Worship at Home
Worship for the Week Beginning 12th December 2021
Third Sunday of Advent
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Sunday 12th December
Linda Leathersich has prepared this week’s message
This short act of worship is for use from home. Please use this service whenever you like during the week.
Pause to settle yourself in God’s presence, knowing that other people are sharing in worship with you.
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© ROOTS for Churches Ltd www.rootsontheweb.com. Reproduced with permission.
Today we think about the 3rd candle on an Advent Ring – the Candle of Joy, our call to worship uses the words for this candle.
The wilderness will dance and the dry places will sing praises to God.
When we see the glory of the Lord revealed, we will be strengthened and saved!
God’s peace opens our eyes. God’s gift of hope opens our hearts.
With joy, we will praise the promised Saviour of the world!
Let us with joy kindle the light of the Lord.
Born thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a king,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
HYMN: STF185 Sing we the king who is coming to reign
Sing we the king who is coming to reign;
glory to Jesus, the Lamb that was slain!
Life and salvation his empire shall bring,
joy to the nations when Jesus is King:
Come let us sing: praise to our King,
Jesus our King, Jesus our King:
this is our song, who to Jesus belong:
glory to Jesus, to Jesus our King.
All shall be well in his kingdom of peace;
freedom shall flourish and wisdom increase;
justice and truth from his sceptre shall spring:
wrong shall be ended when Jesus is King:
Refrain:
Souls shall be saved from the burden of sin:
doubt shall not darken his witness within;
hell has no terrors, and death has no sting;
love is victorious when Jesus is King:
Refrain:
Kingdom of Christ; for your coming we pray:
hasten, O Father, the dawn of the day
when this new song your creation shall sing;
Satan is vanquished and Jesus Is King:
Refrain:
Prayer
Loving Lord, we thank you that we can call you Father and that we can come to you in prayer. Lord God, we come to you with sorrow for our faults; we ask for your help and strength. Help us to know ourselves and to accept our weaknesses. Strengthen us with your forgiving love so that we may follow and obey your Son, whose birth we are soon to celebrate.
We rejoice that you have set us in this beautiful world. We rejoice that your never-ending love is always with us. We rejoice that you came to us in Jesus, the living expression of your grace. We rejoice that through him, we are made whole. May we never stop thanking you for all the sources of our joy? We pray in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.
Amen.
Bible Reading
7 Crowds of people came out to John to be baptized by him. “You snakes!” he said to them. “Who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send? 8 Do those things that will show that you have turned from your sins. And don’t start saying among yourselves that Abraham is your ancestor. I tell you that God can take these rocks and make descendants for Abraham! 9 The ax is ready to cut down the trees at the roots; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.”
10 The people asked him, “What are we to do, then?”
11 He answered, “Whoever has two shirts must give one to the man who has none, and whoever has food must share it.”
12 Some tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what are we to do?”
13 “Don’t collect more than is legal,” he told them.
14 Some soldiers also asked him, “What about us? What are we to do?”
He said to them, “Don’t take money from anyone by force or accuse anyone falsely. Be content with your pay.”
15 People’s hopes began to rise, and they began to wonder whether John perhaps might be the Messiah. 16 So John said to all of them, “I baptize you with water, but someone is coming who is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 He has his winnowing shovel with him, to thresh out all the grain and gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn the chaff in a fire that never goes out.”
18 In many different ways John preached the Good News to the people and urged them to change their ways.
Message:
The 3rd Sunday in Advent, suddenly Christmas seems very close. We know when it is coming each year, and yet, somehow it still seems to arrive before we are ready. This 3rd Sunday is known as GAUDETE Sunday or “Joyful” Sunday. On this day people around the world remember with great joy the love that God has for us as we look forward with joyful anticipation to the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. Does Joy seem to be the right thing to feel in this world of ours? The answer is YES, as Christian JOY is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ. JOY is an inner quality rather than an outward or physical expression, it is a gift from God. So even in dark, tough times we should still have joy in our hearts.
The reading is from Luke’s Gospel, he usually emphasises the Holy Spirit, JOY, prayer and women, but in today’s reading there is not much joy and happiness! His greeting wasn’t meant to set the people at ease and he didn’t mind if he offended them. John was giving them a warning, a wake-up call!
When you prepare for an event, do you make a list of all the things you need to do? It is lovely when you tick something off the list. You can feel quite good about where you have got to, and then, you turn the list over and find a whole lot more things still to do! That is a bit like the Jews must have felt when they heard John’s message. They had always believed that as God’s chosen people, they didn’t have to do anything else to secure their salvation. They believed God had a standard of judgement for everyone else but they would be fine. That’s when John turned over the page for them and told them in no uncertain terms that they would be judged and they had a lot that they needed to change –
Life not lineage was God’s standard of judgement and that must have come as quite a shock to those who were listening. John was passionate, convincing and many believed he was the Messiah – they were worried and asked John what they should do to be saved.
First, John said that everyone needed to love and care for others – they had to willingly share their possessions and food with those who were without. John had given up everything to live in simple clothes and eat simple food as he told others about God. Today we need, as a world, to be more prepared to share with others. Then John said that wherever we are and whatever job we have, we should carry out our duties showing the love and compassion of God. We can only serve God where we are, so we have to ensure that our words and actions always reflect God’s will for us. People need to see that having God in our lives makes us different – we are living sermons each day. John’s third message was that he was not important, he was just pointing the way to Jesus, the Messiah – people were not to follow John but to seek and follow Jesus. He was there to tell people to change their lives and be ready to meet Jesus. We have to face each challenge and choice – the way of the world or the way of Jesus. None of us know when we will meet Jesus, will we be ready? Can we afford to put it off until tomorrow, next week, and next month?
No our preparation needs to start right now, so we can meet Jesus with confidence. Jesus is our friend, if we talk to him daily, he will answer us, and we need to listen to him and hear what he has to say about our daily lives. If we follow his will, he will help us – he came into the world to save and not condemn us – that is more than enough reason to have joy in our hearts always. John told others about Jesus, now it is our turn to tell others each day in our words and our actions. Let’s be ready and let’s be Joyful.
Prayers of Intercession
Gracious God, it is hard sometimes to keep faith that your kingdom will come, for so much in the world seems to deny your love and frustrate your will. However hard it may be help us to trust in your promises, daring to believe the day will come,
despite everything that works against it, when your love finally triumphs over all.
Loving Lord, in a divided world, where chasms of fear, hatred, envy and injustice come between many, help us to build bridges – to do what we can to construct links, create dialogue and promote partnership, bringing together those previously kept apart. Where barriers exist, help us to be peacemakers.
We pray for all who suffer in any way at this time, Lord help us to find ways to minister to them in any way that we can to ease their distress. We pray for the sick in body, mind and spirit and name in our hearts any known to us. Bless each one and touch them with your healing love. Give help and strength to those who care for them.
Living God, help us to spread a little happiness, contagious joy bubbling up within us. Teach us to live with a smile in our hearts and laughter on our lips, each day celebrating your love in a way that invites others to share it in turn. We ask all of our prayers in the name of Jesus, who taught us when we pray to say:
The Lord's Prayer
Please use the version that you prefer
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.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours
Now and for ever.
Amen.
HYMN – STF 167 Colours of Day dawn into the mind
Colours of Day dawn into the mind,
the sun has come up, the night is behind.
Go down in the city, into the street,
and let’s give the message to the people we meet.
So light up the fire and let the flame burn, pen the door, let Jesus return.
Take seeds of his Spirit, let the fruit grow,
tell the people of Jesus, let his love show.
Go through the park, on into the town;
the sun still shines on; it never goes down.
The light of the world is risen again;
the people of darkness are needing a friend.
Refrain
Open your eyes, look into the sky,
the darkness has come, and the sun came to die.
The evening draws on, the sun disappears,
but Jesus is living, his Spirit is near.
Refrain
Blessing
Give to us Lord, ears to hear what you are saying, eyes to see what you are doing, strength to be obedient to your will, courage to declare what we know is true and the desire to prepare for your coming. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore.
Amen.
Service prepared by Linda Leathersich
Webpage: Paul Deakin