Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Advent 2 – 10 December 2023 – 10am or whenever possible
You may like to light a candle during your time of worship. Feel free to text the Peace to other members of the congregation.
Introit: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” – (Words © Susan Wickham 2021 – Tune TiS 265)
O come, O light of Christ, so bright and clear
and lift our spirits by your advent here.
In all who gather, show us your face,
that we may know the warmth of your embrace.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to us and in our hearts will dwell.
Acknowledgement of Country:
As we gather to worship today,
I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land and these waters,
the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung People of the Kulin nations.
I pay my respects to elders past and present
and to all future leaders and generations.
As First and Second Peoples walking together,
I pray that we might commit ourselves to be people of the covenant,
listening, truth telling and seeking justice for all.
Call to Worship:
Family of faith,
one of the greatest joys of worship is that it is not a solo act.
We gather together.
We find joy, and God, in the act of connection.
So as we begin our worship,
I invite you to turn and face someone you are close to
so that you can see one another.
Now repeat these phrases after me:
Welcome to worship.
Welcome to worship.
I am glad you’re here.
I am glad you’re here.
Surely God is in this space.
Surely God is in this space.
I see God in you.
I see God in you.
Let us worship together.
Let us worship together.
Advent Candle:
How does a weary world practice peace?
By listening before we speak
and saying sorry when we need to.
By advocating for justice
and caring for our neighbour.
By practicing Sabbath
and forgiving seventy times seven.
By choosing grace over hate
and opening the door for each other.
There are a million ways to practice peace.
So today we light the candle of peace
as both a reminder and a challenge to us.
With God’s help,
may we bring peace into a weary world.
Amen.
We Sing: “Fairest Lord Jesus” – (TiS 203)
Fairest Lord Jesus, Lord of all creation,
Son of God, and Mary’s son:
you will I cherish, you will I honour, you are my soul’s delight and crown.
Fair are the meadows, fairer still the bushland,
robed in the greenness and bloom of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, he makes the saddest heart to sing.
Fair is the moonlight, fairer still the sunshine,
fair is the shimmering starry sky:
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines clearer than all the heavenly host on high.
Jesus, all beauty heavenly and earthly,
in you is wondrously found to be;
none can be nearer, fairer or dearer, than you, my Saviour, are to me.
Call to Prayer:
Friends, one of the ways we find joy in a weary world is through connection,
and prayer is a connection to God.
In a prayer of praise we are invited to recognise who God is,
and in a prayer of confession we get to come before God
with our full, messy, honest selves.
Somehow, in the midst of that mess,
God tells us that we are loved,
claimed and forgiven.
There is no greater joy than that.
So let us join in prayer, not because we have to,
but because we can.
Let us connect with our merciful God.
Let us pray …
Prayer of Praise and Confession:
Loving God,
creator of all that we perceive,
mother and father, parent and guardian,
our constant in a world of change,
we come before you this day.
You have created an amazing universe,
a multitude of mysterious galaxies, stars and black holes,
a world of diversity, danger and wonder,
and us, made in your image.
You also sent us Jesus,
the One who showed us how to live with constant care and compassion.
You took a risk and entered into your creation
to show your great love for us.
God, you are also a God of laughter,
God of open front doors and family reunions.
These things are so good, and yet,
we confess that we often doubt good news.
We move through this world
waiting for all the balls to drop,
waiting for life to fall apart,
waiting for our humanity to get the best of us.
Instead of leaning into joy, we lean into scarcity.
We lean into fear. We lean into isolation.
Forgive us for forgetting that joy is amplified when shared.
Heal the wounds we have from past hurts,
and teach us how to throw open our doors like Elizabeth.
Show us how to find joy in connection.
Amen.
Words of Assurance:
Faith family,
I imagine that when we come before God with the truth of our lives,
God meets us like Elizabeth meets Mary in our scripture today.
The door is thrown open.
There is laughter. There is joy. There is embracing—and it is holy.
So trust this; believe this:
You are claimed. You are loved. You are forgiven. And you are sent to serve.
Find joy in that.
Amen!
The Peace:
Jesus gave us the gift of his peace – a gift that will not pass away.
May this peace, the peace of Christ, be with you
and also with you.
A Time for All:
For more than 70 years, Act for Peace – the international humanitarian agency of the National Council of Churches – has brought people together to create a more just and peaceful world. As an expression of the life of churches in Australia, inspiration is drawn from Jesus who demonstrated solidarity with those who were marginalised and oppressed.
Act for Peace was founded in 1948, by the then Australian Council for the World Council of Churches, to provide urgently needed aid to refugees and others suffering in Europe from the horrors of the Second World War. Leading this work was a Methodist minister from Victoria, Rev. Frank Byatt. His mission was to unify Australian Christians of all traditions to work together to put the word of the Gospel into action; and in 1949 he founded the visionary Christmas Bowl appeal when he put a bowl on the table and invited his family and friends to put a contribution in it to be sent to those with greater need. This was the beginning of Christmas Bowl is which is now supported each year by tens of thousands of people from a wide range of denominations.
Since these humble beginnings, the work of Act for Peace has expanded in both reach and impact through projects with local partners, and advocacy with governments and others
in power. Today Act for Peace works to reduce forced displacement across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. Currently Act for Peace, together with their partners, are working towards creating a world where people uprooted by conflict and disaster have a safe place to belong. It is working to create a world where people uprooted by conflict and disaster have a safe place to belong. Acting, together, for peace.
Let us pray:
Loving God,
we thank you for Act for Peace and the work they do
with people who are displaced, oppressed or living in poverty.
Help us open our hearts so we may courageously act for peace in the world.
Help us open our hands to share what we have with those who have little.
In Jesus name we pray,
Amen.
Bible Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11
– God’s People Are Comforted
1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass; their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers; the flower fades,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers; the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
10 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom
and gently lead the mother sheep.
Bible Reading: Luke 1:24-45
24 After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, 25 “This is what the Lord has done for me in this time, when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
We Sing: “No wind at the window” – (TiS 287)
No wind at the window, no knock on the door;
no light from the lampstand, no foot on the floor;
no dream born of tiredness, no ghost raised by fear:
just an angel and a woman and a voice in her ear.
‘O Mary, O Mary, don’t hide from my face.
Be glad that you’re favoured and filled with God’s grace.
The time for redeeming the world has begun;
and you are requested to mother God’s son.
‘This child must be born that the kingdom might come:
salvation for many, destruction for some;
both end and beginning, both message and sign;
both victor and victim, both yours and divine.’
No payment was promised, no promises made;
no wedding was dated, no blueprint displayed.
Yet Mary, consenting to what none could guess,
replied with conviction, ‘Tell God, I say Yes.’
Reflection:
Have you thought about what you do when you need comforting? Is there a place that you go, a song you like to sing or memory you return to? Is there a person you seek out or a familiar walk that you take? Is there a particular bible passage you like to read, an image you can immerse yourself in, or maybe lighting a candle is what helps you? It seems to me that when we are weary we are often in need of comfort. We want someone to take the weight of things for us because they seem too heavy to manage. Our focus turns inward and so it seems impossible to imagine rejoicing. Yet today’s bible passages suggest that one way to find joy is through connection, both with one another and with God.
The passage from Isaiah opens with the words ‘Comfort, comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” Exile had forced the Israelites to leave the life they loved without warning. They don’t know what to do with their grief and heartache, yet God has heard and speaks tender words of comfort to them. God is standing in the entryway of the Israelites’ new lives, offering the promise of comfort and an end to their suffering. The shepherding metaphor speaks to both the fierceness and tenderness of God. The shepherd is willing to face the most dangerous of predators in the dead of night, but will also warmly cradle the most vulnerable of the flock. The shepherd both leads the flock and carries those who find it hard to keep up. The shepherd remains steadfast to the sheep, no matter what. God has heard the people’s cry and will even change the landscape to make the journey easier for them, making ‘a straight highway’. The coming glory of the Lord is proclaimed, and through their connection with God, the people find comfort which can release them to joy.
‘Comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem.’ As we read this text I can’t help but be mindful of the current situation in this part of the world. Many of Jerusalem’s diverse inhabitants and their neighbours are going to need more of this comfort, comfort. There has always been division about this contested city. Originally Jerusalem was a Canaanite city. It has been under Jewish rule, and then Babylonian, Syrian, Greek and Roman power. The Roman province became a Muslim one with the Ottomans, and then there was a Christian presence after the crusades, which remained until the end of the First World War. The Jewish state of Israel, as we know it, began in 1949. Israel has the support of wealthy countries and donors, but has also used force to push the Indigenous owners of the land out of their homes and off their farms. They have oppressed non-Jewish inhabitants and imported Jewish people to settlements on other peoples land. Jerusalem and it’s people have suffered terrorism, but they have also been oppressors in this highly contested space.
In the gospel passage we find that Elizabeth has been alone for five months. There is no indication in the text as to why she has been isolated, but speculation might suggest that this was due to the same reasons Zechariah was silenced. Elizabeth probably had questions too. While we don’t know what they were, they might have included some of the following. ‘Does the Lord know how old I am?’ ‘We have been wanting children for ages and now we are pregnant?’ ‘The shame of being barren has caused me to be weary, so how am I supposed to rejoice in this? We don’t hear any of Elizabeth’s questions but we do get a sense of her resolve in verse 25: ‘This is what the Lord has done for me in this time, when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’
We then meet Mary and watch as the angel visits her, giving her the news which sends her travelling to visit her cousin. We don’t know much about Mary’s travels, except that she sets out in haste to enter the house of Zechariah where she greets Elizabeth. We don’t know if Mary travelled alone, but we do know that she is on a mission to get some clarity about her own encounter with Gabriel. Creative thinking suggests to us that she did this all on her own, in isolation, by herself, with no one to help, hurt or hinder her mission. We don’t really hear Mary’s questions either, except for her question to Gabriel wondering how she can be having a child since she is a virgin. But I’m sure she had other questions, an internal dialogue during her travels. She might have asked: ‘Does the Lord know how young I am?’ ‘I haven’t been married yet and now I am pregnant?’ ‘The shame of being with child without being married has caused me to be weary, so how am I supposed to rejoice with this?’ We don’t hear these questions, but we witness her resolve by seeing her travel to her relative.
What happens next is wonderful. We see two pregnant women meeting and sharing their responses with one another. They are chatting and hanging out – two women who are related and sharing a story, yet who are different from each other. One is young and one is old. One is married and one is not married yet. One is carrying the Word of God and one is carrying the one who prepares the way.
They were both separate when they got news of God’s plans for their lives, but it is when they are together, when they are connected, that they experience shared joy. It is when they come out of their different isolations that joy connects them. It might even be in this connecting moment of joy that Elizabeth realises that her pregnancy is special as Zechariah is still silent and has been unable to share the news with her. But when Mary arrives at her door, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy and the she is filled with the Spirit. She can’t help but rejoice and her joy is contagious and wraps around Mary too. There is a mutuality in their joy which births more joy.
The fact that Mary sought out her kin is a reminder that we don’t need to do the hard things alone, but what about those who feel lonely or isolated. What about those who are deeply missing someone? Maybe this is when we need to step in. Maybe we can be the connection point for someone, maybe we can hold the joy for another who is struggling to do so.
Let us remember that while joy is fundamentally imbedded in connection, this connection expands beyond human relationships. We experience joy through feeling a deep connection to ourselves, our loved ones, to God, to nature, and to the whole cosmos that surrounds us.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Affirmation of Faith:
We believe that joy is a sacred gift,
existing on a plane deeper than happiness,
stemming from the truth that we belong to God.
We believe that joy is not meant for isolation.
Joy is meant to be shared,
weaving us together in laughter and in hope.
And when joy feels impossibly out of reach,
we believe that part of being in sacred community
is leaning on one another.
So together we say:
I’ll share my joy when yours runs out.
You will share your joy when mine runs out.
And in doing so, we will both see God.
Amen.
We Sing: “I Can Celebrate You” – (Tune: Cranham – In the Bleak Midwinter)
I can celebrate you, I can hold your joy
When the load is crushing and you’ve lost your voice
I can celebrate the promise your life holds
When the weariness bears heavy on your soul
I can recognize good fruit that you will bear
When your own self-doubt hides gifts you have to share
I can recognize your Christ-light deep within
Every gift that God has sown waiting to begin
We can hold each other in our joy and fear
Knowing that the Spirit moves when we are near
We can hold each other, lift each other up
Filling one another from the Spirit’s cup
Prayer for Others (written by Paul Tonson):
This prayer takes up themes from the service. It invites you to be in silence with your prayerful thoughts, especially where you see dots …. . Be aware of people who come to mind and name them in your prayers.
In our time of prayerful reflection, we respond to the Divine Spirit in whom we live and move and have our being. …..
In thoughtfulness and love we give ourselves prayerfully to others following the Way of Jesus of Nazareth.
In our praying, please use silent minutes to think and pray explicitly for others.
This congregation is like a garden of different shrubs, growing together in the fertile soil of faith.
We pray that we may leave space for each one to be their true self and may we know how to nourish the great variety of individuals with different needs and hopes:
(Please name and pray in specific terms for one other person or couple in the congregation …)
In our Advent reflections here, we express our longing for joy in a weary world. Today we pray for the joy of personal connection for people we know who face alienation from others:
(Please name and pray for a person who is living alone to know the joy of reliable friends …)
(Please name and pray for a couple of relationship difficulties or with a challenging child or parent … )
With Isaiah the prophet, we acknowledge that parts of our lives are like dry grass. They need the sunlight of practical wisdom and the moisture of dependable relationships to grow green and fruitful:
(Please name and pray in specific terms for any friend or contact in hard circumstances, or a person struggling to attain a wise understanding of themselves or their needs … )
With Isaiah the prophet we dare to hope that rough places in our world will be made smooth:
(Please pray for particular leaders in our troubled world …
those responding to climate change at COP 28 in Dubai …,
the politicians and military in Ukraine and Russia and in Israel-Palestine …)
In connection and solidarity, together we pray, with our faith family to Our Father:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name;
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.
Amen.
We Sing: “Touch the earth lightly” – (TiS 668)
Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently, nourish the life of the world in our care:
gift of great wonder, ours to surrender, trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
We who endanger, who create hunger, agents of death for all creatures that live,
we who would foster clouds of disaster, God of our planet, forestall and forgive!
Let there be greening, birth from the burning, water that blesses and air that is sweet,
health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children, regeneration that peace will complete.
God of all living, God of all loving, God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,
teach us, deflect us, Christ re-connect us, using us gently and making us one.
Blessing:
Family of faith, as you leave this place,
you go into a weary world – so speak tenderly
to yourself and others.
Do the good that is yours to do.
Choose connection. Hold onto hope.
And remember that Christ took on flesh for you.
You are God’s beloved.
So go rejoicing. The world needs it.
And the blessing of the Triune God,
One in Three, Three in One,
be with you always.
Amen.
Thanks to all those who have assisted in preparation for this liturgy with encouragement, prayers and conversation. I have also utilised the following resources: A Sanctified Art (How does a weary world rejoice?), Ministry Matters and Fig Tree Worship.