Advent Ecumenical Hospital Service Liturgy presenters’ sheet
You will need four boxes with lids marked with either the words (Hope, Trust,
Courage & Love) or the initials. These boxes can remain in the chapel after
the service with and invitation and notepaper for prayers.
Hospital Host
(I know you’ll write something but here are some
suggestions)
I’d like to welcome you to our John James ecumenical Christmas service.
My name is .... and I’m the Coordinator....
I’d like to introduce you to Jean Shannon, the Uniting Church Chaplaincy
Leader for the Canberra Hospitals
I hope you’ll stay after the service for a bit of a chat ...cup of tea? You
probably all know the carols but you’ll find the words in the sheets we
gave you as you came in. There are more sheets...
You’ve been given a Christmas token and we’ll explain its purpose later
in the service.
(Leave a moment of silence to let people settle)
Presider
We come to this place from many histories and many traditions
but our presence here makes this space sacred and your heritage and
experiences enrich us.
Welcome
Call to worship
V1
ALL
V2
All
you.
Watch! wait! The day is at hand!
Like the bud on the tree, God’s possibilities are about to blossom!
Stay awake! The reign of God is very near.
We are here, watching, waiting, hoping. Join us in this place as we join
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V1 Come, let us be about our preparations for a new advent of love among
us.
ALL The wastelands of life can not shut out the promises of life giving
water
V2 We hear again the promise of peace, coming in one who lived among his
people
ALL We see again, the light God promises in the midst of our darkness
ALL We embrace the joy that comes through companionship – in this
moment.
V1 May our worship remind us what is centred in life: the One who gives us
breath and purpose.
V2 We come to embrace a new advent, to be renewed in faith, hope,
courage and love.
Let us pray
On our heads and on our houses ...
The blessing of God.
In our coming and our going...
The peace of God.
In our life and our believing,
The love of God.
At our end and new beginning,
The arms of God welcome us and bring us home. Amen
(Iona community)
Hospital Host
Our first carol is Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Presider
And so we come to the end of Advent – the waiting. It is the Latin word for
‘coming’ and not surprising it is the source of adventure – to experience.
Because life is an adventure and awaiting any birth is an anxious, scary, joyful
and worrisome time. Sort of like Christmas!
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Hospital Host – what are the gifts of advent that we are given each year?
Hope
(Host or another places the box gently onto the alter table with
great reverence and pauses and pays respect – you can alternate people)
Trust
( places the box gently onto the alter table with great reverence
and pauses)
Courage
( places the box gently onto the alter table with great reverence
and pauses)
and love. ( places the box gently onto the alter table with great reverence
and pauses)
Knowing this, we can draw on these gifts as we need them through the year.
Knowing this, we can than the one who gave them each time we use them
And knowing this, perhaps we can be open to invite others, give hope and
receive love.
We have given you a small token to grace with your good wishes. Take a
moment to hold this gift and focus on what we would wish for others.
Let us greet one another as a sign of God’s peace and of our shared friendship.
The peace of God is here to stay.
Thanks be to God.
You are invited to introduce yourself to your neighbours and give them your
token – and receive one back.
Suzanne
Our next carol is O Come all ye Faithful
Bible readings
Psalm 71
1
In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
3
2
In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
turn your ear to me and save me.
3
Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4
Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.
James 5:7-10
Patience in Suffering
7
Be patient, therefore, beloved,[a] until the coming of the Lord. The farmer
waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives
the early and the late rains. 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts,
for the coming of the Lord is near.[b] 9 Beloved,[c] do not grumble against one
another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the
doors! 10 As an example of suffering and patience, beloved,[d] take the prophets
who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Presider – Commentary (contemporary word)
Hold this space
This is the luminal space...
The time after schools let out but before Christmas morning
The time after the operation but before we are healed
The time after we have rushed to do everything ...and yet the true celebrations
have not yet started.
The Christmas story is a birthing story on more levels than we know. It makes
us think about that space...when we are ready, anxious, tired and waiting
before the presentation of a new life
Or a new year – has begun.
This is the space between our deepest hopes and yearnings and the realities
that have not yet been written. Who is the child?
What world will this person grow in and how shall they make a difference.
We wait – with bated breath for a new reality, a new beginning .
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And yet, we have already received the gifts.
We just don’t know how t use them.
Like learning to ride a bike – we have to take them out of the box, examine
them, hold them, turn them over and over, put them down, pick them up and
then finally, admit we may not know how to use them...or lack the practice
and skill.
That’s when we need to ask someone. So I urge you to use the first gift –
Courage
Courage to reach out – even when it takes more than one try for someone to
hear
Courage to learn from others Courage to hope – even when it may be dashed occasionally
And then maybe the 2nd gift will be handy. Trust – in your God, in the other and
in yourself.
Hope can be like a box of sweets – something you can share with others. It is
the refuge you can offer – it can be seen in faithfulness to other’s dreams
And all of these prepare us for Love. A gift so precious yet, harder to receive
than give. It is harder to believe than to feel cast down or cast out. Yet God’s
love is constant.
Faith is the vessel or the wrapping that holds these gifts.
In this time of holding our breath, in the anticipation of what’s to come – let’s
not lose sight of what we already have...
When everything was uncertain, Mary had Joseph – a good and supportive
man who believed in her; Mary had a personal relationship with God and she
knew what it was like to be called by name....
These boxes, Hope, Trust, Courage and Love – sparkle before us. They are ours
to hold and to give – if only we can work out how. They are our gifts and our
refuge.
So hold this space as a precious time
The time between
Where we can celebrate what has been given and what is within us.
Presider
Alternative Commentary
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Faith and faithfulness
Hope & refuge
With an ear to the womb – the message passes on for generations.
This is the psalm of refugees. But we are all refugees here today. We are away
from our homes. And not many of us come from Canberra so Christmas
reminds us of long ago celebrations somewhere else in our childhoods. We
may be estranged from our families or our churches.
Christmas can be a sad time for many but its fundamental message is hope.
In the darkest hour – there is always a chance for a star, a heart, a new way.
Forget about gifts, cards and tinsel and give thanks for small things that are
wonderful. Please take a moment and remember 3 things that make you smile.
These are your gifts.
O God of many names
Lover of nations
We pray for peace
In our hearts
In our homes
In our nations
In our world,
The peace of your will
The peace of our need.
Bishop G Appleton
Hold us receive us and keep us strong.
Suzanne
Our last carol is Joy to the world
Presider I’d like to share a poem by Noel Davis before we go:
Come Christmas – in a barn, a shed, a basement, a box, a cell, a tunnel, a
trench, behind razor wire, on a deck, a backwater, a bench, (a church) a church
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step, amid the ruin of terror, beneath a star, round a tree, outside the
unexpected, from the debris of a shattered dream.
We witness divinity
Love irrepressible – wellspring of surprise –
Being born of our humanity – time and time again.
Noel Davis
God bless us and those who care for us – go in peace.
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