This morning Beth
immediately united us – a congregation that had come from different family
homes around the district - with the inclusive Welcome; “Good
Morning, Family of the Church!” She
quietly asked God to take from us our stress and strain and to let us be whole
and worship Him in truth.
Hymn TiS
281 AHB 214 When
God almighty came to be one of us
The words of this hymn certainly
called us to prepare to be a part of the real Christmas story, asking us to
sing and dance and share with people from all walks of life, with the
assurance;
God in His mercy uses the
commonplace, God on His birthday had a
need of you.
We did not do justice to this amazing
hymn with our singing, but perhaps in our hesitation with the irregular tune
our hearts more clearly “heard” the words and we will be encouraged to go back
and re-read them and think more deeply.
Prayer
Thanksgiving / Confession
Beth
called on the “Master who brings Peace and Security” and called on us
all to love one another. She prayed that
He will come into our lives in a fresh way so we can relive the glories God has
brought to us over the years and have the chance to be what God wants us to be
in the future. Beth gently declared our
sins were forgiven.
Lighting
of the Advent Candles
Jan asked
how many of us have remarked how quickly Christmas seems to have come this
year. Having realized we had not
followed our usual practice of lighting Advent Candles she spoke about symbols
and their significance and said that although symbols are not essential she
finds the Advent candles provide a focus for many people in the midst of
December madness.
She asked
Warwick to light the candle of Expectation and the candle of Hope for the first
and second weeks of Advent. For today,
the third week of Advent, he lit the candle of Joy as Jan reminded us this is
the Joy that comes from our Faith in Christ.
Come O
come Emanuel – God with us!
Children’s
address
Beth told
the children she would use this time to explain to the adults that children do
not really understand the meaning of Peace, Comfort and Rest. These words are magic to those of us who are
old and those who are tired, but kids are just too busy wanting to do
everything at once. When Mum is trying
to cook dinner and do 19 things at once after a long day and asks for “A little
peace and quiet” - children just don’t understand this in their
exuberance. To the adults Beth made a
plea that we will make Christ young and vibrant in Marsden Road Church and that
we will keep our enthusiasm for life and try to help the children to meet the
God of Peace for all ages.
Hymn TiS 310 AHB 234 Brightest and
best of the stars of the morning
This hymn
is based on Job 38:7 “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy.” It was written for the
Feast of Epiphany in 1811 by Reginald Heber (1783-1826), the second Bishop of
Calcutta, whose diocese in 1823 included India, Southern Africa and Australia. An ancestor of mine was a missionary in
Ceylon for eight years and built a church which was consecrated by Bishop
Reginald Heber on 25th September 1825, so I always personally enjoy
singing any of the Bishop’s hymns.
Bible
readings Isaiah
35:1-10 & Matthew
11: 2-11
Colin read
our Bible passages this morning and I was struck by the similarity of the two
readings - as is of course often the case.
First we were told of the joy of redemption as we come “home” with
gladness and joy to enter Zion. Then the New Testament message came directly
from Jesus through his message to John who was in prison and was described by
Jesus as God’s Prophet and Herald.
Reflection: This was
an early Christmas present Beth told us – there will be no sermon today! With the readings that reflected on the road
to “the Kingdom to come”, Beth urged us to look around for ourselves and see
what is happening around us so we can be a part of the changes that must
come. Then she gave us a “Cook’s Tour”
to introduce some of the people she had met on the road – people who had worked
for God with the changes they encountered.
More than
20 years ago a group of Rotarians went to a poor country to deliver aid and saw
an old man pushing a plough with a young man pulling. With no beast to help they assumed these
people were hopelessly poor, but discovered the old man had willingly sold his
beast – his only asset - to buy timber to build a church.
Beth was
affected by the poverty in Kowloon when she was there. She met a young girl working long hours in a
shop six days a week. The girl noticed
the cross on a chain around Beth’s neck and said; “You’re Jesus’s person? Me too!
I have a friend who has a Bible and she can read. If I go to her place on Sunday and scrub her
floors and do her washing she reads to me from her Bible. I am so lucky!”
A group of
young African men went to Young in NSW to learn about crop rotation and other
farming methods and they were told NSW was in the middle of a bad drought. One young African man said; “My friend – we
understand – how many of your people do you think will die?”
We heard
about a “lavender and old lace” lady from Cabramatta who aspired to do great
things, but life and the ill health of her dominating older sister saw her
selling gloves at Mark Foys to care for her sister and her nieces and nephews. When this “Saint” died Beth was given a
precious missionary money box that was a poignant testament to her small but
courageous giving of all she could afford over many decades. Although we may not think what we are doing
is important, Beth went on; “Your story and love and loyalty are known. The road goes on – so don’t let our Church
and Sanctuary become a ghetto. People
are doing mighty things … and the road goes on!”
God always
leaves Witnesses. In a South American
prison there were two groups of prisoners – political prisoners and persecuted
Christian prisoners. As Christmas
approached respect for the Christians was shown when the political prisoners
were willing to risk harm and the anger of their gaolers by causing a
disturbance in another area so the Christians could have a few moments to kneel
in communion with God. They had no bread
but asked God if they could stand for all the people who have no food.
Beth
finished by inviting us to: “Walk tall and live in love because the road is
still ahead.”
Thanks be
to God, Amen. Many of us had tears in
our eyes as we repeated, “Amen.”
Hymn AHB 551 I
sing a song of the Saints of God
This hymn
is a lovely simple narrative of the kinds of people we meet on the road –
people who want to make a difference to the future and bring Hope.
You can meet them in
school, or in lanes, or at sea. In
church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea
For the saints of God
began just like me, and I mean to be one too.
Offering /
prayer
Prayers
for Others May began with a reading of part of the hymn,
“What a friend we have in Jesus”, and included our personal prayers for those
who are dear to us. We finished with the
Lord’s Prayer - said together.
Hymn TiS 291
AHB 216 Earth
has many a noble city
The Dismissal
and Benediction exhorted us to go out to live and love and work for the
God who loves us so much and we sang, “Now unto Him who is able to keep, Able
to keep us from falling”.
As we sang
I noted the dignity and grace of our leader Beth as she walked down the steps
of the Sanctuary with the aid of a walking stick and her trust in God to keep
her following along the road.
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