e-Service - 29 November 2010

Mexborough Baptist Church Sunday 29nd November 2020

First Sunday in Advent

We begin our Advent service by lighting the Advent candle click on this link

In our waiting and preparation we sing 'O come, o come, Immanuel' click on this link

Advent Family Corner

Lisa began our Family Advent by delivering Advent Week 1 goody bags to our children yesterday.

In the bag this week were the materials for making an Advent Wreath and here is Lisa to show us how. Click on this link

There was also a family census form which you might like to come back to after the service and fill it in with your family.

Family Census

In Luke 2:1-5, Mary and Joseph were traveling back to Joseph’s home town of Bethlehem for the Census (to be counted and pay their taxes). We still have a national census in the UK every ten years; fortunately, we don’t have to travel back to our ancestral lands! The next census is scheduled for March 2021 and they usually ask some basic details about who we are and how we live.

Just for fun, why don’t you fill in this census with your family?

1. How many people live in our house?

2. What are the ages of the people in our house?

3. Why do we have Bibles in our house?

4. What’s the best thing about our family?

5. What do we like to pray about together?

6. What’s our favourite thing about Christmas?

7. How does our family’s faith help us at school or work?

8. What’s each person’s favourite Christmas decoration?

9. When are the best times for our family to talk about God?

10. What’s something you’re thankful to God for today?

There was also an Advent Calendar. Click on this link to see it. You may like to print this and display it.

Lisa leads us in a prayer for our children.

Wonderful Father, thank you for blessing our world with children and babies. You care so much for our smallest citizens that you encourage us all, young and old, to come to you as if we were a child, and you tell us that "the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." So great is your love for our children that you warn of the fiercest punishment for anyone intending to harm them. Thank you, Lord, for loving them with such a burning passion, and for protecting their innocence.
In this uncertain time, we ask that you cast your wings of protection over our children and young people. Let them not fear what will become of tomorrow, or suffer anxiety over what might happen next week. Let them rest in your perfect peace and enjoy precious time with their families in this season of Advent. We pray that, in the coming weeks as we deliver our Advent gift bags, every young person and their family will be blessed, and reminded of your perfect love. Amen.

Before Paul shares with us his reflections for Advent, let's sing a favourite children's song - Little Donkey Click on this link

'Essential Travel Only' is one of the phrases that characterise 2020. Who decides what 'essential travel' is? At different times the advice has been not to travel abroad or to a different area of the country; to work at home rather than going to work; to find alternative means of travel - walk or cycle - rather than use public transport. Various MPs, government advisors and others have been caught out when they've made non-essential journeys and they've paid the price for it.

The Christmas story is full of journeys. Are they essential? Absolutely!

The Angel Gabriel could well be described as a frequent flyer; I think he makes no less than 6 journeys in the Christmas story:

One to Jerusalem to tell old Zechariah that he and Elizabeth will soon be the proud parents of a son who would go before the Lord, Luke 1:11-21.
Two to Nazareth: to visit Mary and tell her she is going to have a miraculous baby, Luke 1:26-38, and a while later to Joseph in a dream to tell him it was all right to marry Mary, Matthew 1:20-23.
Two to Bethlehem: to proclaim the good news of the Saviour's birth to the shepherds, Luke 2:8-12, and some time later to warn the Wise Men in a dream to go home by a different route, Matthew 2:12, and to tell Joseph in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod, Matthew 2:13.
One to Egypt to appear to Joseph in a dream and tell him it was safe to go home to Israel, Matthew 2:19-20.

Mary travels to Judea to visit her relative Elizabeth and that visit is a real confirmation to both of them that the babies they are carrying are very special in the plans of God; then Mary travels home to Nazareth again, Luke 1:39-56

Mary and Joseph travel the 80 or so miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census ordered by Caesar Augustus, Luke 2:1-5 and about 6 weeks after the birth of Jesus, they travel the 5 or 6 miles to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord and make the prescribed sacrifice, Luke 2:22-24.

Mary, Joseph and Jesus travel more than 40 miles to Egypt to escape from Herod the Great, Matthew 2:14-15. Some time later they return to Nazareth, over 100 miles, Matthew 2:21-23, Luke 2,39-40.

The shepherds travel from the fields into Bethlehem to see for themselves what the angel had told them, Luke 2:15-17.

The Wise Men travelled about 1000 miles from the east to pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews and then back to their homeland, Matthew 2:1-12.

So why all the travelling and is it all essential? It was all essential because God was putting people where they needed to be to bring about His plan of salvation. Peter tells us that Jesus 'was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake." (1 Peter 1:20). All through Scripture, right from the early chapters of Genesis, God was revealing what He was going to do; for instance, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem to a virgin, Micah 5:2, Isaiah 7:14. How many other fulfilled prophecies can you find in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke? And so, as often in the Old Testament when God is about to do something big, an angel is dispatched to bring God's message to those who will be involved in it. And then they have to do something about it. Mary and Joseph have to accept God's will for them and go to the geographical place where God has determined it will happen; go to the place where they can fulfil their religious duty; go to the place where they can be safe. The shepherds need to go and see, so that they can tell people what God has done. The Wise Men need to come and worship and not go back to Herod. If any one of these journeys had not been made, there would have been no Christmas Story.

And there's another journey - the biggest and most essential of them all. God left heaven and came to earth. The creator of the whole universe became a helpless human baby. If he hadn't made that journey, not only would there be no Christmas story, there would also be no Easter story. Where would we be? Most likely still lost in paganism or atheism, certainly we would still be dead in our sins with no hope of salvation. God coming to earth and dying for our sins - now that is the most essential journey ever.

Graham Kendrick wrote a song about God's journey - From heaven you came helpless babe Click on this link

Prayers

We have received so many wonderful heartfelt prayers - thank you all - that we will spread them throughout Advent. Our prayers today include a response written by Suzanne: