Year
C
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Sunday
23 December 2012
Eucharistic Preface
Let
us lift up our hearts.
........We
lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our
God.
........It is right to
give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give
you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you are coming to restore us
and save us,
and your mercy embraces the faithful in each
generation.
In ancient days you founded the earth
and
promised mercy to Abraham and his offspring forever.
Through the
law you provided a way of repentance
and through your prophets you
called for justice and peace.
Now you come to us in your
child, Jesus Christ,
at whose name even unborn babies rejoice.
In
him we have seen your promised ruler
who will establish the reign
of peace,
pulling tyrants from thrones
and lifting up the
downtrodden,
filling the hungry with good things
and sending
the greedy away empty.
Though enemies mocked him, scorned him and
killed him,
by your strength you restored him to life,
and
through his bodily offering
you sanctified your people once and
for all.
Therefore with .....
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Short
Preface
(for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with
fixed prefaces)
We give thanks that your mercy embraces each
generation
and we rejoice that you are coming to restore us and
save us.
With eager longing we await your promised ruler
who
will establish your reign of peace
and sanctify your people once
and for all.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net
General Prayer
of Thanksgiving
(Preface reformatted for use apart from
communion)
We give you all thanks and
praise, O God,
for you are coming to restore us and save us,
and
your mercy embraces the faithful in each generation.
In
ancient days you founded the earth
and promised mercy to Abraham
and his offspring forever.
Through the law you provided a way of
repentance
and through your prophets you called for justice and
peace.
Now you come to us in your child, Jesus Christ,
at
whose name even unborn babies rejoice.
In him we have seen your
promised ruler
who will establish the reign of peace,
pulling
tyrants from thrones
and lifting up the downtrodden,
filling
the hungry with good things
and sending the greedy away
empty.
Though enemies mocked him, scorned him and killed him,
by
your strength you restored him to life,
and through his bodily
offering
you sanctified your people once and for all.
Therefore,
with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all
times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Declaration
of Grace / Absolution
God’s
mercy embraces the faithful, one generation to the next.
The light
of God’s presence restores us and saves us.
Through what Jesus
Christ did in his own body,
once and for all,
you are purified
and made fit for God.
Sisters and Brothers,
........your
sins are forgiven;
................be
at peace.
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Commission
& Benediction
Go now, with your hope in God’s
mercy
for all God has promised you will be fulfilled.
Trust
God’s strength for your safety,
walk in the ways of peace,
and
be ready to greet the coming Lord.
And may God our Saviour
look with favour upon you;
May Christ Jesus use his wonderful
power for you;
and may the Holy Spirit leap joyously with
you
........and pour forth from you
in songs of praise.
We go in peace to love and serve the
Lord,
........In the name of
Christ. Amen.
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Paraphrases of the
Scripture Lections
for the 4th
Sunday of Advent - Year C - Sunday 23 December 2012
Lections
from The Revised Common Lectionary.
Copyright 1992 by the
Consultation on Common Texts (CCT)
P. O. Box 340003, Room 381,
Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.
* Michah 5:2-5a
The LORD
says to Bethlehem of Ephrathah:
........“You,
Bethlehem, might only be a one-horse town,
................but
I will put you on the map.
........You
will be the home town of the new ruler,
................the
one who will lead Israel for me.
........His
origins will go way back;
................his
claim will be as old as the hills.”
The LORD’s
people will be lost - God is giving up on them -
........but
only until the labour is over
................and
the mother holds God’s newborn ruler in her arms.
God’s chosen
ruler will bring his people home to Israel,
........reuniting
the refugees as a family again.”
Made strong by the LORD
he will take his stand,
........he
will rule his people on the authority of his glorious God.
He will
care for them and provide all they need,
........and
they will live in freedom and safety.
All over the earth his
greatness will be acknowledged,
........and
he will be the one who establishes peace.
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
* Psalm
80:1-7
God, you are the one who watches over your
people
........like a lifeguard
supervising a dangerous beach,
................watching
from a high seat, like a king enthroned.
Listen to our prayer and
clearly flag the boundaries,
........so
that your tribes will no longer get out of their depth.
Up and
at it, God!
........Come equipped to
rescue us.
Come and smile on us again, God;
........breathe
life back into us and save us.
LORD God,
you rule over everything;
........how
much longer will you keep us in the sin bin,
................turning
away in anger when we pray?
You reduced our rations to tears
alone;
........tears by the plate
full, tears by the cup full.
You made us the laughing stock of our
enemies
and even our neighbours turn up their noses.
Come
and smile on us again, God;
........breathe
life back into us and save us.
©2000 Nathan
Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
* Luke 1:47-55
(if used as an alternative to the Psalm)
We turn the spotlight
on your greatness, God!
........We
dance with wholehearted joy over you, our saviour!
You smiled upon
us, though we were nothing special,
........and
the memory of your generosity to us will last forever.
You have
done wonderful and powerful things for us.
........There
is no other name in the same league as yours.
In every
generation, Lord, you shower mercy
........to
those who treat you with respect.
You have rolled up your sleeves
in a show of strength,
........and
sent packing those who were so full of themselves.
You kicked
the power mongers out of office,
........and
lifted the downtrodden back to their feet.
You put on a feast for
those who were hungry,
........and
slam the door on the rich without giving them a bite.
You give
a helping hand to your servant Israel,
........and
always remembers them with tender care.
This is exactly what you
promised long ago, Lord,
........when
you made a vow to Abraham and Sarah for every generation.”
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
* Hebrews
10:5-10
Christ came into the world
saying,
........“God, you don’t
want more sacrifices and offerings.
................I
know you get no pleasure from all that
stuff,
........................even
when it’s done sincerely and by the book.
........But
you have prepared a body for me, God,
................and
I come now to do what you really want,
........................for
it is what I do that is really ‘by the book’.
Do you see
what he’s saying there? He’s saying that God gets neither
satisfaction nor pleasure from all the different kinds of offerings
that the law prescribed for sin and for various other things. And
he’s going further than that because he’s saying that he’s here
to do what God really wants. This is a total change over. He is
abolishing the previous system and putting a new one in place. So
now, according to what God really wanted, Jesus has dealt with sin
once and for all, at the cost of his own body, and brought us all up
to scratch for God.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net
* Luke 1:39-45,
(46-55)
........When
the angel told Mary that both she and her relative Elizabeth were
going to have babies, Mary took the first opportunity to make the
trip to visit Elizabeth. Elizabeth lived with her husband Zechariah
in a Judean town in the hills. Mary sang out as soon as she arrived
at their house, and when she heard the greeting, Elizabeth felt the
baby jump in her womb. The Holy Spirit welled up in Elizabeth and she
cried out with joy, saying:
........“You
have been blessed like no other woman!
................And
doubly blessed is the child in your womb!
........And
what about me? Why am I so blessed,
................that
my Lord’s own mother should knock at my door?
........The
moment your greeting reach my ears,
................the
baby in my womb began bouncing with glee!
........Clearly
you are God’s favoured one,
................because
you believed what God said to you;
........................trusting
God to follow through on every promise.
Mary
too was bursting with joy. She said:
........“Let
me turn the spotlight on God’s greatness!
................With
all that I am I dance with joy over God, my saviour!
........God
has smiled upon me, though I was no one special,
................and
now I’ll be remembered as the favoured one forever.
........The
supreme God has done wonderful things for me.
................No
other name is in the same league as God’s.
........In
every generation, those who treat God with
respect
................are
rewarded with showers of mercy.
........With
sleeves rolled up, God has made a show of
strength,
................and
sent packing those who were so full of themselves.
........God
has kicked the power mongers out of office,
................and
lifted the downtrodden back to their feet.
........God
has put on a feast for those who were hungry,
................and
slammed the door on the rich without giving them a bite.
........The
Lord’s servant Israel receives a helping hand;
................God
always remembers them with tender care.
........This
is exactly what God promised long ago,
................a
vow made to Abraham and Sarah for every generation.”
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net