Welcome to our service - 18 December
This service sheet can be used individually or with households.
We would encourage you to say (or even sing) hymns and songs out loud.
Prayers, other liturgy or readings can be said out loud or silently, corporately or individually.
If you are able, we would also like invite you to join us for our main Sunday service, 10am in church and live on Zoom. Even if you have never been to St Gabriel’s before we would love you to join you. Please get in touch with the vicar Alistair (vicar@saintgs.co.uk) and he will send you the Zoom details.
SERVICE
Opening
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who has come to his people and set them free.
Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
Hosanna in the highest.
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzC9dxwRddc
The angel Gabriel from heaven came,
his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
'From God, all hail', the angel said to Mary,
most highly favoured lady!'
Gloria!
'Fear not, for you shall bear a holy child,
by him shall man to God be reconciled,
his name shall be Emmanuel, the long foretold:
most highly favoured lady!'
Gloria!
Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head,
`To me be as it pleases God', she said,
`My soul shall praise and magnify his holy name'.
Most highly favoured lady!
Gloria!
'And so,' she said, 'how happy I shall be!
All generations will remember me,
for God has kept the promises to Israel.'
Most highly favoured lady!
Gloria!
Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born
in Bethlehem, upon that Christmas morn,
and Christian folk throughout the world will ever say,
`Most highly favoured lady!'
Gloria!
Music Basque Carol arranged C.E. Pettman
© 1961 H Freeman.
Words: S. Baring-Gould © Jubilate Hym
CONFESSION
We are gathered together to proclaim and receive in our hearts the good news of the coming of God’s kingdom, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate with confidence and joy the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We pray that we may respond in penitence and faith to the glory of his kingdom, its works of justice and its promise of peace, its blessing and its hope.
When the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore, in the light of Christ let us confess our sins.
Christ came in humility to share our lives:
forgive our pride.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ came with good news for all people:
forgive our silence.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ came in love to a world of suffering:
forgive our self-centredness.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
ABSOLUTION
May the God of all healing and forgiveness
draw us to himself
and cleanse us from all our sins,
that we may behold the glory of his Son,
the Word made flesh,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Alleluia.
COLLECT
Eternal God,
as Mary waited for the birth of your Son,
so we wait for his coming in glory;
bring us through the birth pangs of this present age
to see, with her, our great salvation
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz-FkqobgXY
Tell out, my soul,
the greatness of the Lord;
Unnumbered blessings
give my spirit voice;
Tender to me
the promise of His Word;
In God my Saviour
shall my heart rejoice.
2. Tell out, my soul,
the greatness of His Name!
Make known His might, the deeds His arm has done;
His mercy sure, from age to age the same;
His Holy Name - the Lord, the Mighty One.
3. Tell out, my soul,
the greatness of His might!
Powers and dominions
lay their glory by.
Proud hearts and stubborn wills
are put to flight,
The hungry fed, the humble lifted high.
4. Tell out, my soul,
the glories of His word!
Firm is His promise, and His mercy sure,
Tell out my soul, the greatness of the Lord
To children's children and for evermore.
Timothy Dudley-Smith, 1926-
READINGS
Isaiah 7. 10 - 16
Later, the LORD sent this message to King Ahaz: “Ask the LORD your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.”
But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the LORD like that.”
Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt and honey. For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted
Matthew 1. 18 – end
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfil the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
TALK by Alistair Stevenson
If you have ever been in a situation where you are looking after more than one child you will probably have experienced something like this. Suddenly, you hear from the other room that the children have fallen out. Someone’s hurt, maybe crying. Arguing has started. The children rush into the room to tell you what has happened. Each child gives their version of the event. “He did this!” “No, she did that!” “He hit me first!” “No, she hit me first!” “Well I hit him, because he called me a stupidity, poo poo head!” “I did not say that! You’re the stupidity, silly, poo poo head”.
Or words to that effect.
Teachers, carers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents, can no doubt relate to times when two children disagree and suddenly you have to discern whose version of the events you are going to believe.
When we come to the Christmas story, and particularly Luke and Matthew’s account in the Bible, we can start to wonder whether the two accounts actually agree and that can leave us asking if their accounts are accurate.
If you have ever been involved in a criminal trial you know that something is not right when the witnesses seem to give exactly the same facts and details in their evidence. It’s no doubt one of the first things students are taught at law school. If two or more witnesses share exactly the same account then it’s likely they are collaborating to skew the facts and hide the truth.
What I love about the four gospels is that we have four perspectives on the life of Jesus. One person has described it like looking through outside windows into the same room. As you look through each window you get a different view, you see different things that you weren’t able to see from the other windows. The room is the same, but what you see from each window is slightly different. In the same way each gospel gives another angle, another telling.
Much like if I asked four people to repeat my sermon at the end of the service. Hopefully if they have remembered it, we would likely have four different accounts. Each person may remember something different because it impacts them in a particular way and they therefore relate to it differently. But each account would be true.
Moreover, we have got to remember that the gospels are not only history and retelling, they are also theology. The gospel writers are trying to emphasise certain theological realities and truths about who Jesus is through their telling of the historical events.
This morning we heard Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus. Although Matthew’s account has almost zero overlap with Luke’s in wording or concerns, they nevertheless agree about the main elements of the story:
1. A betrothed couple name Mary and Joseph;
2. Joseph is of Davidic descent;
3. Mary conceives through the power of the Holy Spirit without human intercourse;
4. Jesus’ name is determined by angelic revelation;
5. Jesus is born in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod the Great;
6. He was brought up in Nazareth.
That is a good deal of agreement! However, each account seeks to bring a different perspective. Luke is very concerned with the experience of Mary. In his account the women are brought forth and made centre - much like in the rest of his Gospel. Whereas the men in Luke’s narrative are literally silenced - as was the case for Zechariah (John the Baptist's father).
Matthew, unlike Luke, gives no account of Jesus’ birth or its situation. Matthew’s concern is about Jesus’ origins and importantly about Joseph’s role in that. Matthew wants the reader to be very clear about where Jesus had come from and how Jesus is part of the great narrative of God’s redemption of his people.
It is a reminder to us to make sure we look back and remember all that God has done for us. To see how he has been at work. How he has directed our lives. We see that we were all called to play our role in the unfolding narrative of God's kingdom coming here on earth
But much like Joseph, who is mentioned little after this point, we may feel our role is insignificant or even whether God has a role for us at all. However, as Matthew wants us to focus on Joseph so I want this morning to delve a little deeper into Joseph’s role. That his small, humble, compassionate actions would change the course of history
Here was a man who stood up for the oppressed. Who rescued a woman deemed to become an outcast. Joseph was a man who risked everything to save the lives of two people even though the culture at the time would have encouraged him, maybe even tried to force him to do the opposite.
It’s important to note something of Jewish culture at the time. The passage tells us that Mary and Joseph were engaged. Engagement was not like our modern understanding. At the time it was normal for a girl, usually around 14 or 15, to be formally betrothed to a man for a year before they got married. This was a formal agreement between two families and involved a public ceremony and required divorce if the marriage was not to proceed. It was a time of abstinence and therefore if there was a question of adultery this would be legitimate criteria for divorce. And therefore, Joseph upon finding out that Mary was pregnant, had every right not only to divorce Mary but then to leave her to the judgement of Jewish law with the resulting punishment of death. But instead Joseph shows immense compassion and care and aims to break the engagement quietly.
The implications for Joseph of Mary’s pregnancy, while not leading to death, would likely have resulted in huge embarrassment for Joseph and his family. However, going on to marry this already pregnant woman could have been far worse.
Verse 20 says, in our translation, ‘As he considered this’. But the NIV is more accurate in terms of the tense, translating it as ‘But after he had considered this…’ Joseph’s mind was made up. He had decided what to do. Moreover, the original Greek of the word ‘considered’, gives the sense of a ‘passionate frame of mind’ or even a state of intense displeasure or anger. Joseph was distraught, even angry that this had happened. This would not be a surprising reaction in light of the fact that Joseph has already been through a serious rite of betrothal, which will have involved a public bond not only between himself and Mary, but also their families.
One writer therefore concludes saying this:
“In his cameo appearance, Matthew presents Joseph as a human being of remarkable spiritual stature. He possesses the boldness, daring, courage and strength of character to stand up against his entire community and take Mary as his wife. He did so in spite of forces that no doubt wanted her stoned. His vision of justice stayed in his hand. In short he was able to re-process his anger into grace. (Kenneth Bailey - Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, p 46).
Through divine intervention Joseph moves from righteous anger to compassionate grace. Joseph had a different vision for justice. He is open to hearing from God through the dream. But then, he doesn’t just ignore the dream, instead he obeys God despite what the consequence could have been
Here in Matthew we see that the Angel spells out the significance of this child. He is from the Holy Spirit, is fulfilling prophetic visions, will be Immanuel - literally God with us and through Him people will be saved from their sins. No pressure Joseph - you better look after him!
Ten years ago, Mark Greene of LICC in London wrote a great reflection on the role of Joseph in the story of the nativity and I want to close with this.
‘Ordinary Joe – An Unsung Hero’
There are many characters in the cast of the Christmas story that have gripped the Church’s imagination but there’s one that has rarely had a place in the spotlight.
There’s the Magi, exotic and somehow still gleaming in their silks after the long, dusty road from the East; there’s Gabriel, winged, magnificent, fearsome and gentle, chosen to make an offer that might be refused; there’s Simeon satisfied, no, exhilarated by something apparently so small – not even a hope fulfilled, just a hope assured; and, of course, there’s Mary, young, vulnerable but open to God’s plan and singing out words that will last forever.
And then there’s Joe. Honest, solid Joe
The carpenter. The man in the background. Almost always depicted as so much older than Mary, even by Rembrandt. Old enough to be her father – the protector, not the lover, of a young bride. There’s Joe ushering the donkey along the road; there’s Joe being turned away by the innkeepers; there’s Joe watching the Wise Men offer their gifts. No prophetic songs soar from his heart. In fact, the Bible records not a single word of his, and he slips out of the story without even a sentence to mark his passing.
He’s a craftsman, a working man. God did not entrust his son to be fathered by a rabbi or a scribe or a Pharisee or a rich merchant but by Joe. A man who did not need an angel to appear to him to change the direction of his life but only a dream. A man who put God’s agenda for his betrothed before his own hopes. A man who left his home and his business for the sake of the girl he loved and the God he loved. A man who set aside the sexual expression of his love for Mary until after Jesus’ birth, just as his son would set aside the joys of marriage and sexual love. A man who risked Herod’s murderous intent and was ready to lay down his life for his bride, just as his son would be ready to lay down his life for his bride – the church.
Maybe Jesus learned a thing or two from honest, solid Joe.
In an era where we like our heroes articulate, powerful and sparkling, Joe offers a different model. The Bible uses a telling phrase to describe him – he was a good man. Would that be epitaph enough for us? Good old Joe.
So what do you want to take from the life of Joe this advent?
Are we willing to reimagine what Kingdom justice looks like, particularly when that justice looks very different to the justice of the world? Is there someone in our lives who we need to stand up for and defend.
Or today, maybe you are feeling insignificant. Like you have very little to offer and even wonder whether God could use you. Today I would encourage you to take heart from the life of Joseph - ‘good old Joe’.
Amen.
O LORD, HEAR MY PRAYER,
O Lord, hear my prayer:
When I call answer me.
O Lord, hear my prayer,
O Lord, hear my prayer:
Come and listen to me.
Jacques Berthier/Taizé.
Copyright © 1982 Ateliers et Presses de Taize (France).
PRAYERS - written by Dave Duckitt
Our prayers this morning are split into two parts. Firstly, we will pray for ourselves. I will say a few words based on The Lord’s Prayer and then leave a short space for you to pray for yourself.
My Father in heaven,
[Thank God that you, personally, can call him Father, Abba, Daddy.]
Give me today my daily bread.
[Pray for what you need today]
Forgive me my sins as I forgive those who sin against me.
[Confess your own sins and ask for help to forgive others]
Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.
[Pray for your own protection]
Lord God, thank you that you answer us when we cry out to you on our own behalf. But Lord, in our self-centredness, open our eyes to the light that you bring to your whole world and help us to reflect that light to others. Amen
In this second part, we will pray for ourselves and other people. Please join with me in the familiar words on the screen. After each section, I will say a short prayer on behalf of us all.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name
Lord God, Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer of the World, we give you the praise that you are due. We join with the angels and cry Holy are you God. Thank you, Lord, that even in your great Majesty, your children throughout the world, and throughout the ages, can come, as they are, to you their heavenly Father.
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
As we prepare to celebrate again how you sent Jesus to a waiting world 2,000 years ago, we still mourn for those areas of ourselves and of your world where your kingdom has not yet fully come and your will is not done. We cry, Come, Lord Jesus, Come. Come to Ukraine, to Haiti, to Yemen. Come again to Palestine. Come wherever there is a lack of love and bring your hope.
Give us today our daily bread.
We bring before you today all those in need. We remember foodbanks and warm spaces in our city, those struggling to feed themselves and their families due to the cost of living crisis, those with nothing to eat due to war or famine. We pray for people who are homeless or powerless or hopeless and all those working with them. Shelter them as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. And show us what part you want us to play.
And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lord, we confess that as a people we have gone astray. Forgive us for our foolishness. Forgive us for failing to take good care of your world or of one another. Thank you for sending Jesus that first Christmas to pay for all our wrongdoing and to restore our relationship with you. Help us by the power of your Spirit to show mercy, even as you have been merciful to us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Lord, we want to live our lives for you. But we know that we are weak and that we can’t do that in our own strength. Fill us, and all those we care for, with your Spirit so that we can keep our eyes fixed upon you.
Amen.
We close our prayers by saying together this advent prayer…
God of hope, who brought love into this world,
be the love that dwells between us.
God of hope, who brought peace into this world,
be the peace that dwells between us.
God of hope, who brought joy into this world,
be the joy that dwells between us.
God of hope, the rock we stand upon,
be the centre, the focus of our lives
always, and particularly this Advent time.
Amen
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ntaO2CeyI
HOLY CHILD, how still You lie!
Safe the manger, soft the hay;
Faint upon the eastern sky
Breaks the dawn of Christmas Day.
Holy Child, whose birthday brings
Shepherds from their field and fold,
Angel choirs and eastern kings,
Myrrh and frankincense and gold:
Holy Child, what gift of grace
From the Father freely willed!
In Your infant form we trace
All God’s promises fulfilled.
Holy Child, whose human years
Span like ours delight and pain;
One in human joys and tears,
One in all but sin and stain:
Holy Child, so far from home,
All the lost to seek and save:
To what dreadful death You come,
To what dark and silent grave!
Holy Child, before whose name
Powers of darkness faint and fall;
Conquered death and sin and shame –
Jesus Christ is Lord of all!
Holy Child, how still You lie!
Safe the manger, soft the hay;
Clear upon the eastern sky
Breaks the dawn of Christmas Day.
Timothy Dudley-Smith
Copyright © 1966 Timothy Dudley-Smith/ Oxford University Press
OFFERTORY - Take a moment to consider how you are going to continue to give to the life of the church and support other aid agencies and mission organisations.
Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power,
the glory, the splendour, and the majesty;
for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.
All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.
SING: https://youtu.be/FLURukXoht8
Joy to the world, the Lord has come!
let earth receive her King;
let every heart prepare Him room
and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven, and heaven and nature sing!
2 Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns!
your sweetest songs employ
while fields and streams and hills and plains
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
3 He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of His righteousness,
the wonders of His love,
the wonders of His love,
the wonders, wonders of His love.
Isacc Watts (1674-1748)
FINAL BLESSING:
God sent his angels from glory to bring to shepherds
the good news of Jesus’ birth.
Yes! We thank you Lord.
You have heard his story, the story of God’s own Son.
Yes! We thank you Lord.
May he fill you with joy to bring this good news to others today.
Yes! We thank you Lord
And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.