Tuesday 21 December 2021

Christmas 2021

 

Christmas 2021

Christmas services in church have been cancelled

I have added some photos to the Virtual Church page:

-------------------------------

Sadly, for the second year, we are not able to meet in church but here are some glimpses of what it would have been like

Monday 13 December 2021

NNE Online Youtube worship




The Nottingham North East Circuit of the Methodist Church 

has a lot of material on it's Youtube channel ...


... from Sunday worship to hymns and songs 

and much, much more to explore and enjoy!


Find everything here:

NNE Youtube Channel


Advent 4: Sunday 19 December 2021


BURTON JOYCE 

COMMUNITY CHURCH

with Nottingham North East Circuit 



Advent 4 Sunday 19 December 2021


Prepared by Jan Davies, adapted for Burton Joyce by Phil Colbourn

Hymns from Songs of Fellowship (SoF)


Prayer of approach 

Lord and Father: We to live in a dark world today where evil seems to be in control. This year has been difficult. We join with your people throughout the ages who have cried out to you for deliverance. Give us patience as we wait for your final victory. Amen


Advent Candles: Today we light four candles 

Let’s sing SoF 1419 Light of the World (So here I am)


Prayer: Praise and worship (A Song of Christ’s Glory) 

Christ Jesus was in the form of God, but He did not cling to equality with God. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and was born in our human likeness. Being found in human form, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross. 

Therefore, God has highly exalted Him, & bestowed on Him the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth & under the earth; & every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen


Readings: Malachi 2:17- 3:4; Luke 3:1-6


Hymn SoF 150 Hail to the Lord’s anointed


Sermon: Prepare for Change

In Advent, we traditionally concentrate on the message of John the Baptist. There had been 400 years since there had been a prophet in Israel so, when John the Baptist came preaching in the desert just like an Old Testament prophet, the people knew that there was big change coming. The prophet Malachi was just such an example. 

The people of Judah and Jerusalem had been hauled off to Babylon as exiles. They had been there for approximately 60 years when Babylon was defeated by the Persian Empire and, in the upheaval, a Jewish patriot called Zerubbabel led a hundred families back to Jerusalem where they found everything in ruins. They set about rebuilding the Temple. However, everything was a mess and, to be honest, those who came back were still influenced by foreign gods. 

It was now that the prophets Malachi in Jerusalem and Ezekiel in Babylon preached about great changes to come. They both condemned those who tried to compromise their faith and Malachi warned about thinking that God didn’t care about sin – surely, they had learned that lesson when they were hauled off into exile! Malachi preaches that God is preparing to act in Israel. He has sent Malachi, to warn the people that it will be a time of judgement – they will be refined like gold or silver. Sorting things out will be painful. 

Not long after this, Ezra and Nehemiah lead more exiles to return. The corrupt practices are cleaned away. There is huge opposition and the returning Jews learn to rebuild with a shovel in one hand and a sword in the other. The reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah came as no great surprise, because the people had been warned by Malachi. 

But many Christian teachers see in these words a message for later generations – perhaps ours. Malachi talks about the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. This is usually taken to mean the end of time when God will come in person and cleanse his people. But it is also seen as pointing to the coming of the Messiah who would be both saviour and judge. So, for us, these words look forward to the coming of Jesus as a vulnerable child and also forward to Christ’s second coming. 

We may want to ignore this but God has sent His prophets to prepare us – so we ignore it at our peril! If Christ were to return this week, it would be no good saying: ‘but we didn’t know that was coming’. 

For about 400 years, there were no more prophets, so it was quite a shock when suddenly a prophet, John, arose who said he was coming to prepare the way for the promised Messiah. Momentous changes were coming and people needed to be prepared. How? He preached repentance: only by completely changing our lives can we be ready for the coming of the Christ. They could never say ‘but we didn’t expect that – if we had known, we would have been ready’. 

Do we get any sense that God is moving again now? That He has a message for us? Or do we think that God has not spoken directly to us and so we carry on as though nothing will ever change and judgement is something that only the cranks talk about? 

This is Advent, the season of preparation. What are we preparing for? Each Advent I read an Advent book which takes me through the four weeks and then up to Twelfth Night. I find that this grounds me and it is good to just relax for half an hour and be reminded what all the fuss is about. But there is a second event which we are asked to prepare for – what the prophets called ‘the great and terrible Day of the Lord.’ 

Surely, we should prepare by doing the work God has called us to –Matthew 25: visit the sick, the prisoner, give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger. Simple to understand but hard to get on and do when there is so much call on our time and pockets. But when He comes, we can never say ‘we didn’t expect that – if we had known, we would have been prepared’. 


Meditation and confession: 

Here we are again Lord! It’s the middle of December and I still have a thousand things to do. I feel tired and harassed – I will never be ready. Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like, Lord, to forget it all, opt out, hire a cottage somewhere and sit it out until it’s all over.
But would I miss something important? I should be celebrating: You coming into the world is the greatest event since the creation.

I wonder if it’s worth all the hassle. Every year I say ‘this year it will be different’ but every year it’s the same. I spend too much, eat too much and I’m exhausted by Christmas day. How should we prepare for your coming? What do you think Lord? Forgive us Lord.

Lord, this is a time to celebrate. We, of all people know how much there is to be joyful about. Help us to resist the excesses. To care for the lonely, the homeless and refugee. To find time to stop, be still and worship you the King of Kings and to look forward to your Advent promise to come again in glory and establish your Kingdom of justice and peace forever. Then, we will get the celebrations right. Amen 


Prayers of Intercession: 

Lord of peace; bring peace where there is violence. We bring to you Lord, the people of Yemen, of Afghanistan and of those gathered on the borders of Belarus and Poland both civilians and soldiers. 

In the Darkness 

Let your light shine 


Lord of Justice; bring justice where people live in fear, governments and soldiers impose their will; for the peoples of the Holy Land. May all the communities find ways to live together with justice and peace. 

In the Darkness 

Let your light shine 


Lord of the poor and marginalised; in poverty, hunger, homelessness or suffering, move our hearts to share fairly; for refugees living in terrible conditions in camps; mercy, compassion and practical help. 

In the Darkness 

Let your light shine 


Lord of creation; forgive us for misusing your created world. Give courage to all who work to save the environment; people suffering because of climate change, because of violent floods or wild fires. 

In the Darkness 

Let your light shine 


Lord of healing and wholeness; we bring to you those who are known to us personally who need your healing power............
In the Darkness 

Let your light shine 


Lord of the Kingdom of God, who came, not to condemn but to save, give us courage & wisdom as we bring the message of your love and forgiveness to a needy world. Send us out with your Holy Spirit.
In the Darkness
Let your light shine. Amen 


Hymn SoF 154 Hark the glad sound! The Saviour comes 


Sending out prayer
Lord our God, keep your servants alert and watchful as we await the return of Christ your Son, so that, when He comes and knocks at the door, He may find us vigilant and in prayer. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

 

Advent 3: Sunday 12 December 2021


 BURTON JOYCE 

COMMUNITY CHURCH

In association with 



Sunday 12 December 2021

Advent 3
A service prepared by Phil Colbourn. Hymn numbers for Songs of Fellowship (SoF)

Lighting the Advent Candle

  • The third candle symbolizes joy: the "Shepherd’s Candle."
  • To the shepherd’s great joy, the angels announce that Jesus came for humble, unimportant people like them, too. 

CALL TO WORSHIP       Psalm 24, 1
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.

PRAYERS

Adoration  

Father, great I Am, you met with Moses that day in a bush blazing with all the colours of fire so, we pray, meet with us today as we walk with you and as you walk with us in the way. In Jesus name. Amen

Confession

Father, great I Am, we abuse your gifts: dump waste in rivers, leave litter in the streets, fill air with pollutants, destroy peace with noise, chase shadows and avoid your light. Forgive us, Lord. Have mercy.

Thanksgiving

Father, great I Am, we bless you. You bring forth bread from the earth and fruit for us to enjoy. You call us through the wilderness to a place of plenty. For these blessings we thank you. Amen


Hymn SoF 821  Into the darkness of this world


Advent Calendar
Rowan Williams

He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould, the soft shroud’s folding.

He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net of alien, sword-set beauty.

He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield the star-snowed fields of sky.

He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free. He will come like child.


Advent Litany

Father, great I Am, you created us in your image

Come to our longing, O God of our joy

Christ, great I Am, you are the image of God

Come to our longing, O God of our joy

Holy Spirit, giver of life, you are the joy of heaven

Come to our longing, O God of our joy

The Lord’s Prayer                                                                  


INTRODUCTION

It’s the third Sunday in Advent and I have planted sweet pea seeds as an act of faith: 1) That spring will follow winter (and summer, too).

2) That the life hidden in the seed will sprout, grow and bear fruit.

A month ago, in Glasgow at COP26, members of Christian Climate Action, alongside others, staged protests with Extinction Rebellion. They are so concerned about the state of the planet, worried about seedtime and harvest, that they feel they must act.


HYMN SoF 112         For the beauty of the earth

FIRST READING             Isaiah 12:2-6

SECOND READING         Romans 8, 19-23


REFLECTION

It is exactly three years since I delivered a version of this sermon at Burton Joyce. We then started out on the road to becoming an Eco Church but it is a long road and we haven’t got very far. However, one consequence of that sermon and a subsequent public meeting is that there is now a Climate Action and Biodiversity Group meeting regularly in the village, mostly by Zoom.

We need a new heaven and a new earth. This theme of a new heaven and a new earth runs all the way through scripture, from the very beginning to the very end. But hardly has creation been finished in Genesis, when things start to go wrong. I’ll skip all the intermediate stages but right at the end of the Bible, in Revelation 21, we see the new Jerusalem descending from heaven, the Bride of Christ, us, the church. At last, we think, surely, this *must* be it: Creation perfected.

But, no. Paul, writing to the young church in Rome about AD 50, is not convinced that the earth is yet working as it should. He is waiting for a new software release, Creation X. And here we are, two thousand years later, in 2021, after 26 COPs, in a crisis of epic proportions: both environmental and ecological. 

In his letter, Paul takes a hike through the contradictions of life, through the forest of experience, wondering how we can understand the way things are. How does God’s great plan of redemption make sense? It is all very confusing and he can’t see the wood for the trees. 

But then, in Romans 8, he struggles up the last steep slope and finds himself at the top of the mountain. There below him, the whole of salvation’s story is laid out, all the way from the Garden of Eden to Revelation and the allotments in Burton Joyce and, suddenly, he understands [Romans 8, 19]: “Creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed”. Let those words drill down into your soul: all Creation is waiting for us - to stand up and be counted.

These verses can be difficult to understand and we often skip over them and go straight from one good bit to the next but, if we skip this bit, we miss the whole point. All the way from Genesis to Revelation, the founding principles of Creation have stayed the same:

* Creation is good.  (It might not be perfect but it is good)

* It includes everything on earth (physical and biological)

* We are (in some way) responsible for the care of the earth

* We are answerable to God

And, first and finally

* God delights to walk with us in the joy of the garden

These principles, Jesus exemplifies in his role as the Servant King. As his followers, we are called to serve not just the human world but also the natural world: all of God’s creation. It is our responsibility. The earth is the Lord’s but the responsibility for its well-being is also ours. 


HYMN SoF 830                  I, the Lord of sea and sky 


INTERCESSIONS

For the Earth: the climate, the destruction of living things; that people do the right thing


For the people of the world: wars, drought, flood & wildfire; compassion for refugees


For ourselves, our family and friends: in a time of Covid, in the lead up to Christmas 


For the church of Christ in every place: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

For all your mercies, we give you thanks, O Lord. Amen


FINAL HYMN SoF 347     Lo, he come with clouds descending


Advent responses

With love and compassion:                   Come, Lord Jesus

In power and in glory:                           Come, Lord Jesus

He is coming, He is coming soon.         Amen. Come, Lord Jesus

BLESSING

Go out in joy, in company with the God of creation, of the spinning suns and of the running waters, who will bring us at last safe home.

And the blessing of God:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with us and remain with us, and with all we love, now and for evermore. Amen      

Monday 6 December 2021

Gift Day giving

 Thank you!

Burton Joyce Community Church


At our gift day service ...

We raised a magnificent £115 in support of the homeless in Nottingham 

The money has been shared by The Friary and Framework

The in-church service leaflet for Advent 2

 BURTON JOYCE COMMUNITY CHURCH



SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER 2021

Advent 2


Gift service for The Friary & Framework

supporting the homeless in Nottingham 


The service is led by Reverend Louise Gee

Words for the hymns attached below

Call to Worship

Come, thou long expected Jesus 

Opening Prayer 

Lord’s Prayer

Reading:                       Isaiah 40: 1-11

On Jordan’s banks

Reading:                       Mark 1: 1-8

Sermon:

O come, O come, Immanuel

Final Prayer & Blessing

…………………………………………

HYMNS

1. Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.                  Over >>>


 

2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

……………………………………………………

 

1 On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
announces that the Lord is nigh.
come then and hearken, for he brings
glad tidings from the King of kings!

2 Then cleansed be every breast from sin:
make straight the way for God within,
and in each heart prepare a home
where such a mighty guest may come.

3 For thou art our salvation, Lord,
our refuge and our great reward.
Without thy grace we waste away
like flowers that wither and decay.

4 To heal the sick, stretch out thy hand
and make the fallen sinner stand
shine forth and let they face restore
earth’s own true loveliness once more.

5 All praise eternal Son, to thee
whose advent set thy people free,
whom with the Father we adore,
and Spirit blest, for evermore.

 …………………………………………..

1 O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.

2 O come, thou Wisdom from above,
who ord’rest all things through thy love;
to us the path of knowledge show
and teach us in her ways to go.            Refrain

3 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.             Refrain

4 O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free,
thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
from depths of hell thy people save,
and give them vict’ry o'er the grave.     Refrain

5 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.               Refrain

6 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. Refrain

7 O come, Desire of nations, bring
all peoples to their Saviour king;
thou Cornerstone, who makest one,
complete in us thy work begun.            Refrain 

Repeat verse 1

Thursday 2 December 2021

Circuit Service: 5 December 2021

NOTTINGHAM NORTH EAST CIRCUIT




Sunday 5 December 2021
Advent 2

A service prepared by Phil Colbourn, a local preacher at Burton Joyce

Hymn numbers for Singing the Faith (StF)

Lighting the Advent Candle

·   The second candle represents faith and is also called "The Bethlehem Candle." Micah foretells that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David. The second candle also symbolises preparation for the coming king.

CALL TO WORSHIP

Psalm 24, 1
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god. 

PRAYERS

Adoration  

Father, great I Am, you met with Moses that day

in a bush blazing with all the colours of fire

so, we pray, meet with us today as we walk with you

and as you walk with us in the way

In Jesus name. Amen

Confession

Father, great I Am, we abuse your gifts. We dump our waste in the rivers, leave litter in the streets, fill the air with pollutants, destroy your peace with our noise, chase after shadows and avoid your light. Forgive us, Lord. Have mercy.

Thanksgiving

To all and each where regret is real, God pronounces pardon and peace, and grants to us the right to begin again. Thanks be to God. And so, as a forgiven people, we lift our faces to the light and walk together in faith.     

Father, great I Am, we bless you

You bring forth bread from the earth and fruit for us to enjoy

You call us through the wilderness to a place of plenty.

For these and all your blessings we thank you, Lord. Amen

Hymn StF 171            Hark the glad sound

Hark, the glad sound! The Saviour comes,
the Saviour promised long;
let every heart prepare a throne,
and every voice a song.

He comes, the prisoners to release,
in Satan’s bondage held;
the gates of brass before him burst,
the iron fetters yield.

He comes the broken heart to bind,
the bleeding soul to cure,
and with the treasures of his grace
to enrich the humble poor.

Our glad hosannas, Prince of peace,
your welcome shall proclaim,
and Heaven’s eternal arches ring
with your belovèd Name.

Advent Calendar
Rowan Williams

He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.

He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.

He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.

He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.

 

Advent Litany

Father, great I Am, you created us in your image

Come to our longing, O God of our joy

Christ, great I Am, you are the image of God

Come to our longing, O God of our joy

Holy Spirit, giver of life, you are the joy of heaven

Come to our longing, O God of our joy

The Lord’s Prayer                                                                                                                        

INTRODUCTION

It’s the second Sunday in Advent and I have planted sweet pea seeds as an act of faith: 

1) That spring will follow winter, and summer, too.

2) That the life hidden in the seed will sprout, grow, flower and bear fruit.

A month ago, in Glasgow at COP26, members of Christian Climate Action, alongside many others, staged protests with the group called Extinction Rebellion. They are so concerned about the state of the planet, worried about seedtime and harvest, that they feel they must act.

HYMN StF 92            Think of a world without any flowers

Think of a world without any flowers,
Think of a world without any trees,
Think of a sky without any sunshine,
Think of the air without any breeze.

We thank You, Lord, for flowers and trees and sunshine,
We thank You, Lord, and praise Your holy name.

Think of a world without any animals,
Think of a field without any herd,
Think of a stream without any fishes,
Think of a dawn without any bird.

We thank You, Lord, for all Your living creatures,
We thank You, Lord, and praise Your holy name.

Think of a world without any people,
Think of a street with no-one living there,
Think of a town without any houses,
No-one to love and nobody to care.

We thank You, Lord, for families and friendships, 
We thank You, Lord, and praise Your holy name.

OFFERTORY PRAYER

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above
So, thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all his love. 

Creator God, great I Am, take and use our lives and our gifts 
Establish and extend your kingdom among us. Amen

FIRST READING                Malachi 3, 1-4

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. 

Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

SECOND READING           Romans 8, 19-23

19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

REFLECTION

It is exactly three years since I delivered a version of this sermon at Burton Joyce. We then started out on the road to becoming an Eco Church. It’s a long road and we haven’t got very far but one consequence of that sermon and a subsequent public meeting is that there is now a Climate Action and Biodiversity Group meeting regularly in the village, mostly by Zoom.

We live at a time of Climate Crisis. We need a new heaven and a new earth. This theme of a new heaven and a new earth runs all the way through scripture, from the very beginning to the very end. But hardly has creation been finished in Genesis, when things start to go wrong. I’ll skip all the intermediate stages but right at the end of the Bible, in Revelation 21, we see the new Jerusalem descending from heaven, the Bride of Christ, us, the church. 

At last, we think, surely, this *must* be it: Creation perfected.

But, no. Paul, writing to the young church in Rome about AD 50, is not convinced that the earth is yet working as it should. He is waiting for a new software release, Creation X. And here we are, two thousand years later, in 2021, after 26 COPs, in a crisis of epic proportions: both environmental and ecological. In his letter, Paul takes a hike through the contradictions of life, through the forest of experience, wondering how we can understand the way things are. How does God’s great plan of redemption make sense? It is all very confusing and he can’t see the wood for the trees. 

But then, in Romans 8, he struggles up the last steep slope and finds himself at the top of the mountain. There below him, the whole of salvation’s story is laid out, from the Garden of Eden to the allotments in Burton Joyce. Suddenly, he understands [Romans 8, 19]: “Creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed”.

Let the words drill down in your soul. Creation is waiting. For us to stand up and be counted

These verses can be difficult to understand and we often skip over them and go straight from one good bit to the next but, if we skip this bit, we miss the whole point. All the way from Genesis to Revelation, the founding principles of Creation have stayed the same:

* Creation is good.  (It might not be perfect but it is good)

* It includes everything on earth (physical and biological)

* We are (in some way) responsible for the care of the earth

* We are answerable to God

And, first and finally

* God delights to walk with us in the garden

These principles, established in Genesis 1 & 2, lay upon us the duty to “serve and preserve” the natural world. It is our job and it is the principle that Jesus exemplifies in his role as the Servant King. As his followers, we are called to serve not just the human world but also the natural world; all of God’s creation. It is our responsibility to care for and conserve the Earth. 

The earth is the Lord’s but the responsibility for its well-being is ours. AMEN

HYMN StF 663                      I, the Lord of sea and sky

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin
my hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

            Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord? 
            I have heard you calling in the night.
            I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
            I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?

            Here I am, Lord. ......

I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will send the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide
till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?

            Here I am, Lord. .....

 INTERCESSIONS

For the Earth: the climate, the destruction of living things; that people do the right thing

For the people of the world: wars, drought, flood & wildfire; compassion for refugees

For ourselves, our family and friends: in a time of Covid, in the lead up to Christmas 

For the church of Christ in every place: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

For all your mercies, we give you thanks, O Lord. Amen

FINAL HYMN StF 169        Come thou long expected Jesus

Come, Thou, long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Advent responses

With love and compassion:                Come, Lord Jesus

In power and in glory:                        Come, Lord Jesus

He is coming, He is coming soon.      Amen. Come, Lord Jesus

BLESSING

May the God of creation, of the spinning suns and the running waters, keep company with us on our journey and bring us at the last safe home. And the blessing of God:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with us and remain with us, and all we love, now and for ever. Amen            

Sunday 5 December. Advent 2

 BURTON JOYCE 

COMMUNITY CHURCH

SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER 2021

Advent 2

 

We have only a short service outline this week because there is a service at the church. Hymns changed to Songs of Fellowship

 

From Louise Gee:

 

Hi All,

Please find below the Order of Service for this coming Sunday. 

Looking forward, as always to sharing with you all at Burton Joyce Community Church.

 

Call to Worship

Songs of Fellowship 154; Hark the glad sound 

Opening Prayer 

Lord’s Prayer

Reading:                       Isaiah 40: 1-11

SoF 205; I cannot tell 

Reading:                       Mark1: 1-8

Sermon:

SoF 347; Lo, he comes with clouds descending 

Final Prayer & Blessing