Sunday Worship 21 December | Selection Box Carols

This morning was the fourth Sunday of Advent and our 'Selection Box' carol service, with contributions from members of the congregation. We had musical performances and poems and prayers and reflections, with a particular focus on Mary as we lit the fourth candle on our Advent wreath. We can't capture all of it here, but we can give you a taste.

Reading | Luke 1:26-55

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

And Mary said: 

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful

to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

Prayer | based on the Magnificat

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

God, we praise you for all the wonderful things you have done for us. We thank you for the glories of creation, for the blessings of community, for the comforts of home, and for the many things that bring us pleasure.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

God, look with mercy on all our troubled world. We hold before you those injured and grieving and afraid following the attack on the Jewish community in Bondi last weekend, all who are seeking to maintain peace and rebuild in Gaza, Ukrainians facing a fourth Christmas at war, and those for whom this time of year holds particular sorrow and hardship.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

God, we want to see our broken and unjust systems mended so that all are treated as equals. We ask that you inspire us to speak truth to power, pleading the cause of the vulnerable and the outcast, and holding those in authority to account.

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

God, we do not ask that the rich suffer but we do long to see the hungry satisfied. We pray that those who already have much will be content with empty hands, so that those who now have little may take what they need.

Holy is his name.

Amen.

Reflection | Mary Said Yes

I have always loved Mary. As a teenager, I remember looking around my youth group and thinking "if God could change the world with one teenage girl, what could God could do with all of us?" And then being pregnant over Christmas for the first time ten years ago, I remember looking down at my growing bump and feeling a new kind of solidarity, and a deeper respect that she would say yes to this miraculous pregnancy.

Because Mary did say yes, and we shouldn’t overlook or underestimate that moment in the story. When the angel arrived, her pregnancy was still future tense, foretold but not a foregone conclusion. Mary would have grown up with the stories of Sarah laughing at angels, and Abraham bartering with God, so she would have known that arguing back was an option, and that sometimes God’s mind could be changed. And yet she chose to say "may it be with me as you have said". She gave her consent, and I really believe the story wouldn’t have continued the way it did without that. Mary was more to God than just a womb, and she should be more than that to us too.

The incarnation is a great mystery. How Jesus could be both human and divine I understand about as well as I understand wave-particle duality in quantum physics. And that’s okay because I don't need to understand it fully in order to be moved and amazed by it, but still I am glad of the way that Mary shines some light on it for me. She said “your will be done”, and then she proclaimed the upside down kingdom of God, and then she allowed her body to be torn and her blood to be shed as she brought forth new life. Jesus truly was her son, and so much of his humanity came from her.

That’s important because it tells me that God is open to us and responsive to us. It’s also important because if Mary could live a Christlike life, then so can I and so can you. It is tempting to look at Jesus and say that’s just what God looks like, but the point of the incarnation was to show us what true humanity looks like. Jesus will always be the best example of that, and the one we should keep returning our focus to, but seeing the pattern of Christ in Mary should challenge and encourage us to recreate that same pattern in ourselves. 

Poem | Mary Did You Know (by Jennifer Henry)

Mary did you know,

that your ancient words

would still leap off our pages?

Mary did you know,

that your spirit song

would echo through the ages?

Did you know that your holy cry

would be subversive word,

that the tyrants would be trembling

when they know your truth is heard?

Mary did you know,

that your lullaby

would stir your own Child’s passion?

Mary did you know,

that your song inspires

the work of liberation?

Did you know that your Jubilee

is hope within the heart

of all who dream of justice,

who yearn for it to start?

The truth will teach, the drum will sound, 

healing for the pain

The poor will rise, the rich will fall,

hope will live again

Mary did you know,

that we hear your voice

for the healing of the nations?

Mary did you know,

your unsettling cry

can help renew creation?

Do you know, that we need your faith,

the confidence of you,

May the God that you believe in,

be so true.

Video | Far From Home

Reflection | Why Did God Make The World (by Miriam, age 5)

Why God did make the world?

Because God is love and God's love spreads

and God wanted a whole world to love.

Christmas isn't just about presents,

it's Jesus's birthday and it's about God's love,

and that's why we celebrate with family and friends.

We should all love the world and one another,

because God made us all and the world is amazing.

God bless you.

Prayer | for peace

God of Love, Source of all that is good,

known by many names and worshipped in many ways,

Upon this holy season of Christmas we pause in humility and hope.

We pray for peace in every heart,

peace in our families and communities,

peace across nations, cultures, and faiths.

Where there is fear, sow understanding.

Where there is anger, awaken compassion.

Where there is division, inspire unity.

May the light celebrated at Christmas

remind us that every tradition seeks kindness,

every prayer longs for mercy,

and every soul is worthy of dignity and respect.

Bless the children of the world with safety and joy,

the suffering with comfort and justice,

the lonely with presence and love.

Guide leaders towards wisdom,

and all people towards acts of goodwill and kindness 

May we honour and respect what is sacred in one another,

listen more deeply, forgive more freely,

and walk together as one human family.

Amen.

May peace be with us all.