Tag: Advent

A voice cries out 

30th November 2024

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:22

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Jeremiah 23: 5-6

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

A reflection on Isaiah 40:3-5

A voice cries out:  In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord –

Let us open our hearts and minds to receive the wisdom of God, 

to attune our ears to the word of God, 

and focus our eyes to see the wonder of God’s creation. 


A voice cries out: Make straight in the desert a highway for our God –

Let us set straight the trajectory of decisions 

that will cut carbon emissions, 

that will cut the use and abuse of plastics

and that will target a sustainable future.

A voice cries out: Let every valley be lifted up –

Let us share our national wealth 

to cancel the impossible debts of the majority south, 

to give them the financial power to adapt to climate change 

and to lift their people out of poverty.

A voice cries out: Let every mountain and hill be made low – 

Let us remove all that  impedes the development of other economies, 

let us share our technology and resources, 

let us remove unequal trade restrictions 

and let us be ready to learn from others in return.


A voice cries out: Let the uneven ground become level,
    and the rough places a plain –

Let us make level the global playing field, 

treat everyone as equals, removing all prejudice and bias, 

welcoming the stranger and the migrant,

and embracing everyone as brother and sister.

A voice cries out: Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed –

Let us recognise that we are all one creation, 

that together we reveal the glory of God’s gift to us, 

and all of us our able to reflect that glory throughout our lives.

A voice cries out: Let all people shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Feast of the Epiphany

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Hebrews 3:4


Three gifts, 

carried by Magi

riding long roads from the East.


By a star

they had set their course

to seek out a new born king.


Yet from Jerusalem

the worldly snare

of incumbent power pulled them off course.


In Bethlehem 

a home for folk and beast alike, 

made welcome this wandering coterie of  strangers.


A child,

cradled by loving parents, 

is worshipped  with  gold and myrrh and frankincense.


Christ

bless this house

and all that cross its threshold.


Christus

mansionem benedicat.

Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, returned another way.


A family –

threatened –  uproots, takes  flight.

How quickly they join the exodus of refugees.. 


A welcome?

On these shores?…  beyond this border? 

Do you really  deserve a home?


Is not earth our  common home? 

Who designs the borders?  

Who decides who’s and who’s out? These strangers our kin!


This is our  common home

to share with kith and kin,

with bird and beast and all that swims and squirms and creeps.

This  is our  home 

to share with tree and grass, weed and flower, 

with seaweed forests and coral reefs.


Christ

bless this our home –

our common home –  and all that dwell therein.


The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1


May we, like the Magi, 

seek what is true.

May we, like the Magi,

seek the other way.

May we, like the Magi,

worship the maker of our common home.

Amen. 

For a house blessing – https://greentau.org/2022/01/06/marking-epiphany/ NB do adjust the numbers to reflect that this year is 2024!

Advent – in the bleak mid winter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;  Christina Rossetti 

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation: 

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives: 

May we live together in peace.


A reading from Isaiah 55:10-11

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

And do not return there without watering the earth

And making it bear and sprout,

And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;

It will not return to Me empty,

Without accomplishing what I desire,

And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.


Response

Winter, the fallow season, 

prepares the land for spring.

The small seed lies dormant 

lest the cold freeze its vulnerable growth.

But in due time what is small will swell, 

what is vulnerable will gain strength, 

and what is hidden will bloom forth.


Winter, the fallow season 

is when we prepare for spring. 

Waiting,

but gaining strength, 

patiently building networks of support. 

Confident that the Word in us 

will accomplish God’s desire.


In the bleak winter Lord,

We pray for those who feel they have no hope, 

for those who anticipate a Christmas without joy.

We give thanks for all who ease their pain and desolation.

We give thanks for those who offer time and money with generosity.

Open our hearts that we too may be givers. 


In the bleak winter Lord,  

We pray for birds and animals seeking food and warmth,  

for wildlife threatened by human greed and ignorance. 

We give thanks for all who stand up for the rights of creation.

We give thanks for  all who offer time and money with generosity.

Open our hearts that we too may be givers. 


In the bleak winter Lord,

We pray for all affected by systems that fail to deliver, 

systems corrupted by prejudice, selfishness and complacency.

We give thanks for all who stand up for the rights of others, 

who challenge the status quo and seek a better world.


Open our hearts that we too may act for change.

Lord God, unfreeze frozen hearts, 

bring new life to hearts of stone, 

and work in us and all your creation  

the transformative power of you Word.

May your will be done!

Amen.