Prayers & Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Opening Rite

If you’re at home you might wish to light a candle, make sure you are sitting comfortably and take a few deep breaths to still yourself. 

The Lord is here His Spirit is with us

Prayers of Penitence

When the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore in the light of Christ let us confess our sins.                                                                                     cf 1 Corinthians 4.5

Turn to us again, O God our saviour, and let your anger cease from us: Lord, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.

Show us your compassion, 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.

May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Collect

You might like to keep a few moments of silence

God our redeemer, who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of your  Son: grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour, so we may be ready to greet him when he comes again as our judge; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Micah 5:2-5a

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.  Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labour has brought forth;  then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.  And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.

Hebrews 10:5-10

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings you have taken no pleasure.  Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God” (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).’  When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The Gospel according to Luke                                           Chapter 1:39-55

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’  And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.     Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.  His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,  and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

This is the Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you O Christ

Reflection

Luke sets Mary’s song in the context of her meeting with Elizabeth. If we read between the lines, we can imagine Mary leaving her home in Galilee hastily to find refuge from local reactions to her pregnancy. Her relative Elizabeth welcomes a companion with whom she can have proper conversations now that her husband Zechariah is speechless, made so because of his sceptical response to the angel’s news that his prayers for a son will at last be answered (Luke 1:8-20). Elizabeth’s greeting complements the angel Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary (Luke 1:26-38), and her excited reply spills over into a triple beatitude – one on Mary, one on her child and one on herself (1:42,45) – because these two women are vessels of God’s blessing on the world. Elizabeth’s unborn child seems to sense what is happening, his foetal kick (vv.41,44) presumably prompted by the Holy Spirit, like his mother’s words to Mary. The scene is so full of energy and excitement that it’s easy to miss the warmth and intimacy in what the Church’s year calls ‘The Visitation’. Christine de Luca’s poem ‘Mary an Elizabeth’ (sic; the poem is written in Shetlandic) captures the moment perfectly1. As ‘they held tight to one another/bewildered by happenstance’ and ‘Mary … relaxed at the feel of kindly arms/around her’, these unexpectedly pregnant women, their lives turned upside down by ‘their swelling wombs/between them’, find peace in each other, as they prepare to bring the gifts they carry into the world.

© Reproduced with permission ROOTS for Churches Ltd (www.rootsontheweb.com) 2002-2021  

Prayers

O Rex Gentium: O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay. (cf Isaiah 28.16; Ephesians 2.14)

On The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Eternal God, as Mary waited for the birth of your Son, so we wait for his coming in glory; bring us through the birth pangs of this present age to see, with her, our great salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen                                                      

Spend a few moments praying for the people you know and love, for the world, for peace and for the relief of refugees everywhere. 

Praying for the Earth                                                      Renewable energy

We give thanks for the power of the sun above us, for the warmth of the ground beneath us, for the freedom of the wind around us, for the strength of the waves and the rhythm of tides. We pray for ingenuity and inspiration in the research and development of renewable energy. Amen

From the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer for the Church

Porvoo Communion: Diocese of Oslo (Church of Norway) Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness (Scottish Episcopal Church) Diocese of Durham

Anglican Communion: Church of the Province of Uganda Primate: Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba

Diocese of Newcastle: For all engaged in chaplaincy work in hospitals, schools, prisons, the armed forces, with older people and in Newcastle City Centre

Morpeth Deanery: St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Mitford

From our Prayer Cycle this week

Give thanks for the many blessings experienced by our parish family

For the sick and those being cared for in hospital or at home      

For those in residential care    

For those who have recently died

Rachel Taylor

For those whose year’s minds are this week 

Bryan Kirkwood, Jean Maddison, Elizabeth Miller, Alison Cox, George Howard, Allan Watson, Leonard Earle, Thomas Carr, Eddie James, Edward Oakley, Bowden Anderson and Doris Telfer

You might like to end your prayers with The Lord's Prayer  

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, or ever and ever.  Amen.

The Conclusion

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.

Let us bless the Lord!  Thanks be to God!