Worship Sunday 13th December 2020 - Advent 3

Croeso! Bore da! Welcome to you all this Second 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: Hark! the glad sound

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 third Sunday of Advent

O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. AMEN

Canticle: The Magnificat (Luke 1 47-55) NRSV

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

The Gospel of Christ according to St Mark

Glory to you. O Lord.

John 1:6-28 NRSV

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.[a] 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own,[b] and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[c] full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,[d] who is close to the Father’s heart,[e] who has made him known. 19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”[f] 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said. 24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah,[g] nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you, O Christ.

Homily

Sunday 13th December 2020 St Tathan - St Lucy

Today is the feast day of St Lucy. Now many people know little about this saint but she was quite special and is one of our Advent saints. St. Lucy or perhaps more commonly known as Santa Lucia, died 304, Syracuse, Sicily; She was a virgin and martyr who was one of the earliest Christian saints to achieve popularity, having a widespread following before the 5th century. She is the patron saint of the city of Syracuse in Sicily and of all virgins. Because of various traditions associating her name with light, she came to be thought of as the patron of sight and was depicted by medieval artists carrying a dish containing her eyes. Somewhat grizzly to our eyes as is the fact to have a saint for virgins too. But whatever, she was a faithful Christian and lived a full Christian life her faith being the most important thing to her. Now I hear you asking why we mark this day today in Advent as we get ready again for Christmas?

Lucy is all about light, the brightness of the light, the growing light. In Advent we too are about the light, the growing light, look at our growing light in the Advent candles, the complete bright shining light, when we celebrate Christ’s birth amongst us. It is the unquenchable light which we as Christians should radiate all around us, as Lucy did.

Our readings today speak about John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, child of Zachariah and Elizabeth. Zachariah is respected in Christianity and Islam, as is Elizabeth, cousin to Mary. John just enters the revelation in St John he simply appears, “There was a man sent from God whose name was John” in verse 6, To learn about details of John the Baptiser, we need to turn back to the Gospels to learn how he dresses, what he taught, behaved etc. We learn in the Gospels that this John points ahead that he is a witness to the Messiah. John the Baptist is almost the end of a long succession of those who have told the story of God’s love for his people and the promise he keeps to them. Cousin John says that Jesus' light is so bright that all of humanity will see the meaning of life and of the future. The people will understand. Here with John the Baptist’s presence, it meant that Jesus' coming is not far away; be ready be prepared.

So we stand at the third Sunday of Advent our Advent wreath shines more brightly. We know that time for getting ourselves ready for Christmas is starting to run out. Have you baked your Christmas cakes? Have you sorted all your present shopping? Have you posted all your cards? Friday is the last day for second class mail. Don’t worry about the cake as Delia Smith amongst other popular cookery chefs has a last minute cake which is surprising good. But more importantly how is your spiritual life developing, growing. Have you managed to make time for you and God amidst everything else?

Lucy comes on this almost midway point through Advent with her story not of virgins, but of light! It is a precursor of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar on Christmas Day. We have marked the coming of the light in a similar way to how it is done in Sweden but also many Scandinavian countries. In towns, a procession of children in white, with crowns of lit candles go through the towns, following an image, a statue of Santa Lucia. It marks the beginning of the Christmas holidays for children in Scandanavian countries or has done in the past.. In homes in Sweden the elder daughter, early in the blackness of morning, dresses in white and wears a crown of candles and enters the house bringing light and festive biscuits or buns for the family to share. For us too it is a focus of the brilliance of the Christ light coming into our world, our church and our home, showing everything up clearly, making ready as John the Baptist did for Christ. Are we ready? Are we awake?

Intercessions and Lord's Prayer

Mindful of the words of the prophet Isaiah, we gather our thoughts and prayers with hope and call on God to help us in our needs.

Holy God, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of Christ our Saviour we ask that you will answer our prayers and make us a holy people, fit to greet him with eager hearts. We pray for the church, our Ministry Area here in the Glamorgan Heritage coast parish and Edwin as its Leader. We pray for our Ordinand Rick, and his wife Cath, may he be prepared for meeting with Bishop June this coming week and where he is to spend his curacy.