LoginHome » Ministers' resources » Worship Resources » Preaching Kits » Year C Luke » Kit 1 » Advent 4
Preaching Notes for Nov. 30 to Jan 4
Advent to Christmas 2
December 21 (Advent 4)
Lectionary
Luke 1: 39 - 45
Maryıs visit to Elizabeth
Blessed are you among women
Psalm 80: 1 - 7
Listen you shepherds
restore us, O God,
Let your face shine on us
Micah 5: 2 -5a
A ruler from Bethlehem
He shall be the one of Peace
Hebrews 10: 5 - 10
God, I have come to do your will
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
Call to worship
As a shepherd watches over his flock,
So the Lord God watches over his people.
As a shepherd guards his flock
So the Lord God guards those who trust him.
Smile on us, O God, as you have smiled on those who went before us. Forgive us, restore us, do not be angry with us.
Draw near us, accept our worship, we pray. Amen
Prayer of approach
Light of light,
God of the universe;
the whole of creation awaits your word and we, children of your
love, gather to offer you our praise and wait for your leading. With joyful
anticipation we come,
Meet us here, Lord of life.
Searching for you we have scrambled among the stony places of disappointment
and the thorns of our own failures have torn our spirits. Discouraged and
grumpy we have allowed opportunities to slip past us and our weakness has
made us feel guilty.
Wash us with your healing grace, pardon our past fault, renew us in life,
Lord. Pour your forgiveness over us, Lord.
Let the light of your love fill our lives.
Show us how to live with each other in peace and joy.
Let us become ambassadors of your grace.
Walk with us, Lord. Amen
Prayer for others
Rich with the blessings of the Gospel we bow to pray for those whose
needs we recognise.
We pray for those who see no need to pause at the manger side; for those who have become bitter with life and fail to notice the beauty of the
ancient simple story.
We pray for those who see Christmas only in terms of their self
indulgence, who put the lives of others at risk as they drive their cars
while overtired or while attention is impaired.
We pray for those who while on holiday adventures allow bravado and
inexperience to put safety and life at risk.
Lord, as you love us all show us how to care for each other.
We pray for the Church as it celebrates the birth of the Christ-child.
Save it from the indulgence of remembering only the past and being ready to
do only that which it has always done. Save it too from the folly of
becoming captive to the whim of the moment in a scramble for relevance.
Give the Church leaders everywhere the wisdom of Solomon, the patience
of Job and the compassion of Christ that they may lead their congregations
into a gracious and compassionate ministry to your world.
Hear our prayer. O Lord.
We pray for those whose lives have become burdened with sadness and for whom this season is a painful reminder of loss.
Show us how to share the burden of our neighbours and lead us in your
peace. Amen
Hymn Suggestions
Tell out my soul
While shepherds watched
Sermon notes
The story of Maryıs visit to Elizabeth is an exquisitely human story that captures the real tension and anxiety of this part of the narrative. It captures some of the cultural and social tensions that surround the pregnancy and while we see it from the post resurrection perspective the local women who drew water at the well in the village were not privy to our comprehension of the story.
Mary carries both the promise of the child and the criticism of the culture.
Tradition suggests that she was quite young and since she was not yet resident in the home of her betrothed husband Joseph the local tongues would have wagged. It is again an element of internal integrity that the story has been retained in the traditions of the Church. It might have been easier to argue the case for the divinity of Jesus if his conception and birth had remained a deep mystery.
The humanity of the story links the incarnation with the heart of every family. The themes of anxiety and anticipation are common in every pregnancy. The naturalness of Mary visiting her aunt to share her news/anxiety/excitement is identifiable.
The identification of Elizabeth as the mother of John is not essential to the narrative but it is an indication that the early church recognised the significant link between the old dispensation and the new. John, who is to be the 'forerunner' is identified as the one who recognises Jesus as the Messiah even at this pre-partum moment. What emphasis we give to this recognition depends on the degree to which we consider the narrative to be historical and to what degree we see it as a poetic witness to the reality which is to be. It seems that the early church may have been content not to examine the distinction. Should we?
We can not know what impact the reference from Micah may have had to the setting of the birth story in Bethlehem and we should probably not read more into it than a natural conjunction of the identification of the 'city of David' as the place from which the child arises. The significance of the Bethlehem birth for the first generation Christians should not however be overlooked. It is proper that the Messiah should be born as a descendant of David to fulfil the messianic expectation of the people of Israel. Here again is the identification of the Christ with the lowly [but holy] roots of Jewish leadership.