Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Third Sunday of Advent. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.00 at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
Today's Gospel
Luke 3:7-18 John the Baptist Prepares the Way
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." Even tax collectors came to be baptised, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptise you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
Reflection
Today is the third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete comes from the Latin word for Rejoice.
For me, that means the feeling of joy and expectation as we get nearer and nearer to Christmas Day and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It signals a move from solemn reflection to celebration and expectation.
Some of us no doubt are already beginning to feel a sense of anticipation as we look forward to all the festive activities that will happen – getting together with friends and family, exchanging presents and cards and sharing various forms of hospitality.
On the other hand, some of us may be feeling stressed at everything that needs to be done in such a short space of time.
The pressures of work, where deadlines and tasks still have to be met before the holidays.
And in the midst of that, as if we didn’t have enough to do, there are so many extra things that appear in diaries at this time of year - Carol concerts, taking the kids to parties or going to our own works party - and there’s always so much to plan!
And for some people, Christmas is a time of financial worry, especially for those who struggle to make ends meet at the best of times.
But no matter how busy and stressed we find ourselves, we still need to find time to be joyful.
Paul calls us to rejoice and says: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. He then comforts us when he says,
Rejoice and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [Philippians 4],
How positive and spiritually uplifting is that - as we prepare to ready our hearts for the coming of Jesus? In this short passage, Paul calls us to rejoice no less than 3 times.
By repeating the call to rejoice, it is almost like Paul is turning up the volume knob to make sure we haven’t missed the message. The joy he advocates is not simply happiness because we’ve enjoyed something or because something good has happened to us – It’s a special kind of joy; it’s joy in the knowledge of the peace of God shown to us in Jesus Christ.
In the gospel passage Luke tells us about John the Baptist exhorting the good news to the people.
I have to admit that at first reading the theme of joy didn’t immediately jump out at me.
He starts off by addressing them as “You brood of vipers!”
He goes on to talk about the axe that is waiting to chop down those who don’t bear fruit and sorting the wheat from the chaff before burning the chaff in unquenchable fire!
Wow, pretty strong stuff or what?
Sounds like we are all doomed, because the reality is, we all fall short of the glory of God and all sin at times. [Romans 3:23]
But for me this is not a message about judgement and punishment - it’s about repentance and hope and joy. Hope that we can be saved when we recognise what we have done wrong, and when we are genuinely sorry in our hearts. Joy that we have the opportunity to change our ways and be forgiven.
That’s probably why there were thousands of people at the River Jordan flocking to hear what John had to say and to be baptised. Some of them mistakenly thought that it was some easy way to avoid any kind of judgment or punishment.
They were sinners and were hoping for a quick fix that would absolve them of all their bad ways and cost nothing.
But of course that’s not what repentance is about. John tells them that in order to truly repent they also need to change their ways – that what repenting is – not just feeling bad and saying sorry, but it’s about committing to change our ways and stopping behaving sinfully.
When the crowds asked, “What should we do?” , They were asking, how do we bear the good fruit that John had been telling them about.
In response John doesn’t ask them to do momentous or impossible things.
He doesn’t tell the tax collector to resign his job and sell everything he has, He tells him to stop cheating the people and asking for more than what is prescribed. He’s saying, ‘change your ways’.
To the soldiers, who had been bullying people and abusing their power, he doesn’t say pack in your job and give everything you have away. - He tells them, “Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.” He’s saying ‘change your ways’.
And to everyone, he tells them how they can bear good fruit by loving one another, being generous and showing hospitality.
“Whoever has two cloaks, should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Righteousness can begin by doing small, virtuous things. But also doing them diligently, and with a positive attitude. Repeated, small good deeds pave the way for righteousness and joyful hearts. The joy of God’s ways comes when we help others and respect them.
If we were to ask John the Baptist, “What should I do to bear good fruit? What might he say?
He would no doubt ask us to look closely at ourselves and examine what we might need to be sorry for in our hearts.
Do we always look for the good in others? Do we bear grudges? Have we taken advantage of a situation when we knew it was wrong? Are we as generous as we could be, or do we just share what we can easily afford with no real impact on ourselves?
When we live out our faith with a generosity of heart we create more space for joy in our heart.
Sometimes though, that can be hard, especially with people we dislike or those we don’t know.
But that’s OK because we have help.
We have help in the shape of Jesus, who came to give everything he had for those in need.
The same Jesus who didn’t reject and punish the tax collectors and sinners, but welcomed them and shared food with them and showed them how to love one another. The same Jesus who invited a tax collector to be a disciple.
When we genuinely say sorry and ask for help to change, Jesus is there for us, willing to forgive us and send the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love – a love that is capable of spilling out with joy to others.
Advent joy springs from the realisation that the presence of Jesus in our lives can transform us for the better when we let him into our hearts, turn our back to sinful ways and follow Him.
As Jesus told us, there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need to repent. [Luke 15:7]
So I hope, on this Gaudete Sunday, all our hearts are filled joy as we prepare in our own ways for the coming of our Lord Jesus. Paul
Our Prayers
Loving Father,
We thank you for the gift of joy in our hearts
As we look to the coming of you Holy Son.
Grant us wisdom to look at ourselves
and to see where we can be more like Him,
and give us determination to change our ways
where we need to.
In Jesus name we pray,
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Make Way!"
Notices
Our traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols is at 6.30 pm this evening at St Thomas’, followed by seasonal refreshments and the Christmas Hamper raffle draw. Please wrap up warmly for this service, as the main heating system has failed.
Tomorrow at 6 pm we will be meeting at St Thomas’ to go Carolling around the village, and collecting money for the Booth Centre. This is really appreciated by people of all ages where we visit - especially those who are not able to get to a church service during Christmas. Families are especially welcome, and the children love the singing and collecting, so please do come and join us – the more the merrier!
The Tuesday morning service of Holy Communion is at 10 am at St Thomas’, and Worship for all Generations is at 6.30 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday at St Agnes’.
Next Sunday’s Services are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes’ and 11 am at St Thomas’.
All of the Christmas Services and Events are on the blue poster below.
