Tuesday 30th November -Andrew the Apostle-A compassionate heart

John 12:20-32


Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me. John 12:26

In the modern rhythm of our day to day life, it is possible to feel very distant from Jesus and to lose sight of his presence even as we seek him and struggle to follow him. How best can we help to incarnate and to connect with this gospel text and message today? The earthly Jesus was born in a hostile society like ours, and was very vulnerable from infancy. Even though he tasted the rough side of life, yet he grew up having a compassionate heart for the poor and the vulnerable in his days. He later died an agonizing death, yet pleaded for the forgiveness of human cruelty meted on him!
To follow Jesus and to be with him is to see ourselves in the vulnerabilities and agonies and death of today. Our distance away from these real life challenges and pressures, poverty and worry, compassion and healing for our helpless brothers and sisters here and there in the world is our same distance away from Jesus.

Monday 29th November Talk About Jesus

Isaiah 42: 18-25



“It consumed them, but they did not take it to heart” (v.25)

At the beginning of Advent, we get caught up in thoughts of Christmas – but is it always for the right reasons? Stir-up Sunday - get that pudding made!! The newspapers countdown 19 shopping days to Christmas. “Your best Christmas ever – planned in advance!” promises Good Housekeeping with a timetable starting before Advent Sunday. Last posting date for overseas parcels! December can so easily become a whirl of shopping, planning and stress. We can become trapped in a pit, just as much as the Israelites.
When our children were small one of our favourite Christmas songs (and to be honest I’m still very fond of it!) had a chorus that goes “Don’t talk about shopping, talk about Jesus, He’s the main attraction to see. Don’t talk about tinsel, talk about Jesus, without Him there would be no nativity!”
Even if we congratulate ourselves on shutting out the consumerism, and concentrate on church, we can still get so caught up in Christmas activity that we get stressed and rushed and can lose sight of why we are doing it all!! There are choir rehearsals for the Carol Service, preparations for the Nativity Play, mince pies for Bun Sunday: extra services mean more linen, more planning, decorations, and special service sheets.....Let’s try and take a moment each day during Advent to step back from all this activity and simply contemplate the greatest gift we could ever receive, God’s redeeming love for us, embodied in the tiny child with the terrible destiny of suffering and sacrifice, and to give Him in our turn, the best that we can offer – the gift of our time and attention. Then we can enter wholeheartedly into all the preparations and celebrations with love and wonder!

Sunday 28th November The hope of a Messiah

Micah 4:1-7




Advent is the season of hope! And few verses so stir up the feeling of hope as these. Micah warns of impending judgement. The Assyrians are at the gates. But beyond judgement is the hope of a Messiah who will peace and security. “Each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree”.
Our family’s favourite musical is Les Misérables. It portrays vividly the misery suffered by ordinary Parisians in revolutionary France. But the musical ends with a stirring finale that suggests an alternative to the violence of the barricades:
“Do you hear the people sing? Do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes! They will live again in freedom, in the garden of the Lord. They will walk behind the ploughshare; They will put away the sword.”

Even so Lord, come quickly!

First Week of Advent - Hope

Introduction- Leader Jesus you are the Light of the World
Family Come to us Lord Jesus, come.
Light the first purple candle
Family Thank you for giving us hope through the gift of Jesus at Christmas
Read -the passage for the day and the meditation
Reflect -on what you have just read
Pray- Thank you Lord for today, for the beautiful world that you have created for us. Thank you for giving Jesus at Christmas to be our Saviour. Thank you for your comfort and hope. Thank you that you are the light given at Christmas.
Add your own praise and prayers for our church, your family, for God’s world
The collect for the week
Leader -Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Family Lord God you are our hope. We trust you to be with us now and always, when we can feel your presence and when you seem far away. Keep us company as we wait for you. Amen