SONG:
Maranatha, Maranatha, O come to us Emmanuel.
OPENING PRAYER:
O King of the Nations and their Desired One, and Cornerstone of the House of God, come and save us whom you formed out of dust.
Come, Lord, come to save us.
O Immanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected One of the Nations and their Savior, come to save us O Lord our God.
Come, Lord, come to save us.
The Spirit of the Lord moved over the darkness of earth and there was light and life. May the burning of these candles remind us of the Lord's coming.
Amen.
Light the four candles.
Lord God, fill our hearts with your Holy Spirit, and as you revealed your Son through his coming as one of us, so lead us through his suffering and death to the glory of his resurrection. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen
RECONCILIATION
OPENING PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, the giver of all gifts, You give us on Christmas your greatest Gift, your only Son to be among us. Through Jesus, the Word, we experience your unconditional love. Through Jesus, we receive your gift of forgiveness and salvation. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Examination of Conscience:
Respond: "Lord, we ask your forgiveness."
For the gift of freedom to worship ... For the times I failed to be present to my God because of laziness and negligence ... (Pause) R/
For the gift of life ... For the times I failed to take care of my health or threatened life with hatred or violence ... (Pause) R/
For the gift of speech ... For the times I misused the gift of speech through slander or angry and harsh words ... (Pause) R/
For the gift of possessions ... For the times I became greedy ... (Pause) R/
For the gift of pleasure ... For the times I was undisciplined and abused God's gift of pleasure in whatever way ... (Pause) R/
For the gift of faith ... For the times I neglected my faith life, not nourishing it with the sacraments ... (Pause) R/
For the gift of the Eucharist ... For the times I have neglected Eucharist or failed to bring Eucharist to the world ... (Pause) R/
PAUSE
Kneel and make an act of sorrow together:
Lord, all is gift — the faith to believe in your forgiveness and the forgiveness itself. We come to You with humility as we prepare for the great feast and gift of your Incarnation - one among us - to acknowledge to each other that we have sinned by abusing your gifts or by refusing them. We ask mercy, healing and forgiveness. We ask You, Lord, to give us this day the wisdom and courage to begin anew. Amen.
Receiving The Symbol of Reconciliation:
A member of the community removes the open Bible from the gospel stand and places it over the head of a brother and says:
"Christ be with you, before you, behind you and within you. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and his people. Amen."
That brother in turn blesses the next and so on.
TABLE OF THE WORD
1 Samuel 1: 24 -28
The Magnificat - music
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION AND SHARING
PETITIONS - Spontaneous
R/ Come, Lord Jesus, Come to Help Us.
OFFERTORY AND TABLE OF EUCHARIST
O WISDOM, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end
to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly:
COME, and teach us the way of prudence. Amen.
It is now the final days of our preparation to commemorate the incarnation of the Emmanuel - ‘God with us’.
As we gather here as a community this morning, we gather as well signs of your earth, O God, and our labour.
O LORD AND RULER of the House of
Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the
law on Sinai:
COME, and redeem us with outstretched arms. Amen.
The plate of bread is raised
This bread is fruit of your creation from the earth, and has been made through the work of ordinary people. God and man co-creating the bread that sustains life. This we offer to you, Creator God, this day.
The glass of wine is raised
Grapes become wine through a process that involves again the link of God’s earth and our labour. What was the earth’s bounty in one form, needed to be crushed and broken to create the gift of wine we offer this day.
O ROOT OF JESSE, that stands for an ensign of the people, before whom
the kings keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication:
COME, to deliver us, and tarry not. Amen.
The empty basket is raised
And we offer this empty basket symbolically as the most basic of gifts - ourselves. Let us take a few moments and consider what of ourselves we would wish to fill up this basket.
PAUSE
With all your wondrous works we now joyfully proclaim the words of your prophet Isaiah: Holy, holy, holy Lord .
..
O KEY OF DAVID, and Sceptre of the House of Israel, who opens and no
man shuts, who shuts and no man opens:
COME, and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death. Amen.
Now, having filled the basket through our acts of desire, we offer this basket as ourselves, and call upon you, Creator, to bless our bread, or wine, ourselves this morning.
As we have entered into the past weeks of Advent, we have lived as the anawin, ‘the little ones of Yahweh’ who lived their whole lives in expectation of the fulfilment of the Promise you made to our ancestors.
O DAWN OF THE EAST, brightness of light eternal, and Sun of Justice:
COME, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Amen.
We know the great events that you caused to happen from the marvel of creation itself to the constant forgiveness when we, you people, turned our backs again and again on you.
Yet, you kept your word, and sent us Your presence in Jesus, the Incarnate one, the Christ, your Son.
Jesus is the fulfilment of the Promise made to the ancients and prophets long ago. He was born like us, grow up in age and wisdom, and was like us in all things, except in our sinfulness.
He suffered death for us but gave us at supper a way for us to remember and to continue his work.
O KING OF THE GENTILES and their desired One, the Cornerstone that
makes both one:
COME, and deliver man, whom you formed out of the dust of the earth. Amen.
At that last supper, Jesus took bread and blessed you his almighty Lord, broke the bread and shared it.
Then Jesus took a cup of wine, said another blessing: and shared it.
Whenever you share this meal, do it in memory of Jesus.
O EMMANUEL, God with us, Our King and Lawgiver, the expected of the
nations and their Saviour:
COME to save us, O Lord our God. Amen.
And so, I invite each of you to share this sacred meal as a sign of our brotherhood, our union with Christ.
CLOSING SONG: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Words: Latin: c. 9th Century Tr. by John M. Neale Tr. by Henry S. Coffin
O come, o come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
CHORUS: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who orders all things mightily,
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
CHORUS
O come, O come, thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai's height
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty, and awe.
CHORUS
O come, O Rod of Jesse free,
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave
CHORUS
O come, thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
CHORUS
O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer,
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
CHORUS
O come, Desire of nations, bind,
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of peace.