Advent and Christmas – Devotions, Services & Resources
Dear <<First Name>>
Advent is almost upon us and I thought I’d let you know of the various things we’ve produced to mark Advent and Christmas.
In our Daily Devotions we’ll look, when we finish Acts, at the women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy. It’s an interesting list – one we often skip over but we do well to read and look up the stories of the women themselves. After that we’re going to focus for a couple of weeks on the World Cup! The situation in Qatar is starting to hit our news stories at the moment with concern over the rights of migrant workers and everyday Qataris. Our reflections will muse on the joy and exuberance of the tournament but ask hard questions about rights, violence and obscene wealth. After that we will have a week looking at the O Antiphons – the ancient prayers that we now sing in the hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel – before, over Christmas and New Year, reflecting on the music of the season. I hope you find this a varied, and wholesome, diet!
The Daily Devotions on the O Antiphons are written by Elaine Colechin, Terry Hinks, Jonnie Hill, Sarah Moore, Helen Everard, Paul Simon, and Martin Knight. These reflections have been turned into a small group study series that might make good content for a church away day or for three mid week sessions either in person or via Zoom. You’ll need Bibles, pens and paper for the last session and at each of the three sessions it’s suggest that verses of O Come O Come Emmanuel are sung so you might need a musician or someone with a good voice and accurate timing! You can download the leaders’ guide here and the participants’ sheets here.
Our Sunday Advent services are led by Jan Adamson, Elaine Colechin, myself, and Martin Knight. On Christmas Eve I lead a midnight Communion service and Alex Clare Young leads a Christmas Day service. Nicola Furley Smith leads worship for 1st January, the First Sunday of Christmas.
All these services are available, ahead of time, to download as Powerpoint resources to use to lead worship locally, as sound files or as booklets to send out locally to people who can’t get along to church. These can all be accessed via the Pulpit Supply link on the dedicated Devotions website here.
As you know we also produce Worship Notes for each of these services as a way to help, primarily, Elders and Lay preachers as they prepare worship. The December material will be up soon but you can see November’s material here on the URC website where you’ll also find an Advent Candle lighting liturgy developed by Elaine Colechin.
I hope you find these resources useful as we journey through Advent and Christmas together. If you find you’d rather not receive these emails please use the unsubscribe link, below. If you wish to change your email address please use the “update your preferences” link below.
with every good wish
Andy
The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
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