First Sunday of Advent

First Sunday of Advent – 29 November 2020

The Faith Nurture Forum would like to thank Christian Aid Scotland staff for their thoughts on the first Sunday of Advent.

“We may not all be gathered in the same building, but at this time, when we need each other so much, we are invited to worship together, from where we are – knowing that God can hear us all and can blend even distant voices into one song of worship.”

National Worship Team

As the restrictions on our ability to meet in groups continue, and regulations around access to church buildings may be subject to further change, worship leaders continue to deliver their services both online and offline.

We can help to facilitate participation from the whole congregation by exploring imaginative approaches to our use of technology in the service in ways that suit both physical gatherings and video-conference style settings, such as:

• Opening and closing moments of worship that help people mark out a time set apartwith God

• Introducing various parts of the worship service to help worshippers understand thecharacter and purpose of each one (framing)

• Enabling conversations or prayers in breakout groups

• Holding spaces that allow people to go deeper in worship

• Using the chat function and microphone settings to allow people to actively participatein prayer, e.g. saying the Lord’s Prayer together unmuted, in a moment of ‘holy chaos’

• Using music and the arts as part of the worship

Useful links:

Latest information for churches around Covid-19 is on the Church of Scotland website here

Tips for creating and leading worship online are on the Resourcing Mission website here

Listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4) and download a selection of recordings for use in worship on the Church of Scotland website here

Introduction ................................................................................................... 3

Isaiah 64:1-9 .................................................................................................. 5

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 ........................................................................................ 5

Mark 13:24-37 ................................................................................................ 6

1 Corinthians 1:3-9 ......................................................................................... 7

Sermon ideas ................................................................................................. 7

Alternative Material and Advent Resources .................................................... 9

Prayers ......................................................................................................... 12

Musical suggestions ...................................................................................... 18

Introduction

Advent is a time when we are invited to learn how to wait for the Lord who comes. While garden centres have been attempting to tinsel over the trauma of 2020 since mid-September, the Church has the opportunity to create the space in Advent that we all need to pray, watch and wait in hope.

The lectionary turns to Year B, where we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah, the collective lament of the Psalmist, the introduction to a letter to the church in Corinth and the crisis literature of the book of Mark.

In our preparations for this material for Advent 2020 we asked colleagues in countries where Christian Aid works to share how communities facing continuous adversity celebrate Christmas. One replied that Christmas holidays are rarely an option for communities living hand-to-mouth. The most vulnerable communities have had their livelihoods seriously disrupted during the pandemic, without the security of furlough. Another colleague encouraged us not to think of communities in the south as living only in adversity. Communities the world over have discovered resilience and endurance in these days.

This Advent we will highlight some of the poorest Ethiopian communities who are on the frontline of the climate crisis. Locusts are swarming, encouraged by the long droughts and heavy rains. But when crisis threatens some of the world’s toughest places, love builds hope.

Farmers like Mekonnen are digging for water with their bare hands. “We pray for rain”, he says. “But when there is no rain, we have to dig.”

Women like Borgodo have witnessed plagues of locusts larger than ever before. Her crops were destroyed so quickly that she didn’t know if anything would grow again.

“The locusts suddenly came out of nowhere and ate every green plant in their path. They left us nothing useful,” she said.

This Sunday we set out on that Advent waiting with hope. We look towards the first coming of our Lord to inspire our hope of His coming again. Even when hope is an unlikely vulnerable hope, swaddled in cloths in a murky manger, it is still hope.

What can your congregation do? This Christmas, help us build hope. Christian Aid supporters give, act, and pray because love calls us to action. We reach out to neighbours across the world because, in these apocalyptic days, hope drives us to build a better world for all. Give Find out how your church can support farmers like Mekonnen and Borgodo to find water and defend themselves against locusts. Visit www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/key-appeals/christmas-appeal Act On the first Sunday of Advent, churches around the UK will sing together in solidarity with the world’s poorest. We hope to create a national act of worship, singing the Christian Aid carol written by Kathy Galloway. Visit www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals-key-appeals/christmas-appeal/worship-christmas to find out how we can sing together. Pray The prayers this week include some from around the world, with pointers to how you might use them in services both online and in a church building. These prayers remind us that hope came to dwell among us all at Christmas.

Isaiah 64:1-9 Third Isaiah (chapters 56-66) is a mixture of lament and hope. While the people of Israel have returned to their land following the long years of captivity in Babylon, their restoration is not yet complete. In particular, they sense that God is not with them; God’s presence cannot be felt. This lack of God’s presence lies at the heart of Isaiah’s cry in the first verse of today’s reading: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down”. While they lament God’s absence, however, they have a keen sense of why God has abandoned them. It is their sins – both as individuals and as a community that has led them to this situation. Though not apparent from this passage in Isaiah, it is certainly clear from the wider context that the treatment afforded the poorest and weakest of society is considered to be among Israel’s worst transgressions. Along with their idolatry, injustice towards the poor has brought about their suffering. While a period of exile was the main consequence, the return has not been without its problems and God’s continued absence is keenly felt. It tells us a lot about how God defines justice that Israel faced such a fate partly because of the way they had treated the weaker members of society. Yes, the turning of the heart away from God in idolatry is one of the most serious sins going, but how we treat the poor is also something that can provoke God to anger.

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 This psalm of lament is a turning to God in the midst of adversity, a plea to the Shepherd to be led once again by still waters and for their soul to be restored (cf. Psalm 23). The cry of “O Lord, how long?” (v.4) echoes through the passages of Scripture nearly 60 times. The words pour out the honesty of grief and loss: “You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure” (v.5). It is a psalm which searches for God, longing for the might of God to be roused to save them. As with every cry of lament, this psalm shows that even in the midst of extreme adversity there is still a turning towards God, perhaps an acknowledgement of having turned away.

The repeated refrain for restoration and salvation in vv.3,7 and 9 indicate an expectation in the restoring and healing power of God. Hope is not lost. This refrain also seeks God’s face. The longing for God’s favour to shine upon them: “let your face shine” is an echo of the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:25). This communal psalm of lament invites the hearer to turn and seek out the shining face of God, particularly when the darkness is closing in; to join in the plea and prayer “Give us life, and we will call on your name” (v.18).

Mark 13:24-37 This is the second half of Jesus’s longest speech. It is the ‘Little Apocalypse’ at the beginning of the new lectionary year. This passage of anticipation, looks forward to the end suffering: “But in those days, after that suffering…” (v.24) In the original context, the suffering refers to the years of violent response by the ruling Romans to the Judean Revolt. The violence caused mass devastation, including the destruction of the temple in AD 70. This violent upheaval would have led to apocalyptic thinking among the Jews and a dilemma as to how or whether to be involved. The repeated refrain to beware, keep alert and to keep awake (vv.33 and 37) suggests that the community was to be wary of the ‘Powers’ and imperialism. Ched Myers summarises this speech as an ‘exhortation to critical awareness’. The disciples are being instructed to wait and watch for the fall of the ‘Powers’ and to anticipate a genuine transformation of the world. This is written in a moment crisis for the powers. The old world order has come tumbling down and a new world order is emerging. These are words of hope to people living through a crisis. Even the fig tree, cursed in Mark 11, is coming back to life and flourishing (v.28).

1 Corinthians 1:3-9 This is the beginning of Paul and Sosthenes’s letter “to the church of God that is in Corinth”. Corinth was a place of influence by its geography and recent history. Verses 3-9 could easily be dismissed as the preamble before Paul launches into the detail of the letter. He is responding to the many concerns he has heard of this Christian community: fighting, arrogance, misuse of gifts, sexual impropriety and questionable theology. These introductory words are carefully chosen, setting the scene for the robust challenges to come. These words are a reminder that all they have and are is thanks to the grace and provision of God – “in every way you have been enriched in him” (v.5). Paul highlights God’s past provision in their lives (vv.4-5) and the grace that has been given. He also reminds them of the present provision of spiritual gifts (v.7). He encourages them with the reminder that they will be strengthened into the future, “to the end”. Their past, present and future is entirely bound up in the grace of God. Such grace and provision by God give no grounds for boasting or self-promotion. The only form of boasting should be to boast in the Lord (v.31). He emphasises that their many spiritual gifts are for this ‘in-between time’ of the present, while we “wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The gifts are not the end of the story or all that it means to be a community of believers. Paul reminds this community that they are waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ (v.7); that this life isn’t all that there is. Later in the letter, Paul goes to some lengths to remind them of the significance of resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). He reminds them time and time again that they do not have to do life in their own strength. It is the strength of God that will preserve and keep them until the end (v.8).

Sermon ideas An Apocalyptic Advent When we run out of words to describe crisis upon crisis, we might reach for ‘apocalypse’: an unveiling, a God’s-eye view of the way things are. It feels like we are living through apocalyptic times.

Apocalyptic unveiling can be understood as a warning not a conclusion. As Jürgen Moltmann reminds us [in Theology of Hope] ‘the world is not yet finished.’ We get to participate in the kingdom work of ‘building back with justice’, living out ‘day-to-day love in hope’ that another world is possible. In Ethiopia, the coronavirus has compounded the ongoing crises of climate change and plagues of locusts. Bodo Ayiso, a young farmer in South Omo, Ethiopia describes his experience: “I know what drought or flooding can do but I have never seen such kinds of devastating plague [of locusts] in my life before. They destroyed everything within a few days and only left dust behind”. Even the bees migrated. It was too hot to keep moving to find pasture for the animals. Bodo remembers the fear and anxiety of when the swarms of locusts descended but he says, “even when we feared the worst, Christian Aid supported our village.” Bodo and 130 local volunteers were trained to control the infestation and save the crops. Bodo feels confident about the future. “We will not be panicked as previous time. We know what to do if the locusts return.” This Advent we have the opportunity to unveil the true meaning of Christmas and shake off the grasping consumerism which plagues the season. Let’s remind ourselves of the vulnerable hope bound up in swaddling bands, of God With Us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and of the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7).

• Rev Dr Martin Fair and Sally Foster-Fulton discuss justice, locusts and Advent in this 10-minute video https://www.christianaid.org.uk/scotlandchristmas

• You might want to share Bodo’s story with your congregation. Read more here: https://www.christianaid.org.uk/news/locusts-coronavirus-and-climate-change

Lament and Longing The practice of lament is being retrieved during these difficult days. Communities in the global south have much to teach us as about lament, having lived through injustice and adversity for far too long. The practice of lament is in and of itself a turning towards God despite the challenge and suffering. It is a turning towards hope.

The readings in Isaiah 64 and Psalm 80 provide an opportunity to express our honest feelings and laments to God. Use verses from these passages as a guide to begin a prayerful conversation about our hopes, fears and longings this Advent. If you are facilitating church online, you may wish to use break-out rooms for small group conversations. • You may find our Advent Prayer chain resource a useful prompt for this exercise.

Alternative Material and Advent Resources Create your own Advent prayer chain We invite you to create a prayer chain by making one loop of the chain each day in Advent, taking a few moments every day to reflect and pray for what we are all waiting for – for God’s vision for the world to be realised. The Christian Aid Advent Prayer chain can be used each day as an activity to help us reflect and pray during Advent, provide an opportunity to pray as a whole church family and the daily activities could also be adapted to form the basis of intercessory prayers in a service of worship. We hope that this Advent prayer chain will help you to create a decoration in time for Christmas and We’ve offered a prompt or question for each day of Advent and encourage you to write a prayer or draw a picture on each link of your prayer chain and connect it to the link from the previous day. We hope that by the end of Advent you will have created a Christmas decoration linking together all your hopes and prayers for God’s world and cultivated a sense of waiting with hope as you journey towards Emmanuel, God with us! You will need: • Some A4 pieces of paper • A ruler and scissors to cut a 1.5cm strip each day • Pens or pencils • Glue stick or sticky tape • Five minutes every day of Advent!

Sunday 29 November – Link 1: ‘From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.’ Isaiah 64:4. Write out this verse or draw a picture about it on the first link of your prayer chain. We wait for God together this Advent. Monday 30 November – Link 2: Pray with all who are waiting for equality and justice, with the millions of people whose lives were already poor who are seeing their lives become even harder as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Write a prayer for equality and justice or draw a picture on your link and connect it to link 1. Tuesday 1 December – Link 3: Pray with all who are waiting for the end of the HIV/ AIDS epidemic. Colour your prayer chain link in red today as you pray with the 38 million people across the world who are living with HIV on World AIDS Day, many of whom are also more vulnerable to the effects of a changing climate. Wednesday 2 December – Link 4: Pray with all who are waiting for somewhere to call home, with those who are seeking refuge. We remember each Advent and Christmas how Jesus spent the first part of his life as a refugee in Egypt to escape the violence of Herod’s reign (Matthew 2:13-18). Thursday 3 December – Link 5: Pray with all who are waiting for the relentlessness to stop, with those living in refugee camps who have also faced the challenges of climate change as well as the coronavirus pandemic. For example, as the first cases of the coronavirus were discovered in Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp, Bangladesh was also facing incoming Cyclone Ampham. Friday 4 December – Link 6: Pray with all who are waiting for respite, for all who have had to dig down deep to cope with challenge after challenge this year here in the United Kingdom. That may include praying for yourself. Peace to you, if so. Saturday 5 December - Link 7: Pray with those who are waiting for rain, for all who have had to dig down deep to find water. ‘We pray for rain, but when there’s no rain, we have to dig,’ Mekonnen, a pastoralist farmer in Ethiopia explains. Digging for water can be difficult and dangerous work. Visit caid.org.uk/hope to see how we are supporting those facing drought in Ethiopia.

Other Advent resources • Christmas Aid Carol

On the first Sunday of Advent, churches around the UK will sing together in solidarity for the world’s poorest. We hope to create a national act of worship, singing the Christian Aid carol written by Kathy Galloway: ‘When out of poverty is born’. You can find the carol on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MzwyjnACz0o

• The Magnificat This is a song of apocalyptic hope that the world will be turned upside down. You’ll find a recording of it here: christianaid.org.uk/resources/churches/meditation-advent You will find more resources to use throughout Advent on the Christian Aid website. Go to www.christianaid.org.uk/scotlandchristmas and www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/key-appeals/christmas-appeal/resources for the Christian Aid carol, prayer and worship resources, and fundraising ideas.

• Christmas Service Guide – Love Builds Hope

Including a service of Nine Lessons and Carols

• A video sermon by Paula Gooder

• Prayer candle shield – download and print the template then decorate your candle shield as an act of reflection and prayer

Alternative material provided by Christian Aid Scotland 2020

Prayers Opening prayer Even if we cannot gather in person Emmanuel, God with us Even if some Christmas traditions have had to go Emmanuel, God with us Even if we might not get to hug family and friends Emmanuel, God with us Even if we cannot sing carols beside each other Emmanuel, God with us Even if Christmas cheer is harder this year Emmanuel, God with us Thanksgiving Holy Father, some day the burden of today’s toil – the goings and comings, the successes and failures, the hopes and near despairs – will all be transformed into blessed reality! Hope will be no more… I reach to point of near absurdity: of thanking You that I live during the difficult phase in which hope is still the beginning of the beginning of the day! Day is still struggling, and has many struggles ahead, to be born.

From the mingled light and shadow of hope I greet You, Lord God.

(From a basic Christian Community in the Philippines – Bread of Tomorrow, edited by Janet Morley)

Confession Our place in the world This reflection could be used with a Christingle or on its own. To make this work for an online audience you could record four voices saying each of the compass point prayers. In a church, you could have four people standing to the North, South, East and West of the church building. (See page 17 for a commissioning prayer related to this confession.) The world turns and we find our space in it. The sun and the moon brighten short days and the long nights. Light in the darkness. Hope for the world. We turn to the North, to our home spread before us. Where the pandemic divides us into haves and have-nots, Where deep loneliness sits alongside community, Where poverty rises: seen and unseen. We are a part of this We turn to the West, to the structures of power. Where the currency of climate is too high a price for ‘progress’, Where belonging means gender and skin colour and borders, Where wagers of war sneer at brokers of peace. We are a part of this We turn to the South, to the home of the poorest. Where healthcare and water and schooling are denied, Where communities flee homelands threatened by climate and conflict, Where locusts plague harvests and households and hope. We are a part of this

We turn to the East, to the child in the stable. Where an outcast young mother carried hope for the world, Where light shone in the darkness for those weary of waiting, Where God came among us, before us, behind us. We are a part of this In the here and the now, in the when and not-yet, We are one with our neighbours nearby and afar. We are holders of hope, bearers of the promise The Kingdom of God, incarnate through us. Absolution May the God of the whole world, North, South, East and West forgive us our sins and renew us in extravagant love, radical hope and abundant joy. Amen Intercession Hope for what is not seen Listening God, We thank You that You are God with us, That we can glimpse Your Kingdom around us That we can see signs of You in our world That we can be part of Your story. God, we wait and we listen; We hope for what is not seen Shine the light of Your kingdom Into the darkness of our world Listening God, Will You come into the darkness of today’s world? To the places where once You walked among us But are now places of despair, conflict and occupation. Be with those whose stories we have heard And the countless others whose voices are silenced.

Help us to be a voice of peace, To speak out against oppression To share the real Bethlehem with others this Advent. Bring Your wisdom to a situation which seems to have no end. God, we wait and we listen;

We hope for what is not seen Shine the light of Your kingdom Into the darkness of our world

Listening God, Will You come into the darkness of our community? To the people living with fear and worry To the people whose Advent is not full of joy To the people needing support Open our eyes to the situations all around us that we do not see And open our minds to the ways we can respond. God, we wait and we listen

We hope for what is not seen Shine the light of Your kingdom Into the darkness of our world

Listening God, Will You come into the darkness of our lives? To our human doubts and failings The times we do not live out our faith The situations we have not used our power to change. Help us to be as open to you as You were to us When You were as vulnerable as a baby Trusting in the world for Your safety. Show us glimpses of Your Kingdom Help us to hear Your story Reveal to us our part in Your Advent Hope. God, we wait and we listen

We hope for what is not seen Shine the light of Your kingdom Into the darkness of our world. Amen

Prayers from Ethiopia We seek Your blessing God Let the youth become strong and the grown man maintain his strength, the pregnant woman be delivered and the woman who has given birth suckle her child. Let the stranger come to the end of his journey and those who remain at home dwell safely in their houses. Let the flocks that go to feed in the pastures return happily. May You be a moon of harvest and of calves. May You be a star of joy and of happiness. May You be a night of restoration and of good health. (Adapted from a prayer from the Mensa Tribe in Ethiopia From Heart of Prayer: African, Jewish and Biblical prayers; Anthony Gittins CSSp Collins 2001) God You sent people to the ends of the earth to preach and teach the Gospel of Your Kingdom, to heal all the diseases and sicknesses which are among Your people, and to proclaim the mystery hidden from before the beginning of the world. Send upon us now Your light and righteousness, enlighten the eyes of our hearts and of our understanding: make us worthy to persevere in hearing the word of Your holy Gospel, and not only to hear but to do according to what we hear, so that it may bear good fruit in us, remaining not one only but increasing thirty, sixty, and one hundredfold; and forgive us our sins, us Thy people, so that we may be worthy of the kingdom of heaven. (Adapted from the liturgy of the Ethiopian Church, quoted in For All Gods People, Ecumenical Prayer Cycle; World Council of Churches, 1978) Closing blessing We close our time together with a blessing for hope.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” Romans 15:13

May you abound in the hope of the prophets, imagining another way May you abound in the hope of a mother, singing revolution May you abound in the hope of an infant, the incarnation of love May you abound in the love that builds hope this day and evermore And may you have a hopeful Advent and a comforting Christmas. Amen

Commissioning prayer (to be used in conjunction with Our place in the world on page 13) We look out from where we are To the four corners of the world to see where God is working; In ordinary ways through ordinary people, And in extraordinary ways through extraordinary people.

We are part of this

Suggested action: people either write the word HOPE on the palm of their right hand or with their finger trace out the word hope and say together:

We re-commit ourselves, in ordinary and extraordinary ways, to be Christ’s body here on earth; to give our prayers, time and support to those in need; to hold this radical hope in our hands, and to share the story of Advent Hope with those we greet in the coming weeks. Amen

Yes and Amen Lord God, whose promises to us are always Yes and Amen, we choose to put our trust in You.

In this season of Advent, may our waiting be filled with hope and expectation.

These are dark days.

Terror, famine, conflict, searing heat and destructive floods, political turmoil – all contribute to a sense of hopelessness.

But we choose to put our trust in You, whose promises are always Yes and Amen. Amen.

(Dyfed Roberts, Christian Aid Wales)

Musical suggestions

Our online music resource is here 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 there an Advent playlist of suggested songs for the season.

• CH4 273 – “O come, O come, Emmanuel” – An18th century hymn, based on theancient Advent Antiphons, translated by John Mason Neale

• CH4 276 – “Wait for the Lord” – This Taizé chant encourages us to wait, keep watchand take heart.

• CH4 279 – “Make way, make way, for Christ the King” (Graham Kendrick) – This is anupbeat tune which raises the spirits while reminding us that Jesus has come evenwhen we don’t feel enthusiastic!

• CH4 284 – “Hope is a candle” (Richard Leach) – This is a great candle-lighting song forAdvent, sung to a Scottish folk tune; you could add one verse each week throughoutAdvent.

• CH4 291 – “When out of poverty is born” (the Christian Aid Carol, Kathy Galloway) –On the first Sunday of Advent Christian Aid supporting churches throughout the UKwill sing together this carol, When out of poverty is born. Available on YouTube:https://youtu.be/MzwyjnACz0o

• CH4 359 – “He came down that we might have love” (Traditional Cameroon) – Thissimple hymn reminds us that Jesus was born that we may have love, peace, joy, hopeand life.

• CH4 472 – “Come though long expected Jesus” (Charles Wesley) – At Advent, weexpect that things will change. This traditional, well-known hymn reminds us that thelong-expected Jesus is the hope of all the earth.

• “Immanuel” (Michael Card) – This song is a beautiful and simple arrangement ofIsaiah 9 – The people who walked in darkness …https://songselect.ccli.com/Songs/71014

• “The canticle of the turning” (Wild Goose Resource Group) – This energetic, Celticversion of the Magnificat is sung by the Wild Goose Resource Group.

“My heart shall sing of the day you bring.Let the fires of your justice burn.Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,and the world is about to turn!”

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.