Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fourth 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'.
This evening at 6.30 pm we have our traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols at St Thomas', to which everyone is invited. Details are provided in the notices at the end of this blog, together with all of the other services happening over Christmas.
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 "From Heaven You Came, Helpless Babe"
Today's Gospel
Matthew 1:18-25The Birth of Jesus
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.
But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”
When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
Reflection
We are nearly there! Christmas is only a few days away, although as I write this, it’s over a week away. I haven’t even thought about putting the Christmas tree and decorations up yet although most of my neighbours houses are resplendent with masses of lights both inside and out.
As we approach that magical day, I hope you are not too stressed and have things clearly planned out even if there’s still lots to do.
But aside from all the hustle and bustle, we still need to make sure that we plan a little time prepare ourselves spiritually for what Christmas represents. Have you ever thought about how Mary and Joseph were prepared?
I don’t mean practical things, because as Luke tells us, it was practically mayhem – they didn’t even have anywhere to stay, let alone having a midwife or clean towels and everything else you might expect to have ready for the birth of a baby.
But I wonder how much they were prepared for their role as parents of the Messiah and the impact it would have on their lives.
I have reflected before on the willing and obedient commitment of Mary, but in this very short account from Matthew we get some insight into how Joseph was prepared to unreservedly trust in God. How, despite his initial reservations, he was prepared to show a similar level of obedience and commitment as Mary did in supporting her doing God’s will.
We are told that Joseph was a righteous man, but we should not underestimate how big an issue the situation was. In the Jewish culture of the time, if you were betrothed to someone it was a very formal commitment and to get out of it required a form of divorce which would create scandal. For Joseph, there could only be one explanation for Mary being pregnant and that was infidelity. Sending Mary away secretly was a very loving and righteous thing to do, especially given the circumstances. The alternative would have been very serious with public disgrace for Mary and perhaps the threat of being stoned.
Joseph was willing to do what was right, and put aside any contempt or disappointment he may have felt. He was showing the mercy and compassion that God shows to us. He was being holy and righteous.
Matthew then describes the encounter with an angel, which is not dissimilar to Mary’s. Like Mary, Joseph shows no sign of reservation or doubt, when he wakes he obeys the angel’s commands and marries Mary.
His obedience is absolute, as was his devotion to Mary and the infant Jesus when he was born. He was prepared to leave everything behind, his livelihood and friends and family, and flee to Egypt as a refugee with his wife and new born child.
When the time was right, he brought Mary and Jesus back to the region of Galilee to fulfil the scripture that Jesus would be brought up a Nazarene. And he continued to look after Jesus, bringing him up as his own and teaching him his trade.
There is not a lot of information about Joseph in the gospels and I’m sure he was not perfect – none of us are. But we can see many good qualities in him and would do well to emulate some of his ways; his willingness and obedience to God’s will and his righteous approach to others, even when he initially felt he had been badly let down.
So, as we think about preparation for Christmas, perhaps it’s not all about detailed plans and itineraries. It’s not all about getting the Christmas presents wrapped, the cards written and the shopping done or working for hours preparing the Christmas dinner.
Maybe, it’s about preparing ourselves to follow whatever plan God has for us rather than our own plans. Preparing for God to break into our lives in new and exciting ways, even though that might unsettle or challenge us at times.
Wishing you all joy and happiness for Christmas. Paul
Our Prayers
Loving Father
We thank you for examples of Mary and Joseph.
We pray that we too can be obedient
and trust in you.
Help us to do your will
and follow your commands,
And to be guided by the Holy Spirit
in doing what we know is right.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus"
Notices
All of the services and events for Christmas are shown in the posters below - we hope that you will be able to join us. Please note that our Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve will take place at St John the Baptist Church, Hey.
