SERVICE BULLETIN & PARISH ANNOUNCEMENTS
see downloads below.
The Longest Night…
A service of Comfort and light amid Darkness
Welcome to this service of light on this, the Longest Night of the year.
We invite you to participate fully in this evening’s service
The Longest Night
Officiant: Doreen Davidson
Our time together this evening, begins in silence to allow for quite prayer and reflection.
Hymn: O come, O come, Emmanuel,
THE GATHERING OF THE COMMUNITY
Leader: The Grace of The Holy One, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer be with you
People: And also with you.
Leader: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who live
In a land of deep shadow, a light has shone. For the yoke that was weighing upon them, and the burden upon their shoulders, you have broken in pieces, 0 God, our Redeemer.
Tonight, amid the longest, darkest time of the year we dare to sing, “rejoice, rejoice”. We ask God to help us rejoice despite the pain, loss, fear, and grief that is in our hearts.
Blessing to Summon Rejoicing
Jan Richardson
When your weeping has watered the earth.
When the storm has been long and the night and the season of your sorrowing.
When you have seemed an exile from your life, lost in the far country, a long way from where your comfort lies.
When the sound of splintering and fracture haunts you.
When despair attends you.
When lack.
When trouble.
When fear.
When pain.
When empty.
When lonely.
When too much of what depletes you and not enough of what restores and rests you.
Then let there be rejoicing.
Then let there be dreaming.
Let there be laughter in your mouth
and on your tongue shouts of joy.
Let the seeds soaked by tears
turn to grain,
to bread,
to feasting.
Let there be coming home.
Jan Richardson, Based on Psalm 126:5 “May those who sow with tears reap with souths of joy”
God’s Word for God’s People
A Reading from the book of Isaiah (40:1, 25-31)
Reader: Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? Says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people
People: Thanks be to God.
Psalm 121
Leader: I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from where is my help to come?
People: My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and Earth
Leader: He will not let your foot be moved and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.
People: Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Leader: The Lord himself watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
People: So that the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night
Leader: The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; it is he who shall keep you safe.
People: The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for ever more.
Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
People: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen
A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew (11:28-30)
Leader: ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
Leader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people
People: Thanks be to God.
Hymn: O come, O come, Emmanuel
A LITURGY OF REMEMBRANCE
Lighting of Four Advent Candles
First Candle:
Leader: We light the first candle to remember those persons whom we have loved and lost. We pause to remember their name, their voice, their face, the memory that binds them to us in this season. We hold them before God, giving thanks for their lives in ours. I invite you to take a moment to remember those who have died, please name them, aloud or in the silence of your hearts….
All: God of love, thank you for the gift each of these people has been in our
lives. Take our sad and aching hearts and comfort us. Comfort us, for we only feel hollowness and emptiness. God of sorrowing, draw near! Amen.
Second Candle:
Leader: We light the second candle to redeem the pain of loss; the loss of relationships, the loss of employment, the loss of health in ourselves or in those close to us, the loss of joy and the peace in our lives from the stresses which surround us. As we gather up the pain of the past we offer it to you, 0 God, asking that into our open hands you will place the gift of peace.
I invite you to take a moment to name the losses. Please name them, aloud or in the silence of your hearts….
All: God of mystery, we turn our hearts to you. We come before you in need of peace. We want to place our trust in you, but our hearts grow fearful and anxious. We forget so easily that you will be with us in all that we experience. Help us to trust that even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death your rod and your staff are with us. We never walk alone. Amen.
Third Candle:
Leader: We light the third candle for those who experience a loss of direction in their lives. God of the Exodus, you led Moses and your people through the wilderness to a new land. We want so much to have a sense of direction, to know where we are and where we ought to be headed. But the uncertainty of the journey wears on us.
All: God of the depths, help us to know, deep withing, that you are our signpost, our wisdom, and our guide. Your words to us are clear: “Do not fear, I go before you. Take all that is lost in us and bring it home with you. Amen
Fourth Candle:
Leader: We light the fourth candle as a sign of hope, the hope that the story of the incarnation offers to us. We remember that God, who shares our life, promises us a place and time of no more pain and suffering.
All: O God whose spirit is known by those whose hearts are thankful, and who makes cheerfulness a companion of strength, lift up our hearts, we pray to a joyous confidence in your care. Guide us when we cannot see the way. Teach us to know that a shadow is only a shadow because the light of eternal goodness shines behind the object of our fears. Where there is love in life, teach us to find it so our lives bring comfort and encouragement to others. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ whose life is our light. Amen
Prayers of the People
Intercessor: In the spirit of this season let us now confidently ask our God for all the good things we need: For ourselves as we participate in this Christmas as special people coping with our many different losses. God, hear our prayer.
People: And in your mercy, answer.
Intercessor: For our families and friends, that they may continue to help and support us. God, hear our prayer.
People: And in your mercy, answer.
Intercessor: For any person we have loved who has died, for all the losses we know in our lives, that all may be redeemed by your Easter promise. God, hear our prayer.
People: And in your mercy, answer.
Intercessor: For our family and friends, that you may bless them with love, peace, and joy. God, hear our prayer.
People: And in your mercy, answer.
Intercessor: For peace throughout the world as proclaimed by the Christmas Angels on that faraway hillside. God, hear our prayer
People: And in your mercy, answer
Intercessor: For greater understanding of the lessons of love and acceptance as taught by Jesus your Christ. God, hear our prayer.
People: And in your mercy, answer.
Intercessor: God of great compassion and love, listen to the prayers of these your people. Grant to all, especially the bereaved and troubled ones this Christmas, the blessing we ask.
Together: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever.
Amen.
~ New Zealand Prayer Book
Acts of Remembrance and Hope
Each of us comes bearing our own hurts, sorrows, broken places. I invite each of you to offer your personal remembrances to the God who loves each of us deeply and wants to carry our pain. God waits patiently, gently calling out:
“Give me your pain, come to me… all who labor and are heavy laden, I will refresh you!”
At various locations around the Sanctuary, you will find locations at which you may Offer an act of remembrance:
Light amid darkness: At the Altar: You are invited to light a candle, in remembrance or to lighten the darkness around you, as you do so, remember that…
“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.” (Matt 5:14)
Giving of our tears: At the Choir: Tears are God’s gift to us, our own unique holy water. A deep release, tears come as a blessing, healing, cleansing, purging the sorrow flowing from within. You are invited to add the salt bit by bit slowly, prayerfully to the water as a way of giving your tears to God, letting our tears become holy waters for all that has been lost this year, remembering that even in our sorrow, God is with us.
Hear my prayer, O Lord
And give ear to my cry;
Do not hold your peace at my tears. (Psalm 39: 12)
Washing away sorrow: At the font: I invite you to take your stone, thinking of the sorrows, the anxieties, and the fears that you hold in your heart. As you wash the stone, imagine God washing away your fears, anxieties, and sorrows, just as the waters of our baptism wash us anew.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matt 5:4)
Anointing: You are invited to come forward to be anointed for healing and to be blessed.
The Lord is the strength of all people
He is the saving refuge of his anointed (Psalm 39: 12)
Naming our sorrow: At the tree: In this world where so much is unknown and sorrow and hurts come in many forms, it is important to name what it is, which holds us in places of darkness. I invite you now to take the piece of paper and the pen, and prayerfully write the name of the person or the situation that is causing you pain, sadness, or concern, I invite you to place this paper on the tree or offer it unto God in prayer.
God, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries.
Don’t turn your back on me just when I need you so desperately.
Pay attention! This is a cry for help!
And hurry—this can’t wait! Psalm 102: 1,2
A time for Silence and Reflection
"Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light" by Jan Richardson
Blessed are you
who bear the light
in unbearable times,
who testify
to its endurance
amid the unendurable,
who bear witness
to its persistence
when everything seems
in shadow
and grief.
Blessed are you
in whom
the light lives,
in whom
the brightness blazes—
your heart
a chapel,
an altar where
in the deepest night
can be seen
the fire that
shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith,
in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines
every broken thing
it finds.
Leader: May you know that you are deeply, deeply loved and that God is with you. May the hope of the Christ Child sustain you through this darkness. That together we may shine again. Amen
Hymn: O come, O come, Emmanuel, *
O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Desire of nations,
bind in one the hearts of all humankind;
bid thou our sad divisions cease, and be thyself our King of Peace.Rejoice! Rejo
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel