It is the first of December – the traditional time for…
And the traditional time for (the almost lost art) of writing Christmas letters.
Kristine Morrison, who many of you know (the wife of John who pastored here with me a few years ago), has challenged me to write a Christmas letter again this year – and if Kristine recommends something then it is the right thing to do!
So, for inspiration I turned to two sources. First to this letter written by Paul – our friend Paul who writes an excellent Christmas letter with a twist!
Dear Aron and Belinda,
I know from bitter experience that the last thing you need at Christmas is a bunch of people being cheerful, so here is a miserable letter to cheer you up. It has been a terrible year… Rebecca started secondary school which means she has to catch the bus at 7:30 (in the morning!) which means we have to get up before 7:30 to make her …lunch and see her off. We do this grudgingly every weekday out of a sense of parental duty in response to social pressure.
Georgie has started learning the violin – enough said. Liz has started learning the viola – the same problem as the violin only louder. …Most people in our road have had double glazing fitted.
Paul’s squash playing hit a new all time low… He has gradually drifted down the leagues at his club…as a large lead weight drifts…to the bottom of the sea. He has ended up playing old women who…catch up on back issues of Women’s Weekly whilst waiting for him to get a serve in. One of his opponents knitted a fairisle jumper…
On a brighter note, both the gerbils died last year… [The letter goes on in the same vein!] Hope to see you some time to cheer you up some more, Paul
And then to this letter by Paul – the apostle Paul – our New Testament reading for this morning.
So, drawing inspiration from both, but a little more from 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, I have written the following Christmas letter to all of you!
Dear Canberra Baptist Church,
I join with Paul (the apostle Paul) in saying, “How can I thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that I feel before our God because of you!” Paul is a little wordy! More simply – the joy this church gives me far outweighs my capacity to say thank you to God!
There have been good challenges this year; welcoming new people to CBC, seeing them become part of CBC, and starting to think and dream and plan about new ministries and new areas of mission as we near our centenary (just 4 years away), helping to establish the Open Baptists Association. And there have also been more challenging challenges; losing key staff and volunteers while still trying to maintain the activities of the church, and the pain – all the emotion – that comes with the NSW/ACT Association’s decision to move towards disaffiliating our church.
We haven’t, however, had quite as challenging a year as Paul – when he sat down to write to the Thessalonians! In Acts 16 we read that, in Philippi, he and Silas were attacked, beaten and spent a night in prison. And in Thessalonica again a mob formed that dragged a group of the new Christian believers before the city officials, but Paul and Silas (and Timothy) managed to escape to Beroea. The mob, however, followed them to Beroea, so Paul was sent on his own to Athens.
It is in the difficult times that the joy of knowing that people’s faith is surviving, and that people’s faith is even thriving, is most real – most tangible.
And it is the same for us! It is an incredible joy and encouragement to me that the faith of this church is thriving despite our difficulties. The statement we passed at last week’s church meeting (you can read the draft version in last week’s bulletin) is extraordinary! It is the statement of a church devoted to Christian community, to loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the statement of a church faithfully working out (from our Bibles, from our prayers, from our discussions) what it means to follow Jesus today. It is the statement of a church committed to Baptist values (values that were meant to encourage churches to work out what it means to follow Jesus today!) and it is a statement that says, as our website says, that, “we believe that the Good News of Jesus is for all people without qualification and we are deeply committed to creating a community of genuine welcome”.
And so, like the apostle Paul, I pray day and night for the ongoing faith and love and courage of this church. And it is an encouragement to know that others – others in our Open Baptists network and other Baptist leaders – are praying for us too.
I had a beautiful letter from Scott Pilgrim from Baptist Mission Australia last week assuring us, and Hamilton and Seaforth, of his thoughts and prayers. “Feeling for all of you,” he wrote, “but encouraged by the courage and resilience of your faith communities. Trust there is a real sense of the Lord’s peace, strength, and goodness amid all the mixed emotions you will be dealing with.”
We need these prayers because it is also true, thinking about the challenges that we have faced this year as a church, that there are deficiencies in our faith, and we need to, as the apostle Paul says, restore what is lacking in our faith.
This is something I take from both these letters by Pauls! The courage to admit that we are not perfect – that we are not perfect as a church, the courage to address this – end even courage in knowing that our deficiencies are restorable – repairable! The word used here refers to mending – like the disciples James and John mending their nets in Mark chapter 1. In the same way in God’s grace we can mend broken relationships, lack of vision and energy for mission, lack of priority for God in our lives and our lifestyles, lack of compassion for others, and lack of love.
It is love that the apostle Paul keeps returning to in this letter as the priority for the Thessalonians and it is love that is a priority for us as well.
Because love is hard! Loving the people of this church – even for a professional congregation lover – even for a minister – can be hard! Loving people who are hard to get along with or who hurt us or who reject us is hard. The good news is that God knows that this is hard – that we cannot do it ourselves – that we cannot do it in our own strength.
So, I pray, as Paul prays, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all!” Increase and abound – two words that means the same – used for emphasis. May the Lord make us increase and abound in love for the people in this church – for the people we struggle to love in this church – for the people we struggle to love in our Association – for people in our community – for people everywhere.
Because 2024 is not the end of the story. Our struggles and our failings in this year is not the end of the story. Perhaps that is the primary purpose of writing Christmas letters – to sum up the year and to move on to what God is doing next. God is continually weaving love into our lives, abounding and increasing love, like fishermen repairing nets, like old women knitting fairisle jumpers – “[strengthening our] hearts in holiness,” Paul says, “that [we] may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”
‘Holiness’ doesn’t mean ‘perfectness’ here. It means ‘set apart-ness’, ‘chosen-ness’. The great hope of Advent is that God has chosen us – chosen to be with us. The great hope of Advent is that God knows our deficiencies – not just our violin playing or squash game – but our faltering faith and fickle hearts and loves us still. The great hope of Advent is that our loving God works in us to increase and abound in love – to strengthen our hearts. The great hope of advent is that God is joyful because of us!
Let that be something we put in all our Christmas letters!
As Paul the apostle writes, “Beloved, pray for us. Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all of them. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
And as Paul my friend writes, “Love from…”
Belinda
Call to Worship (from reworship)
O come, O come, Emmanuel– God with us. Come into our brokenness; Come into our joy. come into our captivity; Come into our freedom. Come into our fear; Come into our compassion. Our souls have had their fill. Have mercy upon us, O God, And come, O come, Emmanuel.
Prayer of Confession (based on Psalm 25: 1-4)
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I put my trust in you, O God,
do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let those be ashamed who neglect your faithfulness,
and who act with evil intent. Teach me your ways, O God
and guide me in your paths. We bring to mind these things for which we are ashamed—- for wilfully acting with less than good intentions— for abusing the faithfulness of God by our failure to live faith-full lives. A time of silence to reflect on these words Forgive us, O God—
cleanse our hearts and minds
of all that prevents us from loving you
and loving our neighbour.
May our lives be marked by faith active in love
as we watch and wait for your breaking into our world once more.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
Assurance of Forgiveness (1Thessalonians 3:12-13)
The apostle Paul prayed that “the Lord may make our love overflow for each other and for everyone…. that the Lord may strengthen our hearts in holiness so that we will be blameless before God.” The good news therefore, is this: in and through Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. Thanks be to God! ~ written by Moira Laidlaw, and posted on Liturgies Online. http://www.liturgiesonline.com.au/
Story and Invitation to Communion (from Iona – rearranged and added to)
Yuma – you are welcome here –
welcome in this place and welcome at this table.
It was gathered around a similar table
that Jesus and his friends ate a sacred meal which Jews call the Passover.
During that meal, Jesus took a piece of bread
And after he had blessed it, he broke it and said,
“This is my body. It is given for you.
Do this to remember to remember me.”
Later in the meal, he took a cup of wine
And having given thanks for it,
He gave it to his disciples, saying
“In this cup is the new relationship with God
Made possible, because of my death.
Drink it, all of you, to remember me.”
Gathered here we will do as Jesus did
And as he asked his disciples – all who love him – to do
throughout the ages.
At this table, it is not our virtues or our defects
that are important.
It is the invitation to each and all
to meet Jesus here.
Let’s pray…
Yes, holy and loving God,
We have been gathered by you,
caught in your net, knitted into your work of love
invited to this table.
So as we open ourselves to your generous hospitality,
may your Spirit move among us
and enable us to remember you…
Open our eyes to see you
Our ears to hear you
Our hands to hod, you
Our hearts to receive you
Our souls to cherish you.
Amen.
As Jesus broke bread – we break this bread and eat it together.
As Jesus took the cup, we take these cups.
We will hold them and drink them together.
As the first disciples shared communion in that upper room
we share with all Gods people now,
the gifts of God and the goodness of God.
The peace
Prayers of Intercession (from Iona and added to)
Please join me in prayer by responding to the words, “God in your mercy” – with the words, “Hear our Prayer” and we will finish with a video of the Lord’s Prayer produced by Baptist Mission Australia – can I encourage you – if you are free on Thursday night – to join in praying with them.
Creator and Lover of all, in the mystery of your creativity
you have tied us to one another, knitted us together,
and are weaving us into your great work of love in our world.
So hear us as we pray for this church
and for other churches we are connected with
may they ever be centres of faith hospitality and your imagination
modelling the future, seeking to follow Jesus today, not just lamenting the past.
(Pause) God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Grateful for the life in our bodies,
we pray for those whose lives are diminished
by ill-health, depression, grief or rejection,
and ask for the healing, the affirming, the listening,
which will encourage and restore them.
We pray for strength and hope and healing for Judith and Richard and Harry and Silvie and Tara’s mum.
We pray for peace for Jean Daly.
We pray for all who are in care; Max Callan, Peter Chaffer, Colin Gray, Dorothy McMaster, Eunice Martin and Dawn Waterhouse.
(Pause) God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Conscious of the peace of this place
we pray for those who have no peace
because of war or the fear of war
or the threat of violence
or the grip of hunger
or the loss of hope.
May the voice of victims be heard
and the work of peacemakers be blessed.
(Pause) God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Surrounded by the beauty of the mountains and the plains here,
this precious Ngunnawal Country,
we pray for the earth
especially where it is damaged by human carelessness
and threatened by human greed.
May we learn to care for your earth as you do.
(Pause) God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
And because we are here to meet with Jesus
We hear and we pray the prayer he taught us
In the different languages of your people now…
VIDEO
Amen.
Offering Prayer
All that we have and all that we are
are God’s gifts to us.
So here we return a token of our wealth and gifts and energies
Asking that that it and all we are
will be used to God’s glory.
Amen.
Closing Prayer for Advent
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Go with us now into the week.
Go with us now into the world. You are strengthening our hearts to love. You are making all things new. Reveal your glory in our lives and in the rhythms of our lives, so that nothing will get in the way of your coming.
Amen.
~ written by April Yamasaki, and posted on the Emmanuel Mennonite Church blog. http://www.emmanuelmennonite.com/