The
Great O Antiphons: A Service for Advent 3
Opening
Prayer
The
Spirit and the church cry out:
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
All
those who await his appearance pray:
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The
whole creation pleads:
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
A candle burns, the
first marker of our Advent journey.
As we set out,
may we travel full of hope.
As
we set out, God of journeys, let your hope travel with us.
A candle burns, the second marker of our Advent journey.
As we continue, may we seek to
find peace.
As
we continue, God of journeys, speak to us of peace.
A candle burns, the third marker of our Advent journey.
As we continue, may we travel
with joy.
As
we continue, God of journeys, fill us with your wisdom.
Opening
Hymn – O Come, O Come
Emmanuel performed by BYU Vocal Point
Collect
God of power and mercy, you
call us once again to celebrate the coming of your Son. Remove those things
which hinder love of you, that when he comes, he may find us waiting in awe and
wonder for him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and for ever. Amen.
The Fourth Antiphon: O Key of David!
O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and no one can shut; you shut and no one can open: Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house, those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. Lord Jesus, come soon!
O Clavis by Malcolm Guite
Even in the darkness where I sit
And huddle in the midst of misery
I can remember freedom, but forget
That every lock must answer to a
key,
That each dark clasp, sharp and
intricate,
Must find a counter-clasp to meet
its guard,
Particular, exact and intimate,
The clutch and catch that meshes
with its ward.
I cry out for the key I threw away
That turned and over turned with
certain touch
And with the lovely lifting of a
latch
Opened my darkness to the light of
day.
O come again, come quickly, set me free,
Cut to the quick to fit, the master key.
A brief silence
for reflection.
The Fifth Antiphon: O Morning
Star!
O Morning Star, splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. Lord Jesus, come soon!
O Oriens by Malcolm Guite
First light and then first lines
along the east
To touch and brush a sheen of light
on water
As though behind the sky itself they
traced
The shift and shimmer of another
river
Flowing unbidden from its hidden
source;
The Day-Spring, the eternal Prima
Vera.
Blake saw it too. Dante and Beatrice
Are bathing in it now, away
upstream…
So every trace of light begins a
grace
In me, a beckoning. The smallest
gleam
Is somehow a beginning and a
calling;
“Sleeper awake, the darkness was a
dream
For you will see the Dayspring at your waking,
Beyond your long last line the dawn is
breaking.”
A brief silence
for reflection.
The
Readings
A Reading from the Book of
Isaiah 61:1-4,
8-11
The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good
news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the
captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn
in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint
spirit.
They will be called oaks of
righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his
glory.
They shall build up the ancient
ruins,
they shall raise up the former
devastations;
they shall repair the ruined
cities,
the devastations of many generations.
For I the Lord love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them
their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them.
Their descendants shall be
known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall
acknowledge
that they are a people whom the Lord has
blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the
garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of
righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself
with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her
jewels.
For as the earth brings forth
its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it
to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause
righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.
The
word of the Lord.
Thanks be the God.
Psalm 126
When the Lord restored the
fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then
our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the
nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The
Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May
those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall
come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
A Reading from the First Letter
of Paul to the Thessalonians 5:16-24
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not
quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything;
hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.
May
the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul
and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
The
word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gradual Hymn – Magnificat by Steve Bell
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John 1.6-8, 19-28
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify
to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the
light, but he came to testify to the light.
This
is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from
Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but
confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you
Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then
they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us.
What do you say about yourself?” He said,
“I
am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Make
straight the way of the Lord,’”
as
the prophet Isaiah said.
Now
they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then are you
baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John
answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not
know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his
sandal.” This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon
May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight O Lord,
for you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
In the second reading today, the last section of his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul gives a set of general instructions concerning the maintenance of Christian fellowship.
Paul’s call is simple and direct, rejoice, pray, give thanks always and no matter what happens.
He asks for love, for acceptance of one another. He asks for joy, constancy in prayer and a thankful heart in their relationship with the Lord. Finally, he asks for the acceptance, exercise, and testing of the Word.
In total, there are thirteen appeals in this short passage, and all of them worthy of taking to heart. Let’s see how we can apply them to our lives today.
1. Admonish the idle
This sounds like a harsh statement, asking you
to scold those people you think are lazy or not pulling their weight. Did you do
group projects in school, where there always seemed to be that one person who
did barely any work, and you wanted nothing more than to rat them out?
I don’t think that’s where Paul was going with
this statement, though. Paul is telling us that Christians are not to be idle,
we can’t be shirking our responsibilities. If we see injustice, we are to take
action. Standing idly by can be viewed as accepting the situation as-is.
Perhaps a better word than admonish is inspire.
If we inspire the idle with action, many will follow. And when the many act
together, change happens.
2. Encourage the fainthearted
To be fainthearted could be either fear or
anxiety and encouragement means to come alongside these who are disheartened by
some circumstance or experience. Paul is calling us to standing by our siblings
in Christ each and every day, but especially those who are scared and anxious.
In 2020, it has been extremely important that
we encourage those who have been fearful for their lives and anxious about
their family members. Frontline workers, particularly those working in health
care, have been running on fear for the last 10 months. Parents have been
scared every day that they send their kids to school.
Our encouragement is shown by our solidarity in
protecting them and each other.
3. Help the weak
A famous quote from Mr Rogers goes “when I was
a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me,
'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”
In 1527, during the Black Plague, Martin Luther
wrote “I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it.
I shall avoid persons and places where my presence is not needed in order not
to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause
their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he
will surely find me, and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not
responsible for either my own death or the death of others.”
In God
and Pandemic, NT Wright alluded to the fact that during hard times,
illness, war, plagues, Christians were the first on the scene to help the sick
and the injured.
We, as Christians, should be one of the helpers.
4. Be patient with all of them
Helping others always requires patience since
it will require time, effort, energy, and sacrifice. We might not see immediate
results, but will we continue to show love?
We must also show patience with those of opposing views, and with ourselves when we are trying to discuss our views. Respectful conversation can be quite healthy and educational, if we practice patience.
5. Do not repay evil for evil
I think one of the hardest human emotions to resist is the seeking of revenge. When someone hurts you, the automatic desire is the hurt them back. Paul is asking us to fight that instinct, as in Matthew 5:44 “I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
6. Seek to do good to one another
I ended the fifth appeal with a quote from Matthew that asks Christians to go further than simply not seeking out revenge. We cannot just avoid people we do not like, or people who wrong us. We are to show them kindness. We are to show everyone kindness. Our task as Christians is pass on God’s love to all human beings. Not to convert them to Christianity, but because every human being is God’s creation and deserves the best that we can offer without owing us anything.
7. Rejoice always
Joy is a mark of Christian life and a fruit of the Spirit. Christians can find reasons to be joyful in all seasons of life. In fact, Christians have an ultimate hope of being with Christ to be joyful about. Even in the darkest of times, we have the Light of Christ within us, a light that we can shine for others, to give hope to the world. We have be tasked to spread the Gospel that God is with us on Earth, and that is truly something to rejoice each and every day.
8. Pray without ceasing
Praying is one of the most important things that a Christian is to be doing….and one of the hardest. We all know we should be doing it, and yet it feels hard and strange to do. People are unsure how to pray or what to pray for? Really, praying is just a conversation with God. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it’s just important that you do it. When we pray, we recognise how powerless we are but how powerful God is. And Paul is telling us that we are to pray frequently and repeatedly. Jesus prayed all the time, so why shouldn’t we?
9. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you
Some days, it doesn’t feel like there is very
much to be thankful for. Especially as we head into even more weeks under a code
red from the pandemic, not being able to celebrate Christmas with our extended
families, and not really being able to see the end to all of these confusing
restrictions.
But Paul is asking us to be thankful anyway,
stating that Christians are to be thankful in all circumstances. How can one
give thanks in poor circumstances? We remember Christ who was in the poorest
circumstance when he was going to the cross to die for our sins.
Today, Christians have ultimate hope in the glory that we will share with Christ. We can be thankful for the technology to still be in touch with one another. We can be thankful for scientists working on a vaccine for COVID. We can be thankful for a God who watches over us, even in the darkest of times.
10. Do not quench the Spirit
On the day of Pentecost, we celebrate the early
Christians receiving the Holy Spirit and thus bringing to light the meaning of
the Gospel of Christ. Apart from the Holy Spirit causing us to believe in the Gospel,
the Gospel would have meant nothing for us. The Holy Spirit is our helper and is
the one who helps us live lives that are pleasing to God.
Paul is pleading with us not to let that spirit go out, to not extinguish it. We need to recognise the Spirit is working in our lives and we should not reject that help in any way. Keeping the light of the Spirit alive in our hearts will help bring us hope, love, and joy. These are things that are desperately needed as we come to the end of a very difficult year.
11. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything
I grew up in a church that didn’t allow for
questioning. Each Sunday, we heard the Word and we were taught to accept it as
it was and to not question, because to question the prophets (the writers of
the Bible, the priests) was to question God. And how dare we question God.
What I admire about this particular exhortation
is that Paul is actually asking us to question. He is saying that we should be
open to the disclosure of God’s will through fellow Christians exercising the
gift of prophecy, but that it is okay if we question what we are hearing. In
fact, it is more than okay. Paul tells us to test everything and not assume
that the speaker’s or writer’s claims are automatically true.
When we bring this plea into our lives, we are told to read the Bible knowing that it is good to have questions, to want clarification, and to seek out revelation.
12. Hold fast what is good
This is a plea for gratitude if I ever saw one.
Paul is asking us to cling to what is good in our lives, even to seek good in
our enemies.
The other day, a friend of mine posted that she
was having a rough day and rather than stew in the feeling, she decided to
write some statements of gratitude. She said that doing so really helped her to
get out of the funk that she was in.
The seemingly never-ending days of this pandemic brings out fear, anger, and anxiety in everyone. Sometimes all we can do is grasp onto the good we find in each day – a ray of sunshine on a December morning, the cuddle of a cat in your lap, a good book – any small amount of good can change the whole outlook on your day.
13. Abstain from every form of evil
While we are seeking out the good in our days, we need to reject the evil. Romans 12:9 uses some pretty strong language about how we should feel about evil, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”
Evil is a difficult and complicated
topic. Simply put, evil is the absence of good. So these final two appeals
should work together. Finding the good in your life should, in theory, push the
evil out. Pushing the evil out should, in theory, bring the good in. It is an
interdependent relationship that can be difficult for many of us to manage in
our lives.
Paul’s appeal to us is simple and direct; rejoice, pray, give thanks always and no matter what happens.
He asks for love, for acceptance of one another. He asks for joy, constancy in prayer and a thankful heart in their relationship with the Lord. Finally, he asks for the acceptance, exercise, and testing of the Word.
Paul’s appeals to the Thessalonians guides us to the type of Christian fellowship that will help sustain us in our lives.
My prayer for you is that you are able to take Paul’s exhortations to heart so that they can help carry you through this very strange Advent season.
Amen.
Affirmation of Faith
Let us confess the faith of our baptism, as we say the
Nicene Creed:
We believe in
one God,
the Creator,
the Almighty,
maker of
heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.
We believe in
one Redeemer, Jesus Christ,
the only Child
of God,
eternally
begotten of the Creator,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from
true God,
begotten, not
made,
one in being
with the Creator:
Through the
Redeemer all things were made.
For us and for
our salvation
Jesus Christ
the Redeemer
came down from
heaven:
by the power
of the Holy Spirit
was born of
the Virgin Mary, and became human.
For our sake
Jesus was crucified
under Pontius
Pilate,
suffered, died
and was buried,
and, on the
third day, rose again
in fulfillment
of the Scriptures,
ascended into
heaven
and is seated
at the right hand of God.
Jesus Christ
will come again in glory
to judge the
living and the dead,
and the Reign
of God will have no end.
We believe in
the Holy Spirit,
the
Sanctifier, the Giver of Life,
who proceeds
from God the Creator
and Jesus
Christ the Redeemer,
who with the
Creator and the Redeemer,
is worshipped
and glorified
and who has
spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in
one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge
one baptism
for the
forgiveness of sins.
We look for
the resurrection of the dead
and the life
of the world to come. Amen.
The Prayers of
the People
(Intercessions for
the Christian People)
Pleading for God’s gift
of a renewing Spirit, let us offer our prayers to God saying,
Lord, hear our prayer.
That our lives may be songs of praise and thanksgiving rising from joyful hearts and proclaiming in every word we speak and gesture we make that God fills us with holy presence,
let us pray to the
Lord:
Lord, hear our prayer.
That all those in our world held in captivity or any form of slavery may find liberation from the chains that bind them and new freedom for their hearts,
let us pray to the
Lord:
Lord, hear our prayer.
That we may accept with courage God’s anointing of our lives to share in the divine mission of rescue for the world, bringing justice and joy to all peoples,
let us pray to the
Lord:
Lord, hear our prayer.
That we may reverently offer in service to the world the ministry of light which we hold in fragile human hands, this sharing in the saving work of Christ the Light,
let us pray to the
Lord:
Lord, hear our prayer.
That the mercy of God which lasts from age to age may wash over us and bless us and stir up in us the bold courage to be its faithful prophets in our world,
let us pray to the
Lord:
Lord, hear our prayer.
Please take time to offer your own intercessions or to pray in silence.
Send the Spirit of Jesus upon us, O God, that we may be your songs of peace and joy in this world. We pray in the name of the one who is our peace and joy, Christ our Lord. Amen.
Silence
Almighty God,
as your blessed
Redeemer Jesus Christ
first came to seek and
to save the lost;
so may he come again to
find in us
the completion of his
redeeming work;
for he is now alive
and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Confession and Absolution
Dear friends in Christ,
God is steadfast in love and infinite in mercy; God
welcomes sinners and invites them to the table. Let us confess our sins,
confident in God’s forgiveness.
(Silence)
Most merciful
God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by
what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with
our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves. We are truly
sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy
on us and forgive us, that we might delight in your will, and walk in your
ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Almighty God, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God will speak peace to his people, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with
you.
Offertory Hymn – There’s a Voice in the Wilderness (BCP #106)
Prayer over the Gifts
**Although not
physically at our church buildings to share our offering together I would
encourage you to set your offering of money aside so that it can be dropped off
or placed in the church once services resume, to mail your offering to the
church, or to make donations online. Please remember ministry is still taking
place.
Let us pray.
God of hope, renew in us the hoy of your salvation and make
us a living sacrifice to you, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to 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.
Save us from
the time of trial,
And deliver us
from evil.
For thine is
the kingdom,
The power, and
the glory,
For ever and
ever. Amen.
Doxology
Glory to God,
Whose power, working in us, can do infinitely
more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in
the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessing
Let
us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Almighty
God bless us, defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
Closing Hymn – The Lord Has Done Great Things by Steve Bell
Dismissal
As we await our coming Saviour,
go in the peace of Christ.
Thanks
be to God.
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