Second Sunday after Christmas
What follows is a worship service which, I pray, you can participate in at a time(s) that are convenient to you. This 'service' will take about forty five (45) minutes.
I pray that you will feel called to ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE in this service.
The text that is in regular typeface (that is what you are reading at the moment) is to be read quietly, while the text that is in bold face (like you are reading right now) is meant to be read aloud.
Opening Hymn:
Let us continue by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we commence our praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
A Call To Worship:
We meet in the name of God,
Creator of the universe,
source of true humanity,
mother and father of all. Amen.
An Assurance of Forgiveness:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
The Sentence For Today (let us say aloud):
Happy are the people whose strength is in you! whose hearts are set on the pilgrims' way.
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Our first reading for today:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
Our second reading for today:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
Gradual Hymn:
Let us continue by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we raise out voices in praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
A reading from the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew.
Listen to David speak to this gospel.
or, if you prefer, you can read the sermon, below:
Sermon for 2nd Sunday after Christmas 2024
Grace and mercy are yours, now and forever, through Jesus the Christ. <Amen>
Welcome friends. Peace be with you.
As I mentioned last week, with the birth of Jesus God entrusts himself to humanity. God pitches His tent in our neighbourhood and becomes one of us and lives among us.
God comes to us as we are. The world does not get cleaned up, sanitised, and made presentable for the birth of Jesus. The Christmas story is not one of preparing the nursery, painting the walls, and making it look cute. It is a story that reveals the truth about God and humanity.
That God comes to us as a newborn offers us a new beginning. It also reminds us that the divine life is vulnerable, fragile, and needs to be cared for and protected. There is nothing sentimental here … it’s the reality of life.
Before we can celebrate the Epiphany light (tomorrow in our Christian calendar), the arrival of the wise men and the manifestation of the Christ to the world, we must first remember and acknowledge the darkness of our world.
Today’s story reminds us that Herod is real, not only in Jesus’ time but in ours as well. I don’t know if the slaughter of the innocents happened the way Matthew describes it but I know it is a true story. It has been lived in every age throughout history. I don’t know if Herod really killed all those babies but I know that the Herods of this world will always seek to destroy life, tear that which is holy and sacred.
Herod is in the news every day. You won’t see or hear his name but you’ll recognise him. He’s hard to miss. He’s in some of our families and relationships. He’s in some of our own words, actions, and choices. Herod is our indifference that prevents compassion, our hate and anger that destroy love, our violence and anxiety that defeat peace, our inhumanity that negates our creation in the image and likeness of God, and our politics when it is narrow, self-serving, discriminatory, and exclusive. Our world and sometimes our lives are full of Herods.
Today’s gospel will not let us deny Herod’s existence. That doesn’t, however, mean that all is lost. It means that the world of Herod is the world into which Jesus is born. The world of Herod is the world in which Jesus puts our lives back together. The world of Herod is the world in which Jesus reveals God is with us and for us.
To acknowledge Herod in the Christmas story invites us to move from the darkness of today’s gospel to the light of tomorrow’s Epiphany.
Herod’s darkness is not the final reality. Darkness will not prevail.
That means, however, that each of us, just like Joseph, has both the opportunity and the responsibility to guard the divine life and protect that which is holy and sacred.
That life, that holiness, that sacredness is not only about Jesus it’s also about you and me.
It’s about our lives and our relationships. It’s about people we know and people we’ve never met. It’s about the infinite ways in which the divine life is entrusted to all of us. This divine life is the gift of God for the people of God. Look at your life. Where do you see holiness? What’s sacred? In what ways is God entrusting himself to you? Be specific. God is. God comes to us in very tangible ways. Where is God showing up in your life? How? In or by whom? Call them by name. Picture their faces. Return to the places.
Perhaps it’s in your marriage, your husband or wife, and the life you have created together. Maybe it’s the child or grandchild God has entrusted to you. Maybe it’s the holiness of a best friend. Maybe it’s an early morning cup of coffee and the silence of divine presence. Maybe it’s in reading the scriptures. For many it will be the beauty of nature: a sunrise in which you offer yourself to God, a sunset in which you give thanks for your life and those you love, or a starry sky and the realisation that everything you see speaks of God.
For some of you the ordinary routine of work becomes the place in which your life and God’s life intersect. Maybe studying is a way in which God entrusts himself to you. You read, think, question, pray, and your eyes open to a new way of seeing. It might be your prayer group, shared intimacy, and the experience that wherever two of three are gathered Christ is there.
For some it will be your passion for the poor, feeding the hungry, speaking out for justice, or visiting the sick or dying.
Every one of you could add to my list. There are thousands and thousands of ways in which God offers his life to us, entrusting us with that which is holy and sacred. With each gift God says, “Here, this is yours. Care for it. Guard and protect it. Nurture it. I trust this to you. I have no one else. You are Joseph. You are the one to do this.” So how do we care for and protect that life, beauty, and holiness in a world of Herods?
It has to begin with waking up to the presence of God in our lives. Isn’t that what Joseph did? Isn’t that what he always does? He did it before Jesus was born and he does it again today. Before Jesus was born Joseph had decided to quietly dismiss Mary. It was a matter of life and death. But a dream and an awakening would reveal that Mary’s child was of the Holy Spirit so he took Mary as his wife and named the child Jesus. Today Joseph has another dream and another awakening, and again it is a matter of life and death. “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt …; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
When it comes to the holy life of God with us, Emmanuel, Jesus, it is always a matter of life and death; the child’s, each other’s, our own.
God has entrusted His Son to each one of us in a variety of ways. Just like Joseph we stand in the middle between Jesus and Herod, between life and death, between the life-giver and the life-taker.
What will it be for you? For me? What are we choosing? Are we nurturing and growing the life of Christ within us? How are we caring for the sacred pieces and parts of our lives? How are we creating a home for Jesus?
Don’t be too anxious or distracted by Herod. Remember, neither God nor Joseph dealt directly with Herod. They didn’t give Herod time, attention, or effort. Maybe we shouldn’t either. That doesn’t mean we deny or ignore the Herods of our lives. It means, rather, that we gain FAR more by nurturing, feeding, and building up the divine life within and around us rather than by focussing on or following the Herods of this world.
I runga e te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu. <AMINE>
In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit <AMEN>
Pause and Reflect
Just take a moment now to pause. Bow your head, close your eyes.
Allow these words of Holy Scripture and this interpretation of them today to speak to you.
An Affirmation of Our Faith
Let us affirm our faith by saying aloud, and together, "The Apostles Creed":
... and now let us pray for the Church, the World, and Ourselves, giving thanks for God's goodness.
Let us pray aloud, and together:
In response to the call today “Lord, in Your mercy” Our plea is, “hear our prayer”
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy : Hear our prayer.
Holy God, You sent a star to guide the Wise Men to worship Your Son Jesus, send Your Holy Spirit to guide Your people as we begin a New Year in our Christian life together.
Inspire us in all we do to protect the divine life of Christ within and around us and strengthen us as we strive to speak out against the darkness in our world.
(LONGER pause for silent, personal reflection)
In response to the call today “Lord, in Your mercy” Our response is, “hear our prayer!”
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Creator God, as we face the start of 2025 we pray for your world. Let the star of your justice always shine in the hearts of those who are in authority. Enable all nations to recognise the sanctity of each and every human life in their care so that all may experience an abundance of peace and security.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Father God Your Son shared the life of his home and family at Nazareth: we give thanks for His presence with us in our homes and in our lives. Guide us in our relationships with family and neighbours, especially those in trouble or need and bless those who have guided and enriched our own lives.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Loving God, we pray for all those whom we love who suffer in body, mind or spirit. May their pain be eased and may they find the strength to endure. Comfort them with Your presence and help them to hold on to the knowledge that Your son understood the truth of human suffering.
Give the song of joy to all who are now on the road to recovery and recuperation and the song of thanks to all who helped them on that road.
We especially raise before You now all those who have asked for our prayers from around the world … those we know in New Zealand, in Singapore, in Argentina, in France, in Australia, in the US, in Canada, in Austria, in Ukraine, in China and any others we now name aloud, or in the silence of our hearts, and those who are known only by You.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Merciful God, we pray for all who are coming to the end of their journey here on earth and pray that they may enter into Your presence and kingdom. We pray for all those who have already died and live again with you in the fullness of life eternal.
May all the faithful departed now rest in peace as they most surely have risen in glory.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your Mercy: Hear our prayer
In a moment of silence we pray for ourselves, our families, friends, for all whom we love and for our personal ministries. Make the things that we choose to do worthy of the life, death, and rising again of Your Son.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Gracious God, as we begin a New Year, remind us of the things that are truly important and worthwhile. Help us to live in the goodness that comes from doing what you want us to do. Help us to put aside anxiety about the future and the past, so that we might live in peace with ou now, one day at a time.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Forth in the peace of Christ we go; Christ to the world with joy we bring; Christ in our minds, Christ on our lips, Christ in our hearts, the world’s true King.
Merciful father: accept these prayers for the sake of Your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Remembering that we are confident to pray this day, and every day, because Jesus Christ continues to teach us:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
Let us conclude our prayers by praying together and aloud:
God of mercy,
you have given us grace to pray with one heart and one voice,
and have promised to hear the prayers
of two or three who agree in your name,
fulfil now, we pray,
the prayers and longings of your people
as may be best for us and for your kingdom.
Grant us in this world to know your truth,
and in the world to come to see your glory. Amen.
The Blessing
May The Risen Lord Christ turn His face towards each and every one of you.
May He cause His light to shine upon you, and
may He grant you His peace, and
The blessing of Almighty God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you and all of those whom you love,
on this day and forever more.
A Closing Hymn:
Let us conclude our worship today by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we unite in another hymn our praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
The Dismissal
Go now, go out into the world
to love and serve The Lord.
Go in peace.
AMEN, we go in the name of Christ.
