Resources for the service:

♦ Two Advent candles on a candle stand or Advent wreath

 

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 second Sunday in Advent:

This service for the Second Sunday in Advent is based on the Siraya Formosan tribe’s cultural and social outlook and their experience as a people. Siraya is one of several Formosan aboriginal groups. They were the first to receive the gospel through the Dutch mission in Taiwan, though the Dutch missionary work only lasted for some 38 years. In 1661 the Dutch were forced to leave the island by Zheng Chenggong. Zheng Chenggong’s occupation of Formosa, and later the large scale Chinese immigration during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were critical in the moulding of Formosa by Chinese culture.

Sirayans were mostly assimilated into mainstream Han society. As a result, the Siraya language, culture and distinctive customs and practices are now on the verge of extinction. Believing in the resurrection of God, the Siraya Christians are now attempting to revive their culture, influencing even non-Christians with their movement for cultural renewal. Although our focus is political and social peace, reflecting on the Siraya experience, we hope that the Church’s view of Advent and God’s salvation for the whole creation will be enhanced and broadened. What the world needs is a church that prophesies to the lands, the nations and the world’s leaders.

 

GATHERING

Opening litany

God created the earth and it belongs to the Lord.
All the peoples of the earth belong to the Lord. 

Beauty, goodness and diversity are manifested in all God’s creation.
It is God’s desire that all of us dwell in harmony. 

In the midst of darkness, as in the beginning
the light of God has come. 

The one who has been foretold of old,
is conceived by the Great Spirit.

The fruit of the Mother’s womb
comes to give hope and joy to God’s people. 

Proclaim his justice and peace; let the people of God rejoice.
And let them proclaim their hope, joy and love of God.

 

Lighting of the Second Advent candle

(The congregation stands and, while the candles are lit, sings verses 1 and 2 of ‘Come, O Prince of Peace’).

 

♪ Song: Come, O Prince of peace (verse 1 and 2)

 

Opening prayer

Omnipotent, ever-present, creator God,

whose beauty and goodness are manifested in the diversity of all of your creation,

grant to us your people that we may love the thing that you desire.

That among the differences and the many changes of the world today,

our hearts and minds may certainly be fastened on the joy, hope and love granted us through the coming of your Son and the fellowship of the Spirit.

Help us, O God, to know your will and by knowing it,

to dedicate ourselves to the advancement of your sovereignty,

where peace and love always reign. Amen.

 

Entrance of the Bible

(Children dance accompanied by traditional music, moving forward from the entrance of the chapel towards the altar/table, which is in the midst of the congregation where it can be clearly seen, and open the Bible on the altar/table. The readers come forward as the children exit.)

 

First Bible reading

Malachi 3:1-4

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight - indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

 

♪ Song: The Lord is our light

 

Second Bible reading

Philippians 1:3-11

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

 

♪ Song: The Lord is our light

 

Gospel reading

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

 

♪ Song: Alleluia

 

(The following passage is a story from a Siraya woman. She recounts how her motherland called Taivuan embraced different peoples at various periods in history bringing these different peoples together into her womb like a real mother taking her young into her loving arms.)

Chinese, the Dutch and Japanese of various periods came here as friends or as enemies, battling against and finally coexisting peacefully with the Siraya people in their land that is called Tayua¹.

The relics of our ancestors have been found where they were buried. Whether their spirits soar high in the sky or wander around somewhere in this world, one is not sure. I merely feel the wind blowing from the hills and the riverbank in the distance caressing my face gently. Through the light from the leaves, they inhaled the message emitted from the stars in outer space. The sound of the stream’s chattering, ever ringing: ‘Remember your Mamu Ina’ (‘Remember your creator’)².

Sunset. Wagi matub. Let the eagle fly, let it soar! Pasubug-a Akey, Pupavulum Akey!

After the stolen era, history has passed into oblivion. The gap has grown too wide to bridge and the countless tales have become hard to recollect and restore. We are piecing together the images of past generations, portraying our tribe and territory, but our memory of historical events seems too remote to be recovered. However, those two centuries could not prevent the moon from shining. The moon in the sky kept on glinting above rivers, sand dunes, gardens, and the land of Taivuan - like the beautiful curve of a crescent moon – like the outstretched arms of our dear mother. ‘Remember your Mamu Ina’(‘Remember your creator’).

Healing the pain of time, she wraps us with her loving and gentle wings; and takes us into her womb from where we all began. Still her veins and umbilical cord are strongly fastened, ‘Remember your Mamu Ina’ (‘Remember your Creator’).

Ms. Uma Talavan (Wan Shu-juan)

Silence

(A moment of silence will be broken by an instrument playing.)

Sermon

 

Prayers of Intercession

We pray for the troubles and affliction of others,
either caused by our own greed or our backing of the greed of the powerful.
Lord be merciful!

For the social and political oppression of the simple.
Lord be merciful! 

For the tribes that suffer cultural and linguistic extinction
in order that one nation may establish one culture and language,
in the name of unity but at the expense of the tribal groups.
Lord be merciful! 

For poor families and communities that are forsaken by local governments.
Lord be merciful! 

For the hopeless in our society
who are cast out and marginalized from their own community
just because of lack of education or ignorance of the mainstream knowhow.
Lord be merciful!

For the factions and political parties that only talk empty slogans
dividing our nation and society instead of uniting them.
Lord be merciful! 

O Lord our God,
lead us and illumine our minds to the true meaning of your Advent,
strengthen us so we may do your will to make your kingdom on earth a reality.

 

The Lord’s prayer (everyone in his or her own language)

 

Act of commitment and symbol of peace

Let us embrace each other with brotherly and sisterly affection
reflecting the embrace of a mother’s love for her children.

 

Sending forth

The eternal loving God, whose arms like a mother’s arms embrace us,

light of lights, the beginning of life, so fill us with grace and blessing,

with Christ, the bright and morning star,

who comes and dwells in us and we in him

now and for evermore.

Amen

 

♪ Song: The love of God abide with you

 

Footnotes