This weekend would have, under non pandemic conditions, seen our Christmas Switch on Events at Newtongrange and Mayfield and Easthouses. Although we will miss gathering together as we usually do, we do not need to miss out on the message we share on these occasions. As the lights are switched on, we remember that at the heart of our faith is the promise of the gospel that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out”. This year has been a very dark year with so much loss, suffering and poverty due to the Corona virus. However, it has also been a year of great kindness and care shown by our NHS staff, key workers and resilience volunteers in our community. The light of that love and support gives us cause for great hope. So this advent, as we look forward to a different Christmas, let’s remind ourselves that it could be different in a really positive way if we share the light with each other. For even in the darkest times, the bible reminds us that “these 3 remain: faith, hope and love”. Faith that we can hold on a bit longer and keep going, hope that things will get better and that this too will pass, and love – love that endures all things and transforms all things. Love, that is at the heart of this season when celebrate that love came down at Christmas -God’s gift of love to us; the child in the manger.
If you would like to journey through advent towards Christmas with hopeful thoughts and ideas each day, you can subscribe to the Church of Scotland advent calendar and receive an email each day.
Please note that although we had hoped to livestream the service from Mayfield and Easthouses Church today, due to illness and self isolating requirements, none of the members of the livestream team were able to come to the church – let us keep them all in our prayers.
Sitting in different chairs, joining in at different times throughout the day, God’s people still gather for worship on this, the Lord’s day. Welcome, to Sunday worship.
Call to worship – with parts in bold to say aloud
In good times and bad times,
Oh God, you are with us.
In glad times and sad times,
Oh God, you are with us.
Right now, in these tough times,
we wish you were here.
In wretched and rough times,
we wish you were here.
Oh God, always with us,
Come quickly, we pray.
Oh God, always with us,
on this first day of advent, be with us today.
HYMN – Lo He Comes with Clouds Descending
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
God of mystery and majesty,
comfortingly close and disturbingly distant,
worryingly near and comfortably far away,
we bring ourselves tentatively
into awareness of your presence,
wondering what today’s encounter may bring.
Will we be awed by your greatness,
or humbled by your vulnerability?
Will we know, without a doubt,
that you are here,
or grieve for the old certainties,
now gone?
If you did come amongst us once,
do we really expect you to come again?
All these thoughts are in our minds
as we prepare to celebrate the birth
of a child, who grew into a man in whom
your spirit was so powerfully distilled
that they called him Immanuel,
“God with us”.
Eternal God,
we want and need you
to be with us now,
but we fear your presence too.
Will you come with words of comfort
or of judgement?
Will you be pleased with what you find,
and the welcome you receive,
or will we disappoint you
and reject you as we did before?
We have plenty of sins to confess:
we have not been good stewards of creation;
we have not made the best use of our time;
we have not lived up to our own ideals,
never mind your hopes for us.
And we are sorry.
But it is hard for us too:
hard to know what to pray for;
what to do for the best;
hard to go on waiting and hoping
as one millennium gives way to another
and nothing seems to change.
So deal gently with us, God.
Come among us with encouragement
and hope, as well as forgiveness.
Show us a new and better way to live,
and give us strength and courage
to follow in your way.
Amen.
THE ADVENT CANDLES will be lit in the church today symbolising the gifts of God given for the whole world in this season: PEACE, HOPE, JOY and LOVE.
