in Canadian culture.  We quickly realized that sharing the English language and the North American continent did not mean that there were not significant cultural differences that we hit like a brick wall.  

 

Since both Paula and I love to sing, our new friends used songs to help us connect with our new home.  One couple, Paul and Valerie Borthistle, introduced us to Stan Rogers, and we feel in love with his lyrics as well as his voice.  Another gift of song came from my colleague Gerald Hobbs.  He had been editing a new collection of songs to serve as a companion to the ‘Red Hymnbook of 1971’, a collection of hymns that was intended to bring Anglican and United Church folks closer together.  Gerald’s hymn collection, Songs for a Gospel People, ‘the Green Book’, recovered some familiar hymns left out of the 1971 book and introduced Canadian Christians to a number of new hymns.  

 

One of my favourites is ‘I Am the Light of the World’ by Jim Strathdee.  Let me share some of the hymn with you.

 

When the song of the angels is stilled,

when the star in the sky is gone,

when the kings and the shepherds

have found their way home,

the work of Christmas is begun.

 

to find the lost and lonely one;

to heal the broken soul with love,

to feed the hungry children with warmth and good food,

to feel the earth below, the sky above! [1]

 

What I love about this song is that it describes one of the more common human experiences – a joyful celebration of or preparation for something important that is immediately followed by the reality of the need for hard work.

 

         I remember my first day in the Diocesan Office in Colorado – Monday, the 15^th of June 1981.  I had spent the last three years studying for ordination.  The last year had been a particularly grueling one – written ordination examinations in January, then interviews and oral examinations in Colorado in March followed by graduation in May, a liturgy that I helped to plan, played a major role in and received my degree.  As I was packing up my things at my seminary in Wisconsin, I was also planning my ordination service to the transitional diaconate to take place in my home parish in Colorado Springs on the 11^th of June.  On that Monday morning I sat down at my new desk and said to myself, ‘Now what?’

 

         I didn’t need to worry.  By the end of the week the Bishop gave me plenty to do, and I was kept very busy for the rest of my time on the Diocesan Staff.  But that sense of uncertainty has come to me on other occasions as well – on my first day in my first parish, on my first day as a faculty member at Vancouver School of Theology, and so on and so on.  I’m sure that you’ve had similar experiences and have said the same words, ‘Now what?’

 

         And that’s where we are, my friends.  While all around us the trappings of the Christmas season are being put away or put out on the street for disposal, we are getting ready for the work of Christmas.  Our Parish will soon be advertising for a new Rector to lead us into the coming years.  We’ll be considering how to re-develop our property to enable our service, worship, evangelism, education and pastoral care.  We’ll be doing what we’ve been doing for years as a place of help, hope and home for our neighbourhood.  We’ll be working in partnership with God, as followers of the Christ-child, as vessels of the Holy Spirit.

 

         I’m sure that there will be moments when we as a community or as individuals will sit down and say to ourselves, ‘Now what?’  But the good news is that we’ve been here before and we know that we’ve not only survived but thrived.  As one of my mentors was fond of saying when faced with a challenge, ‘Thanks be to God!  There’s work to be done!’

 

To free the prisoner from all chains,

to make the powerful care,

to rebuild the nations with strength of good will,

to see God’s children everywhere!

 

To bring hope to every task you do,

to dance at a baby’s new birth,

to make music in an old person’s heart,

and sing to the colours of the earth! [2]

 

And it’s work worth doing by people just like you and me.  Thanks be to God.

 

 

---

[1] “I Am the Light of the World” by Jim Strathdee in Songs for a Gospel People (1987), no. 24.

 

[2] Strathdee 1987.

 

Saying 'Yes' to God -- Reflections on Christmas Eve 2024

 

Saying ‘Yes’ to God

Reflections on Christmas Eve

 

RCL Christmas III

24 December 2024

 

Church of the Epiphany

Surrey BC

 

         Many years ago I came across a Renaissance painting of the Annunciation.  What made this painting stand out from the many thousands of such paintings was the moment that the artist had chosen to portray.  Gabriel has just delivered God’s message to Mary and is waiting for her response.  It is moment of universal silence and universal waiting.

         In the centre of the painting is Mary and to her left Gabriel who leans towards her.  Mary and Gabriel are framed on both sides and above by heavenly beings.  Each of these beings holds a hand to cupped to their ear.  They too are waiting to hear whether Mary will consent to this momentous request from God.  The whole painting vibrates with the tension – will she say ‘yes’ or will she say ‘no’?

         We may forget that Mary does indeed have a choice.  God will not force her to bear the Christ-child.  Indeed, there are many reasons for her to say ‘no’ – social stigma, public ridicule, religious scandal.  Even God, the creator of the universe, must wait to hear what this young woman will say.

         And let’s not forget Joseph.  He will discover that his bride-to-be is to bear a child who is not his.  He, too, like Mary, will face social stigma, public ridicule, religious scandal.  He has the right to demand her death at worst, a divorce at best, but that is not what he chooses.  Just as Gabriel came to Mary, an angel will come to Joseph in a dream to tell him to take courage, wed Mary and care for the child as his own.  Just as Mary has her moment of decision, so does Joseph.  And they both say ‘yes’.

         In tonight’s reading from the Gospel according to John, the evangelist turns to us who hears these words and offers a promise:  “But to all who received [the Word], who believed in his name, [God] gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of man, but of God.” [1]  This promise requires a choice on our part, our own moment of decision.  When the moment comes, will we say ‘yes’ to God or will we say ‘no’?

         Saying ‘yes’ to God is not always as easy as it may seem.  Saying ‘yes’ to God is not easy because it is not something that we do only once.  This is because saying ‘yes’ to God is an act of love, and love is a choice that we have to make every day in many moments.  Saying ‘yes’ to God is more than a feeling; it is a decision to walk a path that may lead us into ways we never imagined.

         Some of us here tonight are or have been married.  We know all too well that while married life begins in an aura of happiness, it soon becomes a life of choosing faithfulness, nurture and self-giving every day.  That’s why Anglican marriage vows avoid asking ‘do you’ and ask ‘will you’ – a recognition of the choices we will have to make.

Some of us here tonight have borne the responsibility of caring for children.  We know all too well that caring for children is not always easy and that many joys are accompanied by some sorrows and uncertainties.  Being a parent or a guardian or a mentor always brings the risk of disappointing the young person we love when we have to speak words of concern.

And all of us live in relationship with other people, some whom we know, some who we do not know, some with whom we work, some of whom we share times and places.  In all of those relationships there come moments when we have a moment of choice – a moment when we can choose to be ‘Christ-like’ rather than shirk that responsibility.  

To be sure, saying ‘yes’ to God is not always easy and, God knows, we all have had those moments when we have said ‘no’.  But the good news is that God is always waiting for us to choose goodness rather than evil, love rather than hate, light rather than darkness, life rather than death. [2]  In fact God is not only waiting.  Like the heavenly beings in the painting I say, God is leaning towards us, hand cupped to ear, waiting for us to say ‘yes’ even when saying ‘no’ might be easier, more expedient, safer.

Tonight we celebrate the ‘yes’ spoken to God by Mary and by Joseph.  We celebrate this ‘yes’ as people who have ourselves been touched by God’s Spirit.  Even as we recognize the times that we have remained silent or said ‘no’ to God, we can celebrate that we are children of God, disciples of the Christ-child, that we have said ‘yes’ to God more often than ‘no’ and that we have joined in the work of bringing God’s goodness, love, light and life into this ‘fragile earth, our island home’. [3]

My friends, rejoice this night in the ‘yes’ of Mary and of Joseph.  Rejoice that we are being led by the Spirit and, as God’s children, can say ‘yes’. [4]  Rejoice that all creation is waiting with eagerness to hear our ‘yes’ when God calls us “to ventures of which we cannot see the ending” [5]– not only waiting for our ‘yes’ but depending upon it. [6]

 

 

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[1] John 1.12-13 (NRSVue).

 

[2] Cf. Hymn #721 in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006).

 

[3] Cf. Eucharistic Prayer 4 in The Book of Alternative Services (1985), 201.

 

[4] Cf. Romans 8.14 (NRSVue).

 

[5] Cf. Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 317.

 

[6] Cf. Romans 8.19-21 (NRSVue).

 

Of the Father's Love Begotten: Reflections for the 4th Sunday of Advent

 

RCL Advent 4C

22 December 2024

 

Church of the Epiphany

Surrey BC

 

         Within the cultural climate of colleges and universities in the United States there are what are collectively called the ‘Greek-letter societies’.  Some of these societies are social and residential in nature; they’re generally what most people think of when they hear the words ‘fraternity’ or ‘sorority’.  Other societies are devoted to academic and professional achievement such as Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest Greek-letter society in the United States.  It began as a secret society debating the political issues of the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary British colonies on the east coast of what is now the United States.

 

         While I was an undergraduate student, I joined Alpha Tau Omega, a fraternity founded in 1865 with the goal of re-uniting young men from the North and the South after the tragedy of the American Civil War.  Its founders were Southerners and Anglicans, so there has always been a strong Christian under-pinning of the fraternity – even when the fraternity was not on the right side of the civil rights movement in the 1960’s.  Things have changed a great deal since then.

 

         Throughout my undergraduate studies I commuted between Denver, where my university is located, and Colorado Springs, the town where I grew up.  Most Sundays you would find me at my home parish, the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel, singing in the choir.  Among the members of the choir was a gentleman who was also a member of my fraternity.

 

         Every Christmas he and I waited with joyful expectation for the choir director to choose the hymn, ‘Of the Father’s Love Begotten’ – Hymn 132 in Common Praise.  During the first verse, my fraternity brother, a bass, and me, a tenor, would sing these words and share a private smile between us:

 

Of the Father’s love begotten

ere the worlds began to be,

he is Alpha and Omega,

he the source, the ending he,

of the things that are and have been,

and that future years shall see,

evermore and evermore.

 

That third line, ‘he is Alpha and Omega’, meant and still means something to those of us who belong to the fraternity.

 

         This hymn has always been one of my favourite hymns at this time of the year.  It gives me a necessary reminder that what we as Christians are celebrating at this time of the year.  We are celebrating the eternal Love that God, the Lover of creation, reveals to us in the Beloved, Christ the incarnate Word.  That eternal Love of God is so powerful that Augustine of Hippo, who was active at the same time as this hymn was first composed, could speak about the Holy Trinity as ‘God, the Lover, the Beloved and the Love’.

 

         How do we know when we are in the presence of God?  I dare to think that we know we are in the presence of God when we are aware of being touched by Love, not just any kind of love, but Love that dares to embrace those who think themselves unlovable, Love that dares to forgive those whom we think our enemies, Love that dares to risk everything for the sake of one person.  It is this Love that we see embodies in Christ the Word made flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.  It is this Love that helps us distinguish between what the Scriptures say and what the Scriptures mean. 

 

         One of the New Testament writers who explored what Love means for Christians is the writer of the 1^stLetter of John.  In these familiar words the writer reminds us of one of the core beliefs of the followers of Jesus.

 

         God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.  Love has been perfected among us in this:  that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.  We love because he first loved us.  Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. (1 John 5.16b-21 NRSVue)

 

         Whenever we find ourselves feeling fear, we can reach out and call upon the Love that made all that is, seen and unseen, and that continues to uphold the whole kosmos.  Whenever we find ourselves feeling hatred, we can reach out and call upon the Love that made every human being in the divine image and gives to all of us the power to love.  Whenever we find ourselves believing that we are unlovable, we can reach out and call upon the Love that always holds us in love and who sees in us the image of the Christ, the Beloved, by whom and through whom all things were made.

 

O that birth for ever blessed,

when the virgin, full of grace,

by the Holy Ghost conceiving,

bare the Saviour of our race,

and the babe, the world’s redeemer,

first revealed his sacred face,

evermore and evermore.

 

On the Road to Bethlehem: A Service for the 4th Sunday of Advent

  

 

 

 

 

On the Road to Bethlehem The 4th Sunday of Advent

 

 

We prepare for our celebration of the Nativity by travelling ‘on the road to Bethlehem’ with the Holy Family and all those whose lives were transformed by the coming of the Holy Child.  May this time together renew your sense of joy and wonder in God’s love for us and for all of creation.

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the Church of the Epiphany

 

We acknowledge that we gather and worship on the unceded and traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples.  With the whole Anglican Church of Canada 

we commit ourselves to strive for justice and peace 

and reconciliation among all people 

and to respect the dignity of every human being.

 

Whether you have been a life-long Anglican 

or are new to our tradition, 

we welcome you with us this morning! 

 If you are unaccustomed to the Anglican way of worship, simply let the words, music and symbols gently speak to you.  Participate as fully as you feel comfortable in doing.  

We stand to sing and sit to listen.  

Some people kneel for prayer, 

some sit and some stand.  

Please do what you find is most helpful to your prayer.

 

You are invited to join in reciting the texts in bold text.

 

 

 

The Gathering of the Community

 

Prelude

 

The Greeting

 

Blessed are you, O Christ, Word of God,

born before time began.

Blessed are you, Sun of righteousness,

you brighten the universe with God’s love.

Blessed are you, Child of Mary,

you became a human child,

so that we can become children of God.

 

The Lighting of the Advent Wreath

 

The Collect

 

The Collect is prayed in English and then in Arabic.

 

God of promise, you look with favour on the lowly, you scatter the proud and you fill the hungry.  May we, Like Mary, respond to your call and be obedient to your will; through Jesus Christ who is to come.  Amen.

 

The Proclamation of the Word

 

The 1^st Reading:  Isaiah 52.7-10

 

A reading from the prophet Isaiah.

 

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”  Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices; together they shout for joy, for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion.  Break forth; shout together for joy, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.  The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

 

Holy Wisdom, Holy Word.

Thanks be to God.

 

Hymn:  ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’

Common Praise #120

 

During the Hymn the Animals are carried in procession to the Crèche.

 

The 2^nd Reading:  Luke 2.1-5

 

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

 

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.  He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.

 

Holy Wisdom, Holy Word.

Thanks be to God.

 

Hymn:  ‘Away in a Manger’

Common Praise #126

 

During the Hymn Mary and Joseph are carried in procession to the Crèche.

 

The 3^rd Reading:  Luke 2.6-7

 

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

 

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.

 

Holy Wisdom, Holy Word.

Thanks be to God.

 

Hymn:  ‘The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy’

Common Praise #128 verse 1 & refrain (sung twice)

 

During the Hymn the Christ Child is carried in procession to the Crèche.

 

The 4^th Reading:  Luke 2.8-14

 

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

 

Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you:  you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!”,

 

Holy Wisdom, Holy Word.

Thanks be to God.

 

Hymn:  ‘Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing’

Common Praise #138

 

During the Hymn the Angels are carried in procession to the Crèche.

 

The 5^th Reading:  Luke 2.15-20

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

 

The Gospel of Christ.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Hymn:  ‘’Twas in the Moon of Wintertime’

Common Praise #146

 

During the Hymn the Shepherds are carried in procession to the Crèche.

 

The Homily

 

The Prayers of the Community

 

Intercessions, Thanksgivings & Petitions

 

Let us offer our prayers to the Christ Child this night, saying, ‘In your mercy, hear our prayer.’  In your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

Holy Child of Bethlehem, we pray for all who are homeless:  In your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

Holy Child of Mary, we pray for all who live in poverty:  In your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

Holy Child of Joseph, we pray for all who are lost, alone and cry for loved ones:  In your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

Holy Child of the shepherds, we pray for all who live with danger and all who are persecuted:  In your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

Holy Child of the angels, we pray for all who are far from their homes:  In your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

Holy Child of the manger, help us to see you in people everywhere:  In your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

Lord Jesus, your birth at Bethlehem draws us to kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth:  accept our heartfelt praise as we worship you, our Saviour.  Amen.

 

The Greeting of Peace

 

May the peace of Christ who has come among us 

be with you now and always.

And also with you.

 

The Offertory Hymn:  ‘What Child Is This’

Common Praise #137

 

The Holy Communion

 

Prayer over the Gifts

 

God of peace, 

your Son Jesus Christ has reconciled us to you. 

May all we offer you today renew us 

as members of your household.  

We ask this in his name.  Amen.

 

The Great Thanksgiving

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

 

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth, because in the mystery of the Word made flesh you have caused a new light to shine in our hearts, to give knowledge of salvation in the face of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Now with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, we lift our voices to proclaim the glory of your name.

 

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of power and might.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory,

hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

 

Holy One, the beginning and the end, the giver of life:  Blessed are you for the birth of creation.  Blessed are in the darkness and in the light.  Blessed are you for your promise to your people.  Blessed are you in the prophets’ hopes and dreams.  Blessed are you for Mary’s openness to your will.  Blessed are you for your Son Jesus, the Word made flesh.

 

In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:  Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.  Do this for the remembrance of me.

 

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying:  This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.  Do this for the remembrance of me.

 

Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:  Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  Christ will come again.

 

With this bread and cup we remember your Word dwelling among us, full of grace and truth.  We remember our new birth in his death and resurrection.  We look with hope for his coming.  Come, Lord Jesus.

 

Holy God, we long for your Spirit.  Come among us.  Bless this meal.  May your Word take flesh in us.  Awaken your people.  Fill us with your light.  Bring the gift of peace on earth.  Come, Holy Spirit.

 

All praise and glory are yours, Holy One of Israel, Word of God incarnate, Power of the Most High, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

Rejoicing in the presence of God here among us,

as our Saviour taught us, so we pray:

 

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.

 

The Breaking of the Bread

 

We break the bread of life,

and that life is the light of the world.

God here among us,

light in the midst of us,

bring us to light and life.

 

Behold who you are.  Become what you see.  

These are the gifts of God for the people of God.  

Thanks be to God.

 

Communion

 

The Prayer after Communion

 

Giver of all life, 

the child born for us is the Saviour of the world. 

May he who made us your children 

welcome us into your kingdom, 

where he is alive and reigns with you now and for ever.  Amen.

 

Announcements

 

The Blessing

 

May God, who in the Word made flesh joined heaven to earth and earth to heaven, fill you with joy and make you heralds of the good news of God in Christ.  And the blessing of the holy and life-giving Trinity, one God, Author of creation, Word of redemption and Spirit of wisdom, be upon you and remain with you always.  Amen.

 

Closing Hymn:  ‘Silent Night’

Common Praise #119

 

The Dismissal

 

Go forth to proclaim the coming of the Christ.

Thanks be to God.

 

Postlude

 

 

Upcoming Services

 

24 December 2024

Christmas Eve

4.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m.

 

29 December 2024

1^st Sunday after Christmas

10.30 a.m.

 

5 January 2025

The Feast of the Epiphany

10.30 a.m.

 

Bishop John will be coming to preach and preside at our Epiphany eucharist.  A potluck lunch will follow the service.  Please mark your calendar and plan to attend.