18th. December. 2022. Service.
Inverkeithing linked with North Queensferry
Service of Worship 18th December 2022
Fourth Sunday in Advent
Prelude: The Shepherd’s Farewell by Hector Berlioz
Opening Prayer
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily presence with us, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a home prepared for himself, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Let us sing Hymn 321 Come and join the celebration (remaining seated).
Call to Prayer
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
We celebrate the coming of the Light.
O sing to the Lord a new song,
God’s salvation is at hand.
Celebrate the coming of Salvation.
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us.
Celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace.
I bring you good news of great joy for all the people.
Let us celebrate the coming of the Christ!
Let us pray:
Glorious and blessed God, maker of heaven and earth and sea and sky and all that is in them, we come into your presence with thanksgiving and praise. We worship you with gladness. Thank you for the good news of great joy in the Christ child of Bethlehem. Because he is with us, we are not afraid!
Thank you for the gift of your grace in this season and all year long. For daily health and security. For friends and loved ones. For newborn babies and the laughter of children at play. For the companionship of our pets. Thank you for watching over our sleep and dreams, always guarding our minds and hearts. Thank you for making us strong in ways we did not know we could be strong, and for helping us endure what must be endured, with patience.
Thank you for your forgiveness when we make poor decisions, when we accuse someone falsely, or thoughtlessly criticize those we do not understand. Forgive when we forget the poor, those who are sick or in prison or oppressed, those whose hearts are broken. Please understand when our disappointment in you causes us to lose hope. Hear now our silent prayers of confession. (Silence)
As we listen to the familiar story of your coming among us as a child of flesh and blood, give us fresh eyes and ears so that we may hear these wondrous events with new understanding, wisdom, and joy.
Thank you for your faithful love, and for your advent among us once more. We worship you. In your presence, Emmanuel, we find fullness of joy, and because you are with us, we are not afraid! We offer these prayers in the name of Jesus in whom we find our true rest, and who still teaches us to pray together, Our Father… (In the words most familiar to you)
Hymn 315 Once in royal David’s City
Lighting of Advent Candle
God of the ages, like Mary, may our souls reflect your greatness, and our spirits rejoice in you, for you have looked with favour on us and done marvellous things. May our lives be a response to the love you have shown us in Jesus, born of Mary, who lives forever and ever. Amen
All Age Talk
Don’t you just love all the beautiful decorations during the Christmas season? We see colourful ribbons and bows, bells, candles, stars, and lots and lots of angels.
Why do you think we see so many angels at Christmas time?
Probably the first thing we think of when we see angel decorations at Christmas is that the angels appeared to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. But an angel is important to Christmas even before Jesus was born. What do you know about angels?
Our Bible lesson today tells us about a visit from an angel. Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married. Can you imagine the thoughts that came to Joseph’s mind when he discovered that Mary was going to have a baby and they weren’t married yet? He probably asked himself, “What do I do now?” Joseph was a good man and did not want to disgrace Mary publicly, so he decided that it would be better to break off the engagement quietly. While he was considering this, an angel appeared to him in a dream.
“Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife,” the angel said. “The child that is inside her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save the people from their sins.”
When the angel of the Lord had spoken and made God’s plan clear, Joseph was obedient. He didn’t have to understand how everything was going to happen. He didn’t need to worry about what anyone else would think. Joseph trusted God and obeyed Him.
Sometimes you and I may find ourselves in a situation where we don’t know what to do. Like Joseph, we might ask ourselves, “What do I do now?” If we listen, God will tell us what to do. He probably won’t speak to us through an angel (pause), but he will speak to us through the Bible! It is up to us to listen and obey.
Dear God, we are filled with joy by the many lessons we learn when we accept Jesus as God’s son. Help us read your Word and listen as you give us the answers to life’s difficult questions. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Hymn 312 “way in a manger”
Intimations
There will be a Joint Carol Service at 6:30 pm in North Queensferry this evening.
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.
New Year’s Day the services will be at the usual times of 10:00 am and 11:30 am.
Invitation to the Offering
We bring our offering today with hearts full of love, filled with the hope and joy this season brings. Give knowing God’s love will spread everywhere through what we offer in Jesus’ name.
Prayer of Dedication
God of Life and Love, receive our gifts this day as tokens of our love for you and signs of our willingness to share that love in the world around us. Bless our lives as well as our gifts, so that we may be a blessing to others for the sake of the Christ Child, our Saviour, and our friend. Amen
Isaiah 7:10-16
10 Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”
13 Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. Amen.
Hymn 304 “O little town of Bethlehem”
Reading Matthew 11:2-11
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. Amen, this is the Word of the Lord, to Him be all glory and praise.
Hymn 301 “Hark the herald angels sing”
Christmas thoughts
We are told that it takes a village to raise a child. We see in this Christmas story that it also takes a village to welcome the Christ child, and to welcome God. May we be that village.
True story: the God who created the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, the God who set in place the whole natural order as we know it, the one God, the only God there is, was, or ever will be — this one true God has entered this very creation, has intervened in the natural order. According to this Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew, it happened like this ….
Matthew doesn’t tell the exact same story other gospels do. There is no visitation from the angel Gabriel, no annunciation, no backstory of the childless priestly couple Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth — nothing like that. In Matthew’s Gospel, we are simply told that Mary was found to be “with child from the Holy Spirit.” We are just given that information in the passive voice: she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. In this Gospel, as we shall see later, the angelic visitations are to Joseph.
This account tells of how God entered the world in and through the person — the fully human person — of Jesus, born of Mary and Joseph. But there are more involved here, in this entrance of God into the created order, than simply Jesus. It has been said that “it takes a village to raise a child,” and this coming of God into the world in the person of the child Jesus involved a village, too. Our story begins with “the birth of Jesus the Messiah,” but that is only the beginning. There is, if you will, a whole “village” involved here, a number of “persons,” both human and extra-human, through whom God came into the world. Let’s look at them.
There is, of course, Jesus’ mother Mary. As was said earlier, she is not as complexly drawn in Matthew as in other Gospels. She is almost a passive presence. She takes no action. Things are done to her. She is engaged to a man named Joseph. And … she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit — and before they lived together, which is to say, before they had any marital relations. Other Gospels say straightforwardly that she was a virgin.
How could this be? All we are told here is that Mary is, truly, the “chosen one,” the one chosen by God to be the vessel, the vehicle, of God’s entrance into the world. What we are given here is a message bold to the point of outrageous. Right here at the beginning of our story, we are asked to take a leap of faith bold and outrageous.
What does the story tell us about God, about humankind and about the relationship between God and humankind? That God so cared for the world that God literally entered the world through the womb of a woman. This coming of God into the world, this God-bathed, God-breathed birth was not a matter of chance, or an ordinary outworking within the natural order of things.
The ordinary outworking of the natural order is in itself a miracle. Turning on the tap the other day, conscious of using too much water I thought. Water, perfect for life, but a chemical anomaly, in a world in a solar system in a universe that is just right. Most of the time we don’t think about this. Our consciousness takes it for granted, and the moment we think of our consciousness we realise that this is where we experience everything, including the sensation of physical reality. We forget this when we sleep, and our consciousness goes to other places. We are living in a miracle, so why is it so strange to stumble over the idea that God intervened.
God chose, we are told, to override natural processes to make it happen in that time and in that place. Our experience is that God does not normally override the natural processes God put in place, but in this case, God did just that, because the times called for it. This happened through the action of the second “character” in this drama: The Holy Spirit — which is to say the presence of the transcendent God in our world and in our day-to-day affairs — as close to us, as it is said, as our next breath.
This benighted, God-forsaking world is that important to God that he might choose to enter it, in flesh, to save it from its sin. And that intervention, by God, did not happen by chance. It was planned for this time and in this place and through these people, Mary and Joseph of Bethlehem, but soon to be, as this particular version of the story unfolds, of Nazareth. This birth was planned and engineered by divine action.
Indeed, it takes a village. We have already considered Mary, a righteous woman who consented without resistance or drama to be the vessel for God’s entrance into the world. She is engaged, as we have been told, to Joseph. It has taken, so far, that much to actualize God’s presence in the world: Mary, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
More are involved. We are introduced to Joseph, and then we are shown, not told, that he is a righteous man in every sense of the world. Where are we shown this righteousness? In regular worship attendance? Not to downplay such truly righteous conduct, but … no. We might, based on his righteousness, assume that he does indeed worship regularly, but this is not given as evidence of his righteousness. Where do we see it, then? In outward piety, regular prayer, scripture study, every other word of his being a word of praise? No … we don’t see this. He says nothing in this brief portrayal; the only words are from another “character” in this drama.
Where, then? His righteousness is demonstrated in his conduct toward Mary, his betrothed, his beloved — a woman who has, to all outward appearances, betrayed and disgraced him.
Yes, betrayed and disgraced him — that is perhaps lost upon us now, so embedded is this story in our culture, secular as well as religious, but the situation Joseph finds himself in is humiliating, embarrassing, the target even in our jaded times of jokes, side-eyed smirks, even violence. “His” woman is pregnant by someone else. He has been betrayed. He has been disgraced. He has every right to put her out in the street and expose her to public shame.
But he doesn’t. He resolves, out of a love and respect for his beloved that is manifest even in the face of the most bitter and contemptuous rejection, to keep the whole sad and disgraceful affair quiet. And then, he is visited, in a dream, by yet another (temporary) denizen of this village through which salvation comes to us: an angel of the Lord. The angel speaks. The angel tells Joseph the incredible story that Mary’s child is “from the Holy Spirit,” and then he gives Joseph a detailed list of instructions.
And Joseph, the righteous man, shows his righteousness once again by recognizing this angel of the Lord as an angel of the Lord and not a hallucination, or a demon or a dream that is nothing more than a dream. He recognizes the angel as a messenger from the God with whom he is obviously close, even amid betrayal and disgrace. He takes heed and obeys.
There is yet another “character” at play here, a visitor to this village through which this Godchild came into the world. And that is, words, a word from the Lord, “what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet.” Our attention is drawn to words spoken centuries earlier, in another time and context. These are words of hope and assurance, spoken through a prophet to one of Israel’s ancient kings. This hope and assurance serve in former times and in all times, including ours. Isaiah spoke during times of political upheaval not unlike the time Joseph finds himself in, times of threat from foreign powers at work in collusion with traitorous domestic elements. This defined the time of Isaiah, the time of Joseph … and our time. A virgin will bear a child, and that child will be called, will be, Emmanuel, God-with-us. In the most troubling of times, during national upheaval, personal betrayal and disgrace, even then, God is with us.
Joseph pays heed to all of this: to the righteous spirit with which he has been blessed to keep what appeared to be Mary’s shame quiet, to the angel he recognizes as bearing a word from the Lord, and to the prophet bearing a word from the past. He gets up. He obeys. He steps right into the middle of a world about to be set on its head.
“The child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit,” the angel told Joseph. And this is portrayed as a fulfilment of prophecy, a word from the past. This child is to be named, “God is with us.” And it takes a village to make that happen. We can be that “village,” even now. May we be like Mary, receiving at the most intimate level the Spirit, the entirety, of the living God without fuss or demands for explanation.
May we be like Joseph: may we love, honour, respect even those who disgrace us.
May we be open to the Spirit, as that holy couple was, recognize the Spirit, receive guidance, be ready to go places we may not choose to go, to take on a life we did not see coming. May we prepare ourselves for all of this, by heeding the words of the prophets.
In so doing, may we be that village, receiving the Christ whose birth we will celebrate in a few days. May we be that village that welcomes the “… son … named Jesus” — may our story begin and end as this one does with Jesus.
Prayer
As you came to us in love as the Christ child in Bethlehem, so we come to you with love and concern for the world.
In this time of quiet and contemplation we remember: families who live close to the edge of survival, worrying about where their next meal will come from, how they will pay their bills and where they will find shelter; those who will spend Christmas alone, or in hospital, or weighed down by grief; those who work today while we rest; those who have lost their sense of joy and wonder and whose vision is clouded by cynicism or despair; those who celebrate the birth of a new life, a new love, or a new way of being; those whom we have loved and who loved us, who now dwell in the eternal joy of your presence.
In deep gratitude for all the gifts of this life, we gather our voices to praise you for hearing all our prayers in the Name of Jesus whose birth we celebrate today.
Christmas doesn’t feel much like good news for whose income has fallen this year, because of redundancy, unemployment, or benefit reductions. God, help us to give gifts that cost love instead of money, not to fear the rising costs of Christmas or go into debt to pay for it. For all of us who are hard up, may the angel’s message be good news.
Christmas doesn’t feel much like good news for those who are homeless or lonely, if we don’t have a warm place to be or a warm welcome from those we love. God, help those of us with houses and families to open our homes and hearts to those without them, so that the angel’s message may truly be good news for those who are homeless or lonely.
Christmas doesn’t feel much like good news for those who have left their homes, communities, towns and countries this year, fleeing from violence, war or terror. Christmas doesn’t feel much like good news if you live in a tent, out in the open air, and it will simply be a day of struggle like any other. God, bring hope into the uncertainty of life as a refugee. Help those of us who live secure lives to give what we can to those who have left everything behind, so that the angel’s message may be good news for those who are refugees.
Christmas doesn’t feel much like good news for those who are ill or suffering. Thank you, God, for the dedication and care of medical staff, many of whom will be at work even on Christmas day. We know that our earthly bodies won’t last forever, but we also know that you are the God of the impossible, and still working miracles today. bring healing, by medicine or miracle, so that the angel’s message may be good news for those who are sick… The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, I’m bringing you good news that is for everyone.” In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Hymn 320 Joy to the world, the Lord has come”
Sending out and Benediction
“At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving the others with God’s own love and concern.” Mother Theresa
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, will be with you
this day and always. Amen!
“May God’s blessing surround you each day”
Postlude Chorus from the Christmas Oratorio J S Bach