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Be Alert! Prepare! Christ Comes!
Advent 3
Important: |
As you gather
Light a candle in the centre of the group and hold silence for at least a minute (If you are not used to doing this you will need to time it)
Go round the group and talk about finding stillness (advent 1 ) or removing obstacles (advent 2). Support each other in the struggle to be still and block-free !
Hear the Word Read Philippians 4: 4-7
This reading talks of two things, first, being gently happy and taking joy in life as you meet it. Also, secondly, it talks about prayer and asking for what we want, while at the same time thanking God.
Go round the circle and talk of the people in your life who have made it joyful or who have brought gentleness into your life. They might be happy people, or people who brought you joy by being loving or special. Then do a second round and speak of people whom you know to be people of prayer- or those whose prayers have helped you. Give thanks to God for both these kinds of people (some of you may find they are the same people!) in the prayer that follows or another which suits your group..
Loving God of joy and gentleness, we thank you for those who have brought joy and gentleness into our lives.
Name those people out loud.
We think with gratitude of those who we know pray frequently, or those who help us to pray, or whose prayers have meant much in our lives. Help us to learn from them.
Name these people now.
With thanks for these, we pray in the name of Christ AMEN
Read Zephaniah 3: 14-20 Luke 3: 7-18
Zephaniah's ministry as a prophet coincided with the reforming reign of King Josiah over the kingdom of Judah. He is also a contemporary of Jeremiah. If his book was a piece of music, it would be played largo (slow at the beginning) and go into pianissimo (quietness) at chapter two when a "whispered promise" of God's deliverance appears. This rises to a crescendo and fortissimo (loudness) towards today's reading where the full blown promises of God's eventual deliverance of the people are described.
1. Perhaps Advent is like a rising crescendo. All the preparation secular and spiritual are progressing quietly at first and then with mounting passion and urgency.
(a) From what would you most like to be delivered ?
(b) What would you feel like if you knew God was exulting over you "with loud singing as on a day of festival" ?
(c) What oppressors in your life would you like God to deal with ?
(d) Can you imagine that God might make as much fuss over your birth as the world does over Jesus' birth ? How does that idea feel ?
The experience of the exile into Babylon was a crucible-like experience for the Jewish people. They found out much about themselves and their faith in the process. The Luke passage speaks of a coming time of testing and trial, of burning of chaff and threshing of grain, also of non-fruit bearing trees being cut down and burned. Notice the advice John gives to those who ask how they can be prepared: he commands them to share their wealth with others (two coats and more than enough food was our equivalent of wealth), to be honest in their jobs (tax collectors collected extra taxes from the people which they pocketed) and be satisfied, not extorting anyone else - in other words to act always with generosity and integrity.
2. What acts of compassion and integrity have you seen others do recently ?
3. If you had to give an account of your compassion and integrity - what examples could you quote from the last two months ?
4. What avenues are available for people to use at Christmas for giving away their 'second coat" or their "spare food" ? (Be specific about these opportunities and name addresses and phone numbers)
Put the sand tray in the centre of the group, with the candles nearby. People take their time in choosing one or more candles to represent acts of compassion and integrity they have seen others doing, or acts they have done themselves or acts of compassion and integrity which they wish to vow they will do. The candles can be lit from the central candle you lit at the start of the session. This is done in silence. When all have had a turn, use this prayer or something more suitable for your group to end the study.
God of compassion,
We give thanks for those who have demonstrated to us through the years how compassion can be shown and wealth shared.
When we have more than we need, help us to give to those who have less than we. Especially at Christmas time, help us be generous and open hearted.
We give thanks for those we know and have known who live lives of integrity. Help us to be like them, never exploiting other or taking them for granted, always operating on high levels of honesty towards others and within ourselves.
We pray in the name of the compassionate, honest Christ, AMEN
Yes
Often I have envied Mary her calm serenity,
her saintly certainty as she said 'yes' to you [1]
But now, I read that maybe this divine mother
knew little of the other 'yeses' that would be inside her first.
So Mary too, like me, gave what she could at the beginning
little knowing to where it might lead.
Like peeling layers from an onion, you strip me slowly, God.
My first assent gave permission to deal.
In my innocence I assumed one peeling would achieve your purpose,
but you continue to claim me, to seek my trusting 'yes'
for one more layer and then another and another.
So I face the other 'yeses' that were inside the first, if I had known it.
A confidence trick? A con job ? Yes and no
You asked me only for what I could yield at the time
I can only handle this painful exposing in stages
My confidence in you builds as one skin is shed
I find I can cope and so can say confidently the next 'yes'
That's the point, not the understanding or the amount yielded
but the continuing, faithful readiness to say the next 'yes' too
to have the courage to continue the job having started
to remain open and trusting enough to shed the next layer
and not to fear what I will be when all the skins have gone.
To be faithful to the desire to do your will
which prompted that first,
most inadequate,
and yet most important 'yes' of all
Yes, my God
continue. Susan Jones