Showing posts with label Advent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advent. Show all posts

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Advent 2, 2014

For this Advent we have four different preachers who are all part of St Hilda's Church. There was no specific theme or brief beyond, of course, 'Advent' itself.

Advent 2 
Advent is a spiritual journey:
  • John the Baptist's journey was from the settled community into the desert, where (like the prophets of old) he met God. 
  • Jesus travelled in the opposite direction. After 40 days in the wilderness he journeyed around the area before setting out for the city, Jerusalem. More specifically he travelled into the heart of God's city, to the holiest place on earth: God's temple set on his holy mountain.
  • Our journey is different again: to see a little baby. To see God in the smallest, most vulnerable, most dependant person. Our spiritual journey is to be born again, and to become like a little child. 
Paul Bagshaw
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We'll post brief notes of the sermons each week, just to give a flavour. As the weeks go by and Christmas comes closer we'll link each post to the others.

Advent 1: November 30th - Revd Michael Bass
Advent 2: December 7th - Revd Paul Bagshaw
Advent 3: December 14th - Carol Ann Shields
Advent 4: December 21st - Revd Jon Goode

Thursday 4 December 2014

Advent in South Africa

The Archbishop of Cape Town, of The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba, has begun to put his advent reflections online.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba

He has a tougher patch than most bishops in the UK.

His most recent post describes some of his recent travels and links to various activities in the archdiocese. 

It includes:
I was particularly moved by one of the events I attended this year, when I heard the story of a girl, Nadia, who is a survivor of human trafficking
She was abducted from her home at the age of 14. By the age of 16, she had had two children as a result of the abuse she suffered. As she told her story and read a “survivor’s poem” we were all reduced to tears. Her story was painful in itself but what was more piercing was when she said: 
And so Nadia’s story will remain with me as I continue to reflect on the Incarnate Christ in our lives, and His redemptive love, shared by Nadia, who has all the reason in the world to be angry but who challenged us to smile with her. 
“Please do me a favour – smile with me. Because your smile and your hope and your determination make me stronger. If you collapse and cry with me, you make my wounds too deep.”
I think that is in Nadia that our Christmas message lies this year: that despite being raped, exiled, abducted, trafficked and abused, the Christ Child emerges and offers us that hope which supersedes all human understanding.



Tuesday 2 December 2014

Advent 1, 2014

For this Advent we have four different preachers who are all part of St Hilda's Church.

There was no specific theme or brief beyond, of course, 'Advent' itself.

We'll post brief notes of the sermons each week, just to give a flavour.  As the weeks go by and Christmas comes closer we'll link each post to the others. 

Advent 1
Advent and love
Advent is about the coming of love. 
We are all interested in the future but are often not sure what it will bring. Looking at the calendar we know that Christmas comes on 25th December. So we need to prepare. 
Despite the commercial pressures we have four weeks to get ready in our hearts and minds for the gift of love. 
We are preparing for the birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, and Saviour of the world. 
We need to prepare a place for Christ to be born in our hearts.  
We need to seek forgiveness of our sins so that we are pure to receive God's gift of love. 
Here are two statements to think about as you prepare.
  1. Love is the only rational option
  1. Love wins: love always wins.
Michael Bass
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The posts in this series:

Advent 1: November 30th - Revd Michael Bass
Advent 2: December 7th - Revd Paul Bagshaw
Advent 3: December 14th - Carol Ann Shields
Advent 4: December 21st - Revd Jon Goode

Monday 1 December 2014

Advent Calendar

Virtually everything's virtual these days.

The Church Urban Fund's virtual Advent Calendar will reveal prayers, pictures, activities and reflections that all of your family will enjoy ~ one picture released each day so there's no chance of getting to the chocolates early.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?” 
“When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  Matthew 25:37-40

Friday 28 November 2014

Advent


Paula Gooder and Peter Babington, with the Archbishop of York.



Advent starts this Sunday - in St Hilda's we open the season with the children lighting the first of the Advent candles.