11th. December. 2022. Service.
Inverkeithing linked with North Queensferry
Service of Worship 11th December 2022
Third Sunday in Advent
Prelude “Zion hears her watchmen’s voices”
Bible Introït 65 “Jubilate, everybody!”
Collect
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn 281 “People look East”
Call to Prayer
Joy is the celebration given by God.
Joy is the celebration at the birth of the Christ Child.
Joy is the celebration when the angels sing “Glory to God in the highest.”
We celebrate the joy of Christ coming again.
Prayers of Adoration and Confession
Creator God, Maker of heaven and earth, with the sea and the stars, and everything within then,
we praise you for the wonders of this world and the vastness of the universe which contains it.
You have set all creation in relationships that are both fruitful and fragile. You make deserts to bloom when you refresh the earth with seasonal rain. The seasons flow and once again we have come into winter a time when you call us to care for the vulnerable in our hearts. In our Advent worship we praise you with joyful song this morning, our God, who are the Source, Saviour and Spirit of life, perfect in unity, beauty and truth.
Gracious Lord and judge of all, we look around us and we are not proud of what we see.
People criticize each other and listen only to those who agree with them. We grumble and think the past holds the solutions to the challenges of today and forget and forget its inequities and iniquities. We are impatient for things to improve but we do not want to change our own ways.
Forgive us for succumbing to the pessimism and the unhappy mood of our times. Give us instead joy and gratitude, renew our hope and our faith as we turn away from all that is negative and evil.
Replace resentment with love, make us more patient and accepting, compassionate and strong in Jesus our Lord.
With great mercy, you forgive what we have confessed, and you offer us new life in Christ. We rejoice in every new beginning and share the joy of sin forgiven and forgotten with each other.
We turn to your Word to hear your will and your wisdom for our times. Let our minds be receptive to your truth, with its message of warning, encouragement and love through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever. Amen.
Intimations
Coffee mornings this week, Tuesday 6th Inverkeithing 10:00-noon
As in previous years we are going to have a board for Christmas cards, please add you cards if you wish to & any donations will be sent to the Foodbank.
Christmas Choir Practice Inverkeithing Saturday 10th at 10:30 in the Church.
In Inverkeithing, the next Saturday Fun Club will be the day before our Nativity service, 17th December, and will be in the form of a Christmas party. All nursery and primary-aged children welcome.
The Christmas Services
Sunday 18th December the Children’s Nativity and Family Services at the usual times in both congregations. There will be a Joint Carol Service at 6:30 pm in North Queensferry.
Christmas Eve: A Carol Service for both congregations will be held in Inverkeithing at 6:30pm.
Christmas Day: There will be a joint service on Christmas Day at 10:30 am in Inverkeithing.
Invitation to the Offering
This Sunday we celebrate the Advent of Joy, rising in us through in Jesus Christ. Think of your gifts as seeds of that joy which we can plant in the world God loves for Christ’s sake.
Prayer of Dedication
God, our Judge, and our Joy, receive our gifts as seeds of gratitude for your gift to us in Christ Jesus. Bless these seeds with growth so that joy will blossom for people depleted by challenges, and places overwhelmed by scarce resources. Be their justice and their joy, through Christ our Lord.
All Age Talk
Look at these calendars! Can you believe it? We are only a few days from Christmas! (Have you finished all your Christmas shopping? I haven’t!
I’m hoping that you can help me figure out what some of the most popular gifts are this year. Will you help me?
Put your hand up if you’re hoping to get a doll or a cuddly animal for a Christmas gift.
Put your hand up if you’re hoping to get a super-hero toy for a Christmas gift.
Put your hand up if you’re hoping to get an electronic or techy toy for a Christmas gift.
Put your hand up if you’re hoping to get socks for a Christmas gift.
Those are a lot of gifts that we’re all hoping for–except for the socks. Thanks for helping me.
Those may be some of the most popular gifts that children will find under their Christmas tree this year, but they don’t compare with the gifts we receive from the Christ of Christmas.
In our Bible lesson today we learn that John, even though he was in prison, was hearing about all the wonderful things Jesus was doing. He sent a message to Jesus by some of his friends. “Ask Jesus if he is the Messiah we have been expecting, or should we continue to watch for someone else?”
When they asked Jesus that question, he answered, “Go back to John and tell him about the things you hear and see: The blind can see. The crippled can walk. People with harmful skin diseases are healed. The deaf can hear. The dead are raised to life. And the Good News is told to the poor.”
If you were blind, what better gift could you receive than to be able to see? If you were crippled, what better gift could you receive than to be able to walk? If you were dead, what better gift could you receive than the gift of life? Jesus is God’s gift to us. Jesus came to earth to give us life — eternal life! What a gift!
Dear God, thank You for Jesus! We know that every good gift we receive comes from you and the greatest gift is eternal life brought down to us through your Son. Father, we thank you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Hymn 282 “Christmas is coming” (chorus & verses 1-3 )
Reading: Isaiah 35:1-10
The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendour of our God.
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
‘Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you.’
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
nor any ravenous beast;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Amen.
Hymn 291 “When out of poverty is born”
Reading: Matthew 11:2-11
2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’
4 Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.’
7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written: ‘“I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.”
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Amen, this is the Word of the Lord, to him be all glory and praise
Hymn 290 “The race that long in darkness pined”
Sermon
On Wednesday I was speaking to children in the schools about the adventure of Advent; how it is a story of a future event in which an unexpected child would be born to parents whose lives would be turned upside in an adventure that would change the world and the lives of billions of people. The adventure of the gospel contains all the elements of a thriller: strange characters, unexpected twists, good and evil struggling for supremacy, a mixture of blessing and tragedy, but ultimately a story of the victory of God in the human soul.
Part of the Christmas story involves the wilderness. Following the birth of Jesus, Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt. Unlike the Christmas card depiction of the three of them and a donkey, they would have travelled with a merchant caravan with many camels and guards across the Sinai peninsula, a perilous journey of about 450 miles through very rugged desert country and made the return journey some years later. The desert would have made a strong impression on Jesus in his childhood years.
For some, the wilderness is a desolate place, devoid of human civilization, where plants grow wild, or not at all. Perhaps a desert or an overgrown jungle. It might be a place fraught with danger. Maybe there is too little food or water, or maybe you are at risk of being food for a predator.
For others, the wilderness is an urban jungle, a city that never sleeps, with lights and traffic and pedestrians, blaring horns or loud music. This is a man-made wilderness, full of dangers of a different sort: being lost without a map, taken advantage of by a taxi driver or just feeling lonely among so many strangers.
Occasionally, people seek out the wilderness, however they define that environment. But, why? There is a common literary trope about the rugged individuals who take time in the wilderness to be alone with themselves as a balm for whatever trials life has thrown at them. In Scotland it tends to be remote islands or inaccessible part of Sutherland. This is a well-known memoir and film called Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. Strayed tells the story of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail without any prior hiking experience, carrying a pack that was too large and boots that didn’t properly fit. She took to the trail after her mother died following a short battle with lung cancer age 46 and left Strayed bereft. Strayed’s behaviour was erratic, sometimes dangerous. She left her husband, abused heroin, and really lost herself. What better way to find oneself than to take to the Pacific Crest Trail 2653 miles through California from the border of Mexico to the Canadian border? Maybe, for some!
Strayed decided to begin the hike in 1995. The trail was known to be difficult and dangerous, and particularly ill-advised for single women. This didn’t seem to deter the inexperienced Strayed. She walked and walked until six toenails fell off. She walked even after losing a boot down the side of a mountain. She walked through snow, rain, sleet. She kept walking when she was lost. Sometimes she had no choice but to depend on the kindness of strangers.
Why did she do it? On the face of it, it seems that she was driven to the wilderness because she had lost a bit of herself in her grief and trauma. Indeed, her story is a redemption tale, but like all redemption stories it cannot simply be reduced to that. Her story is all her own, unique to her and her experience. She needed to find and learn a truth that only she could learn, in a way and place unique to her.
Near the end of the story, Strayed wonders what her life could be like if she forgave herself? What if she was sorry and just forgave herself? Sometimes it takes 2500 miles on foot through treacherous conditions to conclude that we need to forgive ourselves.
What did you come to see?
In our gospel today, Jesus asks the crowds about John the Baptist, “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?” People do not go to the wilderness to seek fame or to find power. People do not seek the wilderness to become rich or popular. What do you hope to see in the wilderness, Jesus asks? Why come to the wilderness? What do you expect? A prophet. We go to the wilderness to find a prophet, Jesus says.
The way we use the word “prophet” colloquially sometimes sounds like a fortune teller or soothsayer. “Prophetic” speech sounds like clairvoyance. True prophets are not primarily forecasters, however. Prophets are people who can see and state the truth more clearly. These are often uncomfortable truths, such as calling out corruption or advocating for the oppressed. Prophets tell us when we are not living up to the people God calls us to be, which can be a difficult judgment to hear
Prophets also encourage us to be courageous, to make the difficult decisions that are the right call. Prophets push us to do hard things. They tell us when we are being overbearing or too judgmental — not just to other people, but to ourselves.
Cheryl Strayed went into the wilderness to find a prophet. Not a prophet like John the Baptist, but she sought the type of experience of time and space that prophets offer. She wanted to hear the truth about herself, about her relationships, about the world she lived in. She went into the wilderness to find a prophet.
Throughout the scriptures, God’s people go through literal and figurative wildernesses. In every case the wilderness is a defining experience that refines what it means to be the people of God. Through the Exodus, the people of God received the Ten Commandments that shaped their identity as a people. They learned to survive and get along with each other they refined their understanding of their relationship to God. It was in the wilderness that Elijah heard the still small voice of God. The wilderness can be an uncomfortable experience, but it is also one way people come to understand themselves more clearly, as individuals or as a community.
John the Baptist invited people to the wilderness to hear about something new. Not just something new, but someone new. He wanted to tell people about the Son of God who has come to make them new. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The poor will receive good news. This wilderness experience would change the world order. God sent his son to gather God’s people in and to upset the unjust systems that disadvantage some and refuse them access to the community and its resources.
We don’t know why these people came to hear John in the wilderness or to find out who they are. Perhaps it was the last straw for some. Maybe the crowd was filled with widows or orphans who they were tired of being excluded from the economic system. Maybe the crowd included physically disabled people, who were fed up with being on the outside of the community. Maybe the crowd was populated with poor people who were filled with angst over high taxes and unjust systems that give more to the wealthy and return nothing for the poor. The crowd remains nameless and voiceless, but whoever was in it, they made the effort to come out to the wilderness to find something new, to hear from someone who may be able to give them insight.
They found a prophet. They found John the Baptist, who was preaching about one who would come and disrupt all the systems that kept people in harmful, hurtful, oppressive relationships with each other. They came to the wilderness to hear about who they really were, the beloved children of God. They also heard who they were not. They were not the least, the lost and lonely. They were the ones for whom God has sent God’s son. They were those who will be first while the first are last. Things will turn around.
Wilderness of knowing
Every one of us will have a wilderness experience in our lives. Part of being human is walking through times and spaces where we wonder who we are, where we belong and if we can be forgiven. While few of us will choose to walk through a literal wilderness as Cheryl Strayed did, each of us will have times and places where we look for a prophet to help us see the truth — the truth of who we are and whose we are.
During Advent we listen again to the stories of a young, pregnant Mary making her way with Joseph, the expectant father, to be counted as part of the census. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem about 90 miles would involve mostly wilderness travel, this time more likely on foot. It’s believed that Mary and Joseph chose a route that took them southeast through the Jezreel Valley and further east to the Jordan Valley. Continuing south to Jericho, they probably proceeded up through the Judean Desert to Jerusalem and onward to Bethlehem. By the end of their difficult trek, the couple would have walked more than 90 miles; much of that distance across difficult terrain. Notice the Bible never once mentions a donkey!
Not only would this trek up hill and down claim Mary and Joseph as citizens of a particular region, but it helps define them as people, too. No longer simply “Mary,” she is becoming the mother of the Saviour. Not “just” a carpenter, Joseph will soon be the father of the Son of God. We might imagine that Mary and Joseph were seeking their own prophet on this journey: someone who would tell them the truth about the mysterious baby that was coming and the truth about who they are in relation to the baby. In many ways, they get just that when the angels, shepherds and Magi come to bear witness to the birth of the Christ child.
Advent is one of the holiest times of year, when we are invited to repent in preparation for the Christmas season. During this season, we are invited to a type of spiritual wilderness time, even if we cannot seek an actual, literal wilderness. As a community of believers, we have carved this time out for ourselves to ask ourselves who and whose we are and to repent for the times we have fallen short. During this time, we are urged to seek the prophets: those people and moments when the truth of who you are and where you belong is as crystal clear as the Bethlehem star.
Yesterday I was in our garage, it has lots of stuff useful or not so useful, things that no longer have a place in daily life. It is a wilderness. I am looking forward to when I have time to tidy it up. Perhaps it is time to open the cluttered room that is in your life or your mind, to sort out things that have been bothering you about your life and relationships. The wilderness is where we sort life out. Let the truth of the gospel and the leading of the Holy Spirit guide your way in your wilderness. Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of all creation everything you have made rejoices n your presence. Field and jungles flower with joy, deserts bloom, the mountain tops glisten with snow, streams make music as they flow over rocks and the seas crash in a symphony of praise. We thank you for the joy of nature which lifts our hearts and for the joy we share with each other, for familiar songs on our lips, for greetings from old friends, for the excitement of children in this season, and for the promise born again in us as we anticipate Jesus’ birth. God who makes all things new, renew our life together.
God of the world, with its woes as well as its wonders, we know there are many people and places who cannot rejoice this year. We bring therefore our prayers for healing, relief, comfort, and blessing remembering people whose voices have been silenced by oppressive regimes, by shocking tragedy by bullying and threatening, or by difficult experiences which have destroyed their resilience. Help us listen with care when words are not easy to find and show us how and when to speak when people cannot do so for themselves. God who makes all things new, renew our life together.
We remember those who have grown weaker through months of isolation, through changing economic circumstances through ageing or illness through hunger and homelessness.
Give them strength and courage to engage life as they are able and show us how and when we can give our support and encouragement. God who makes all things new, renew our life together.
We remember people whose days are filled with fear because of war and conflict on their streets,
because of intimidation and discrimination, because the security they relied on has disappeared. We pray for people who feel impelled to strike this winter and for those who are challenged by their requests, that fair and equitable solutions may be found. Bring them protection and comfort in the uncertainty and give us wisdom and generosity of spirit towards everyone. God who makes all things new, renew our life together.
We remember people whose lives seem empty because their cupboards are bare while others shop for the season; because someone precious is absent, because their life choices made have not been fulfilling. Fill empty lives with meaning and purpose this Christmas. Show us how to share what we have in ways that are generous and dignified and let the joy of this season dawn in cold and dark hearts and minds. God who makes all things new, renew our life together May we know again the joy that comes from the assurance of your love for us in Christ Jesus in whom we offer every prayer. Amen
Hymn 286 “Tell out my soul, the glories of the Lord”
Sending out and Benediction
May God the Father
prepare your journey,
Jesus the Son
guide your footsteps,
The Spirit of Life
strengthen your body,
The Three in One
Watch over you,
on every road
that you may follow.
Amen.
“May God’s blessing surround you each day”
Postlude “No wind at the window”