Third Sunday of Advent 2016

11 Decem­ber 2016

Wel­come to our wor­ship this morning

At St Luke’s we seek to share God’s uncon­di­tion­al love and accept­ance of all people, regard­less of age, gender, race, mar­it­al or fam­ily status, sexu­al ori­ent­a­tion, dis­ab­il­ity or wealth.

Preach­er & Celebrant: Wel­comers Today Next week: Read­ers Today:: Read­ers next week: Intercessor: Next week: Hospitality: Next Week: Cleaners17 December:

Fr. Philip Bradford Peter Gil­bert & Alfredo Narnola Kev­in Green & John Tonetti Kev­in Green & Lea MacNeil Susan Hill & Tony Brownlow Diana Jefferies Peter Seymour John M, Angela Bell, Evelyn Maack Brett Dav­ies & Amrit MacIntyre Kev­in Green , Neville Daniels

Many live in a parched land, wait­ing for the rains to come when the wil­der­ness will blos­som once more, when life and joy returns. Like Isai­ah, let us strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way and say to those with fear­ful hearts ‘do not fear.’ Let us look for­ward to the day when the ransomed of the LORD will return with ever­last­ing joy. May our songs ring with authen­ti­city and be an encour­age­ment to those who need a help­ing hand or have lost their way, or just need someone to listen.

• Pray that we might be patient and not grumble or com­plain against each oth­er for the Lord’s com­ing is near.

  Give thanks for the work of USPG (based in the UK and Ire­land) who have worked since 1701 to help oth­ers around the world to ‘take hold of the life that is truly life’ (1 Timothy 6.19).

  Text: Dr Michael Sutton
  Cat­ech­ist, St Paul’s Anglic­an Church Burwood
  © Anglic­an Board of Mis­sion, 2016

Introit Hymn: TIS 266 – Wake, awake for night is flying

Liturgy for Light­ing the Advent Candle

3^rd Sunday of Advent – Joy

The Min­is­ter greets the congregation:
The Lord be with you
All: And also with you
(The two candles are lit.)

Min­is­ter: We have re-lit the two candles in our Advent wreath, to remind us of
God’s gifts of hope and peace. Today we light the third candle, the
candle of joy. The Book of Isai­ah describes the joy that will come with
the dawn­ing of God’s reign of peace. Jesus came to bring good news
to the poor, sight to the blind and to set the cap­tives free.

All: We light this candle of joy and thank God for the gift of Jesus who
sets us free.

(The third candle is lit.)

All: God of all com­pas­sion help us to remem­ber that you are the source
of all joy. May your love flow through us into the world giving
birth to great joy. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen

The Sen­tence: Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fear­ful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.’ Isai­ah 35.3–4

The Col­lect:

Sus­tain us, O God, with the power of your love
on our jour­ney to meet the One who is coming:
strengthen our weak hands,
make firm our feeble knees,
and open blind eyes to the dawn­ing of your kingdom,
so that our hearts may rejoice
as we behold the majesty of our God.
We ask this through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Read­ing Isai­ah 35.1–10

A read­ing from the book of the proph­et Isaiah

The wil­der­ness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blos­som; like the cro­cus it shall blos­som abund­antly, and rejoice with joy and singing.The glory of Leban­on shall be giv­en to it, the majesty of Car­mel and Sharon.They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fear­ful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!Here is your God. He will come with ven­geance with ter­rible recompense.He will come and save you.’ 

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speech­less sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wil­der­ness, and streams in the desert; the burn­ing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jack­als shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A high­way shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no trav­el­ler, not even fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any raven­ous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; ever­last­ing joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and glad­ness, and sor­row and sigh­ing shall flee away.

For the word of the Lord Thanks be to God

Song of Mary 

1. My soul pro­claims the | greatness  of the | Lord:
   my spir­it re-| joices  in | God my | Saviour,

2. Who has looked with favour on his | lowly | servant:
   from this day all gen­er-| ations  will | call me | blessed.

3. The Almighty has done | great | things for me:
   and | holy | is his | name.

4. God has mercy on | those who | fear him:
   from gen­er-| ation  to | gen­er-| ation.

5. The Lord has shown | strength  with his | arm:
   and scattered the | proud in | their con-| ceit,

6. Cast­ing down the mighty | from their | thrones:
   and | lift­ing | up the | lowly.

7. God has filled the hungry with | good | things:
   and sent the | rich a-| way | empty.

8. He has come to the aid of his | ser­vant | Israel:
   to re-| member  the | promise  of | mercy,

9. †The prom­ise | made to  our | forebears:
   to Abra­ham | and his | children  for | ever.

Glo-| ry to | God; Fath­er | Son and | Holy | Spirit;
As in the be-| gin­ning so | now; and for-| ever. | A-| men

Second Read­ing James 5.7–10

A read­ing from the let­ter of James

Be patient, there­fore, beloved, until the com­ing of the Lord. The farm­er waits for the pre­cious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the com­ing of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one anoth­er, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is stand­ing at the doors! As an example of suf­fer­ing and patience, beloved, take the proph­ets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

For the word of the Lord Thanks be to God

Gos­pel Procession

Gos­pel Acclamation

Alle­lu­ia, Alle­lu­ia, Alle­lu­ia, Alleluia,
The Spir­it of the | Lord is u | pon me;
he sent me to | bring Good | News to the | poor.
Alle­lu­ia, Alle­lu­ia, Alle­lu­ia, Alleluia.

The Gos­pel Mat­thew 11.2–11

The Gos­pel of our Lord Jesus Christ accord­ing to Matthew

 Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ

When John heard in pris­on what the Mes­si­ah was doing, he sent word by his dis­ciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for anoth­er?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is any­one who takes no offence at me.’

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John:‘What did you go out into the wil­der­ness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in roy­al palaces. What then did you go out to see? A proph­et? Yes, I tell you, and more than a proph­et. This is the one about whom it is writ­ten,“See, I am send­ing my mes­sen­ger ahead of you, who will pre­pare your way before you.”

Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has aris­en great­er than John the Baptist; yet the least in the king­dom of heav­en is great­er than he.

For the Gos­pel of the Lord Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Hymn after Ser­mon: TIS – Behold a rose is growing

Pray­er for our Parish

Gra­cious God,

We pray for our Par­ish of St Luke,
for our Rect­or and all who wor­ship here.
We pray that this Par­ish will always have
a faith­ful pas­tor who will faith­fully speak your Word
and min­is­ter your Sacraments;
an encour­ager who will equip your people for ministry
and enable us to ful­fil our calling.
Give your Holy Spir­it to those who will choose a new Rector,
that they will have wis­dom, dis­cern­ment and patience.
Give to us all warm and gen­er­ous hearts,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Offer­tory Hymn: TIS 283 – Long ago, proph­ets knew

Hymn dur­ing Communion:

The Bless­ing

Final Hymn: TIS – 158 – God has spoken by his prophets

Notices and Children’s Book Presentation

The Angelus and Dismissal

Notices:

Please wear your name badge for the con­veni­ence of oth­ers and join us for morn­ing tea in the hall

Our Com­bined Advent Stud­ies on John the Baptist (Locusts and Wild Honey ends this week with Pt. 4 on Tues­day 13 Decem­ber at the Met­ro­pol­it­an Com­munity Church, 96 Crys­tal St, Peter­sham. This is a very well presen­ted and timely study. As this is the last study, there will be a light sup­per to follow.

Don’t for­get the Christ­mas Bowl and ABM Christ­mas Appeals – envel­opes provided.

Also, dona­tions for Stan­more Nurs­ing Home gifts would be appre­ci­ated. Envel­opes are provided for these dona­tions at the back of the church or see the welcomers.

Sunday 18 Decem­ber – Nativ­ity Play Without Rehears­al at 6.30 pm. This is our annu­al Fam­ily Christ­mas get-togeth­er – a time to invite the neigh­bours and friends, espe­cially those with chil­dren. There is sup­per to fol­low in the hall.

Sat­urday 24 Decem­ber (Christ­mas Eve) – Mid­night Mass at 11.30 pm

Christ­mas Day – 9.30 am Fam­ily Eucharist

Fol­low­ing the Fam­ily Euchar­ist on Christ­mas Day there will be a light brunch in the hall for all who are not rush­ing off to oth­er fest­iv­it­ies and would like to join in. So we’ll have an idea of num­bers, please let Jen­nie Win­ton know (jwinton798@gmail.com, or 0401 727 718) if you’ll be join­ing us.

Book­stall News – Christ­mas cards are now avail­able. We also have cop­ies in stock of John Bunyan’s Reflec­tions and 24 Songs for a Reas­on­able Reform­a­tion: Beauty and Truth $12; and Keith Mascord’s Faith without Fear $30; and Jesus I have loved, but Paul? a Nar­rat­ive Approach to the Prob­lem of Pau­line Chris­tian­ity by J R Daniel Kirk.

Our Web­site www.stlukesenmore.org.au

Our web­site is being con­stantly updated by Fr Philip (ser­mons) and Angela Bell (weekly bul­let­ins and events). Have you taken a look recently? Your feed­back would be appreciated.

Christ­mas Mar­ket Results:

Sin­cere thanks to all who made the Christ­mas Mar­ket a won­der­ful event.

The Indi­vidu­al Stall profits are tab­u­lated below:-

Cakes Books Plants Lem­on­ade Stall Massages BBQ Refreshments

$1,861.45 $362.00 $406.00 $100.00 $120.00 $615.00 $265.00

Jams White Elephant Thai Food Raffle Baby Clothes Pre-Loved Toys Crafts

$1,358.55 $248.00 $200.00 $686.00 $18.00 $250.00* $257.00

Out­side Stall Dona­tion $60.00

Opshop Float Dona­tion $550.00

Expenses Approx. $900.00

Please note that the amount raised by the Pre-Loved Toys * was donated to UNICEF – the Sunday School Chil­dren have donated this to a spe­cial project.

The approx­im­ate total profit for the day was $6,250.00

Bible Read­ings for the Week 12 to 18 Decem­ber 2016

MONDAY	Num­bers 24.2–7, 15–17	Psalm 25.4–10	Mat­thew 21.23–27
TUESDAY	Zephaniah 3.1–2,9–13	Psalm 34.15–22	Mat­thew 21.28–32
WEDNESDAY	Isai­ah 45.6–8,18,45.21–26	Psalm 85.8–13	Luke7.19–23
THURSDAY	Isai­ah 54.1–10	Psalm 30.1–5	Luke7.24–30
FRIDAY	Isai­ah 56.1–3, 6–8	Psalm 67	John 5.33–56
SATURDAY	Gen­es­is 49.2, 8–10	Psalm 72.1–7	Mat­thew 1.1–17

Next Sunday’s Read­ings –Fourth Sunday of Advent

Isai­ah 7.10–16
Psalm 80.1–7, 17–19
Romans 1.1–7
Mat­thew 1.18–25

INTERCESSIONS Pray­ers for each day of the week Today: Christine Thur­ley & Troy; John Tonetti; Stu­art Veitch, Jo Bur­ton & Laurence. Monday: Janet Walms­ley; Nadia Wheat­ley; Mat­thew, Bron­wyn, Sam & Thomas Whiting. Tues­day: Janet Wid­mer & Bri­an Rawns­ley; Dav­id & Dorothy Wil­li­ams; Jen­nie Win­ton; Sally Woellner. Wed­nes­day: Waew Weaw­jan; Kay & Nata­sha Younie; Amelia Zea; Kate Abou Takka. Thursday: Shir­ley & Bar­bara Allen; Beth Arm­strong; Grace & Han­nah Ashton; James, Elli­ot & Harry Barnes. Fri­day: Ian Barnett; Mat­thew, Michelle, Darcy, Patrick, Char­lotte & Emily Batterham. Sat­urday: Angela Bell; Ewan, Jes­sica & Cyn­thia Berke­mei­er; Peter, Jen­nifer, Elise & Blake Bestel. Our Pray­ers for those in imme­di­ate need: Leanne; Bruce Sims & Peter; Asia Bibi, Robert and Lyn­dall; Fr Ron Mor­ris, Fr Ken Munns; Bri­an Rawns­ley, Linda Rink­er & Patri­cia Gonzales.

Our Pray­er for those in need. Shir­ley Allen; Bar­bara & Jade Allen; Grace & Han­nah Ashton; Fatima Begum; Angela Bell; Maur­een & Henry Byers; Hugo Cun­ning­ham; Mar­ilyn Gibb; Joseph Jee­bell; Ann Jeffs, Linda Jensath­it; Melissa, John & Baby Ger­ard; Jude & Isla; Marissa; Fr Ken Munns; John Naidu; Pau­line Newell; Peter Pur­cell; Edward Reddy; Alex Regos; Joy Ree; Steph­en Thomas; Soph­ie Toupein; Janet Walms­ley; Yavani Mu Daly, Vic­tor­ia, Leigh Gar­retty, Nii Samuela; Alie­sha; Juli­an; Eve Moggs; John Mic­allef; Lil­lian & moth­er; Jack & fam­ily; Car­oline Wilson; Bar­bara Granger; & Dawn Holland. Depar­ted Give Thanks for Bless­ings Received  Anniversar­ies of the Departed Mary Crowth­er; James Gav­in; Allen Wells; Oswald Coombs; Florence Thomas; Sarah Kettlewell Saints Com­mem­or­a­tion 13th Dec: Lucy, mar­tyr and vir­gin (d.304) 14h Dec: John of the Cross, mys­tic & teach­er (d.1591)

 

Par­ish Inform­a­tion www.stlukesenmore.org.au ABN.78 161 584 893.

SUNDAY WORSHIP:

Sung Euchar­ist and Chil­dren’s Min­istry at 9.30 am fol­lowed by hos­pit­al­ity in the hall. Thai Com­munity meets in the Chapel after morn­ing tea. Enquir­ies to Aman­da Mason 0407 101 382.

WEEKDAY SERVICES:

Wed­nes­day 9.30 a.m. — Morn­ing Pray­er; 10.00 a.m. Euchar­ist (fol­lowed by morn­ing tea)
Fri­day 8.30 a.m. – Morn­ing Prayer

CONFESSIONS (Sac­ra­ment of Recon­cili­ation) HOME COMMUNIONS, BAPTISMS, & MARRIAGES by arrangement.

Rect­or — Fr Philip Brad­ford — 0431 655 220 (Mob)
Office Ph 9557 4219 PO Box 64. Enmore NSW 2042
Par­ish email: rector@stlukesenmore.org.au
Fr Philip: bradford.pr@gmail.com

Hon­or­ary Lay Min­is­ter – Peter Sey­mour

Pas­tor­al Care
Lay-Min­is­ters — Part Time – Lea MacNeil & Aman­da Mason.

 

OFFICE HOURS: Tues­day 9.00 to 11.00 am; Wed­nes­day 9.00 am to 12 noon; Fri­day 8.30 to 10.30 a.m. www.stlukesenmore.org.au Hon Clergy Asso­ci­ate: Fr Ron Mor­ris (Mob 0409 451362) Organ­ist: Kathy Drummond Occa­sion­al Organ­ist: C. Brooks ST LUKE’S OP SHOP, 133 Enmore Rd, Tel: 9550 5713 Hours: Tues, Wed & Fri­day 9.30   4; Thursday 9.30–3; Sat 9.30 – 2.30, Sunday, Monday – Closed. Hall Admin­is­trat­or: Stu­art Veitch Mb 0400–312-354

War­dens: Jen­nie Win­ton Mb 0401 727 718. Eddy Reddy Mb 0410 634 948 Ruth Cham­pi­on Mb 0400 166 041 Par­ish Council: Andy Ser­afin; Jen­nifer Bestel; James Barnes (Treas­urer); Susan Hill; Peter Sey­mour; Fabi­an LoS­chiavo; Amrit MacIntyre & Tony Purcell. Par­ish Nominators: Moya Holle; Mandy Tib­bey; Susan Hill; Ruth Cham­pi­on & Stu­art Veitch.  Pas­tor­al Care Sup­port Group Ruth Cham­pi­on; Stu­art Ogg; John Tonetti, Moya Holle; Peter Seymour