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St Clement Church Community Advent One Service

Good morning

It is Advent – the liturgical beginning of the Church’s new year. That is not all it is. It is a period of preparation … not for the busyness and financial spending for a secular Christmas, but a time for self-preparation for the Coming of the Christ Child.

Advent is also a transition period from how things were, to how things will be … we all experience Advents … how do we cope with them?

With love to you all

Liz

Let us pray

Dear Father, quieten our minds, still our hearts, for your living ways are all we seek. Strengthen our lives, inspire our spirits. In your living waters flow endless grace. Amen

As we gather here in the harbour of your safety, we thank you for fellowship and family.

We say together:

We ask that you will strengthen us, restore us, and inspire us with your love. Lord, will you fill us with your peace so that as we journey onwards, we will pour out your love and grace to others. We ask that our souls catch the wind of your spirit so that we will take your promises to all the earth.

Amen

Hymn: 575 Rejoice the Lord is King

Prayer of Penitence

Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.

Let the wicked abandon their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.

Turn back to the Lord, who will have mercy; to our God who will richly pardon.

Lord God, we have sinned against you; we have done evil in your sight. We are sorry and repent. Have mercy on us according to your love. Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin. Renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Let us pray our Collect for the first Sunday in Advent

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Readings:

Isaiah 64. 1 - 9

1 Corinthians 1. 3 - 9

Hymn: 404 Let all the world in every corner sing

Gospel: Mark 13. 24 - 37

(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.

Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In those days, after the suffering. The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you will know that summer is near. See also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

But about that day or hour no oner knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be aware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.)

Reflection

“In those days …” So begins our entry into the Season of Advent. It sounds ominous and it is! Advent is not just a liturgical season of the church year. It is a reality of life. It happens in all sorts of ways. It comes at various points in life, not just the four or five weeks before Christmas.

If you have ever experienced significant change in your life, whether desired or dreaded, you know about “those days.” You know about Advent. You know what it is like to enter the darkness of change/ All change, brings some kind of loss. It may be the loss of a relationship, the loss of a loved one, the loss of what is comfortable, familiar, safe. Regardless, the world as we have known it, has ended.

The Advents of our lives set before us important questions. How will we find our way forward when the usual lights that illumined our path no longer shine? What do we do when it feels as if our world is falling apart? Where do we go when it seems that darkness is our only companion and God is nowhere to be seen?

The dark times of life are threshold moments. The temptation is to do something; to fix it, to ease the pain, to escape the uncertainty

and to get back to what used to be. The God of Advent doesn’t allow that. We can never go back to the way it was before the lights went out. God doesn’t undo our life. God redeems our life. Advent is not so much about the losses as it is about the hope and coming of what will be. The hope and coming is the Son of Man, Jesus the Christ. The presence of Christ is the answer to every prayer, to every light extinguishing loss, to every Advent in our life.

The Advent times of life are times of waiting. They are transitional times. In Advent we live in between what was and what will be. We are neither here nor there. We are betwixt and between and it is hard, sometimes impossible, to see the way forward.

Dark threshold places of life remind us that we do not know everything. We do not see all the possibilities. We can neither predict nor control anything. We are not in charge. Advent challenges us to give up our usual sources of illumination, to let go of our habitual ways of knowing, and to question our typical ways of seeing. Advent invites us to receive the God who comes to us in the darkness of life.

At some point our world falls apart, life changes, or the lights go out. More often than not, we see this as the end. When these things happen, Jesus says remember the fig tree. Read the signs correctly. When its branch becomes tender and it puts forth leaves you know summer is near. So also, when the darkness overtakes your life, know that the Son of Man is near. Christ’s presence, our healing and salvation, are always taking place in the dark and messy parts of our life. We have not and never will be abandoned to the darkness.

“Be alert,” Jesus warns. He commands us to “Keep awake.” Darkness is not our enemy as much as falling asleep. We fall asleep whenever fear controls our life, when hope gives way to despair, when busyness is equated with goodness, when entitlement replaces thanksgiving, when we choose what is comfortable rather than life-giving. Whenever we think our life is over, that darkness is our final reality, that we have been abandoned, or that loss and darkness are our only reality then, we have fallen asleep.

Too often we allow the darkness to deceive us into believing there is nothing worth waiting or watching for. So, we close our eyes. We fall asleep and we become part of the darkness. We refuse to see the One who is always coming to us. The danger in the darkness is that we do not give our eyes time to adjust. We do not trust our night vision. Night vision is not about the light around us but the light that is within us, a light that can never be extinguished.

The Advents of our lives ask us to trust the Coming One more than the darkness. It means that we must sir, listen, wait, watch. This is contrary to what most of the world believes and what our society rewards. We must show up every moment of our lives, not just in spite of, but because of, the darkness. To show up and be present in the darkness of life is some of the hardest work we will ever do. Run from darkness and we run from God.

In the darkness of Advent, we move slower, we listen more than we speak, we hold questions rather than the answers. We wait expectantly but without specific expectations. Waiting in darkness is an act of faithfulness and surrender to the Coming One. Waiting becomes our prayer, a prayer that is and will be answered by God’s presence.

Think of your Advent story; a story of change, loss, darkness. Then, sit. Be still. Be quiet. Listen. Wait. Watch. Why? Because God ‘works for those who wait for him.’

Amen

Affirmation of our faith

We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen

Hymn: 649 The King of Love my shepherd is

Our Intercessions

Everlasting God, as we come before you at the start of the season of Advent, we ask you to prepare us for the coming of your Son Jesus Christ and to hear us as we pray in faith for the needs of the Church and the world and to thank you for our goodness.

Lord in your mercy: hear our prayer.

Mighty God, we pray for your Church today gathering world-wide in churches, chapels, cathedrals and at home, to praise you and to hear your holy word. Give us a sense of expectation as we come, and inspiration as we go. We pray for your blessing on all those who lead, preach and teach and we pray especially for our own Reverend Diane as she seeks to do your will and guide us through our spiritual and worldly journey through Advent, until the day when we celebrate together the birth of your Son on Christmas Day.