Liturgy for Lighting the Advent Candle (Advent 2)[1]:

Narrator: Today we light the candle of Peace.

[Light the candle of Hope and then the candle of Peace.]

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7:

“A child is born to us!  A son is given to us!  And he will be our ruler. 

He will be called ‘Wonderful Counsellor’, ‘Mighty God’, ‘Eternal Father’, ‘Prince of Peace’.  His royal power will continue to grow;

his Kingdom will always be at peace.  He will rule as King David’s successor, basing his power on right and justice, from now until the end of Time. 

The LORD Almighty is determined to do all this.”

  As was common in ancient Middle Eastern culture, the announcement of an heir to the throne was a momentous occasion, for it guaranteed for the people of the Nation the continuance of their god’s blessing upon the Royal line and upon the Nation.  Isaiah proclaims God’s continued care and compassion for his chosen People, Israel, when he announced the coming of a new King.  Isaiah is announcing that this descendant and successor of the renowned King David, will base his reign upon the very things that characterises the nature of the God of Israel, what is right and what is just.

  The names ascribed to a King inheriting a throne were intended to affirm the nature and attributes of the new King.  The term ‘wonderful’, used by Isaiah, has connotations of divinity, which is readily linked to the accompanying names, ‘Mighty God’ and ‘Eternal Father’.  The promise of the King bringing ‘peace’ implies not just a time of prosperity and tranquillity for the Kingdom, but of a “future ideal Kingdom”. 

(IVP Bible Background commentary p598, Derek Kidner in ‘Isaiah’ in New Bible commentary Revised p597)  

  God’s peace is not given to people because they deserve it, but given to the undeserving whom God has freely and graciously chosen to favour.”  (I Marshall in Luke in New Bible Commentary Revised p925) 

“What means this glory round our feet?” by James Russell Lowell

“What means this glory round our feet”, the Magi mused,

“more bright than morn?”

And voices chanted clear and sweet, “Today the Prince of Peace is born.”

“What means that star,” the Shepherds said,

“that brightens through the rocky glen?”

And angels, answering overhead, sang,

“Peace on Earth, good will to men.”

All round about our feet shall shine a light like that the Wise Men saw,

If we our loving wills incline to that sweet life which is the Law.

So shall we learn to understand the simple faith of shepherds then,

And, clasping kindly hand in hand,

sing, “Peace on Earth, good will to men.”

And they who to their childhood cling and keep at eve the faith of morn,

Shall daily hear the angels sing, “Today the Prince of Peace is born!”

(The Greatest Gift p121) 

Leader: Let us continue on the theme of Peace as we sing:

TIS 303  “HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING” 

PRAYER:[2]

Holy God we come with awe

to offer you our focussed worship and this time;

mindful that the whole of life is our true worship,

and all our time is your gift to us.

Our awe turns to wonder

that you, the Almighty,

have declared your caring interest in us

as a Shepherd cares for his flock,

through the good news preached by,

and lived by, Jesus the Messiah…

offering us comfort and peace.

We marvel at your patience with us

as we entrust our future to you,

who began what is and will bring all

and everyone to their fulfilment.

Grant us an increase

in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. AMEN.

we pray also those words our Lord taught us to pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen

WE LISTEN FOR A WORD FROM GOD

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION (Mark 4)

GRACIOUS GOD,

AS YOUR WORD IS SOWN AMONGST US,

GRANT IT FINDS THE FERTILE SOIL IN OUR HEARTS

THAT WE MIGHT BEAR MUCH FRUIT

TO THE GLORY OF YOUR KINGDOM… AMEN

SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 85

Lord, you were favourable to your land;
    you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
² You forgave the iniquity of your people;
    you pardoned all their sin.
³ You withdrew all your wrath;
    you turned from your hot anger.

⁴ Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
    and put away your indignation towards us.
⁵ Will you be angry with us for ever?
    Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
⁶ Will you not revive us again,
    so that your people may rejoice in you?
⁷ Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.

⁸ Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
    for he will speak peace to his people,
    to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
⁹ Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
    that his glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰ Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
    righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
¹¹ Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
    and righteousness will look down from the sky.
¹² The Lord will give what is good,
    and our land will yield its increase.
¹³ Righteousness will go before him,
    and will make a path for his steps.

2 Peter 3:8-15a

8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

In this is the Word of the Lord  WE HEAR AND HEED, O LORD.

Mark 1:1-3

1 The beginning of the good newsof Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

² As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way;
³ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
    “Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight”

This is the Gospel of our Lord    PRAISE TO YOU, LORD JESUS!

PRAYER OF CONFESSION[3]

The prophet Isaiah said, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’

Let us pray …
Loving and ever present God, the God of Isaiah of old

and the Church of now, in this Advent Season,

we heed your call to prepare for your coming.
As the sun rises with the promise of a new day,

so you come again to your people, always new, always true, always real.
As we gather to worship again,

and greet one another in the fellowship of faith,

so you greet your people;

you throw your arms open in welcome,

and lift up your hands to bless us all.
Yet we know we have to ask ourselves…

are we really prepared – and truly thankful – for the glory of a new day? Are we prepared for our time in the presence of our God?

Are we prepared for the acceptance of your blessing?
We hope we are.

We try to be ready.

And yet, how ill prepared we really are.
Lord have mercy  LORD HAVE MERCY

Our faith tells us to prepare,

but our busyness with other things often means we don’t give the time. Our hearts are ready to receive you,

but our lives often don’t show that in practice.

Our calling is to make a highway in our deserts for our God,

but often we prepare no more than a rutted track or an indistinct trail.
Christ have mercy  CHRIST HAVE MERCY

Forgive us Lord,

for saying but not doing, believing but not acting,

praying but not performing.
You call us to get ready for your coming.

Forgive us when our preparations fall short of your expectations.

And in the silence, we ask for forgiveness.

And in the silence, we give time to be more ready for your will.
Spirit have mercy  SPIRIT HAVE MERCY

~~{ silence }~~

Be assured, God tells us, that I will not forsake my people.

Hear the good news! – Christ came into the world to save sinners!
As the prophets foretold,

the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

That light for all the world to see is Jesus.

LET US BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST

In whom we are forgiven!

Arise, and go forward. Your sins are forgiven.

So, ever-present God, refresh your Holy Spirit upon us now.

Strengthen us in our commitment.

Hold us to your purpose.

Christ our Lord is coming.

Let us be ready. AMEN.

PASSING THE PEACE..

as we raise our hands in blessing to those unseen…
The peace of the Risen Lord be with you all  AND ALSO WITH YOU.

WE SING: TIS 647 COMFORT, COMFORT ALL MY PEOPLE

CONTEMPORARY WORD

Mark starts with:

The beginning of the good newsof Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Like Genesis, Hosea, and the Gospel of John,[4]

the first word of Mark is simply “beginning.”

Mark doubtlessly chooses it as a reminder of God’s activity in history:

in the beginning God created the world;

so, too, the age of the gospel is manifest

when the Son of God becomes a human being in Jesus Christ.

This point John develops following his in the beginning was the Word….

with 1.¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us

Mark’s first word, archē, can mean “beginning, source, and/or norm.”[5] English has no single word with all three connotations;

here it has overtones of all three English words.

There were many versions of the Christian message in Mark’s day,

as in ours.

Not all were equally valid, and some were dangerously perverse.

Mark wants to provide direction

for how the gospel can be authentically proclaimed.

He does this not by stating a creed or list of principles

to which the Christian message should conform,

but by claiming that the narrative to follow

is the beginning, the source,

and the norm for the church’s proclamation of the gospel.

The church does not merely continue the message of Jesus,

but proclaims its faith that, in Jesus,

God has acted definitively to reveal and make real

God’s own character and saving action.

The background of the term (gospel) εὐαγγέλιον[6]

is to be found in the Greek language version of the Hebrew scriptures,

where the cognate verb (εὐαγγελίζω) means ‘to proclaim good news’.

In particular, we find it used several times in Isaiah chapters 40–66,

where the good news that is proclaimed

is the imminent salvation which God is going to work for his people

(cf. Isa. 40:9; 52:7; 60:6; 61:1).

Isaiah anticipates that the saving action of God

brings peace, peace between God and humanity

and peace amongst the nations

(Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
    for he will speak peace to his people 40:7)

By using this term good news, Mark claims that this salvation,

God’s saving activity, has come in Jesus,

who is also designated the Prince of peace (9.6,7).

The good news is associated with, of Jesus Christ.

It is possible to understand the genitive here (Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ)

as either objective (about Jesus Christ)

or subjective (from Jesus Christ);

it is not necessary to choose between these two senses,

and Mark may well have had both meanings in mind,

since for him the gospel preached by the Church

is identical with the gospel proclaimed by Jesus,

the good news that God’s kingdom is at hand,

just around the corner… (Mark 1:14,15).

Mark’s reference to the messenger includes Jesus,

Jesus as the one who prepares the way of the LORD…[7]

after John has prepared the way for Jesus…

Within a decade of Jesus’ birth,

the birthday of Caesar Augustus (63 b.c.–a.d. 14)

was hailed as euangelion (pl.) good news…

Since he was hailed as a god, Augustus’s “birthday, it was believed,

signaled the beginning of Good News for the world.”⁴

In the Greco-Roman world the word always appears in the plural, meaning one good tiding among others,

much like we use NEWS as a collective noun

when we talk about the 6 O’clock news,

with its many news items…

but in the New Testament euangelion, good news, gospel,

appears only in the singular:

the good news of God in Jesus Christ, beside which there is no other.

In the prophet Isaiah “good news”

is transferred to the inbreaking of God’s final saving act

when peace, good news, and release from oppression

will be showered on God’s people (Isa 52:7; 61:1–3).

For Mark, the advent of Jesus is the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s “good news” heralded by Isaiah.

Although modern readers associate the word gospel (NRSV “good news”) with written accounts of the life of Jesus,

Mark probably uses the word in the sense of the Pauline epistles[8].

There gospel refers to the oral preaching

that Jesus is the source of God’s offered salvation

(cf. Rom 1:1, 9, 16; 2:16).

We learned from our studies in Romans

the importance Paul placed on ‘peace’ as gifted by God,

and as a sign of the obedience of faith!

 (Romans 1.7, 2.10, 3.17., 5.1, 8.6, 12.18, 14.17 & 19, 15.33)

Peter echoes this sentiment with his:

Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things,

strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish (2 Pet 3:14).

Amidst all the upheaval and turmoil he mentions

as signs of God’s establishing God’s reign,

he urges us to focus on peace…

as a people of godliness and holiness without spot and blemish.

He urges more than this,

he urges us to both await the kingdom,

and to work towards it…  

waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God (2 Pet. 3:12)

Jesus named peacemaking as a sign of being a child of God,

‘Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5.9)

Actively seeking to live at peace with all,

as far as it depends on us,

may well be a way of hastening the day of the Lord…

rather contrary to how many think disaster, conflict, immorality etc.

hasten that day.

Occasionally we hear about a person who makes an amazing impact

in the pursuit of peace… one such a person is Leymah Gbowee…[9]

In the summer of 1990, two decades before she would win

the Nobel Peace Prize, Leymah Gbowee was a frightened 18-year-old huddled in the courtyard of her church in Liberia, expecting the worst.

In the midst of civil war between the government and rebel forces led by Charles Taylor, Gbowee’s family had left their home and taken refuge in St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Monrovia.

Within weeks, close to 1,000 refugees were living in St. Peter’s compound.

On July 29, government forces attacked the church in search of food. they proceeded to kill more than 500 men, women and children inside the church using machetes, knives and machine guns.

Gbowee and her family had managed to escape just the day before. One of her uncles had come to the church and told the soldiers

holding the refugees hostage that he needed to collect his family. Asked which tribe he belonged to,

he had lied and named the tribe to which the soldiers belonged, speaking a few words of their language.

They released Gbowee, her mother and other relatives,

warning them not to come back.

Gbowee was born on the outskirts of Monrovia,

a place called Old Road..

A member of the Kpelle tribe, she was one of Liberia’s indigenous people, not one of the Americo-Liberians,

the descendants of the freed American slaves who settled in Liberia in the 19th century and became the country’s ruling elite.

The massacre at St. Peter’s and the horrors of war

turned Gbowee from an ambitious teenager

with plans for medical school into a traumatized refugee.

For almost ten years Gbowee moved back and forth

between Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia.

Her faith in God and in most everything else eroded.

She entered into a relationship with an abusive man,

gave birth to four children in quick succession and then,

depressed and desperate, moved in with her parents in Monrovia.

She found a job at St. Peter’s as a social worker with THRP,

dealing with women and with child soldiers

who were psychologically and physically devastated by the civil war.

ALTHOUGH GBOWEE HAD MOVED back home and back into her church community, her feelings about St. Peter’s were complicated.

She was reluctant to let the people of the church see

what a mess her life had become.

In some ways, she thought of St. Peter’s as her parents’ place,

not her own.

… she felt useful in her work at THRP.

Her boss, a Lutheran pastor known as BB Colley,

noticed her intelligence, sense of humor and passionate speech

and not only gave her more and more responsibilities

but also encouraged her to read works by Gandhi,

Martin Luther King Jr., the Kenyan peace activist Hizkias Assefa

and John Howard Yoder.

He challenged her to think for herself.

“If you are going into the field,” he told her,

“you need to be armed with ideas.”

She was struck especially by Gandhi’s claim

that violence and tyranny never finally succeed.

 “In the end, they always fail. Think of it: always,” Gandhi wrote.

Through her work with THRP she began learning about peace building and started developing her own techniques.

One of these is “shedding the weight”:

women sit in circles and tell of the rapes, murders and horrors they have experienced and seen,

and they talk about the suffering of their children.

They speak about the costs of being a woman in Africa.

Truth-telling at any cost is a cornerstone of Gbowee’s leadership style. That commitment is evident in her memoir and in her speeches.

Her writing records her heavy drinking,

her less-than-ideal relationships with men

and her failures as a mother.

“People say, ‘Do you regret having your personal story out there?’

I say no. No. This is just the first part of my story.”

In the spring of 2002, while spending the night St. Peter’s,

she had a dream: in the dark a voice commanded her,

“Gather the women to pray for peace.”

Gbowee was baffled by this instruction.

She didn’t see herself as a religious leader.

She was a single mother, never married,

who had a complicated relationship with her church.

“It was like hearing the voice of God, yes,

but . . . that wasn’t possible,” she writes in her memoir.

“I drank too much. I fornicated!

I was sleeping with a man who wasn’t my husband,

who in fact was still legally married to someone else.

If God was going to speak to someone in Liberia, it wouldn’t be me.”

Later that day, she tentatively shared the dream

with a co-worker at St. Peter’s compound

where the offices of THRP were located.

A few women overheard the conversation, and one responded,

“We need to pray.”

Twenty women started to pray once a week.

This was the beginning of what came to be called

the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace.

Eventually it comprised thousands of women,

including Muslims and Christians,

educated and non-educated, rural and urban.

Gbowee described the movement….

“We started a peace outreach project,

going to the churches on Sunday, the market stalls on Saturday,

the mosques on Friday.

The not so usual suspects of peace building were the ones

that we were mobilizing and recruiting.

In nine months, we grew from 20 to over 1,000.

We had to set up teams to engage the different communities.

We brought them together to talk about some of the issues

that I see so prominent in this nation and in other nations—

the issue of the divide within races,

the issue of the divide based on religious affiliation.

We have to bring women together

because we never really thought that our agency was in ourselves.

We recognized that if we must continue on the right path,

we must tear down the veils of Christian versus Muslim,

Kpelle versus Loma, elite versus urban—

all of those things we needed to tear down.”

The Mass Action for Peace movement spread quickly throughout Liberia. The mass action was, in essence, a street protest.

After a time of prayer, the women would stand on the side of the street, wearing white, holding signs demanding peace.

They ignored threats from Taylor’s government

that any protesters would be beaten

and instead increased their visibility

and sent him invitations to meet their demands.

The women did little more than make their shared suffering visible. These “fish market women,” as some called them,

were acting so far outside cultural norms

that they weren’t recognized as a political force.

A few years later, when Abigail Disney was searching for footage of those early protests to include in her film on Gbowee,

she found almost nothing.

Gbowee writes that the response from local photographers to the request was, “Why would we have filmed them?

They just looked pathetic.”

Every day the women protested,

and every night a small group gathered to make plans for the next day. The work was intense and rife with internal conflicts among the women. “Later, I learned that it is called ‘strategic peace building,’

but that’s not what we called it,” Gbowee told me.

“Every night we sat down together and said, ‘Let’s ask:

What did we do good? What did we do bad? How can we improve?’ Those three questions guided our work.”

Recalling her conflicted role as leader of this movement, Gbowee says: “I tell people that I resigned over 1,000 times before we even signed the peace agreement. I would go to a meeting and I would say,

‘I resign today. I am no longer your leader. I resign tomorrow. I don’t want to be a part of this group.’ Sometimes I walked out of the meeting, and by the time I got to my house they would come knocking on my door. They would say, ‘We will continue the meeting at your house. You can never give up on us.'”

The women kept their message simple: “We want peace. No more war.” They sat through rain, wind and blistering heat.

They sat while they argued, discussed and strategized,

through disagreements both petty and substantial.

When they gathered early in the morning,

they began with Christian and Muslim prayers.

They developed a repertoire of songs;

they listened to one another’s stories.

Very rarely did they sense that their protest was making a difference. The civil war went on,

displacing thousands of Liberians from their homes.

WHEN TAYLOR FINALLY AGREED to hear the women’s demands, they chose Gbowee as their spokeswoman and asked her to read a statement that they had all agreed on.

But Gbowee decided that the statement was too polite.

Once she had a microphone in her hand, she used it.

After reading the group’s statement she continued on her own,

to the chagrin of some of the network’s other leaders.

“We are tired of war,” she said. “We are tired of running.

We are tired of begging for bulgur wheat.

We are tired of our children being raped.”

The move towards peace had begun…

blessed are the peace makers, Jesus said,

for they shall be called children of God.

LIFE WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY

News and Notices

Prayers of the People

Almighty God,

Arbiter of nations

and Shepherd of your people,

mindful of the need to be both waiting for,

and hastening, the coming of the day of God,

we come with prayers for our world and ourselves.

We are prayerfully mindful of places where peace is very much absent,

not only in war zones and other armed conflict locations,

but also in the minds of those national leaders

who enjoy the power of office…

grant all with the power to engage in violence

the courage and grace to desist from doing so…

May peace on earth begin within their mindset,

Lord hear us, LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

Almighty God,

Arbiter of nations

and Shepherd of your people,

We pray for the many places where another horror than war

strikes fear into the hearts and mind of people,

that of the pandemic which kills tens of thousands,

sickens millions, disrupts day to day living,

destroys work and livelihood…

Grant those suffering because of this plague

courage to deal with their present

and hope for a different future…

May peace on earth for them begin

with an effective and accessible antidote and vaccination.

Lord hear us, LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

Almighty God,

Arbiter of nations

and Shepherd of your people,

We pray for all those who begin again to experience

that pain and grief because of loss, the absence of loved ones,

at this time when so many around them

enter into the joy and excitement of a festive season.

Grant those who mourn during these days

that comfort which you can bring in unexpected ways;

May peace on earth for them begin with trust in your grace to us all

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

Almighty God,

Arbiter of nations

and Shepherd of your people,

we pray for those of our own community,

our family and friends

who determinedly each day deal with whatever discomfort,

pain and debilitating limitations their ill-health brings them…

We name them now in your presence

— names —

Grant each of them daily mercies which alleviate their situation…

May peace on earth for them begin with small moments of joy.

Lord hear us, LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

Almighty God,

Arbiter of nations

and Shepherd of your people,

We pray for the millions who claim to follow the way,

who desire to be part of those who

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”,

Grant that we grow

in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,

May peace on earth begin with us

as we wait for and hasten the coming day of God.

Lord hear us, LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

In the name of Christ Jesus,

to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. AMEN

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

WE BRING OUR OFFERING TO GOD

setting aside our gifts to support the local and wider work of the church

and bless our gifts in an act of praise…

WE SING: TIS 518 FOR THE BREAD AND FOR THE WINE 

Great Prayer Of Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you… And also with you.
Lift up your hearts…. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God our thanks and praise.

It is right that we give you our thanks and praise, O God,

origin of the beginning of all that is,
creator of heaven and earth.

You brought our world into being

and formed man and woman in your image,

breathing into them the breath of life.

We do indeed give you our thanks and praise, O God,
with all our heart and soul and mind and strength,
for you keep faith forever with all peoples
and reach out to save the burdened and the bereft.

You are the one who comforts,

who patiently waits for all to turn to you,

who feeds his flock like a shepherd;

who gathers the lambs in his arms,

and carries them in his bosom,

and gently leads the mother sheep.

When humanity lost our way,
you came to us in your Son, Jesus Christ

who embodied the beginning of the good news

that you desire reconciliation with all…
Modelling the law of love,
offering life to all,

Jesus was cruelly hounded to death on a cross,
and, raised by you to new life,
he has entered your holy presence, once for all,
and freed us from works of futility
to worship you by living the ways of Jesus.
And so, with all your people gathered across time and space,

with the company of heaven and earth we praise
your holy name saying:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of grace and truth,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

The Words of Institution

Holy are you O God, and blessed is your Son, Jesus Christ
who revealed your law of love so powerfully,
especially on that night,

when the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,

 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 

“This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying,

 “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; 

do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup,

you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Great is the mystery of faith.

CHRIST HAS DIED;

CHRIST IS RISEN;

CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN.

The Present Christ (Rev.3:21)

it is Jesus who invites himself to sup with us here,

joining us if we but say the word:

Here I am! Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, 

I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

COME, LORD JESUS

The Distribution of the Bread

My body, broken for you, Jesus said.

Do this for the remembrance of me…

The Distribution of the Cup

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood; Jesus said

do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me

Prayer following communion                      

Generous and welcoming God,

in Jesus Christ

you desire to embrace all.

Grant us of your own generous Spirit

that we might speak words of invitation

and practice actions of welcome

in a Spirit of hospitality

to bring all within your embrace.

May they and we enjoy feasting

at your table,

revelling in your gracious gift

of abundant life,

to the praise and glory of your name. AMEN

WE GO TO SERVE GOD

WE SING: TIS 530 NOW LET US FROM THIS TABLE RISE 

SENDING OUT (2 Peter 3:11,12,14; Mark 1:3)

Go to be a people leading lives of holiness and godliness, 

waiting for, and hastening, the coming of the day of God!

Prepare the way of the Lord!

Be a people of peace, without spot or blemish!

BLESSING (2 Peter 3:18)

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN,

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[1] Prepared by Geoffrey Webber

[2] The rest of the service prepared by Rev. Louis van Laar unless otherwise indicated.

[3] by the Rev. Tom Gordon, Church of Scotland, ‘Starters For Sunday’, 2014.

[4] Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (pp. 23–24). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos.

[5] Boring, M. E. (2014). Exegetical Perspective. In C. A. Jarvis & E. E. Johnson (Eds.), Feasting on the Gospels: Mark (First edition, pp. 3–5). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

[6] Hooker, M. D. (1991). The Gospel according to Saint Mark (pp. 33–34). London: Continuum.

[7] Tolbert, Mary Ann. 1989 Sowing the GospeL,p.240  Minneapolis, Fortress Press,

[8] Perkins, P. (1994–2004). The Gospel of Mark. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 8, p. 528). Nashville: Abingdon Press

[9] Frykholm, Amy (2011) To tell the truth: Nobel winner Leymah Gbowee   Christian Century November 16, 2011