WAITING, Remembering, Preparing and Readiness

This Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent. So here is the first of the Advent liturgies we will be using in Dundonald Methodist Church this year.

Voice 1: Advent is a time for waiting… [PAUSE]
Voice 2: Advent is a time for waiting;
Voice 1: for the postman;

Voice 2: for the end of school;
Voice 1: for family members to come home;
Voice 2: for standing waiting in a queue;

Voice 1: for waiting for santa for Santa to come and go.
Voice 2: Advent is a time for waiting for God;
Voice 1: for God who came in Jesus the Christ child,
Voice 2: for God who came unexpectedly.
Voice 1: We wait for God, who will come again in a new and surprising way.
Voice 2: We light the first candle to remind us to wait.
[THE FIRST CANDLE IS LIT]
Voice 1: In Luke chapter 12 we read
Voice 2: "Be dressed and ready for action and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.
Voice 1: It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.
Voice 2: I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
Voice 1: It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night.
Voice 2: You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
Voice 1 & 2: Let us pray:
All: God, in whom we hope, we wait for your coming to us once again. Help us to stay awake and watch for the signs of your coming, always being ready to open the door and let you in. Amen.

Selah

Comments

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65

Anointed

There has been a lot of chatter on social media among some of my colleagues and others about the liturgical and socio-political niceties of Saturday's coronation and attendant festivities, especially the shielding of the anointing with the pictured spoon - the oldest and perhaps strangest of the coronation artefacts. Personally I thought that was at least an improvement on the cloth of gold canopy used in the previous coronation, but (pointless) debates are raging as to whether this is an ancient practice or was simply introduced in the previous service to shield the Queen from the TV cameras, not for purposes of sacredness, but understandable coyness, if she actually had to bare her breast bone in puritan 1950s Britain. But as any church leader knows, anything performed twice in a church becomes a tradition. All this goes to show that I did actually watch it, while doing other things - the whole shooting match from the pre-service concert with yer wumman in that lemon-

Virtual Methodist

Search This Blog