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
¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; ² 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      

EcoChurch & Climate Sunday - URC news

 The latest issue of the United Reformed Church newsletter has information about EcoChurch, Climate Sunday and more ...

Newsletter

...

The Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Group (JPIC) is seeking to build a network of Commitment for Life Advocates and Green Apostles across the Synod. 

To find out more about JPIC or becoming an Advocate or Green Apostle, please email: training@urc5.org.uk

JPIC is here to promote crucial aspects of Christian Mission: to transform unjust structures of society, pursue peace and reconciliation, sustain and renew the life of the Earth. We meet regularly on Zoom and have supported, among other things, the Synod's new Environmental Policy and congregations wanting to become Eco Churches.

...

Of special note this year is the call for ALL churches to hold a special Climate-focused service on any Sunday before 5 September. Then a nation-wide Climate Sunday will be observed on Sunday 5 September 2021, prior to COP26 (the international conference to be hosted by the UK government in Glasgow this year). You may well be waiting for some semblance of normality to return to arrange your service! 

For details please visit: www.climatesunday.org  or for resources go straight to: Climate Sunday | Resources | Worship | Commit | Speak Up . There is an excellent range of resources including inspiring sermons and ideas for services.

....

Ends/

Climate Emergency Toolkit

 

The CLIMATE EMERGENCY TOOLKIT 

As the climate crisis accelerates, millions of lives are at risk. Christians around the world are taking urgent action.

Will you join us?

​​

​​Step by step, the Climate Emergency Toolkit guides your church or Christian organisation through simple but powerful actions that have an impact far beyond your own walls or community.

 

Download the Toolkit here

Prepare by starting the conversation about the climate emergency and beginning to plan your response

Declare or recognise an emergency in a way that engages your community and amplifies the need for leaders everywhere to act

Impact widely by partnering with your local community and speak up for change together

The Climate Emergency Toolkit has been put together in collaboration with several organisations, as well as activists and church leaders including Christian Aid, EcoChurch, TearFund and Operation Noah

Lockdown Blues

Lockdown Blues

It's been a while. We've been away on a virtual cruise in the Baltic. To be honest, I needed a break and in the world-before-coronavius we would actually have been on a Baltic cruise in June (although that seems now like some species of insanity). So we sampled the cuisine of the various ports we would have visited, more or less, as far as we were able. 

In Helsinki, we asked our son & daughter-in-law what would be appropriate (they've been to Finland a couple of times). They said elk. So we ordered venison from our veggie-box people - Yes! That was our big lockdown discovery! The veggie-box people do other things too! Like bread and milk and meat and ready meals! After about a month without any we actually had a loaf of wholemeal bread. It put a whole new spin on "Give us this day our daily bread". - So, yes, well, the venison is still in the freezer. Maybe we will do Helsinki some other time. 

We did source some Danish pastries from Tesco but only after we had (theoretically) been to Denmark twice and arrived back at Tilbury. But that's the good thing about virtual cruising, you can be flexible. It doesn't matter. It's OK. You don't have to do it today. Next week will be fine.

So. I've been working on this poster for the last month (or more). It's almost done. 

It was supposed to be a simple paint on paper job. I don't know what happened. Somehow it took on a life of its own. Maybe another month and I'll be satisfied, but no guarantees. It may end up under the desk.

Jesus wept over the City. It's how I feel alot of the time, especially now, as lockdown is being lifted and the traffic on Church Road seems worse than ever it was before. 'Seems' is the operative word in that sentence. It was like living in Paradise to be able to cross the road almost at will and for the internal combustion powered vehicle to be an endangered species. 

It was like living in Paradise. Perhaps it was fool's paradise. Somehow, I still hope it was a foretaste of the way things are going to be. And soon. We've shown we can do it if we're scared enough.

That other poster is still up on the church noticeboard in Meadow Lane.

There really is an emergency. It hasn't gone away. So please leave your car at home. For me. 

Go on. You know you want to.

"Connexion" article February 2020

Connexion

The newsletter of  the Nottingham East Methodist Circuit

This is the text of the article we sent in to Connexion this month

Burton Joyce Community Church

Climate Emergency meeting

On Friday 17^th January, Simon Tilley of the Newark and Sherwood group of Extinction Rebellion came to give a talk at Burton Joyce Community Church. The event was widely advertised in the village and on the evening drew in a good crowd of between forty and fifty people. Phil Colbourn welcomed everyone to the church hall including our new MP Tom Randall and counsellor Sam Smith. There were apologies from the Chair of BJ council, Paul Hyde.

 Phil handed over to Julia Davenport to introduce Simon. Julia was instrumental in getting the meeting arranged when she emailed the church website having seen the Climate Emergency poster outside the church. Simon spoke for half an hour on the seriousness of the crisis, both for the global climate and for nature, wildlife and the planet. Time is running out.  He stressed that Extinction Rebellion is a non-violent organisation. Simon’s message can be summarised in three points:

1. Tell the truth
2. Act now
3. Involve everyone in the solution

 Tell the truth about the seriousness of the situation. Despite some sceptics, the overwhelming majority of earth and climate scientists agree that the situation is dire. Act now to stop the use of fossil fuels and cut the release of additional carbon dioxide and methane (and some other gases) into the atmosphere. These gases act as a blanket round the earth and trap the sun’s heat, warming the planet. A few degrees warming overall is enough to destabilise the planetary system leading to unpredictable weather, melting glaciers and sea level rise, not to mention effects on wildlife and plant communities.

Involve everyone. Everyone has a part to play in cutting the release of these gases. But large businesses and governments are the most responsible and must tell the truth and act now.

After a brief coffee break, Simon summed up and encouraged us all to do our bit. A lively discussion ensued. Most of the audience was supportive of Simon’s talk and grateful to him for coming although there was some dissent. Several people had ideas about what we could do as a village community and people were invited to sign up on a list for future contact.

Follow-up meetings

Julia Davenport is organising a first follow up meeting for 25^th February at 7.30pm at the Wheatsheaf. 

St Helen’s are hosting an event on Saturday March 28^th to mark the annual Earth Hour promoted by WWF, a candle lit supper. Earth Hour is when everyone turns off their lights at 8.30pm in solidarity with the planet and the natural world.

On Tuesday 28^th January Carole & Phil went to a meeting at St Peter’s church in Nottingham launching an exhibition by Christian Aid, about the planet, climate change and indigenous people in Bolivia and around the world. The Deputy leader of Nottingham City Council also told the meeting of the city’s ambitious draft environmental plan for 2020-2028. The aim is to achieve net-zero carbon by 2028. All in all, it feels like something special is happening and that we need to be part of it.

Louise Gee

At the end of December we said goodbye to our minister, Rev Louise Gee. In the URC, Louise has served Burton Joyce, Arnold and the Dales for 20 years. She came back to us at Burton Joyce 3 years ago, and now plans to follow her dream and move to Northumberland.

We have enjoyed and gained much from her ministry in worship, friendship at informal coffee and tea sessions, home and hospital visits.

We wish there had been more Christenings and Weddings and fewer funerals, but you dealt with them all. Thank you Louise from all of us.

Christmas

Over the Christmas season we had more combined activities with local churches in the village, including giving out mince pies outside the Co-op. We went carol singing at the Westwolds Care Home, where we copied Arnold Methodist Church and gave out knitted angels.  

Our Village Carol Singing ("Carols round the crib") organised by the local Churches Together group was particularly successful. We had a good attendance for a hearty sing and mostly fine weather (see photo).

We welcomed visitors and families to the Carols by Candlelight and it was lovely to see a good crowd of family members again to celebrate Christmas Day.

Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion

Heading for Extinction - and what to do about it

One for your (new) diary!

We have arranged for a speaker from the Newark & Sherwood group of Extinction Rebellion to come and explain things to us on the evening of Friday January 17th, 7pm for 7.30pm. Coffee and tea available. Please come and join the discussion. Climate Breakdown and the Ecological Crisis are the most urgent matters facing us and our children. 

We need to do something and we need to do it NOW!

FRIDAY JANUARY 17th 
Burton Joyce Community Church Hall
7 for 7.30 pm 

HEADING FOR EXTINCTION
and what to do about it 

What's going on?

What's going on?

It's a good question. The world seems to have gone more than slightly mad and here at Burton Joyce Community Church there seems to be so much going on that it is difficult to keep up. Or is it just me? Let's pause for a moment and rewind. What has been going on?

Counting on my fingers:

• 1. The local Methodist circuit (Nottingham East) is merging with Nottingham North to form Nottingham NorthEast. Have I mentioned this before?
• 2. The local United Reformed church is reorganising into two areas Notts South and Notts North. We fall into Notts North.
• 3. The local Anglican church (I know, I know. We're just good friends) has been reorganised into a group of six churches but (big but) they have now appointed a new vicar. Hurray!  
• 4. Several of our long serving members at BJCC have died this year and we need to pause and celebrate their lives & their contribution to the church & to the village over the years
• 5. At our last church meeting we declared a Climate Emergency and agreed to sign up to the Eco Church scheme administered by A Rocha, a Christian environmental charity
• 6. We held our Harvest Festival on Sunday 8th September
• 7. Last month, some of us went to the first session of Seasons of my Soul organised in the Methodist circuit. It was good. We might go again.
• And there's more. Enough for fingers 8, 9 & 10 

 There is a sense here that we are moving forward

We may not know exactly where we are going but we know the general direction. We know, at least, that to move forward you have to put one foot in front of the other and that is what we are doing.  Step by step we are moving on. 

A few specific things coming up:

• Friday September 27th. MacMillan Big coffee morning, 10.30 at BJCC
• Tuesday October 1st. Seasons of my Soul, session 2, 10.30 at St John's, Standhill Road, Carlton
• Sunday October 20th. Final fellowship meal & service, 4/5.30pm at Mapperley Methodist Church
• Saturday October 26th. Ordination & induction of Amanda, the new minister, 3pm at Dales URC Church
• Monday November 4th. Induction of Anna, the new vicar, 7.30pm at St Helen's, Burton Joyce
• Friday November 8th. Farewell service for Peter, the retiring Moderator, 2.30pm at Sherwood URC

So, you see, we are quite busy.
But that's enough for now. Go well.
 
 

 

It's an EMERGENCY! A Climate Emergency

It's an EMERGENCY!

BJCC declares a CLIMATE EMERGENCY

At our Church Meeting and AGM on Sunday 2nd June 2019 the church agreed to declare a CLIMATE EMERGENCY in recognition of the seriousness of the crisis facing our planet.

And we agreed to register as an ECO-CHURCH and work towards our bronze, silver and gold certificates under the scheme run by A ROCHA, a Christian environmental charity. Both the United Reform Church and the Methodist Church support these initiatives.

Watch this space for further developments at BJCC over the coming months

Declare a Climate Emergency

Sign the WWF petition

 "We must mobilise" - Guardian article, June 2nd 2019