rhianprime

Dec 20, 20209 min read

Worship:- 20th December - 4th Sunday of Advent

Croeso! Bore da! Welcome to you all this Fourth Sunday of Advent. Please do make yourself known to me if you are popping in or if I can help in any way.

+Yn enw'r Tad, a'r Mab, a'r Ysbryd Glan. Amen

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN

Our opening hymn today is: The angel Gabriel from heaven came

Heavenly Father,

we have sinned in thought, word and deed,

and have failed to do

what we ought to have done.

We are sorry and truly repent.

For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ

who died for us, forgive us all that is past,

and lead us in his way

to walk as children of light. AMEN

May God our Father,

who by the Lord Jesus Christ

has reconciled the world to himself

and forgives the sins of all who truly repent,

pardon and deliver us from all our sins,

and grant us the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN

Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Lord, raise up, we pray thee, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be honour and glory, world without end. AMEN

Psalm 89

.

1 I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord,[a] forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. 2 I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.

3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant David: 4 ‘I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations.’”Selah

5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. 6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, 7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and awesome[b] above all that are around him? 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is as mighty as you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you.

The Gospel of Christ according to St Mark

Glory to you. O Lord.

Luke 1:26-38

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, favored one! The Lord is with you.”[a] 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 favor 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?”[b] 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[c] 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.

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you, O Christ.

Homily

Lord may I speak in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

I went on a journey months back when lockdown rules allowed me to make a

journey, it’s a journey that I have worked out I have done 264 times since I

moved to Wales 22 years ago. A total distance travelled in those years of

67,000 miles, that’s the equivalent travelling around the world twice and some

more. On those journeys I have travelled alone sometimes like this time,

sometimes with my wife .. sometimes with 1 child later on with 2 children and

even later on with 3 … sometimes we had 2 adults 3 children and even a dog ..

we have transported furniture, Christmas presents, Birthday gifts, backwards

and forwards we have gone. We have travelled for Birthdays, Christmas,

Weddings, Anniversaries, and just sometimes to see them. Mostly for happy

times but sometime sad … every journey is unique. In all that time I remember

only 2 breakdowns. But I remember the weather we have travelled in, sunny

weather when its so hot in the car, rain so hard you could hardly see in front of

you, snow, fog, all seasons.

Where was I going I hear you ask? of course it was to visit my mum and dad in

Ipswich who live 256 miles away.

Each journey unique in its own way, no two ever the same. People often say to

me how can you drive that far? and I tell people this it’s during those journeys

that I have sometimes experienced the greatest peace. In the early days when

the children were young we travelled either early morning or late at night it

just seemed to make it easier, the children would fall asleep and often Cath

would fall asleep to and it was just me for miles and miles, with my thoughts

and it was often then in those moments of quietness I had my conversations

with God. I would offer up my problems and worries and so many times at the

end of the journey an answer had come to me, prayer isn’t always at the end

of your bed it can be anywhere, anytime, you can take something to God…

This past year we have all been on a journey like mine, a long journey …

We started in March on this pandemic journey, we didn’t really know where

we were going to be honest it wasn’t one we had done before, there was no

map or directions, we certainly didn’t ask to be on it. But like any journey there

have been highs and lows. We have travelled so far since March and seen so

much change. I remember seeing my first person in a mask in March and

thinking you crazy people what`s wrong with you its just a bug! how wrong

was I? But on all journeys there are always high points. If you ask my children

the high point on the journey to Ipswich when they were young they would say

the stop at the motorway services, when they always were treated to a comic and sweets to keep them occupied. On this year`s pandemic journey it will be seeing people clapping on doorsteps, Captain Tom walking his garden route, and me personally when in April I was struck by the virus itself I will always remember the neighbours daughter putting a note through the door saying “I noticed your car hasn’t moved for a few days are you two ok? Is there anything you need?” another neighbour simply left a tin of homemade cakes on the

doorstep, highs on my journey this year. I am sure as well as the lows you to

have highs when a hint of Gods goodness peeked through.

And today we heard in the Gospel of Luke, Mary being told that she will be with child. The start for her of an incredible journey that lasted her whole lifetime.

And today we had our first peek of God`s goodness as the Angel tells Mary she

is to be with child ..

Just imagine all the thoughts that would have been going around in Mary`s

head when she thought about the journey that lay ahead not just the journey

that would end in Bethlehem but the journey her life would now take. Mary

could not know what the future would hold. Before her life was over, she

would experience heartache, opposition, slander, confusion, anguish, despair

and loneliness. Sound familiar? 2000 years later, Here we are in 2020. We and

Mary have a lot in common this year!

So, as we light our fourth candle this Sunday and remember Mary as we

approach Christmas, let`s remember three things that Mary did that can guide

us in our journey in life.

Be prepared to be used by God - As an unmarried young woman from

Nazareth, Mary had an incredibly low social status, but God doesn’t care about

that. Mary continues a long list of people in the Bible who felt inadequate

(Moses, Rahab, David, Jonah, Naomi to name just a few) that God uses to fulfil

his promises.

Put your faith in God – at no time did she hesitate, even with a set of difficult

circumstances to overcome, she pressed on in her personal journey.

Live your life as a servant to the Lord – in our Gospel reading Mary ultimately

responds with the words “I am the Lords servant” when the Angel Gabriel gives

the message that she will be carrying the Christ child.

So, remembering Mary as the journey of this year draws to a close and we

begin to think about the gift of the messiah 2000 years ago and the ongoing

journey into 2021. I pray that we will all be prepared to be used by God, that we all put our faith in God, and we all will be prepared to live ours lives as servants of God.

Amen

Intercessions and Lord's Prayer

As we approach the celebration of the birth of our Saviour, let us turn our hearts and minds to the Father, with confidence in his generous love and mercy:

We pray for the Church especially this church For all her congregations and people who claim her as their own.: that the church here, may draw light and strength from the faith of Mary and Joseph