4 January - Second Sunday of Christmas – Year A

This week's Weekly Worship draws on archive material from the Very Rev Dr Derek Browning, Minister of Morningside Parish Church, and his thoughts on the Second Sunday of Christmas.

Introduction

Few things pack up and disappear so quickly as the Christmas spirit. After what seems like months of preparation, for many people the point of Christmas seems to evaporate after any unwanted presents have been recycled, the last remnants of the turkey have been transformed into a final dish, and the pine needles have been swept from the floor. Few, if any, celebrate the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas now, losing that gradual sense of unwrapping the Divine Mystery that is the Incarnation. The gift of the Christ-Child is not only for Christmas; He is for the whole of the year. Jesus is God's outrageous gift of generosity Who has come to address the chasm that yawns between the Divine and the human. Jesus is the bridge of hope and redemption across Whom we move from despair to hope, from emptiness to fulfilment and from darkness to light. Jesus, Word made flesh, the physical presence of God, takes us from the reality of the incarnation to the unfolding realisation of Who and what God is and does as we approach Epiphany. Apart from God's inspiration and engagement, humanity would have remained stuck in a place far from hope and far from heaven.

What we read of in these passages is the reality of human helplessness and hopelessness which can only be transformed by the unshakeable presence of the living God. When the novelty of secular festivities fades, the celebration of God's inventive appearance and reappearance in the history and experience of humanity shines an inextinguishable light into the darkest of days.

Jeremiah 31:7-14

The experience of exile, to be cut off from home, kith and kin, to be isolated, involuntarily, physically, emotionally and spiritually from what has shaped and formed us and moulded the contours of our existence, is a bitter thing. Set adrift without the things that anchor body and soul invokes a despair that could easily silence faith and hope. The exiled Israelites were in such a position, but in the desert of exile the grains of faith that had been carried with them, apparently dormant, took root and began to give hope for a future few had been able to imagine. God was still there, and it is God Who invites Israel out of exile. God speaks (v14 "says the Lord"), echoing the new life called from nothing in Genesis, and looking forward to John's Gospel, where we are told, "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). God's words evoke: exiled people come home, new life comes out of the desert of exile, and songs of joy come out of the silent despair. God evokes, perhaps even provokes, transformation. God will bring, will gather, will lead, will let walk (vs 8-9).

In the great pilgrimage home, the vulnerable and dependent, the young and old, the women and men, all those at risk, will not only be kept safe and guarded, but will travel on the way with a restored community, for the restoration of community is marked by inclusion. Judgement, exclusion and exile will end; hopelessness is replaced by promise and life – through the promise-keeping God – begins again.

Psalm 147:12-20

Singing featured in the returning community of the exiles in Jeremiah, and it is underlined here in this psalm. Song may be lament or praise, gathering together in concise words with music the experience and reality of people who sometimes find word hard. Whether the words of a soloist or a gathering of people, the expression of faith through song is a treasure of the Church.

This psalm is one of praise and delight in the providence of an immanent God. God's provision of peace guarantees that Jerusalem will be a place of safety and ensure that its people will thrive and be blessed. Psalms have a prophetic and aspirational nature – they can sometimes point us to a future not yet realised, so we sing in hope. God's word runs swiftly and is sometimes too quick for us to catch, which is why the songs of faith need to be sung repeatedly. In most of our churches it is through the singing of our psalms, hymns and spiritual songs that faith begins to take hold of our hearts and minds in order that our actions will be inspired by what we sing. Faith sung and said brings obligations for action. God's ordinances, statutes and laws are not for closed books. The library of faith is to be read, sung and enacted. We cannot praise the Lord unless we put into action what it is that we believe and value. God's spoken word interpreted in and through our lives makes it possible to live as God's people. Belief has consequences, and faith has to be lived out loud.

Ephesians 1:3-14

Few parts of the New Testament have more contemporary relevance than Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. It teaches about the universal role of Christ in creation and salvation; it celebrates the belief that in Jesus, God plans to embrace all people and the entire created order. It also does not airbrush the reality personal and societal evil. Scholars suggest Paul may have been indebted to snatches of hymns, prayers, early creedal statements and phrases that point us to the emergence of the sacraments. This teaching letter was meant to be read out during worship services and to challenge believers to think, wonder and respond.

Paul wants believers to work out what it means to be called by God into the life of a Christian community. In these verses we are moved speedily on from the stories of the nativity and the intimate truths of ‘God with us' and swept into the role of faith in a cosmos shaped by a loving, questioning, expecting God.

The good news is that God chooses humanity. God is on our side, and will travel with us throughout history. We have not been left on our own or to our own devices. We have not been left without meaning to our lives, or directions to travel. We have choices and hope, because God chooses to identify with us. God chooses to accompany us throughout the journey of faith and life.

Christian faith and living challenges many of the belittling individualistic assumptions of the world in which we live. In the face of contemporary isolation and loneliness, God offers community and family in the broadest sense of that word. Through God's lavish grace we have opportunity for new beginning, not muddling along on our own, but walking in fellowship with the people of the earth, and with Jesus Himself. There is a challenge here for those involved in any form of ministry to be more than a private chaplain, soothing the hurts of life for like-minded souls. Paul propels us to catch a wider vision of God's purpose. The world is God's parish, and our mission must always be outward. This is the key to congregational and wider church renewal – not simply worship, organisation or preaching, but an understanding that we are to be in the world, living our faith publicly, compassionately and unashamedly. That is our true inheritance from God, and why we should praise God. No part of life is beyond God's saving love or God's care. The great gift of this Second Sunday of Christmas is to make this known through our words and example: the forgiving, healing and unifying love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 1:1-18

Above the gateway entrance to St Mary's College, St Andrews, are the words, In Principio Erat Verbum, ‘In the beginning was the Word'. Every time one enters that gateway one is reminded of the gateway to the Gospel of John that tells this message that throughout all time, God in Christ was present. Whilst not a traditional nativity story, these words speak of the birthing of the world, in and through God's activity. This birthing idea is brought to us again at Christmas in the birth of Jesus, delivered into the midst of our world. It is another gateway to reflect upon on this first Sunday of a New Year. Responding to the Word of God, the person of Jesus and the words of the Bible will help us look more clearly at our world past, present and future.

Amongst the notable features of this prologue to John's Gospel is the image of light. The light of Jesus comes to bring us not only sight but also insight. We are to see and also to understand. The Greek verb in verse 5 that is translated as ‘overcome' can also mean ‘comprehend', or ‘seize the hostile intent.' Perhaps we should think of the world's darkness not able to ‘grasp' or ‘apprehend' the light that has come into the world with the coming of Jesus?

The light has come into the world, and whilst it illuminates all, not all choose to see it, or see by it. God never coerces belief; God invites it. It seems inconceivable that towards the end of Christmas, the gift God offers will remain unopened and unappreciated, but experience tells us this is often the case. Or worse, that the gift, briefly opened and admired for a few short days, is packed away with the other decorations, and forgotten or hidden. Who can contain light, or would want to do so?

Verses 14 and 15 move us from the abstract language of mystery and praise to the pivot of the Incarnation: the Word became human. God in Jesus is described in the flesh. God has come to our home. The Greek words give the image of God pitching a tent in Jesus. God comes to live in our neighbourhood, rich or poor, believing or unbelieving, hopeful or despairing. Wherever humanity is found, God resides. Incarnation reveals God's love and compassion moving in, next door, to wherever we are. Seeing and accepting God's light and love is to receive wave after wave of God's generosity and grace.

Sermon ideas

Jeremiah 31:7-14

• What does it feel like to be isolated and alone?
• Who are the people in our world today who live this experience?
• What does it mean to be ‘brought by God', ‘gathered by God', ‘led by God', and ‘to walk with God'?
• What does it mean to be an ‘exiled community' and a ‘transformed community'?

Psalm 147:12-20

• What are the songs and ideas of lament and praise that shape personal life and congregational life, and what do they say about us and to us?
• Jerusalem, and the land that is called ‘holy', are not places of peace and provision. Psalms can be songs of protest and prophecy, but what transforms words to deeds?

Ephesians 1:3-14

• If God has ‘chosen humanity', what does that mean, and what does that not mean?
• How can faith address issues of loneliness and isolation, and what might inclusive community look like?
• If the world is God's parish, what challenge and responsibility does this present to the Church?

John 1:1-18

• What might the vision be for God's Church in this coming year?
• What does God's light reveal, good and bad, and why do some people refuse to see by it?
• Where is God living in our neighbourhood, the likely and unlikely places?

Prayers

Scripture sentence
"Listen to me, my people, and give heed to Me, my nation, for a teaching will go out from Me, and my justice for a light to the peoples." Isaiah 51:4

Collect (from Common Order)
God of power and life,
You are the glory of all who believe in You.
Fill the world with Your splendour
and show the nations the light of Your truth;
through Jesus Christ Your Son, our Lord,
Who is alive and reigns
with You and the Holy Spirit,
One God, now and forever.

Prayer of approach
Most Holy God,
as we who gather on this day
remember Your great Gift of Love,
let us come close with reverence
and with joy,
knowing that in the light of this New Year,
Your great Light, the Word made flesh,
will shine upon each darksome day
the light of mercy, grace and peace.
We draw closer,
and in Your presence, bless Your Holy Name.

Prayer of adoration
God of every age,
a source of insight upon to the past,
a source of steadiness around the present,
a source of hopefulness into the future,
now we praise You!
Now we adore You!
Now we seek You!
Into the desert places of our lives,
refresh each parched heart
that we might blossom in Your kindness
in all the days that lie ahead.
Where lives grow tired, and energy is low,
the hint of Your nearness
enables us to renew our strength,
and in Your light, reflect Your glory.

Prayer of confession
Lord Jesus Christ,
when all are distracted with the business of life,
and we feel endlessly remote
from all that gives us reason to live
and courage to go on,
we turn to You, our Brother and our Friend,
to speak the words of regret and fear
that weigh us down and hold us back.
When joy should have been our garment,
we chose the sinfulness of envy.
When mercy should have marked our speech,
we chose the words of judgement.
When gentleness should have graced our actions,
we chose the harshness of the desert heart.
Our hope is vain, unless we turn to You.
So now we come, ashamed, resentful,

knowing that we're broken, but finding words,
admitting failure sticking in our constricted throats.
Help us say,
‘Forgive me, Lord, forgive me now'.
Unworthy we may be, but unloved we are not.
Today, this New Year, turn us round,
recalibrate our lives so they are measured
in gentleness and service,
and keep Your steady hand upon our shoulders,
in all the days to come.

Prayer of thanksgiving
Today, Lord God, receive our thanks;
today, Lord God, receive our praise;
for on this day Your mercy speaks,
and grace upon grace envelops life,
our lives and the whole world,
that no person, community or continent
is left untouched by Your unfettered love.
For hopes renewed,
for plans reframed,
for peace restored,
for love rekindled,
hear our prayers today.
For private things within our homes that have brought joy,
for the delight of loved ones who have blessed our days,
for generosity shared, and reminders of our deepest conn
thank You, God the greatest gift-giver of all.

Prayer of intercession
O God, interpreting every uttered word and silent thought,
we come to You to seek Your understanding heart.
With prayers we need for daily living,
for courage to face the challenges of these days,
with concerns for family, friends and colleagues,
hear, Lord God, our prayers.

In recent times the needs and wants of people
woven into our lives have come to light.
So hear our prayers for those whose grip on life is loosening,
and those whose hope for better times is fading,
and those whose health is far from good,
and those whose frailty brings some new frustration.
hear, Lord God, our prayers.

As Christmas passes, beneath the glitter and the wrappings,
the poverty and isolation of so many is made plain again.
The hurts and hungers that have not gone away;
the injustices that run like vivid wounds across
the soul of humanity remains raw and sore.

Today, for women and men shut out, shut down, shut up
through indifference and cruelty, we pray.
For families broken, friendships sundered, communities on edge,
and a world uneasy with itself, we pray.
God bless our King, and all who hold responsibility and governance
in their hands and in their daily work.

We must not pray for things for which we do not work towards.
So, let us work and pray today
for justice addressing exclusion,
for education addressing ignorance,
for open-handed love replacing tight-fisted selfishness,
for common wealth replacing private greed.

Within communities of faith, Your Church,
let actions match our words,
and willingness to welcome and invite become the hallmarks
of our living faith,
that every corner of the Church's life
might bear the image of the Word made flesh.

Offertory prayer
This offering now we give into Your hands,
for all gifts find their source in You.
And with these gifts of money, take our lives,
that they may be a blessing for You too.

Benediction
Into this world and yet unmarked New Year
go with the confidence of God upon Your hearts,
with courage to share God's shining love,
and hopefulness to see God's nearness now.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
remain with you now, and forever more.
Amen

Musical suggestions

God Welcomes All (GWA) is the new supplement to Church Hymnary Fourth Edition. This exciting new collection features over 200 hymns and songs in a wide range of styles by writers from Scotland and around the world.

The full music and words-only versions are now available; and digital resources, including the expansion of the existing Church of Scotland music website, will be published in due course, with streaming functions and further information on each song; backing tracks; and lyric videos. God Welcomes All is available to order from https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781786225573/god-welcomes-all

Our online music resource is on the Church of Scotland website; you can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4) and download a selection of recordings for use in worship. You will also find playlists for this week and liturgical seasons and themes on the Weekly Worship and Inspire Me tabs.

You can find further musical suggestions for this week in a range of styles on the Songs for Sunday blog from Trinity College Glasgow.

• GWA 38 – "In the beginning was the Word"
• GWA 137 – "In the darkness, we were waiting"
• GWA 114 – "Praise is rising"
• GWA 44 – "Come, people of the risen King"
• GWA 145 – "In a deep, unbounded darkness"
• GWA 106 – "God incarnate, living presence"
• CH4 103 – "Fill your hearts with joy and gladness" (Psalm 147)
• CH4 113 – "God the Father of Creation"
• CH4 235 – "God is working His purpose out"
• CH4 236 – "March on, my soul, with strength"
• CH4 237 – "Look forward in faith"
• CH4 317 – "Before the world began"
• CH4 319 – "Of the Father's love begotten"
• CH4 320 – "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!"
• CH4 468 – "Son of God, Eternal Saviour"
• CH4 543 – "Longing for light, we wait in darkness"

A suggested playlist of songs from CH4 for Christmas can be found on the Church of Scotland website

Reflecting on our worship practice

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the way we worship has changed and we need to reflect on the changing or newly established patterns that emerged and continue to emerge as a result of the disruption.

We can facilitate worship for all by exploring imaginative approaches to inclusion, participation and our use of technologies in ways that suit our contexts. This is not an exhaustive list, but some things we could consider are:

• Framing various parts of the worship service in accessible language to help worshippers understand the character and purpose of each part. This is essential for creating worship for all (intergenerational worship) that reflects your community of faith.
• Holding spaces for reflection and encouraging prayer to be articulated in verbal and non-verbal ways, individually and in online breakout rooms.
• In online formats the effective use of the chat function and microphone settings encourages active participation in prayer, e.g. saying the Lord's Prayer together unmuted, in a moment of ‘holy chaos'.
• While singing in our congregations is still restricted, we can worship corporately by using antiphonal psalm readings, creeds and participative prayers.
• Using music and the arts as part of the worship encourages the use of imagination in place of sung or spoken words.
• Use of silence, sensory and kinaesthetic practices allow for experience and expression beyond regular audio and visual mediums.

The following questions might help you develop a habit of reflecting on how we create and deliver content and its effectiveness and impact, and then applying what we learn to develop our practice.

• How inclusive was the worship?
  Could the worship delivery and content be described as worship for all/ intergenerational?
  Was it sensitive to different "Spiritual Styles"?
• How was the balance between passive and active participation?
• How were people empowered to connect with or encounter God?
  What helped this?
  What hindered this?
• How cohesive was the worship?
  Did it function well as a whole?
  How effective was each of the individual elements in fulfilling its purpose?
• How balanced was the worship?
  What themes/topics/doctrines/areas of Christian life were included?
• How did the worship connect with your context/contemporary issues?
  Was it relevant in the everyday lives of those attending and in the wider parish/ community?
  How well did the worship connect with local and national issues?
  How well did the worship connect with world events/issues?
• What have I learned that can help me next time I plan and deliver worship?

Useful links

You can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4) and download a selection of recordings for use in worship in our online hymnary.

You are free to download, project, print and circulate multiple copies of any of this material for use in worship services, bible studies, parish magazines, etc., but reproduction for commercial purposes is not permitted.

Please note that the views expressed in these materials are those of the individual writer and not necessarily the official view of the Church of Scotland, which can be laid down only by the General Assembly.