Printable services for those unable to attend St C

St Clement Church Community Candlemas Service

Good morning to you all as we celebrate Candlemas, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. If you’re unable to be with us in person I hope you join us with this Service of the Word.

May Christ’s love sustain you always.

With much love and prayers,

Rev Di and family xx

Let us pray;

Lord Jesus Christ, light of the nations and the glory of Israel: make your home among us, and present us pure and holy to your heavenly Father’ your God, and our God. Amen.

Hymn: ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’

Our prayers of Penitence

As we join in worship today, let us seek the renewal of our lives in the light of God’s love for us, revealed by Jesus Christ:

Jesus, Saviour of all, who revealed the breadth of God’s love, forgive us when we fail to show care to those who are different….

Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, Son of God, who revealed the depth of God’s love, forgive us when we are too busy to pray, or to seek God’s will….

Christ, have mercy.

Jesus, Son of Man, who revealed the cost of God’s love, forgive us when we have made light of our failings….

Lord, have mercy.

May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our failings, and bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray our Collect for Candlemas

Almighty and ever-living God, clothed in majesty,

whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,

in substance of our flesh: grant that we may be presented to you

with pure and clean hearts, by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings:

Malachi 3. 1-5

Hebrews 2. 14 - end

Hymn; ‘Happy are they, they that love God.’

Our Reading is taken from the Gospel of Luke 2. 22 - 40

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

Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’ Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
   according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
   which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
   and for glory to your people Israel.’

And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Response: ‘Praise to you, O, Christ’)

Reflection

Here’s a memory test for you, during previous Candlemas services, one year I talked about our bucket lists, a year on saw me talking about change, another year it seems that light caught my attention, and now it appears as we are a month into 2024, my thoughts are directed towards decisions.

I remember an odd little carol which we used to sing at college after Christmas. It begins: but don’t panic, I’m not going to sing it!

‘There's snow on the mountain and ice on the pond,

The Wise Men are home now in the back of beyond.
The Shepherds have left us; the heavens are dumb;
there’s no one to tell us why Jesus has come.

And it ends: But God's in His heaven, and Jesus has come
To show every sinner they’re welcome back home,
To be this world's Saviour from hunger and fear,
And give us new courage to face the New Year.’

We have courage to face this New Year because of Jesus.

He is Immanuel—God with us and for us.

Last week I sat with bereaved parents who were regretting the difficult decision they’d made regarding the end of life care of their very much loved son, they kept wondering if they’d made the right choice.

They kept asking, “How do we know we did the right thing?” I said to them that in all honesty, we’re only human beings and don’t have the ability of all wisdom or knowledge. A decision had to be made at the time, and I was sure that they were guided through it. Thankfully, as Christians, even through their grief, they understand that death is the final act of healing.

I thought later about what I’d said. We are only human beings. We don’t know and cannot know all the consequences of our decisions. We can second guess all we want but we still need to live with what we decide.

But in all of that, God promises to be with us, we have a Lord and Saviour who is with us in our good times and in trouble too.

The Scriptures tell us, “This is the confidence we have in God, if we ask anything according to his will, He hears us.”

We can bring our prayerful requests to God, but we should remember we don’t always know what is best for us, sometimes even exactly what we should pray for, but we can be confident we can bring God our needs and ask his blessing upon whatever we decide. We should also remember that those sometimes seemingly unanswered prayers are for our own good.

Decisions, people can differ so much in making them, we can all seek to follow the Christian life and still come up with different answers to major questions such as; the refugee crisis, or third world poverty, let alone issues closer to home, personal decisions needing to be made, or those regarding our church. And we can never be aware of the unintended consequences of our actions or our inaction. We can only seek to do the right thing. Yet we aren’t without a guide. As Christians, we believe that in the Bible God reveals to us how we should live and what we should believe and do.

The recently told Christmas story tells us of God's glad tidings of great joy to all people. The rest of the story is about the obedience of Mary and Joseph to their God and their knowledge of the scriptures.

After the shepherds have returned to their flocks and the angels go back into heaven, after the Wise Men have given their gifts, Mary and Joseph do what God's Word commands them to do—they bring their Child to be presented in the Temple.

On the fortieth day after the birth, according to the Law, Jesus as the first-born male is presented to God in the Temple along with a ritual offering. This is done, according to our text, to “fulfil all righteousness.”

So Mary and Joseph obediently brought their baby to the Temple, and when they were there, they were greeted by the elderly Simeon and Anna—both of them prophets inspired to speak God's Word.

They saw the baby and believed that God was fulfilling His promises. Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, the consolation of Israel and the Saviour of the world. Many would fall and rise at His coming. The rich and powerful would turn away from him. The mighty wouldn’t recognise him. But an old man and woman who were righteous and devout— who lived their lives by the scriptures, these poor, humble, insignificant people saw and believed.

In our modern times the scriptures of the Bible aren’t studied by most people as fervently as then, but I believe when we are faced with decisions, we can find our guide there.

The Bible doesn’t reveal to us what to think on every issue. It doesn’t give us a map of just what to do, what to think, or how to decide.

But we can read in it the promise that God is with us as we make decisions, that God hears us, and that whatever the outcome, we have the comfort that God knows our needs even better than we do ourselves.

God's Word promises us a Saviour and with Him comes blessing and strength to make the decisions we need to face in 2024.

The Shepherds have gone back to the fields and the angels into heaven. The Wise Men have returned to the East but God is still with us in Jesus. Amen.

Hymn; ‘Breathe on me, breath of God’

Affirmation of our faith

Let us declare our faith in God.

We believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life,

the one for whom we exist.

We believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature,

died for us and rose again.

We believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world.

This is the faith of the Church. This is our faith.

We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Intercessions this week are written by Daphne Hawkins

In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, let us pray to the Father. Almighty God, as we gather in this special place together with those not in body but in mind and spirit, send into our hearts that peace that the world cannot give. Please give us peace in this our troubled world.