Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 6 December 2020, Second Sunday of Advent (and Saint Nicholas)

A stained-glass window in the Chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge, designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made by William Morris, depicting four Old Testament prophets (from left): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel … the readings on the Second Sunday of Advent are linked to the Prophets

Patrick Comerford

The change in Government pandemic regulations announced on Friday evening (27 November 2020) means churches may reopen next Sunday, 6 December 2020.

Next Sunday is the Second Sunday of Advent, but in some calendars 6 December is also marked as lesser festival for Saint Nicholas of Myra, the saint who gives rise to the traditions and legends of Santa Claus.

Although Saint Nicholas is not commemorated in the Calendar of the Church of Ireland, he has given his name to many churches in these dioceses, and some parishes may wish to mark the reopening of churches with a celebratory tone that engages with children and that allows the story of Saint Nicholas to prepare us for looking forward to Christmas.

This posting is divided into three sections:

● Part 1 looks at the provisions for the Second Sunday of Advent;

● Part 2 looks at the options for celebrating Saint Nicholas on 6 December;

● Part 3, looks at the options for lighting the second candle on the Advent wreath, recalling the Prophets, which can be used with either celebration.

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’ (Mark 1: 3) … walking through the ‘Dark Hedges’ near Gracehill in Co Antrim (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

PART 1: The Second Sunday of Advent

Sunday next (6 December 2020) is the Second Sunday of Advent. The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for Sunday are:

The Readings: Isaiah 40: 1-11; Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13; II Peter 3: 8-15a; Mark 1: 1-8.

There is a direct link to the readings HERE.

Since the First Sunday of Advent (29 November December 2020), we have been in Year B in the cycle of Scripture readings in the Revised Common Lectionary. We began on Advent Sunday with Mark 13: 24-37, with Saint Mark’s account of the Coming of the Son of Man.

But on this coming Sunday, we return to the beginning of Saint Mark’s Gospel. While Saint John’s Gospel begins at the beginning of Creation (‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God,’ John 1: 1), Saint Mark, unlike Saint Matthew or Saint Luke, has no Nativity narrative, has no story of the first Christmas (see Matthew 1: 18 to 2: 23; Luke 1: 1 to 2: 40).

Saint Mark, on the other hand, begins his Gospel with this passage, his account of the Baptism of Christ by Saint John in the River Jordan, which comes later in the other three Gospels (see Matthew 3: 1-17; Luke 3: 1-21; John 1: 19-34).

Indeed, because there is no Christmas story in Saint Mark’s Gospel, the main lectionary reading for the Principal Service on Christmas Day is going to be the Nativity Narrative in Saint Luke’s Gospel (Luke 2: 1-14 or 1-10) or the Prologue to Saint John’s Gospel (John 1: 1-14 or John 1: 1-18).

As we prepare for next Sunday, it is worth planning ahead and remembering that the theme for the Second Sunday of Advent is the Prophets and for the Third Sunday of Advent (13 December 2020) is Saint John the Baptist.

If we preach on Sunday next on Saint John the Baptist, we may find ourselves struggling with thematic continuity the following Sunday, when the Gospel story tells of Saint John baptising Christ in the River Jordan.

So, on Sunday next, it might be interesting to think on the Prophets as the theme of the day. This would allow us to say something significant about the second candle on the Advent wreath and allow us to develop the theme of the Prophets, perhaps referring to Saint John the Baptist as the fulfilment of the hopes spoken by the Prophets.

Then, on the following Sunday, we could develop this theme by looking at Saint John’s own promise and his prophetic role.

The Organ Trophy and a carving depicting 17 musical instruments in Saint Michan’s Church, Dublin … the church is associated with Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Isaiah 40: 1-11

This first reading is going to be familiar to many people, and will have immediate Christmas associations, because of the opening words of Handel’s Messiah:

1, Sinfonia (Overture)

2, Accompagnato

Tenor:

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is
accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40: 1-3)

3, Air:

Tenor:

Ev’ry valley shall be exalted, and ev’ry moutain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain. (Isaiah 40: 4)

4, Chorus:

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40: 5)

Prophets like Isaiah were a thorn in the side of the Temple hierarchy, proclaiming that God is not impressed by burnt sacrifices, does not dwell in a house built by human hands, is not confined to one holy land. The prophets proclaimed that God’s reach extends across every land, God dwells wherever justice and peace are lived out in community, and that justice and peace is the only sacrifice God wants.

Isaiah 40 speaks of a voice in the wilderness crying out that the Lord is coming, and we are to prepare the way.

This passage is a vision that marks the beginning of the part of Isaiah that was written from exile in Babylon. In verses 1-2, God speaks. Because ‘comfort’ and ‘speak’ are in the plural in Hebrew, God speaks to a group, probably of angels, but possibly of prophets. In other words, God says something like ‘may you comfort.’

They are to speak tenderly to Jerusalem. But the city is in ruins, so they are to speak to the idealised kingdom of God’s people. They are to tell them that their time of sorrow is over, that they have served their punishment for their waywardness, and that their Exile is about to end. A new era is dawning, and it is inaugurated by God’s Word.

In language that echoes the pomp of Babylonian royal pageantry in Babylon, a heavenly voice or the prophet announces in verses 3-5: ‘prepare the way of the Lord.’ God is coming, and he is about to lead a new Exodus through the ‘wilderness’ and the ‘desert’ to a promised land. God’s presence will be displayed for all people to see (verse 5).

Then a voice commands the prophet to ‘Cry out!’ (verse 6). But he asks what shall he tell them. Notice in verse 7 the use of the word breath, which also means spirit (see Genesis 1: 2, where the wind of God sweeps over the waters of creation.

Even though people fade and wither, the Word of God stands for ever (verses 6-8). The prophet is told on behalf of Jerusalem to tell out the ‘good tidings,’ to tell out the good news: ‘Here is your God!’ (verse 9-10). He is like a shepherd who gathers the weak (‘the lambs’) and gently leads them.

‘Righteousness will look down from the sky’ (Psalm 85: 11) … late autumn skies at Templenoe on the Ring of Kerry, west of Kenmare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13

In Psalm 85, we are told of God’s restoration of the people, and God’s overwhelming forgiveness (verses 1-2).

In between the verses we are reading, there is a prayer that God may again show favour to the people (verses 4-7). Then the psalmist hears God promising that he will bless the people with peace and steadfast love, which shall be the visible signs of God’s presence and power (verses 8-13).

‘We wait for new heavens and a new earth’ (II Peter 3: 13) … early morning on the River Slaney at Ferrycarrig, near Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

II Peter 3: 8-15a:

The Epistle reading is written by Saint Peter at the end of his life. Aware that he is going to die soon, the apostle leaves an assurance of the fulfilment of God’s promises and a testimony of what being a Christian means as we wait for Christ to come again.

The writer says that the apparent delay in Christ’s coming is merely a delusion in time, for God does not measure time in the way we do (verse 8). Instead, God wishes all to be found worthy at the Last Day, and does not want any to perish. He is waiting patiently for all to repent of their waywardness (verse 9), but the end will come suddenly and unexpectedly, like a thief (verse 10).

The images of the end-times are drawn from popular Jewish and Greek philosophy of the day (see verse 10b).

The end is coming, what should our conduct be as we wait? The end is not annihilation, but ushers in ‘new heavens and a new earth.’

As we wait for this, we should be signs of it, being at peace, being ethically and spiritually perfect, prepared for Christ’s coming. His apparent delay is an opportunity for repentance and for attaining salvation.

‘John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance’ (Mark 3: 4) … a mosaic in Saint John’s Monastery, Tolleshunt Knights, shows Saint John the Baptist with his parents Saint Zechariah and Saint Elizabeth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 1: 1-8:

We have seen the work of God, the Word and the Spirit in unison in the Old Testament reading. Now the story of the Baptism of Christ is the first revelation of the Trinity to the creation in the New Testament and is like the story of a new creation.

All the elements of the creation story in the Book Genesis are here: we know we are moving from darkness into light; the shape of the earth moves from wilderness to beauty as we are given a description of the landscape; there is a separation of the waters of the new creation as Jesus and John go down in the waters of the Jordan and rise up from them again; and as in Genesis, the Holy Spirit hovers over the waters of this beautiful new creation like a dove.

And then, just as in the Genesis creation story, where God looks down and sees that everything is good, God looks down in this Theophany story and lets us know that everything is good.

Or, as Saint Mark says: And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’ (Mark 1: 11).

God is pleased with the whole of creation, God so loved this creation, κόσμος (kosmos), that Christ has come into it, identified with us in the flesh, and is giving us the gift and the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

The Birth of Saint John the Baptist … an icon from the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, Anopolis (1670), in the Museum of Christian Art in Iraklion, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Reflecting on the Gospel reading:

Both Saint Mark and Saint John have little interest in the first Christmas story. In this reading, Saint Mark begins telling the Good News with quotations from the Old Testament. God had promised the Israelites a ‘messenger’ (verse 2) to lead them. Tradition says that Saint John baptised near Jericho, in an arid region. People came to him in large numbers, repenting (changing their mind sets), ‘confessing their sins’ (verse 5), resolving to sin no more, and dipping or plunging themselves into the river.

Saint John dresses like a hermit or prophet (verse 6), yet sees himself as unworthy, compared to ‘the one who ... is coming’ (verse 7), so unworthy that he cannot untie his sandals, a task normally performed by a slave.

The Sadducees and the priests in the Temple believed that the blood spilled in the Temple sacrifices was sufficient to atone for all sins. The Pharisees said that God welcomes converts from any nation who wants to join God’s people and walk in accordance with God’s Torah.

On the other hand, Saint John the Baptist, who bases himself outside Jerusalem in the wilderness by the banks of the Jordan River, proclaims to all who listen that forgiveness is available to any who repent and are baptised. No Temple sacrifice is necessary. According to Saint Matthew and Saint Luke, John the Baptist teaches that in God’s eyes blood ties to Abraham are of no account. The High Priest needs the baptism of repentance just as much as a Gentile convert does, and Abraham’s inheritance is there for anyone who receives the offer of it through that baptism.

John’s baptism is a sign of purification, of turning to God, of accepting God’s forgiveness and judgment; Christ’s baptism re-establishes a spiritual link between God and humanity. This is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

To us, Saint John the Baptist comes to prepare for, and to announce, Christ’s coming. But if all we expect from the coming of Christ and Christ’s work among us is finding forgiveness for sin, finding a relationship with God, and joining God’s people if we are willing to repent and experience conversion, then we are in for a surprise. As the opening verse of the Gospel reading tells us, this is just the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is only the beginning.

During this Advent season, we expect the coming of Christ and the fulfilment of his reconciling work on earth. As the Epistle reading (II Peter 3: 8-15a) tells us, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home, where God’s justice is done (verse 13).

Christ is coming and is reconciling the whole world, each of us with one another and with God. His is coming with a vision of a world in which all of the barriers that separate us – poor and rich, North and South, male and female, Jew and Gentile, nation and nation – will be no more.

His coming is just the beginning of the Good News. Let us prepare the way of the Lord: cast down the mighty and raise up the lowly, let justice and righteousness go before him, let peace be the pathway for his feet, do justice and make peace. And let this be just the beginning.

An icon of Saint John the Baptist by Adrienne Lord in a recent icon exhibition in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 1: 1-8 (NRSVA):

1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight”,’

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

Saint John the Baptist and the Prophet Isaiah … a window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, outside Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical resources:

Liturgical colour: Violet (Advent, Year B).

The liturgical provisions suggest that the Gloria may be omitted during Advent, and it is traditional in Anglicanism to omit the Gloria at the end of canticles and psalms during Advent.

These additional liturgical resources are provided for Advent in the Book of Common Prayer (2004):

Penitential Kyries:

Turn to us again, O God our Saviour,
and let your anger cease from us.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Your salvation is near for those that fear you,
that glory may dwell in our land.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day:

Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Advent Collect:

This collect is said after the Collect of the day until Christmas Eve:

Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Collect of the Word:

God of all peoples,
whose servant John came baptising and calling for repentance:
help us to hear his voice of judgment,
that we may also rejoice in the word of promise,
and be found pure and blameless in the glorious day when Christ
comes to rule the earth as Prince of Peace;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Introduction to the Peace:

In the tender mercy of our God,
the dayspring from on high shall break upon us,
to give light to those who dwell in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1: 78, 79)

Preface:

Salvation is your gift
through the coming of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and by him you will make all things new
when he returns in glory to judge the world:

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord,
here you have nourished us with the food of life.
Through our sharing in this holy sacrament
teach us to judge wisely earthly things
and to yearn for things heavenly.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessing:

Christ the sun of righteousness shine upon you,
gladden your hearts
and scatter the darkness from before you:

Additional Prayer:

A prayer from the Mothers’ Union for use during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence:

Loving Lord,
your care and love are ever present in our lives.
We pray for our brothers and sisters throughout the world
who live in situations of abuse and violence.

Give them hope in their hopelessness;
help them find strength in their weakness;
grant them freedom from their oppression;
transform their brokenness into wholeness;
and heal their wounds, visible and invisible.

Grant us all the courage and wisdom, grace and humility,
to act at all times with compassion and care.
And grant all who are harmed by abuse or coercion, peace through justice.
This we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

‘Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps’ (Psalm 85: 13) … the Mary Elmes Pedestrian Bridge in Cork commemorates Mary Elmes, who saved hundreds of Jewish children during the Holocaust and has been named among the ‘Righteous of the Nations’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Suggested hymns:

Isaiah 40: 1-11 [6-24]:

120: Comfort, comfort ye my people
122: Drop down, ye heavens, from above
644: Faithful shepherd, feed me
6: Immortal, invisible, God only wise
535: Judge eternal, throned in splendour
134: Make way, make way for Christ the King
141: These are the days of Elijah

Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13

695: God of mercy, God of grace
539: Rejoice, O land, in God thy might
140: The Lord will come and not be slow

II Peter 3: 8-15a

567: Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go
162: In the bleak mid-winter
164: It came upon the midnight clear
634: Love divine, all loves excelling
537: O God, our help in ages past

Mark 1: 1-8:

126: Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding
419: I am not worthy, holy Lord
134: Make way, make way for Christ the King
136: On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
491: We have a gospel to proclaim
204: When Jesus came to Jordan

Saint Nicholas in a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick … he is celebrated on 6 December (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

PART 2: Saint Nicholas, 6 December:

Saint Nicholas is not named in the Calendar of the Church of Ireland. But he is remembered throughout the Church on 6 December, which is marked as a Lesser Festival in the Church of England and in many other parts of the Anglican Communion.

As our churches reopen on 6 December, parishes may want to use this opportunity to introduce a note of joy, and to engage with the ways in which Saint Nicholas – like the Prophets who are recalled on the Second Sunday of Advent – prepares us for the coming of Christ.

The liturgical resources drawn on in this section include Common Worship in the Church of England and Exciting Holiness.

Readings: Isaiah 61: 1-3; Psalm 68; I Timothy 6: 6-11; Mark 10: 13-16.

There is a link to the readings HERE

How was Saint Nicholas transformed into the modern Santa Claus? … a scene in Little Catherine Street, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introducing Saint Nicholas:

On 6 December, the Church commemorates Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who was also one of the fathers of the Council of Nicaea and became the role model for Santa Claus.

Saint Nicholas is celebrated today, 6 December, and not on Christmas Eve, and not on Christmas Day either. Nor is he celebrated or commemorated in the calendar of the Church of Ireland, which is surprising considering he was such a popular saint in mediaeval Ireland.

But there are liturgical provisions – including readings, collect, post-communion prayer and so on – in the Church of England’s Common Worship and a companion volume, Exciting Holiness.

In Exciting Holiness, it is recalled that Saint Nicholas was a fourth century Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, now southern Turkey. His reputation as a worker of wonders was enhanced by a ninth century author of his hagiography or his biography as a saint, and it is through these stories that he is best known.

Many of these stories concern his love and care for children, how he fed the hungry, healed the sick and cared for the oppressed. He saved three girls from a life of prostitution by providing them with dowries – and so developed the tradition of bearing gifts to children on his feast day, a practice that we have since moved to the Christmas celebrations.

But, why should a bishop who makes free giving to children a priority in his ministry be worth rescuing from Coca Cola, marketing and merchandising?

Because, as Christ tells says in our Gospel reading provided in Common Worship, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it’ (Mark 10: 14-15).

Because Christ first himself comes to us as a little child with nothing at all, and yet is the most precious gift of all, given freely.

An icon of Saint Nicholas of Myra in the Collegiate Church of Saint Nicholas, Galway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Nicholas and his story:

Saint Nicholas, whose name means ‘Victory of the People,’ was born in Myra in Lycia, now known as Demre, near Antalya in present-day Turkey. He had a reputation as a secret giver of gifts, such as putting coins in the shoes of poor children, and because of this, perhaps, he was transformed into our present-day Santa Claus.

Saint Nicholas was such a favourite saint in mediaeval Ireland that many of our principal ports and towns have large churches named after him, including one in mediaeval Limerick, on Nicholas Street, close to Saint Mary’s Cathedral, and Saint Nicholas Collegiate Church in the heart of Galway.

Saint Nicholas is also the patron saint of sailors, seafarers, merchants, archers, pawnbrokers, children and students, and the patron saint of Amsterdam, Liverpool and other port cities. King’s College, Cambridge, was founded in 1441 as the King’s College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge – and is known around the world for the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve … yet another Christmas connection.

Legend says that young Nicholas was sent to Alexandria as a student. On the voyage, he is said to have saved the life of a sailor who fell from the ship’s rigging in a storm. In one version, on their arrival back in Myra Nicholas took the sailor to church. The previous Bishop of Myra had just died, and the freshly-returned, heroic Nicholas was elected his successor.

Another story tells how during a famine, a butcher lured three small children into his house, slaughtered and butchered them, and put their bodies in a pork barrel to sell as meat pies. Saint Nicholas, who heard of the horrific plans, raised the three boys back to life through his prayers.

The best-known story tells how a poor man had three daughters but could not afford proper dowries for them, meaning they would remain unmarried or become prostitutes. Saint Nicholas secretly went to their house under cover of darkness and threw three purses filled with gold, one for each daughter, through the window – or down the chimney.

I prefer the stories that link Saint Nicholas with the defence of true doctrine. In the year 325, the Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea, attended by more than 300 bishops, to debate the nature of the Holy Trinity.

It was one of the most intense theological debates in the early Church. Arius from Alexandria was teaching that Christ was the Son of God but was not equal to God the Father. As Arius argued his position at length, Nicholas became agitated, crossed the room, and slapped Arius across the face.

The shocked bishops stripped Nicholas of his episcopal robes, chained him and jailed him. In the morning, the bishops found his chains on the floor and Nicholas dressed in his episcopal robes, quietly reading the Scriptures. Constantine ordered his release, and Nicholas was reinstated as the Bishop of Myra.

As the debate went on, the Council of Nicaea came around to agreeing with his views. It decided against Arius and agreed on the Nicene Creed, which remains the symbol of our faith.

After the American Revolution, New Yorkers remembered the colony’s nearly-forgotten Dutch roots. John Pintard, who formed the New York Historical Society in 1804, promoted Saint Nicholas as the patron of his society and his city. Washington Irving joined the society in 1809 and published the satirical fiction, Knickerbocker’s History of New York, with numerous references to a jolly Saint Nicholas character – not a saintly bishop, but an elfin Dutch burgher with a clay pipe.

And so, began the legends about Saint Nicholas and New Amsterdam: that the first Dutch emigrant ship had a figurehead of Saint Nicholas; that Saint Nicholas Day was observed in the colony; that the first church was dedicated to him; and that Saint Nicholas comes down chimneys to bring gifts.

The New York Historical Society held its first Saint Nicholas anniversary dinner on 6 December 1810, and in an image by Alexander Anderson for the occasion, Saint Nicholas was shown in a gift-giving role with children’s treats in stockings hanging at a fireplace.

Other artists and writers continued the transformation of Saint Nicholas from a saintly bishop to an elf-like jolly, rotund gift-giver. In 1863, the cartoonist Thomas Nast began a series of drawings in Harper’s Weekly, based on the descriptions in Washington Irving’s fiction and Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, ‘A Visit from Saint Nicholas’ or ‘The Night Before Christmas.’ These drawings established a rotund Santa with flowing beard, fur garments, and a clay pipe, and the saint’s name shifted to Santa Claus – a phonetic alteration from the German Sankt Niklaus and the Dutch Sinterklaas.

By the end of the 1920s, a standard American Santa – life-sized, dressed in a red, fur-trimmed suit – was being portrayed by popular illustrators. In 1931, Coca Cola began 35 years of Santa advertisements that popularised and established this Santa as an icon of contemporary commercial culture.

Santa’s commercial success led to the North American Santa Claus being exported around the world, displacing the European Saint Nicholas who and his identity as a bishop and saint.

Inside Saint Nicholas Church, Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 10: 13-16 (NRSVA):

13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

An icon of Saint Nicholas in a church in Crete … how did he become Santa Claus? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical colour: Violet/Purple (Advent, Year B), White (Lesser Festival).

Collect:

Almighty Father, lover of souls,
who chose your servant Nicholas
to be a bishop in the Church,
that he might give freely out of the treasures of your grace:
make us mindful of the needs of others
and, as we have received, so teach us also to give;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Nicholas revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this Eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you,
now and for ever.

Nicholas Street was the High Street of mediaeval Limerick … the site of Saint Nicholas Church is on the left (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns:

630, Blessed are the pure in heart
318, Father, Lord of all creation
649, Happy are they, they that love God
651, Jesus, friend of little children
585, Jesus, good above all other
652, lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
618, Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy
543, Lord of the home, your only Son
634, Love divine, all loves excelling
524, May the grace of Christ our Saviour
361, Now thank we all our God
544, O perfect Love, all human thought transcending

Saint Nicholas defended doctrine central to the Incarnation and that makes Christmas worth celebrating … the word homoousios (ὁμοούσιος) means ‘same substance,’ while the word homoiousios (ὁμοιούσιος) means ‘similar substance’; the Council of Nicaea affirmed the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are of the same substance, rather than of a similar substance

PART 3: The Advent Wreath on the Second Sunday of Advent (Second Purple Candle):

The prayers at the Advent Wreath on the Sundays in Advent can help us to continue our themes from the Sunday before Advent [22 November 2020], which we marked in these dioceses as Mission Sunday.

The first candle to light on the Advent Wreath on the First Sunday of Advent was the Purple Candle, recalling the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. The purple second candle, which we light next Sunday, represents the Prophets.

The Anglican mission USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) suggests this prayer when lighting the second (purple) candle on the Advent Wreath:

The Prophets:

O God of history,
who has spoken through the prophets;
we pray for mothers in Ghana
who have learned to protect their children from cholera.
Bless those who bring life-saving knowledge
and bless families whose children are now healthy and full of life.

Lighting the second purple candle on the Advent Wreath … the second candle is a reminder of the Prophets (Photograph: Barbara Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’ (Mark 1: 3) … a walk in the woods at Curraghchase, near Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 29 November 2020, First Sunday of Advent

‘Then they will see the Son of Man coming’ (Mark 13: 26) … the King of Kings and Great High Priest, an icon from Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday next, 29 November 2020, is the First Sunday of Advent.

The First Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a new Church year, and we begin a new cycle of readings. There is a three-year cycle in the Revised Common Lectionary, and we are about to begin reading from Saint Mark’s Gospel in Year B, which begins on Sunday. But instead of beginning at the beginning, with the first coming of Christ at his Incarnation, we begin with looking forward to his Second Coming.

There is only one set of readings for next Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary and in the Directory of the Church of Ireland: Isaiah 64: 1-9; Psalm 80: 1-8, 18-20; I Corinthians 1: 3-9; Mark 13: 24-37.

There is a direct link to the readings HERE.

A colourful early winter sunrise at the Rectory in Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introduction

With the onset of winter, the sunsets are earlier each evening, and the sunrises are later each morning. So late that most mornings most of us are awake and having breakfast before the sunrise begins to dawn.

Most mornings these weeks, the sunrise is shrouded in grey clouds and the sky is filled with rain. But some mornings we can see a clear sunrise in the east, when the clouds in the sky are streaked with distinctive shades of pink and purple, with tinges of red and orange.

A dawn like this is always a heavenly pleasure.

Try to take a moment as you read these notes to think back on the places you have visited this year, on family breaks or on holidays, that have been snatches of heaven for you.

The pandemic lockdowns in different phases this year, mean – apart from working visits to London and a city break in Valencia in January, I have missed out on almost all my travel plans beyond Ireland this year, including a working visit to Myanmar on behalf of USPG.

Nevertheless, throughout this year, I have managed to find myself visiting places that are snatches of heaven to me: waking up looking out onto estuary of the River Slaney in Wexford in autumn; walks along the beaches in Ballinskelligs and Ballybunion or along the Ring of Kerry in Co Kerry, or by the banks of the Blackwater in Cappoquin, Co Waterford; a few days on Valentia; or the offshore view of Cobh during a boat trip to Spike Island. There were walks in the countryside and visits to some of my favourite towns and cities throughout the southern counties in Ireland.

There were tender moments of love with those I love and those who love me; and prayerful moments too of being conscious of and anticipating the presence of God.

It is natural, as the year comes to an end, to think of final things and closing days. Earlier in the month, we had All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day in some churches, and Remembrance Sunday:

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

At the end of November, we now move towards thinking of the end, not in a cataclysmic way, but because with the beginning of Advent we begin to think of the world as we know it giving way to the world as God wants it to be, to the Kingdom of God.

A colourful sunset over Limerick seen from the tower of Saint Mary’s Cathedral … what does the future hold? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introducing the Readings:

For many people in Ireland today, the future is full of uncertainties. It is only a few years since the government and economists were assuring us we had come out of the recession. Now, the pandemic and successive lockdowns have brought a new degree of financial insecurity, have stretched our health services to their very limits, have left many people isolated and showing symptoms of depression, and we still have an incalculable number of homeless families – adults and children – living on our streets or in inadequate, cramped and unsuitable and unacceptable accommodation.

The major contributors to, causes of, poverty remain ill-health and inadequate access to housing and education. Many ordinary people are living under mountainous burdens of debt, with uncertainty about paying bills, many families have no money left at the end of the month, leaving them unable plan for the future and robbing them of hope for their future.

For many families, large question marks now hang over their futures. They may feel they are being fed with the bread of tears and given the abundance of tears to drink referred to in the Psalm in Sunday’s readings (Psalm 80: 6), that they are to become the derision of their neighbours (Psalm 80: 7).

The word often used to describe these fears is apocalyptic – we talk of apocalyptic fears and apocalyptic visions. The first reading and the Gospel reading for Sunday are classical apocalyptic passages in the Bible. A set of resources for next Sunday’s readings is easily accessible here.

‘We are the clay, and you are our potter’ (Isaiah 64: 8) … clay in a broken pot on a window ledge in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Isaiah 64: 1-9

This first reading calls on God to come down and save his people. This part of the Book of Isaiah was probably written ca 530-510 BC, soon after the people had returned from exile to Israel.

In Chapter 63, the writer recalls God’s action in delivering the slaves from Egypt to freedom. God has always been with them, even when he seems to have deserted them.

Now, the people ask God to reveal himself as he did on Mount Sinai during the Exodus. They are worried that God has hidden his face from them, and they are now worried that they will be taken away like a leaf, blown away by the wind.

Yet they know their dependence on God:

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

In Chapter 65, God replies that he was always ready for those who sought him, but no one came seeking him.

In Advent, are we seeking God, and looking for his coming among us?

‘You have fed them with the bread of tears and, and given them tears to drink in full measure’ (Psalm 80: 5) … street art in Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19 (NRSVA), 80: 1-8, 18-20 (BCP 2004)

When preparing this psalm for use in Sunday services, a note of caution is important, as the numbering of verses in the Book of Common Prayer (Church of Ireland; see pp 685-686) do not coincide with the traditional numbering of verses found in most English-language translations of Bible. These differences are noted in my comments.

This psalm is a call on God in majesty to come and save the people. This is a ‘communal lament,’ written perhaps towards the end of the northern kingdom. Some commentators trace links to Isaiah, with a similar image to a vineyard whose wall God breaks down (verses 8-13 NRSVA, 9-14 BCP; see Isaiah 5: 1-7), and to Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who both refer to God as shepherd, although the exact phrase ‘Shepherd of Israel’ (verse 1) is unique to this psalm.

This psalm is a cry for help to God, asking him to save us with his steadfast love, to deliver us and to care for us.

The existence of refrain (verses 3, 7, 19 NRSVA; 4, 8, 20 BCP) is unusual, and the first two refrains mark off the first two parts of the psalm, with the rest of the psalm forming a final section.

The division is as follows:

1, verses 1-2 NRSVA (1-3 BCP): a call to God for help (refrain in verse 3 NRSVA, verse 4 BCP).

2, verses 4-6 NRSVA (5-7 BCP): an urgent plea and complaint at God’s treatment of his people (refrain in verse 7 NRSVA, verse 8 BCP).

3, verses 8-13 NRSVA (9-14 BCP): a description of God’s past care of Israel, with the figure of the vine alluding to the Exodus and conquest, and the present distress.

4, verses 14-17 NRSVA (15-18 BCP): a renewal of petition with a vow to return to God in verse 18 NRSVA (19 BCP), and a repetition of the refrain in verse 19 NRSVA (20 BCP).

When we call on God for God’s help, are we prepared to live as though God is already present among us?

‘I give thanks to my God always for you …’ (I Corinthians 1: 4) … Thank you, Ευχαριστουμε (Eucharistoume), in a restaurant in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

I Corinthians 1: 3-9:

Those difficult questions raised in our first reading and the Psalm are answered in the Epistle reading when the Apostle Paul assures his readers in Corinth that ‘God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord’ (verse 9).

Saint Paul greets them with grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and he encourages them to look forward to ‘the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ God will help us prepare for that day, so that they may be blameless at this second coming.

When Saint Paul says ‘I give thanks to my God always (Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ μου πάντοτε), he uses the word εὐχαριστῶ (efcharisto), which is also at the root of the word Eucharist. Our thanks to God for one another in the Church and in Christ is deeply rooted in our understanding of the Church as the Eucharistic community.

Winter trees at sunset in the Rectory in Askeaton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 13: 24-37:

The passage in the reading in Saint Mark’s Gospel is part of what is sometimes known as the ‘Little Apocalypse.’

You can imagine the first readers of Saint Mark’s Gospel in, say, Alexandria. They have heard of – perhaps had even seen – the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Like their fellow Christians in other parts of the eastern Mediterranean, perhaps these first Christians in Alexandria have been thrown out of the synagogues, have been disowned by those they once worshipped with, they have been disowned by friends, perhaps even by their closest family members, and face discrimination, loss of social standing, and perhaps even loss of income.

The world as they knew it was coming to an end. In words in the Old Testament reading, they saw their heaven and their earth torn apart (Isaiah 64: 1). And they, like us today, needed some reassurances of love and we, like them, need some signs of hope.

But the tree bearing fruit is a sign that God promises new life. In darkness and in gloom, we can know that God’s summer is always new, there are always rays of hope and glimpses of love (Mark 13: 28).

And everywhere the messengers of God’s good news, the angels, appear in the Gospel, they almost always begin to speak with the words: ‘Be not afraid.’

These are the angel’s opening words to Zechariah in the Temple as he is about to be told of the imminent birth of John the Baptist (Matthew 1: 13).

These are the angel’s words to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation (Luke 1: 30).

These are the angels’ opening words to the shepherds on the hillside on the first Christmas night (Luke 2: 10).

These are the angel’s opening words to Joseph wondering whether he is facing a future of disdain and a family disaster (Matthew 1: 20).

If we believe in God’s promises, we must not only set aside our fears, we need too to show others how we believe, how we expect and how we look forward to being the beneficiaries of hope, being the recipients, the agents and the messengers or ministering angels of love.

If the world was going to end tomorrow, would you plant a tree? … old olive trees in an olive grove in Loutra in the hills above Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Reflecting on the Gospel reading:

It is said that Martin Luther was once asked what he would do if he was told the world was going to end tomorrow, and he replied he would plant a tree.

Some years ago, I was given a present of an olive tree and I was hoping to see it grow in my back garden. But heavy rains soon fell in the garden, and as winter closed in its leaves faded and it was taken away with the rains and the wind (see Isaiah 64: 6).

The dead olive tree was replaced with another one, and six years later it is in a much better state of health. But, if these were my closing days, I too would like to plant an olive tree, despite the unmeasurable variations in weather we are experiencing in Ireland in recent winters.

Some of us receive bad news from time to time. More of us know and love someone who has recently received truly bad news.

But if you were told the end is coming, if you were told there was no tomorrow, or no next week, what would you do?

Would you want to spend those last few days closing that business deal?

Would you finish a long-delayed project?

Would you want to take that world cruise?

Would you finish that great novel?

Would you join me in planting another olive tree?

Or would you rise early to glory in the sunrise, listen to the waves rolling in onto the beach, stand beneath the last autumn leaves falling from the trees by the river bank, or prayerfully watch the sunset?

And even though all those are true pleasures and blessings at one and the same time, I think, if I was told that the end is coming, that these are my final days, then most of all I would want to tell those I love how much I love them, and hear once again, what I know already, that I too am loved.

And I would want to tell God how much I love God and to thank God for all the blessings, all the love, that I have received throughout my life. Because of God’s generosity I have not been lacking in anything … in anything that really matters at the end of my days (I Corinthians 1: 4, 7).

So, if that is what we would do if we were told these are the closing days, maybe we should ask: Why not do that now?

Would you tell your children, your partner, your parents, your brothers and sisters, that one last time, that you love them?

Would you wrap the person you should love the most in one long, tender embrace?

We are the doorkeepers of our souls and our hearts (Mark 13: 34-37).

And if Christ comes this evening, tonight, early in the morning, will he find me sleeping on my responsibilities to be a sign of hope and a living example of true, deep, real love? (Mark 13: 35-36).

Will he find the Church sleeping on its call, its mission, to be a sign of the kingdom, a beacon of hope, a true and living sacrament of love?

In days of woe and in days of gloom, the Church must be a sign of hope, a sign of love, a sign that if even if things are not going to be get better for me and for others in my own life time, God’s plan is that they should be better (Mark 13: 27, 31).

In a world that needs hope, in a world that is short on love, then the Church, above all else, must be a visible sign of hope, must be a visible sign of love. If we cannot love one another in the Church, how can expect to find signs of hope and love in the world?

Advent calls us again to be willing to be clay in the hands of God who is our Father and who is the potter (Isaiah 64: 8), so that we can be shaped into his vessels of hope and of love, so that we can be signs of the coming Kingdom, so that our hope and our love give others hope and love too in the dark days of our winters.

Advent calls on us to create new space and to reorder our priorities. To be still. To experience some quiet. To be reminded who we are – God’s beloved children.

Mark Twain once said: ‘The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.’

What would you do if the world were to end tomorrow? You do not need to wait. You can do those things now.

Finish the work you started. Be reconciled to those who need you. Be faithful to the people and tasks around you. Undertake some small and wonderful and great endeavour. Be a sign of hope. But most of all – love the ones you want to and ought to love.

Why not? For Christ has come, Christ is coming, and Christ will come again, in the name of love.

He ‘commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake’ (Mark 13: 34-35) … Saint Michael’s Watch Tower in the old city in Bratislava (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Mark 13: 24-37 (NRSVA):

24 [Jesus said:] ‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

26 ‘Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

28 ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

Lighting the first candle on the Advent Wreath in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale … the first purple candle recalls the Patriarchs and Matriarchs (Photograph: Barbara Comerford, 2019)

The Advent Wreath on the First Sunday of Advent (Purple Candle):

The prayers at the Advent Wreath on the Sundays in Advent can help us to continue our themes from the previous Sunday [22 November 2020], which marked the Kingship of Christ and which we marked in these dioceses as Mission Sunday.

The first candle to light on the Advent Wreath on the First Sunday of Advent is the Purple Candle that recalls the Patriarchs and Matriarchs

The Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) suggests this prayer for lighting the first candle on the Advent Wreath:

O God of Abraham and Sarai,
whose promise was fulfilled in the birth of Isaac;
we pray for mothers in Tanzania whose hope for their unborn
children is tainted by the threat of preventable disease.
Bless those who work to overcome this threat
so that children can be born healthy and full of potential.

‘Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light’ … sunset and winter lights in Askeaton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical resources:

Liturgical Colour: Violet (Advent, Year B).

The liturgical provisions suggest that the Gloria may be omitted during Advent.

It is traditional in Anglicanism to omit the Gloria at the end of canticles and psalms during Advent.

These additional liturgical resources are provided for Advent in the Book of Common Prayer (2004):

Penitential Kyries:

Turn to us again, O God our Saviour,
and let your anger cease from us.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Your salvation is near for those that fear you,
that glory may dwell in our land.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Collect of the Word:

Not available at the time of preparing these notes

Introduction to the Peace:

In the tender mercy of our God,
the dayspring from on high shall break upon us,
to give light to those who dwell in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1: 78, 79)

Preface:

Salvation is your gift
through the coming of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and by him you will make all things new
when he returns in glory to judge the world:

The Post Communion Prayer:

God our deliverer,
Awaken our hearts
to prepare the way for the advent of your Son,
that, with minds purified by the grace of his coming,
we may serve you faithfully all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessing:

Christ the sun of righteousness shine upon you,
gladden your hearts
and scatter the darkness from before you:

‘Drop down, ye heavens, from above’ (Hymn 122) … sunset at ‘World’s End’ in Castleconnel, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns:

Isaiah 64: 1-9

122: Drop down, ye heavens, from above
336: Jesus, where’er thy people meet
132: Lo! he comes with clouds descending
594: O Lord of creation, to you be all praise

Psalm 80: 1-8, 18-20

10: All my hope on God is founded
695: God of mercy, God of grace
614: Great Shepherd of your people, hear
305: O Breath of life, come sweeping through us

I Corinthians 1: 3-9

327: Christ is our corner stone
508: Peace to you

Mark 13: 24-37

119: Come, thou long–expected Jesus
567: Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go
668: God is our fortress and our rock
125: Hail to the Lord’s anointed
127: Hark what a sound and too divine for hearing
130: Jesus came, the heavens adoring
132: Lo! he comes with clouds descending
369: Songs of praise the angels sang
197: Songs of thankfulness and praise
678: Ten thousand times ten thousand
73: The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended
140: The Lord will come and not be slow
142: Wake, O wake with tidings thrilling
145: You servants of the Lord

‘The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended’ (Hymn 73) … sunset in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near (Mark 13: 28-29) ... figs and leaves on a summer fig tree in Córdoba (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

‘I give thanks to my God always for you …’ (I Corinthians 1: 4) … at a wedding in Ballymagarvey, Co Meath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 22 November 2020, The Kingship of Christ

Christ the King … a large sculpture by John Maguire above the entrance to the Church of Christ the King in Turner’s Cross, Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday next [Sunday 22 November 2020] is the Sunday before Advent, which is now marked in the Church Calendar as the Kingship of Christ. The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) and the Church of Ireland Directory are in two sets, the Paired Readings and the Continuous Readings.

The Continuous Readings: Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24; Psalm 100; Ephesians 1: 15-23; and Matthew 25: 31-46.

There is a link to the Continuous Readings HERE.

The Paired Readings: Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24; Psalm 95: 1-7; Ephesians 1: 15-23; and Matthew 25: 31-46.

There is a link to the Paired Readings HERE.

Sunday next is also marked in the Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe, Ardfert and Clonfert as Mission Sunday.

These notes include ideas for the readings for the Sunday before Advent, including the Gospel reading, as well as themed hymns, the Collect and Post-Communion Prayer, suggested hymns, and images that may be downloaded to use on parish bulletins and in service sheets.

In addition, there are extra resources to help plan around the theme of Mission Sunday, with an introduction to this year’s theme, the appropriate Collect and Post-Communion Prayer, suggested hymns, and the resources apporived by the House of Bishops on the theme of racial justice and which are recommended for use on 22 November by Bishop Kenneth Kearon.

Christ the King … a stained-glass window in Mount Melleray Abbey, Cappoquin, Co Waterford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Introducing the Readings:

In the lectionary readings for Year A, we have arrived at the last Sunday of readings in Saint Matthew’s Gospel about Christ’s days in Jerusalem immediately after Palm Sunday, although the actual account of Palm Sunday in Matthew 21: 1-22 was passed over in recent Sundays.

The Sunday before Advent now gives us time to pause and reflect on the why, over the past few months, we have been following Christ on his journey to Jerusalem. For it is there that he will be revealed in glory as the Son of Man and the King.

Already the Christmas decorations, including trees and lights, are up in the streets and the shops. The Shopping Centres would have us believe that Christmas has already arrived as shop owners and traders try to breathe a festive air into our lives.

Unlike some friends in England who have already got their first Christmas card, I have yet to receive my first Christmas card. But already An Post and the Royal Mail have posted warnings on their websites about the latest dates for posting for Christmas – and some of those dates for surface mail have already passed!

Plans for carol services and Christmas services are well advanced in most parishes. We all look forward to Christmas … it is holiday time, it is family time, it is a time for gifts and presents, for meeting and greeting, for family meals.

In every Church, we shall see more people coming through the doors than at any other time of the year. People love the carols, the tradition, the goodwill and the good feelings we get from even just thinking about Santa Claus and the elves, the tree and the lights, the crib and the Baby Jesus.

Even the most secular of revellers will admit, without much compulsion, that Christ is at the heart of Christmas, and that waiting for Christ, anticipating Christ, should be at the heart of the Advent season, which begins on Sunday 29 November.

Christ the King in the central tympanum of Saint Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, sculpted by the studios of Charles W Harrison (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Preparing for Christ’s coming

The Gospel reading on Sunday morning may seem to be a little out of sequence for some. We are preparing for Christmas, they may think, not for Easter. But we forget that so easily. On all the radio chat shows, people are already talking about this being the Christmas Season … before Advent has even started.

But Advent is the season of preparation for Christmas, and in the weeks beforehand we even prepare for Advent itself, with Lectionary readings telling us about the Coming of Christ.

We have made Christmas a far-too comfortable story. It was never meant to be, but we have made it comfortable with our Christmas card images of the sweet little baby Jesus, being visited by kings and surrounded by adoring, cute little animals. The reality, of course, is that Christmas was never meant to be a comfortable story like that.

Christmas is a story about poverty and about people who are homeless and rejected and who can find no place to stay.

It is a messy story about a child born surrounded by the filth of animals and the dirt of squalor.

It is a story of shepherds who are involved in dangerous work, staying up all night, out in the winter cold, watching out for wolves and sheep stealers.

It is a story of trickery, deceit and the corruption of political power that eventually leads to a cruel dictator stooping to murder, even the murder of innocent children, to secure his own grip on power.

But these sorts of images do not sell Christmas Cards or help to get the boss drunk under the mistletoe at the office party.

That is why in the weeks before Advent we have readings reminding us about what the coming of Christ into the world means, what the Kingdom of God is like, and how we should prepare for the coming of Christ and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

The Church of Christ the King in Turner’s Cross, Cork … the architect Francis Barry Byrne was strongly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The Feast of Christ the King

On Sunday [22 November 2020], we are marking the Kingship of Christ. There are few Anglican churches dedicated to Christ the King, but they include the Church of Christ the King in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London, now used by Forward in Faith.

The Feast of Christ the King is a recent innovation in the Church calendar. It was first suggested at the end of 1925 when Pope Pius XI published an encyclical, Quas Primas, in which he castigated secularism in Europe and declared that the secular powers ought to recognise Christ as King and that the Church needed to recapture this teaching.

At the time, the entire idea of kingship was quickly losing credibility in western societies, not so much to democracy but to burgeoning fascism – Mussolini was in power in Italy since 1922, and a wave of fascism was about to sweep across central Europe.

The mere mention of kingship and monarchy today may evoke images of either the extravagance of Louis XVI in Versailles, or the anachronism of pretenders in Ruritanian headdress, sashes and medals claiming thrones and privilege in Eastern Europe.

However, since 1925, the celebration of Christ the King or the Kingship of Christ has become part of the calendar of the wider Western Church. It took on an ecumenical dimension from 1983 on with its introduction to Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and others through the Revised Common Lectionary.

Christ in Majesty … John Piper’s window in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The end of the Church Year

Putting the Christmas trees up too early or hanging up the lights and frosting the windows ahead of Advent do not help to encourage a true Christmas spirit because they help us forget what Advent is all about.

Christ comes not just as a cute cuddly babe wrapped up in the manger and under the floodlights of a front window in a large department store in a shopping centre or city centre.

Marking the Sunday before Advent by crowning Christ as King helps us to focus on Advent from the following Sunday, and Advent is supposed to be a time and a season of preparing for the coming of Christ.

Kingship may not be a good role model in this part of the island or for people living in modern democratic societies where the heads of state are elected. Nor are the models of kingship in history or in contemporary society so good. It is worth considering three examples:

● We are familiar with a model of monarchy that paradoxically appears to be benign on the one hand and appears aloof and remote on the other hand, at the very apex of a class system defined by birth, title and inherited privilege.

● In other northern European countries, the model of monarchy is portrayed in the media by figureheads who are slightly daft do-gooders, riding around on bicycles in parks and by canals in ways that threaten to rob kingship of majesty, dignity and grace.

● Or, take deposed emperors from the 20th century: Halie Selassie, who died in 1975, sat back in luxury as his people starved to death; Emperor Bokassa, who died in 1996, was a tyrant accused of eating his people and having them butchered at whim.

Is it any wonder that some modern translations of the Psalms avoid the word king and talk about God as our governor?

A statue of Christ the King on the façade of a former pharmacist’s shop, near Saint Martin’s Cathedral, Bratislava (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24:

Two prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel, saw mystical visions of God among his heavenly host, the choir of angels. Rulers in the Ancient Near East saw themselves as shepherds of their people. Ezekiel is sent by God to prophesy against Israel’s kings, who misused their people and were responsible for scattering them. Kings had taken the best of the land for themselves, rather than sharing it with the people.

This reading dates from a time when Judah had been invaded by Babylon in 587 BC. Verses 1-10 blame the people’s sorry state on the kings: some people had been dispersed around the Mediterranean, others were deported to Babylon. Those left at home were no better off. In foreign lands, they have fallen prey to pagan beliefs. Rulers too are subject to God’s law: they are individually responsible for the mess.

Now God will reverse the evil done by the bad human shepherds. God will seek out the sheep, and rescue them from wherever they have been scattered. God will gather them, bring them back, and restore them. God will care for them.

God will aid those who are lost, those who have strayed, those who are injured and weak, but will destroy the fat and the strong, their oppressive rulers them.

God will give them justice, and make rulers accountable for their actions. God will judge, and differentiate between the fat sheep, the overfed rich oppressors, and the lean or underfed poor, the oppressed and the godly.

‘I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged.’ The sheep will behave properly, and submit to ‘one shepherd,’ a descendant of David, a prince, placed over them by God. There will be peace, prosperity and safety from attack. Then Israel will truly know God.

The Hebrew inscription at the entrance to the Stadttempel, Vienna’s main synagogue, reads: ‘Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise’ (Psalm 100: 4) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Psalm 100:

Psalm 100 invites all people on earth to joyfully worship God.

This psalm is one of the fixed psalms and canticles in the older Anglican liturgy for the office of Lauds on Sundays, and as a part of Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer as the canticle with the title Jubilate Deo.

It has been set to music by many composers, including Benjamin Britten, John Gardner, Herbert Howells, John Ireland, Henry Purcell, Richard Purvis, Charles Villiers Stanford, George Dyson, Kenneth Leighton, William Walton, Ralph Vaughan Williams and John Rutter.

Both the Temple and royal palaces had gates and courts, and in this Psalm God is portrayed as the king, present in the Temple and reigning from there.

All are to acknowledge that the Lord God is our creator, that all of us belong to him and that he cares for us. He is ultimate goodness, and his love for us is ever-lasting, for all generations, including to those who went before us, and to those who follow us.

‘He has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things’ (Ephesians 1: 22) … a statue of Christ the King in the grounds of the parish church in Broadford, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Ephesians 1: 15-23:

In this reading, the Apostle Paul describes Christ as ruler of all, and for all time.

Saint Paul tells his readers in Ephesus how he is delighted to hear of the successful missionary activity by people he does not know at first hand. Their faith in Christ and their love all the saints, all Christians, are living examples of God’s great love for humanity demonstrated in the Father’s giving of the Son.

These are new Christians and Saint Paul prays that these new converts may receive ‘a spirit of wisdom and revelation’ as they come to understand God more and more and come to see Christ in his greatness and his glory.

Saint Paul recalls when he was a persecutor of Christians he experienced God’s mercy. This this power that they now experience is the power the Father used in raising Christ and bringing him share in the divine glory.

Christ has conquered all and God has made all things subject to him. God the Father has given Christ to the Church as ruler over all things spiritual. The Church is one in Christ and so is able to share in Christ’s exaltation, Christ being the complete embodiment of God, who is in the process of making all things good. Through the Church, God pervades the world with his goodness.

Christ the King in the tympanum of Saint Michael’s Church, New Ross, surrounded by representations of the Four Evangelists, sculpted by John Aloysius O’Connell of Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Matthew 25: 31-46:

The Gospel reading for the Feast of Christ the King tells the story of Christ coming in glory as the Son of Man (verse 31), as the king (verses 34 and 40), and as Lord (verses 37 and 44).

This parable is unique to Saint Matthew and has no parallel in the other Gospels. It brings to a close the whole of the discourse that began in Chapter 23.

This is a stark and challenging parable that forces us to ask what the coming of Christ, the second coming, will be like, and what Christ has to say to us about the way we live and the way we should be living in the world today.

The division of people into sheep and goats is well known. We all constantly love to divide people into two groups, the insiders and the outsiders, us and them, friends and foes, Manchester United supporters and ABU fans. We do it all the time, and sheep and goats are a good short-hand term for what we do.

Sheep and goats behave differently, but in Palestine they were fed together. In Palestine in Christ’s time, and even to this very day, throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, sheep and goats are often difficult to tell apart until they have been separated. And when it came to insiders and outsiders, the goats were definitely the insiders and the sheep the outsiders.

Goats are lively animals and very curious. They are happy living either in herds with other goats or by themselves, while sheep are more docile, easily led, and always stay in groups.

Sheep are greedier than goats – they are more likely to overeat than goats if they have access to more food than they need. Sheep are destructive grazers, while goats are browsers. This means sheep eat grass and other plants all the way down to the ground, while goats, on the other hand, despite popular misconceptions, simply nibble here and there, sampling a variety of bushes and leaves, chewing on a lot of things without actually eating them.

Goats are among the best climbers in the world: they almost never fall or slip, while sheep, on the other hand, are much less sure-footed and can easily fall and get stuck upside down.

We all know the parable of the lost sheep, but the parable of the lost goat just would not have had the same resonance, would it?

Sheep, on the one hand, can and will stay out all night, and are more resilient in bad weather, which is why the shepherds on that first Christmas were out on the hillsides looking after their flocks.

Goats, on the other hand, need warmth at night, so might even have been in the stable alongside the ox and the ass.

So: sheep are outsiders, goats are insiders. And what happens to the insiders and the outsiders in this parable would be a shocking end to the story for those who heard it for the first time in the Eastern Mediterranean.

This is a parable or story that is so stark and so challenging that it has inspired many of the great works of art.

Doom walls were often painted in English mediaeval churches, on the inside, Western or back wall, and it is a traditional image that is still popular in some Greek churches.

The earliest portrayal of the Last Judgment in art is a sixth century mosaic in Ravenna that shows a seated Christ flanked by two large Byzantine-style angels, all three seated in a way that prefigures Andrei Rublev’s icon of the Visitation of Abraham, or the Old Testament Trinity. To his right are three perky-looking sheep and balanced on his left are three more sober-looking goats.

Giovanni da Modena’s fresco of the Last Judgment in Bologna was inspired by Dante’s description of heaven and hell. Fra Angelico’s Last Judgment (ca 1425) is now in the Museum of San Marco in Florence. Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (1534-1541), caused controversy because of its muscular, beardless Christ. And it is, perhaps, because of the poetry of Sante and the work of Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, and other great artists that we often see this story of the Last Judgment as a story about individual judgment and individual condemnation, rather than the judgment of the nations that we read about in this Gospel reading.

Christ the King … a statue in the churchyard at Cross on Loop Head, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Searching questions

The story opens with Christ coming again in glory, sitting on his throne of glory (verse 31), and the nations gathered before him (verse 32). They are not atomised, isolated individuals who are gathered before the throne of Christ: they are the nations – all the nations – that are assembled and asked these very searching questions.

These are questions that are directly related to the conditions that surrounded that first Christmas; questions that directly challenge us as to whether we have taken on board the values of the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5: 3-11, see Sunday 1 November 2020; and Luke 6: 20-31); questions that ask whether we really accept the values Christ proclaimed at the very start of his ministry when he spoke in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4: 16-19).

We should be aware of the poetry that is part of this passage too. In verses 35-36, when the king calls in those on his right hand, he emphasises four times that when they ministered to the needy they ministered to him, and he does this by emphasising ‘I’ and ‘me’ rather than the verbs: the words ‘I’ and ‘me’ are emphasised, rather than the verb, in the words μοι and με. This poetic emphasis is missed if our translations are laid out in narrative rather than poetic form.

Similarly, in verses 37-39, in the questions put to king, the emphasis in on ministering to the king, on the ‘you,’ rather than the action: note the –μεν ending in the key words in the questions, another poetic structure in this passage.

The poetry is part of the drama, but how do we get this across to congregations when it is being read as the Sunday Gospel reading?

Meanwhile, the questions posed here are questions put to us not just as individuals and as Christians. They are also questions that are put to the nations, to all of the nations (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, pánta ta ethne), each and every one of them. The word ἔθνος (ethnos) is used in the Bible to refer to a tribe, nation, people or group, and especially to foreign nations that were not Jewish.

And that is where Christ comes into the world, both at Christmas and at the second coming, with the Kingdom of God. At his birth, the old man in the Temple, Simeon, welcomes him as the light for revelation to the nations, φῶς εἰς ἀποκάλυψιν ἐθνῶν (phos eis apokálypsin ethnon), ‘a light for revelation to the nations’ (Luke 2: 32).

Which nations on earth, at this very moment, would like to be judged by how enlightened they are, to be compared with the Kingdom of God when it comes to how each nation treats and looks after those the enthroned Christ identifies with himself: those who are hungry; those who are thirsty; those who are strangers and find no welcome on our shores; those who are naked, bare of anything to call their own in this world, or whose naked bodies are exploited for profit and pleasure; those who are sick, and left waiting on hospital trolleys or on endless lists for health care because they cannot afford it; those who are imprisoned because they spoke out, or because they are from the wrong political or ethnic group, or because they did not have the right papers when they arrived at Dublin Airport as refugees seeking asylum?

When did we ever see Christ in pain on hospital a trolley or being mistreated at the passport control kiosks in the arrivals area at the airport?

But – as long it was done in the name of our nation, we did it to Christ himself.

In his Second Coming, Christ tells us the kind of conduct, of morality, towards others that is expected of us as Christians, but also tells us of the consequences of not caring for others.

Christ the King … a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Buttevant, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Conclusions:

This Gospel reading challenges us in a way that is uncomfortable, but with things that must stay on our agenda as Christians and on the agenda of the Church.

We are challenged in the epistle reading for this Sunday to ask ourselves:

What are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints (Ephesians 1: 18)?

What is the immeasurable greatness of his great power (verse 19)?

The genius of power is revealed in those who have it and can use it but only do so sparingly. Christ’s choice is not to gratify those who want a worldly king, whether he is benign or barmy. Instead, he displays supreme majesty in his priorities for those who are counted out when it comes to other kingdoms.

Christ rejects all the dysfunctional models of majesty and kingship. He is not coming again as a king who is haughty and aloof, daft and barmy, or despotic and tyrannical. Instead he shows a model of kingship that emphasises what majesty and graciousness should mean for us today – giving priority in the kingdom to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner (verses 35-36).

As we prepare for Christmas we should be preparing to enjoy time with our families and friends, time for a good winter’s holiday. But we should also remember the reason we have Christmas, the reason Christ came into the world, and the reason he is coming again.

We can look forward to seeing the Christ child in the crib and to singing about him in the carols. But let us also look forward to seeing him in glory. So let us be prepared to see him in the hungry, the thirsty, the unwelcome stranger, those who are naked and vulnerable, those who have no provisions for health care, those who are prisoners, those who have no visitors and those who are lonely and marginalised.

‘He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats’ (Matthew 25: 32) … sheep and goats grazing together in a field in Platanias near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Matthew 25: 31-46 (NRSVA):

31 [Jesus said:] ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37 Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40 And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” 44 Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” 45 Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

‘He will will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left’ (Matthew 25: 33) … sheep and goats in a sculpture in a garden in Knightstown on Valentia Island, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour: White.

The Collect of the Day:

Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
Keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit
and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Collect of the Word:

God of power and love,
who raised your Son Jesus from death to life,
resplendent in glory to rule over all creation:
free the world to rejoice in his peace,
to glory in his justice, and to live in his love.
Unite the human race in Jesus Christ your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Post-Communion Prayer:

Stir up, O Lord,
the wills of your faithful people;
that plenteously bearing the fruit of good works
they may by you be plenteously rewarded;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The figures of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor at the main door into Glenstal Castle in Glenstal Abbey, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested hymns:

Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24:

644: Faithful Shepherd, feed me
670: Jerusalem the golden
442: Praise the Lord, rise up rejoicing
598: Take this moment, sign and space
20: The King of love my shepherd is

Psalm 100:

683: All people that on earth do dwell
334: I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart
701 Jubilate, eve’ybody

Ephesians 1: 15-23:

250: All hail the power of Jesus’ name
643: Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
326: Blessèd city, heavenly Salem
(Christ is made the sure foundation, omit verse 1.
296: Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire
693: Glory in the highest to the God of heaven
324: God, whose almighty word
266: Hail the day that sees him rise
267: Hail the risen Lord, ascending
300: Holy Spirit, truth divine
99: Jesus, the name high over all
588: Light of the minds that know him
275: Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious
281: Rejoice, the Lord is King!
491: We have a gospel to proclaim
476: Ye watchers and ye holy ones

Matthew 25: 31-46

517: Brother, sister, let me serve you
86: Christ is the King! O friends, rejoice
39: For the fruits of his creation
89: God is love – his the care
520: God is love, and where true love is, God himself is there
91: He is Lord, he is Lord
523: Help us to help each other, Lord
495: Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love
427: Let all mortal flesh keep silence
281: Rejoice, the Lord is King!
527: Son of God, eternal Saviour
314: There’s a spirit in the air
114: Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown
499: When I needed a neighbour, were you there
531: Where love and loving kindness dwell

The Great Commission … a mission theme in the East Window in Holy Trinity Abbey Church, Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Mission Sunday:

In the United Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe, Ardfert and Clonfert, the Diocesan Council for Mission is encouraging all parishes to mark Sunday 22 November 2020.

The Diocesan Council for Mission in Limerick and Killaloe has decided this year to concentrate on mission at home and to donate all the proceeds from Mission Sunday 2020 to Jigsaw (www.jigsaw.ie), an early intervention, primary care service for young people’s mental health, and Women’s Aid (ww.womensaid.ie), a leading national organisation that has been working in Ireland since 1974 to stop domestic violence against women and children.

Since March, the demand for these services has in one case increased by 40%. Due to the latest ‘lockdown,’ the council realises that places of worship will be closed until the end of November. Accordingly, it has decided to extend this ‘time of mission’ until the end of January 2021, and the treasurer is happy to receive donations up to 26 February 2021.

The council plans to send out a package to each parish in mid-November, with brochures, posters, gift envelopes and a USB memory stick for a digital presentation, with an introduction by Bishop Kenneth Kearon. For parishes with internet facilities, a presentation will also be available on the diocesan website and on YouTube. Presentations are also being sent to schools in the dioceses.

Mission Collect:

Almighty God,
who called your Church to witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
Help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal Giver of love and power,
your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world
to preach the gospel of his kingdom.
Confirm us in this mission,
and help us to live the good news we proclaim;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Prayer for Mission in the Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give commandment to the apostles, that they should go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; Grant to us, whom thou hast called into thy Church, a ready will to obey thy Word, and fill us with a hearty desire to make thy way known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Look with compassion on all that have not known thee, and upon the multitudes that are scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. O heavenly Father, Lord of the harvest, have respect, we beseech thee, to our prayers, and send forth labourers into thine harvest. Fit and prepare them by thy grace for the work of their ministry; give them the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind; strengthen them to endure hardness; and grant that thy Holy Spirit may prosper their work, and that by their life and doctrine they may set forth thy glory, and set forward the salvation of all people; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Suggested Hymns:

In the Church Hymnal, Section 6 is suitable for theme of the Church’s Witness and Mission. In particular, there are hymns related to Proclaiming the Faith (478-493) and Social Justice (494-500). Some of thee hymns in this section are among those recommended for the First Sunday before Advent:

491: We have a gospel to proclaim
495: Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love
499: When I needed a neighbour, were you there

Preaching the Gospel … a mission theme in the East Window in Holy Trinity Abbey Church, Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

‘Taking the Knee’ Prayers:

The House of Bishops has approved a resource provided by the Church and Society Commission for use in public worship at the discretion of local clergy.

Bishop Kenneth Kearon has suggested using these resources on Sunday 22 November 2020, to coincide with the Feast of Christ the King.

‘Taking the Knee’ includes a sentence of Scripture, a prayer of acknowledgement and lament, and prayers for racial justice and equality, and is available to download HERE.

In the introductory note, the Commission explains:

We affirm that racism is an affront to God and contrary to the Christian faith. It denies that the reconciling work of Jesus Christ was achieved for all people and that it breaks down the walls of division across all human distinctions. Racism denies our common humanity in creation and our belief that all are made in God’s image. It asserts falsely that we find our fundamental identity in terms of race rather than in Jesus Christ.

‘Taking the Knee’ has become a symbol of protest against racial injustice and an expression of solidarity. It has been used by sports personalities, community leaders, and political representatives amongst others. Like all symbols it can easily be misunderstood. However, as Christians we are familiar with the symbolism of taking the knee. In Psalm 95:6, we read, “we kneel before the Lord our maker”. Taking the knee has special meaning for us as we regularly take to our knees in prayer in intercession, in lamentation, and in helplessness to Almighty God.’

We invite you to ‘take the knee’ both as a sign of our devotion to God’s indiscriminate love as shown in the Gospel of his Son, and as a protest against racism as a distortion of God’s will in creation and redemption. We invite you to use the following prayers as part of a Sunday service.

Taking the Knee: Prayers for Racial Justice and Equality

A resource provided by the Church and Society Commission of the Church of Ireland, approved by the House of Bishops for local use. Published September 2020

Sentence of Scripture

O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! Psalm 95: 6

[Kneel or sit in Silence]

Prayer of Acknowledgement and Lament

Good and gracious God, you invite us to recognize and reverence your divine image and likeness in our neighbour. Enable us to see the reality of racism and free us to challenge and uproot it from our society, our world and ourselves.

We acknowledge and lament the conscious and unconscious racism encountered by many black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in our churches and society.

Give us the courage to stand unequivocally for justice, and for truth. Help us to dismantle racist agendas and to transform unjust structures. Help us to love you with all our heart, soul, and minds. Help us to love one another as you commanded us to do. Help us to treat each other as we would have others treat us. Help us together to find lasting solutions to end injustice and inequality in our world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Prayers for Racial Justice and Equality

Lord Jesus Christ who reached across the ethnic boundaries between Samaritan, Roman and Jew who offered fresh sight to the blind and freedom to captives, help us to break down the barriers in our community, enable us to see the reality of racism and bigotry, and free us to challenge and uproot it from ourselves, our society and our world.

Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

God of all peoples, we pray for all victims of racial hatred and discrimination. We pray for your protection especially for those affected in our churches, our schools, our places of work and in our communities and in our land.

Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

We pray for all in our world, of whatever race, who suffer the horrors of modern slavery. Your Son came to bring good news to the poor and freedom for the oppressed. We thank you for all who are working to combat modern slavery: for governments and agencies, for Church and other faith leaders, for charities and individuals. May we too be voices against oppression, channels of the transforming power of the gospel. May our eyes be opened wide to all who suffer in our midst but out of sight. May we all work for a world where human beings are valued, free to come and go, where no one is enslaved, no one used against their will for another’s pleasure or need.

Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

We pray that we may be able to feel the power of reconciliation. Wherever there is division between us and others, because of our race or ethnicity we pray that we may all be led to reconciliation. We pray for all who work to bring communities together in ways that are just and equal for all.

As we pray for reconciliation, we pray also for restoration. We pray for those whose spirits and communities have been weighed down by racism. Guide us as we strive to ensure everyone has equal dignity.

Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

‘I was ill and you visited me’ … see ‘I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me’ (Matthew 25: 36) … a sculpture by Timothy Schmalz on the steps of Santo Spirito Hospital near the Vatican, in Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

An additional resource from USPG:

The Revd Richard Bartlett, Director of Mission Engagement with the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), will provide the USPG sermon for the Feast of Christ the King, Sunday 22 November, and will be sent to churches on Thursday 19 November. It will link some of the mission and ministry of the Anglican Church of Tanzania which is the focus of USPG’s Christmas Appeal, ‘A Promise of Hope’.

The December sermon will be for the fourth Sunday of Advent, 20 December and will be sent to churches on Thursday 17 December. Rámond Mitchell, Volunteer and Education Coordinator with USPG, will provide this sermon.

To order these sermons for your church please email Gwen Mtambirwa, Mission Engagement Co-ordinator, gwenm@uspg.org.uk. In the email include the name of your church (if it is for a church service), and if you have one, attach a high-resolution photo of your church to your email as a jpeg. Sermons will be sent to you by the Thursday prior to the Sunday.

Christ the King in the reredos in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

Kings and Saints on the West Front of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)