24/12/23
Your weekly update from the Benwell & Scotswood Team
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Services this week
Christmas Eve, Sun 24 Dec
9.30am - St John's Holy Communion
11am - Ven Bede hub service
4pm - St Margaret’s crib service
11.30pm - Midnight Mass at St James
Christmas Day, Mon 25 Dec
10am - Ven Bede
News
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Sunday 24th December (Christmas Eve)
9.30am - St John's Benwell Village, NE15 7PL
11am - Venerable Bede, West Road, NE4 8AP
St Margaret's Crib service
Sunday 24th December, 4pm
Location: St Margaret Scotswood, NE15 6AR
Join us at a service that is fun for all the family. We tell the story of Jesus’ birth, place the figures in the nativity scene and sing some of your favourite Christmas carols.
Midnight mass
Sunday 24th December, 11.30pm
Location: St James Benwell, NE15 6RS
One of the most beautiful services of the year. By candlelight, just before midnight on Christmas Eve, we gather to celebrate the coming Jesus Christ with Holy Communion. You are welcome whether you have been before or not.
Don't forget! Christmas day service will be at 10am
Monday 25th December
Location: Venerable Bede, West Road, NE4 8AP Join us on Christmas morning to celebrate the birth of Jesus with Holy Communion. You are welcome even if you have never been before.
Embrace - Gaza appeal
The people of Gaza are living through an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Israel’s response has led to indiscriminate civilian suffering, with residents forced to move from place to place in search of safety. Food and medical supplies have all but run out; water, electricity, and fuel have been cut off.
The people of Gaza were already on their knees with 80% of residents reliant on humanitarian aid to survive. Please, can you make a donation into help in their hour of need?
You can donate online, by clicking below, or by calling 01494 897950. Your gift will support Embrace’s Christian partners in the immediate aftermath of this humanitarian crisis and to help to heal the wounds it’s caused across Israel – Palestine.
Sunday Worship
Sunday 24th December 2023
4th Sunday of Advent - Christmas Eve
Intercessions
Prayers for others:
Maria Hawthorn
Herbert, Lucy, and Luke Agbeko
Ellis Nelson
Pauline Nelson
Michell Wilson
Peter Wilson
Alan Taylor
Maureen Tayor
Irene Foskett
Lorraine Atkinson
Lynn Mosby
Diana Humphrey
Esther Kolie
David Veitch
Rest in peace
Alan
Veronica Hole
If you would like to add someone to the prayer list please email church@benwellscotswood.com
The name will stay on the list for 1 month unless requested to be long-term.
Lighting of the Advent wreath
Advent 4
Lord Jesus, light of the world, blessed is Gabriel, who brought good news;
blessed is Mary, your mother and ours.
Bless your Church preparing for Christmas;
and bless us your children, who long for your coming.
Amen.
Christmas
Lord Jesus, Light of light,
you have come among us.
Help us who live by your light
to shine as lights in your world.
Glory to God in the highest.
Amen.
Sermon
by Revd Chris
By Friday my brain was already addled by Christmas planning, I was desperately searching for sermon inspiration for the ‘Fourth Sunday of Advent’ but I was all too aware that after the morning services at St John’s and the Hub, there would still be the Crib service, Midnight Mass, and Christmas Day to go. As my mind was racing ahead on the Christmas treadmill, it was in the midst of this that Shirley rang to tell me that St John's had been broken into and burglars had tried to cut the safe open.
However, as I hung up, I wasn’t down-hearted, I was actually rather happy, for I now had inspiration for my sermon! There is grace in everything.
So, I want to say thank you to those burglars, not least of all for helping out a tired vicar at Christmas with sermon inspiration. But because they reminded me there are other things happening in the world that don’t stop for Christmas, that the Christmas story isn’t one of easy abundance and indulgence, but one of courage, of light shining in the darkness, and of God stepping into our story. We are on the brink of Christmas, and if we move too quickly, we miss the amazing stories of those around Jesus, and those around us too.
It may feel like everything is going wrong this Christmas, we have heard a few references to things being a bit ‘poo’ already this year! But Jesus reveals to us a God of grace, who doesn’t erase or avoid the difficulty and mess of our world, but who enters those stories and transforms them. If it weren’t for those burglars, I would have forgotten that Jesus does not come in isolation, but becomes part of a family, part a world of human relationships, a community of people that includes us. I could have skipped over today’s Gospel and onto the birth of Jesus, and missed one the most amazing example of Mary, the most important of all those who paved the way for God to enter the world in human flesh.
Mary is one of those figures that some people love to hate. Centuries of anti-Catholic prejudice in the UK has meant that, at best, we have reduced her to a passive character in the school nativity play who gets to hold a plastic doll; at worst we view her with distaste as a focus for sentimental devotion who distracts from Jesus himself. So, let’s slow down for a moment and look at the story traditionally called ‘the Annunciation’.
An angel appears to Mary, Archangel Gabriel no less, who says: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son”. To put this into perspective, in the Bible to be in the presence of an angel of God is not like meeting a heavenly postman, it is to be before something representing God themself, whose awesome nature could mean instant death. In contrast to most biblical characters, when confronted by an angel, Mary is not afraid, but perplexed, she simply asks, ‘umm, how can this be, since I am a virgin?’
What is more, at this moment it is likely she was only a teenager, but this is no meek and submissive girl; she may have been young, and vulnerable, but she is determined and incredibly courageous. In this immense, terrifying, life-changing moment with the glory of God appearing before her, Mary simply worries about the practicalities and is ready to serve. She says: ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ In doing so she echoes the words of the Prophet Isaiah, who when asked by an angel “whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’” he says “Here am I; send me!”. This teenage girl, unknown and unimportant to most people, responds like those great and powerful old men of the Old Testament, but does so with greater courage and determination than them all.
In Mary we see the readiness, the determination, the courage, and, most importantly, the faith to respond with grace when events bigger than us swirl all around us. This year, we have being broken into and being locked out of our bank account by Barclays, in the wider community we have encountered fires and murders, those unable to heat their homes, those who are homeless, those who are separated from their families, and those who have lost loved ones, those who have been in prison, those who are sick, those who are scared, and those who do not know what to feel at all.
But we have also seen stories of courage and faithfulness: in the readiness of Shirley and others to respond and wait for the police when the church is broken into, the preparedness of the team parish and other churches to step in and pay bills when locked out of our bank accounts. We have seen those who know what it’s like to have nothing donate and work endless hours at the foodbank to help others, those who have known hunger and cold offer food and warmth, those who have suffered loss and those who truly know what loneliness is reach out to others and be with them in their grief.
Christmas is not a time for perfection, but for grace. Learning from the example of Mary, and inspired by our burglars and others, let us, in the midst of everything, welcome Jesus in and turn every story of despair into an opportunity for hope, hatred into love, and hurt into forgiveness, let us be courageous enough to ask for help and whav always ready to offer it. Let us follow the example of Mary who said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word”. And, if for some reason those burglars were to hear this message, I want them to know they are welcome here, we know there are all sorts of reasons why you do what you do, if you need help, please ask, the door is open, you don’t need to break the window next time.
Amen.
Collects for the 4th Sunday of Advent:
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.
or
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.
Collects for Christmas Eve:
Almighty God,
you make us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of your Son Jesus Christ:
grant that, as we joyfully receive him as our redeemer,
so we may with sure confidence behold him
when he shall come to be our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
or
Almighty God,
as we prepare with joy
to celebrate the gift of the Christ-child,
embrace the earth with your glory
and be for us a living hope
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Readings
Reading
Romans 16.25–end
25 Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen.
This is the word of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
Gospel Reading
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
All: Glory to you, O Lord.
Luke 1.26–38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 34Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All: Praise to you, O Christ.
Post Communion
Eternal God, for whom we wait,
you have fed us with the bread of eternal life:
keep us ever watchful,
that we may be ready to stand before the Son of man,
Jesus Christ our Lord.