Fourth Sunday in Advent:

Resources for the service:

♦ Four Advent candles on a candle stand or Advent wreath

♦ A cradle-like basket

♦ A warmly coloured cloth

♦ Newspaper cuttings on world problems.

In preparation:

For all four Sundays in Advent:

♦ Use a palm tree, bamboo tree or other appropriate tree as a Christmas tree. In Malaysia, a palm tree is used as a decoration in the festive season and symbolizes goodwill.

♦ During the Advent season, the Advent candles are placed in front of the palm (or other) tree.

♦ At Christmas, this tree will be decorated as a Christmas tree.

For the fourth Sunday in Advent:

♦ Symbols for the caring activities in which the congregation are involved should be found and prepared.

♦ Three members of the congregation need to be appointed to offer the call to worship.

GATHERING

Instrumental music

(The congregation may consider getting local musicians to play indigenous wind instruments that have the same primordial musical expressions as the Australian didgeridoo.)

Call to worship

Let us prepare the church and the world
for the One who comes in peace.

Voice 1: There is no place on earth
where this promise of God is not waiting.

Voice 2: The womb for the nurturing of Divine life,
will be found in surprising grace among us.

Voice 3: In humankind the Child of God is conceived
and we will nurture and protect this gift until it is brought to birth.
Deep within us, joy leaps in expectation.
Could we dare to believe that the Christ is coming?
In faith, we will wait in humble hope.

 

♪ Song: Come, O prince of peace (verses 1-4)

 

Lighting of the fourth Advent candle

(As the fourth candle is lit, the following words are said:)

We light this fourth Advent candle
and surround it with a cherishing love, like a mother’s womb.

It will remind us of both the promise and the responsibility
which awaits us at the birth of the Christchild.

 

♪ Song: Come, Holy Spirit, come

 

Prayer of invocation

O Holy Spirit,
source of all the gifts which God offers to us,
take us beyond our own concerns and doubts
and speak to us of your dreams for new possibilities.

Prayer of confession

Loving Parent God,
you who hold us safe within the womb-space of your compassion,
we come before you as your very human people.
We acknowledge that there are times
when we turn away from holding your life in our hands
when the challenges before us are great.
We are tempted to allow ourselves to be distracted
by other concerns and busyness,
rather than owning and caring for your vulnerable life.

Silent reflection

Hear our humble confession, Jesus Christ.
Open our lives to receive
your eternal promise of love, we pray.

Sometimes, we would rather keep you
as a tiny promise of life within the womb
rather than nurturing you and bringing you to birth
in ways which invite us to a mature faith.

Silent reflection

Hear our humble confession, Jesus Christ.
Open our lives to receive
your eternal promise of love, we pray.
Amen.

 

Words of assurance

The love of Jesus Christ waits to be discovered within us now.
When we own our humanness before the holiness of God,
the flowing of grace will amaze us by its kindness.
We are forgiven!
Thanks be to God.

 

Prayer of thanksgiving (to be read antiphonally)

Group I: O God, in Christ Jesus,
we thank you for the reality
that there is never a time in history
when your life cannot be begun anew
among ordinary people.

Group II: We celebrate again the promise
of your holy life being found here,
welcomed and held in our trembling hands
as your hopeful people.

Group I: We thank you for the story of faithfulness
which comes to us today in your word
inviting us to a different future
and the wonder of your company forever.

All: Thanks be to you, O God,
Creator, Child and Holy Spirit.
Amen.

 

PROCLAMATION

Suggested Bible readings

Micah 5:2-5a

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labour has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth;
and he shall be the one of peace.

 

Hebrews 10:5-10

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God” (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).’
When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

Luke 1:39-45

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

 

or Luke 1:47-55

And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

 

Sermon

 

RESPONSE

Offertory sentence

Just as God gives to us, so let us give to others now.
Our offering will be received.

 

♪ Song: Na o e ha ma ni tei e nei au (O our God, you created this our world)

 

Offertory prayer

O God, we can never match your generosity.
However, we pray in faith for your blessing
on all that we offer to you now.
May we bring your love to birth
as we use these gifts. Amen.

 

Affirmation of faith and prayers of intercession

 

Let us affirm our faith together:
We believe that we too may prepare
to find the Christ among us and within us.
(The cradle-like basket is placed in front of the altar/table.)

May we search for the beginnings of your life
with faithful expectation, Jesus Christ.
We believe that we are called
to prepare a sacred place for love to come.
(The warmly coloured cloth is placed in the cradle together with some symbols of the caring activities of the congregation.)

Through our prayers and our actions we will cherish this love.
Give us strength, commitment and faithfulness
in all that we do in your name, Jesus Christ.
We believe that even when doors are closed in our faces,
we are those who will firmly hold the growing life in the womb.
(Newspaper cuttings which tell of a troubled world are placed in the cradle.)

As we look at the world around us,
we know that it will not be easy to sustain hope and justice.
Give us the courage to make a space
for a truly prophetic life, Jesus Christ.
We believe that, no matter where the sun rises on this day,
the people of God will be there with us,
in a unity of faithfulness to your promise, Jesus Christ.
Together, we will so live
that others will see and believe in your coming.
Amen.

 

SENDING FORTH

Dismissal and blessing 

Let us walk towards Christmas Day
believing that anything is possible through the love of God. 
And may the unborn life within us leap with anticipation.

Amen.

May all the churches open wide their doors to welcome Christ’s coming.

Amen. 

And may Christmas Day herald the rebirth of love in all the earth.

Amen.

 

Postlude or song