Dear People of God
Grace to you and peace
Some dates for your Diary
2 December (next Saturday) Christmas Fair at St Michael’s from 8am
10 December Ecumenical Carol Service at St Paul’s 6pm, supper to follow
Christmas Services:
Christmas Eve
6pm: Childrens’ Pageant and Eucharist, St Michael’s Hall
11.45pm: First Eucharist of Christmas, St Paul’s
Christmas morning
8:00am Eucharist, St Michael’s
Please circulate the service information as widely as you can.
We don’t do many things together as a whole Christian community: the Ecumenical Carol Service is one time when we can all come together, putting aside our divisions and differences, as together we pause to wonder at the Mystery of the Incarnation, being reminded that God’s love doesn’t stop at our boundaries. Santa will not be calling at this service, and there will be no sleigh bells and reindeer, but we will come expecting to glimpse the wonder of God who takes us so seriously as to put aside his eternal glory to reconcile us to Godself.
SAMARITANS GIVING TREE I remind you of the list of suitable gifts for gifting to the people in need at ChristmasAdults: Gift Cards from Kmart, Target, BigW, Westfield, Movies (ideally boxed for easy distribution), toiletry pack, deodorant, aftershave, socks, hand cream, jewellery, chocolates
Older Children: Gift cards, beach towel, sun hat, sunscreen
Young Children: Barbie dolls, headbands, footballs, monster trucks, cars, board games
Why gift cards? They are a thoughtful way to provide a gift enabling the recipient to choose something personal for themselves.
The tree is in place in Beresfield, and if I can find the one at Thornton that will be in place this Sunday (!) but tree in place or not, gifts may be placed at the altar rails.
There is a flyer available in each church advertising the Carol Service and Christmas Services. Please take a few to display in shop windows, community notice boards and wherever else may be appropriate (with permission, of course, from the people who own or operate these facilities)
The Lord be with you
Fr George
PROPERS for Christ the King
Sentence
O shout to the Lord in triumph all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his face with songs of joy. (Psalm 100.1)
Collect
God of power and love, who raised your Son Jesus from death to life, resplendent in glory to rule over all creation: free the world to rejoice in his peace, to glory in his justice, and to live in his love. Unite the human race in Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Readings
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 God the True Shepherd
Psalm 100 Thanksgiving to the Lord
Ephesians 1:15-23 Paul’s prayer
Matthew 25:31-46 The judgement of the nations
SERMON (Fr George)
In the Name of God, Amen
Christ the King or, if you prefer it, the Reign of Christ. Heaven is not a Republic and the President is not elected. But the King is unlike anything of the earthly models. It is, rather, a kingship of free consent by the constituents of the kingdom. Jesus wasn’t kidding when he told Pilate that “my kingdom is not of this world”, because it overturns all worldly models.
History is littered with examples of kingdoms that have been overthrown, either by forces within or forces from without: revolutions and wars. The Old Testament Prophets railed against the kings of the various manifestations of the Hebrew kingdoms who used their positions for self-aggrandisement and contrasted that with the ideal of the Shepherd-King who would gather the flock, sort out the good and the bad, and shepherd the flock in productive and peaceful ways whilst God protected the whole people. No matter how grand the kings of Judah might be, they were still subject to God. Ezekiel, from whom we heard this morning, idealises God as the Good Shepherd: was he echoing Psalm 23?
Christ the King calls his subjects to follow him. The throne he occupied has its image above the altar here: it’s a cross. Some King! Some Throne!
We are used to “top down” models of authority, but the Servant-King model of Jesus inverts all of that. You’ve probably heard me said that the proper model of the Church is not a pyramid or cone where authority filters down from above. Pyramids don’t move: they stay put and eventually erode away, even though they may last for thousands of years. It’s a cone, certainly, but an inverted one, balanced on its point. That’s inherently unstable and, like the child’s toy top, only works when it’s pumped up and spinning. That centrifugal force, when applied to the Church, is called “Grace”.
To apply that model to the church, the bishop, or archbishop, or pope, or patriarch, call it what you will, is the pointy bit, supporting the structure above it: call those layers clergy and laity or whatever terms you want to use, but they are all interdependent and all depend on the energy of Grace.
We are called into a Kingdom of Grace as servants of the Servant King. Just as he served them, so his followers are called to be servants of the communities in which they are set: to create community and then to nurture it in a multitude of ways. The community grows by Grace, just as it is the Grace that sustains it and the source of Grace is the Servant King, to whom be glory for eternity.
Amen
INTERCESSIONS (Deacon Gail)
The response to our prayers is:
May your kingdom come, in us as in heaven.
To you, O Christ our King, and our God, belongs all power, dominion, and authority in heaven and on earth. Come, rule in our hearts, help us to forward your kingdom on earth. We ask this in your holy name, Jesus Christ our Lord, living and reigning with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
We pray for the rulers of nations and people, that they may be open to your will and govern with grace. We remember all who are striving for freedom, all who are seeking to improve our world, all working to relieve poverty. We look for the day when the kingdoms of this world will be the kingdom of Christ. We pray for creators of beauty, all artists and craftspeople, musicians, sculptors, architects, and gardeners.
May your kingdom come, in us as in heaven.
You are the King of Glory, the eternal Son of the Father; we give you praise for you have conquered the darkness of death and opened the heaven to all believers. We offer you our obedience, we give you our love, and seek to live to your glory. Lord, grant that your church may be an instrument for the coming of your kingdom on earth. We pray for all who are seeking to bring peace and goodwill to the earth. In the wider church we pray for our sister Diocese of Guadalcanal, The Anglican Consultative Council and the Mission to Seafarers and in the Australian Church for the Diocese of Armidale
May your kingdom come, in us as in heaven.
We pray in this Diocese for our Bishop Peter, for our Bishops Assisting Charlie, and Sonia; for Samaritans Foundation and the Society of St Francis. In this parish we pray for our clergy George, and Gail with their families; and for our SRE teachers. We pray also for Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
May your kingdom come, in us as in heaven.
Lord, come and rule in our homes; come rule in our lives and all our relationships; come rule in all our dealings; come rule in our hearts. Come, Lord, change us and we shall be changed. In our local community we pray for Shirley’s Woodberry Drapery, Beresfield Post Office, David Lloyd Funerals and Beresfield Train Station.
May your kingdom come, in us as in heaven.
We ask your blessing for all divided peoples, all suffering from war or oppression particularly those in the Ukraine and Russia, as well as Israel and Palestine. We remember all who are struggling and cannot cope on their own. Lord, give comfort and strength to all who are ill, all who are fearful. We pray for friends and loved ones who are in need at this time. Especially today we pray for those who have asked for our prayers Betty, Lynn, Heidi, Ann, Levi, Arlo, and Grace, and those on our regular prayer list, along with those known only to us. [ pause ]
May your kingdom come, in us as in heaven.
You, King of Glory, have triumphed over death, you have defeated darkness, you have redeemed us by love. We commend to you all our loved ones and friends who have departed this life. We pray for Janette Bell, Sidney Sansom and Suzie Gray, whose anniversary of death occurs at this time.
+Rest eternal, grant to them O Lord; and let your light perpetual shine upon them.
Almighty God, you have promised to hear our prayers: Grant that what we have asked in faith we may by your grace receive, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SAINTS and Commemorations of the Week (26 Nov – 2 Dec)
29 Nov Day of Intercession for the Missionary work of the Church
30 Nov Andrew, Apostle and Martyr
2 Dec
Frances Perry, founder of the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne (1892)
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