大象传媒

Please note:

This script cannot exactly reflect the transmission, as it was prepared before the service was broadcast. It may include editorial notes prepared by the producer, and minor spelling and other errors that were corrected before the radio broadcast.

It may contain gaps to be filled in at the time so that prayers may reflect the needs of the world, and changes may also be made at the last minute for timing reasons, or to reflect current events.

Welcome: Hugh Palmer

A very warm welcome to All Souls Langham Place at the heart of London鈥檚 West End. We have the 大象传媒鈥檚 Broadcasting House as our neighbours and Oxford Circus just a stone鈥檚 throw away. Sunday by Sunday God brings people from over 60 different nations to worship in the church family here. It鈥檚 wonderful to have you join with us on this second Sunday in Advent - a season when we anticipate the coming of the Christ. Melinda Hendry will be leading our service, but we begin with one of Charles Wesley鈥檚 great Advent hymns, sung to an equally great Welsh tune, Hyfrydol.
(Approx. 104 words = 40鈥�)

Hymn聽聽Come, O long-expected Jesus

Leader:

Our theme for this advent service is the Hope of freedom from sin and evil. We begin by acknowledging and confessing our own sin and bringing it to God.

We have come together in our Father鈥檚 presence to offer him, through our Lord Jesus Christ, praise and thanksgiving; to hear his most holy Word; to pray for other as well as ourselves; and to ask forgiveness for our sins. Let us then confess our sins to Almighty God and pray together:

Words of confession (said together):
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have broken your holy laws. We have left undone what we ought to have done, and we have done what we ought not to have done. O Lord, have mercy on us pitiful sinners. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who truly repent, as you have promised through Jesus Christ our Lord. And grant, O merciful Father, for his sake, that we may live a godly, righteous, and disciplined life, to the praise of your holy name. Amen.

Leader:
Loving Father we rejoice that you pardon and forgive all those who truly repent and sincerely believe your holy gospel: grant us true repentance and your holy Spirit; so that we may live godly, righteous and holy lives and that we may come at the last to your eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen

With the confidence that we are children of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray together the Christian family prayer, which Jesus taught us to pray as we wait for his return.

All:
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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now and for ever. Amen.

Leader:
And we continue in prayer as we pray together the Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent:

All:
Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may so hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that through patience and the comfort of your holy Word, we may embrace and for ever hold fast the joyful hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Leader:
The choir are going to sing for us now, a song that points us forward to when Christ will come again, not in the humility of a manger, but in all his glory.

Choir anthem: My Lord he is a comin鈥� soon
My Lord, he is a comin鈥� soon, prepare the way of the Lord,
get everything ready for that day, prepare the way of the Lord.

If you鈥檙e asleep, it鈥檚 time to wake up
awake, O sleeper, arise!
If you鈥檙e in the dark, it鈥檚 time to be lit,
wake up O sleeper and arise!

Come, Lord Jesus, come into my heart,
Prepare the way of the King!
He is coming, he鈥檚 coming soon:
wake up O sleeper arise!

My Lord, he is a comin鈥� soon, prepare the way of the Lord,
get everything ready for that day, prepare the way of the Lord, the Lord;
prepare the way of the Lord.
(Approx. 2鈥�30鈥�)聽聽聽

Reading 1:
Reader:
Our first Bible reading is Psalm 13.

1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
聽聽聽 How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
聽聽聽 and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
聽聽聽 How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
聽聽聽 Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, 鈥淚 have overcome him,鈥�
聽聽聽 and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
聽聽聽 my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord鈥檚 praise,
聽聽聽 for he has been good to me.

Reader: This is the word of the Lord

All: Thanks be to God.

Song聽Jesus, hope of the nations,

Hugh: Talk Part 1

On the surface it has not been a great year for hope has it? The Manchester arena bombing, the London terrorist attacks,the Las Vegas massacre, wars in聽 Somalia, Syria, Yemen鈥� whatever words you use to describe them, there is little sign of the grip of evil and sin loosening. Add in Hollywood鈥檚 scandals with Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey triggering a fresh wave of abuse accusations and there has certainly been no shortage of material for the headline writers to work with. And headline writers rarely expose the personal sins and wrongs we bring to the table ourselves. It is hard to keep hope in the idea that the world will ever be free from evil.

Besides we live in a world gripped by the fallout that comes from it and victimhood as well as illness, injustice as well as death are part of day to day living in a fallen world. We know the grip of evil and sin for ourselves and who doesn鈥檛 long for freedom from it. Bible writers do, and we can surely join in their cry as they call out 鈥楬ow long? How long?鈥�

As the lull before the storm of Christmas sweeps away all opportunity for thought, Advent cries out to us to pause and reflect and recover our perspective on life 鈥� or rather to recover God鈥檚 perspective on our lives and our world and our futures.

Even so hope does not come simply:

I don鈥檛 know how you feel about dentists. I suspect they don鈥檛 rank in many people鈥檚 Top 10 favourite people to see 鈥� not professionally. Very few of us get up in the morning and when someone says to us 鈥淗ave a good day!鈥� reply 鈥淚 will. I am off to see the dentist!鈥�

I always go there hoping there鈥檚 nothing wrong. Even if I fear there is, I am not going to tell. I feel the deal is that if the dentists want to do a filling it is up to them to find the problem! Stupid I know but I am a wimp.

Have you wondered what it is like being a dentist. Going to work every day knowing聽 that people dread seeing you.

Don鈥檛 get me wrong; some of my best friends are dentists, and when I have got toothache any dentist is my best friend 鈥β� and my best hope too of being rid of the ache and the pain.

This hope of freedom is a bit like that. The more evil and sin wrap themselves around me, the more appealing is the promise that one day we could be free of them and the more obvious it is that there will need to be some deep root canal treatment if that promise is ever to have substance.

The promises had been there for centuries. One day God would act and evil would be sorted and sin would be banished, justice would prevail and all would be made new. Promises, yes,
but where was the reality? The psalmist鈥檚 cries of 鈥楬ow long? How long?鈥� make perfect sense.

The more you look and the messier the world seems, the more you have to wonder if God is just leaving us to it, whether he would want to have anything more to do with us. The wonder of Christmas is the resounding note of hope it sounds. The God who comes down, enters in, gets involved, stoops to the depths of our sin. He does want to, he is bothered, he will do 鈥� but 2000 years later we are still waiting and 鈥楬ow long? How long?鈥� is not far from our lips either.

(647 words -聽 Dur. 4鈥�00?)

Song聽We have sung our songs of victory,

Reading 2: Revelation 21: 1-8

Reader:
Our second reading is from the book of Revelation, chapter 21, verses 1 to 8

Then I saw 鈥渁 new heaven and a new earth,鈥漑a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 鈥淟ook! God鈥檚 dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 鈥楬e will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death鈥橻b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.鈥�
5 He who was seated on the throne said, 鈥淚 am making everything new!鈥� Then he said, 鈥淲rite this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.鈥�
6 He said to me: 鈥淚t is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars鈥攖hey will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.鈥�

Reader: This is the word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God

Hugh: Talk Part 2

We wince as we hear those harsh words about the second death but they should also bring a deep sigh of relief that finally those sins and evils, the spiritual, sexual, speaking, social sins are truly gone and we are free. They are the root canal treatment that makes freedom possible.

鈥淚 am making everything new鈥� explains Jesus in John鈥檚 great vision of the new heaven and the new earth, the new reality in which this hope will be realised.

For hope blazes out of John鈥檚 book of Revelation. His visions show a graphic picture of evil and sin and yet they are alive with hope, with an ending that spells freedom. And John writes it from a place of hopelessness. He writes it from a penal colony! He introduces himself as 鈥榖rother and companion in the suffering and the kingdom that are ours in Jesus鈥�. He writes to reassure that that experience is truly God at work, but writes with the hope that God has plans for something far more. Writes as one who is in relationship with this Jesus, knows his forgiveness and transformation, experiences the 鈥榥ow鈥� of the christian life but knows all along there is also the 鈥榥ot yet鈥�.

Because of course what Christmas unleashes doesn鈥檛 stop in the manger! It doesn鈥檛 stop with Easter and the major surgery of the cross, nor even with the resurrection and ascension. The promise is that Jesus came into the world to re-write our stories, alter their trajectories, take us from a world constantly tainted and scarred by sin and evil to one where they have no place and no part to play.聽 Indeed he will come again to deliver on that hope.

鈥淚 am making everything new鈥� means freedom from all that goes with them too:
鈥淗e will wipe every tear from their eyes鈥� as if God himself squats down and wipes the tears from your cheek personally 鈥� no need for any more of those! Almighty God doing that? It takes your breath away! It needs to take away many a false picture of God himself too.
鈥淭here will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away鈥� we are told. For the first time since Adam and Eve enjoyed the garden of Eden we will live in a world without the curse, the fallout of sin. No more death means no more hearses; no more crying, no more hankies; no more pain, no more hospitals needed either.

鈥淚 am making all things new鈥�.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not the real world鈥� someone says. And they are right! It is not the real world 鈥� but it will be! It may only be our hope in this moment, but it is God鈥檚 purpose and plan so it is a very real one.

Connie was a wonderful Ugandan christian and a longstanding member of our church family until she died earlier this year from cancer. I went to visit her in hospital at the very end of her life. We both knew this would be the last time we would meet in this world. I went thinking how awful, how sad. Then I find her telling me how good God is and talking of her future. Talking of the glory that lies ahead for her, of the freedom she will enjoy from the pain and the weakness she feels at the moment. Reminding me that we will see each other again and what a future that will be. I am mourning the end of one chapter, she is rejoicing in her hope, the opening of the next one.

And the key to it all?聽 The Jesus she had been following for so many years, whom she looked to for the forgiveness we all need for our collaboration with sin and evil, looked to for the joy that so often lit up her face in a beaming smile, even in her hospital bed, for the hope that sustained her to the very end and will be her future.

鈥淚 am making all things new鈥�.

Jesus tasted the full horror of sin and evil for us. He can鈥檛 be accused of living in some fantasy land out of touch with reality. And this Messiah has not budged on the promise to deliver.

Before Christmas rushes us off our feet and absorbs us in all this world has to offer, we need to be grateful for Advent and its reminder of even deeper joys and more substantial freedoms ahead. Enjoy them!

Hymn聽1聽聽聽 Glorious things of you are spoken,

Leader:
We鈥檝e just sung of the solid joys and lasting treasures that those who follow Christ know. And so let us declare with joy the faith we share in together.聽 (The Apostles鈥� Creed.)

Christian, what do you believe?

All:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

We are going to sing again. A song that leads us in responding to the freedom that Christ has given us.

Song: Freedom and Life are ours

Leader:
Intercessory Prayers

We bring our world and ourselves before God now as we pray...

Our Gracious God,
We praise you and thank you for the confidence we have that one day the Lord Jesus will return and make all things new. And we say Come Lord Jesus!

But as we wait for that day, we bring before you our world in all its brokenness. We pray for those places where there is ongoing violence, injustice, and war, where people live in fear. We pray that your justice and your peace might break through the darkness and bring real transformation. We pray that you would strengthen us as your church to proclaim the good news of the gospel, the only real hope for lasting freedom.

We pray for ourselves that you would give us fresh courage to live in ways that point to the hope we have, and that speaks of and reflects the new creation that is coming. And as we experience the brokenness of the world ourselves, - keep us trusting, keep us hoping, keep us following Jesus and may his good news transform us - and begin to transform our world - even now.

And the collect for Advent:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility so that on the last day, when he will come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

Hugh:
Blessing
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
May the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you all this day and for evermore.
Amen

Song聽1聽聽聽 There's a place where the streets shine