Please note that this service will also take place 'live' via Zoom and You Tube - for log-in details for Zoom please contact a steward of Sandy, Beeston or Trinity. For the YouTube version please log into Dalwyn's You Tube channel just before 10.30 on Sunday and refresh the page until the live feed appears!
Introduction:
Rejoice in
the Lord always: again I say rejoice (Philippians 4.6)
The Sunday, a bit like Mothering
Sunday in Lent, was used as a temporary relief from the strict observance of
the Advent fast. The purple robes of
Advent might have been replaced with softer pink or rose robes – which is why
in some traditions this Sunday’s candle would be pink rather than purple. So this Sunday can also be known as ‘pink’ or
‘rose’ Sunday.
It feels appropriate in our current times to centre this act of worship on Paul’s instruction to the Philippians, which later we will hear again in one of his earliest letters (to the Thessalonians) and to make rejoicing the focus of our worship on this third Sunday of Advent.
Advent Liturgy:
Jesus often
reminded his hearers that the Kingdom of God belongs to the meek and humble:
He told a parable about a feast, warning his hearers that they should take the
lower places at the table so that they are not embarrassed by being asked to
give up their seat to someone more important:
He concluded,
‘Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will
be exalted.’
(Luke 14.7–11)
We watch for
Jesus’s coming
and wait to see the dawning of the Kingdom of justice and joy.
Blessed is
everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!
Blessed are the humble who shall be
lifted high.
(Luke 14.11,15)
We sing the whole hymn StF 186 – Tell out my Soul -
Prayer of Adoration: (Te Deum Laudamus)
We praise you, O God,
we
acclaim you as the Lord;
all creation worships you,
the
Father everlasting.
To you all angels, all the powers of
heaven,
the cherubim and seraphim, sing in endless
praise:
Holy,
holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven
and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise
you.
The
noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise
you.
Throughout
the world the holy Church acclaims you:
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all
praise,
the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You, Christ, are the King of glory,
the
eternal Son of the Father.
When you took our flesh to set us free
you humbly chose the Virgin’s womb.
You
overcame the sting of death
and
opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God’s right hand in
glory.
We believe that you will come and be our
judge.
Come
then, Lord, and help your people,
bought
with the price of your own blood,
and
bring us with your saints
to
glory everlasting.
Save your people, Lord, and bless your
inheritance.
Govern and uphold them now and always.
Day
by day we bless you.
We
praise your name for ever.
Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
Have
mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
Lord, show us your love and mercy,
for
we have put our trust in you.
In
you, Lord, is our hope:
let
us never be put to shame. Amen
Hymn – Jesu to you our hearts we lift.
Psalm 126
1 When
the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
then were we like those who dream.
2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter
and our tongue with songs of joy.
3 Then said they among the nations,
‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
4 The Lord has indeed done great things for us,
and therefore we rejoiced.
5 Restore again our fortunes, O Lord,
as the river beds of the desert.
6 Those who sow in tears
shall reap with songs of joy.
7 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed,
will come back with shouts of joy,
bearing their sheaves with them.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
At this point
during our Zoom/You Tube worship people will be invited to offer their own
single sentence expressions of thanksgiving (via chat or by unmuting
themselves) whilst a piece of music plays gently in the background.
At the end we
say together:
We rejoice, O God our Father,
and give thanks for your goodness and lovingkindness
to us and to the world your created.
We rejoice, O God our Father,
for the gift of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ
born for us and for our salvation.
We rejoice, O God our Father,
for the presence of your Holy Spirit
to comfort and guide us throughout our lives.
Hymn StF 172 – Hills of the North Rejoice -
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray
continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this
is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do
not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all;
hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify
you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who
calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
Reflection
Rejoice
always … pray continually … give thanks in all circumstances
THIS is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (vv16-18)
On the face of
it, Paul’s instructions here may feel like ‘pie in the sky’ and, if we didn’t
know a little about Paul’s experiences, we would be excused for wanting to push
back at Paul with a few home-truths, for example:
What do you mean rejoice always,
don’t you know how difficult this year has been?
It’s alright for you to say pray
continually – but the rest of us have other things we need to do!
How am I supposed to give thanks
for all circumstances – some of the things that have happened, I could well
have done without.
As I say, these
questions would be reasonable, if we were entirely ignorant of Paul’s
circumstances. The one who encourages us
to adopt an attitude of ongoing joy, of perseverance in prayer and of
thanksgiving through all things knew how to suffer.
To the Philippians
he wrote:
I have learned
to be content whatever the circumstances.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have
plenty. I have learned the secret of
being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether
living in plenty or in want. I can do
all this through him who gives me strength.
(Phil 4.10–13)
To the Corinthians
he describes his need for patience and endurance and described how, despite it
all, he has found a way to rejoice.
4 Rather, as servants
of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles,
hardships and distresses; 5 in
beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and
hunger; 6 in
purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere
love; 7 in
truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the
right hand and in the left; 8 through
glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as
impostors; 9 known,
yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not
killed; 10 sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet
possessing everything. [2 Corinthians 4.4–10]
As we consider
who it is that urges us to rejoice, we may feel able to hold back our questions
and complaints at such an instruction and instead ask ourselves: ‘What was Paul’s secret?’
Paul’s ability
to rejoice in all circumstances begins with his perspective on life which was
radically changed when he discovered the depth of God’s mercy and grace shown through
the forgiveness of sins. After his
conversion, Paul’s relationship with God through Christ Jesus was no longer
shaped by a desire to see God’s displeasure (or judgement) poured out on Israel’s
enemies but by his understanding of what it means to live in God’s favour.
In the letter to
the Romans, Paul spells out in some detail his understanding of his ‘legal’
position before God. He does not deny that
when it comes to God’s law, there would be more than enough evidence for him to
be found guilty before God’s judgement seat.
So, whilst, in humility, he might consider himself to be the worst of
all sinners, (see, for example 1 Tim 1.15) he in fact, acknowledges that he is
no different from any other human being in that “all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God.” (Romans 3.23)
The very fact,
that, with the sole exception of Jesus himself, no human being could be found ‘not
guilty’ according to God’s law provides an important key to Paul’s secret. According to God’s Law, we are all guilty and
guilty enough to deserve the death penalty, and yet, we are alive! God has not, yet, carried out a judgement of
death upon us. This gives us an
important clue into the heart of God and God’s patience. Peter describes it by reminding us that God
does not want ‘anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ (2 Pe
3.9)
For Paul his
conversion is the ultimate demonstration of God’s goodness, mercy and love. God actively intervened in Paul’s life to
give him the opportunity to see things from a different (God-centred)
perspective. He described his conversion
as God’s gracious intervention in his life that gave him the chance to repent:
to think again, to reassess his whole understanding of how God establishes the
Kingdom here on earth. Even as he set
out with the murderous intent of eliminating the dangerous Christian sect with
their talk of Jesus’ Resurrection, the forgiveness of sins and renewal of life
with God; God stepped in and saved Paul from committing even worst offences
against God. Despite him railing against the message of the Gospel, Paul
himself heard the good news. He encountered the living Christ, who granted him forgiveness
for his offences and experienced for himself a dramatic renewal in his life. For Paul, this sums up the nature of God’s
grace.
To some extent,
his response to God’s kindness, is to ask, “how can I complain that life is hard,
when I was so intent on making life difficult for others?” His ability to rejoice, to pray and to give
thanks in all circumstances stems from his understanding that he has not been
dealt with according to his own previous standards and misdeeds. The gift of forgiveness offers more than just
the reassurance that punishment for past offences has been quashed. It offers the forgiven Ones the opportunity
to see the world through a different, more generous lens. To be forgiven, is not just to have one’s
eyes opened to the debt we owed God, but it is to be able to see how kindly and
generously God is towards the world God has created. To be forgiven is to be set free to be loved
and to love others.
Jesus summarised
this on the occasion that his dinner with Simon the Pharisee was interrupted by
the woman who came to wash his feet with her hair. (see Luke 7.36–end.) When the religious man complained, Jesus rebuked
him: “I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has
shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’ (Lk 7.47)
Before his conversion,
Paul saw the world through the lens of violent retribution, from that
standpoint every day that passed without God sending punishment on Israel’s
enemies was a seen as a day wasted. This
resulted in frustration and brooding resentment against those who seemed to be
enjoying life. Yet Paul’s whole outlook changed
when he experienced God’s lovingkindness and grace for himself. He came to see each day as a gift in which he
could experience God’s love and favour AND share the Good News of God’s grace
with others.
And so Paul
rejoices – literally this could be taken to mean, that each day he reminds
himself and others of what God’s grace has achieved in his life. His rejoicing is not a cheap form of false jollity,
it may not always mean that he is happy. But even when difficult days come, and they
do, part of his rejoicing was that the day’s difficulties could by no means disrupt
his new found relationship of love with God.
Because of God’s grace, the difficult days he passes on earth are just
pointers to the glory he looks forward to enjoying in the life to come.
And Paul prays –
he expresses before God (as well as before others) his determination to nurture
and nourish his relationship with God by taking every opportunity to express
his love for God and his love for neighbour.
Prayer is the ultimate demonstration of this love, since in prayer we
can cast our burdens onto God and receive from God the strength we need to live
each day. What’s more, in prayer we
carry those we love to God. Whilst we
may be unable to do anything about their struggles and tribulations we trust that
God is able to hold them in the hollow of God’s hand and to surround them with
the same lovingkindness and grace that we have found. Prayer is our way of communicating our gratitude,
our love and our care for God, for our neighbour and for God’s world.
And above all
Paul gives thanks – since each day he lives, is no longer a day wasted waiting
for God’s wrath to come upon his enemies.
Now, each day he lives is day in which he can experience more of God’s
goodness, mercy and grace. And he
concludes that all of this is life as God intended it to be. Not a life where difficulties are magically
erased, but a life where God’s grace abounds even in the face of hardship. A life that is spent looking forward,
watching and waiting for the fullness of which this is the forestaste and a
life that is lived in full awareness that nothing can separate us from the love
of God.
So let us
rejoice that our sins are forgiven, pray for strength to live this day and give
thanks that even in today’s struggles God’s grace and kindness may be known. Let us strive to know the fullness of God’s
goodness just as God intends us to.
As the hymnwriter
puts it:
New mercies,
each returning day
hover around us while we pray;
new perils past, new sins forgiven,
new thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.
May your life be
filled with joy as your thoughts are filled with hopes of heaven. And may you, know what it is to truly
rejoice! Amen
Intercessions
This being ‘Rose Sunday’ you may wish to
use the Rose below to record the names and situations for which you would like
to pray. Begin at the centre of the Rose
with prayers for yourself and move out to those closest to you. The outer-petals and/or leaves may be prayers
for situations in the wider world. (If
you are feeling creative, you may wish to colour the rose as you pray!) (See the example at the end of this sheet!)
Hymn – StF 180 – O Come, O Come Immanuel -
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