Thank you for joining us.

Our service this morning was prepared by Rev Stephen Haward and recorded by Jenny Young in the chapel.

The theme is Kitchen Christianity.

The hymns can be found on YouTube.

The services on Christmas Day and Sunday 27th will not be recorded for the website, but we are preparing a Carol Service which will be available from Christmas Eve.

HYMN ‘The virgin Mary had a baby boy’
Trinidadian Traditional

Welcome and Opening Sentences, Prayer and Reading – Luke 1:26-45

This fourth candle of Advent is lit for Mary the mother of Jesus. 
She gave thanks because she had been called and chosen. 
MAY THOSE THINGS BE SAID OF US AS WELL.
‘My soul magnifies the Lord AND MY SPIRIT REJOICES’.

HYMN ‘Mary did you know’
Clay Aiken

Address

HYMN Mission Praise 337 ‘In the bleak midwinter’
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-94)

Communion

Prayer of Approach
Most High God, for you nothing is impossible. Through a poor woman in a small town you began the re-creating of the world as a place of hope and salvation in Jesus.
BY YOUR HOLY SPIRIT, FILL US WITH GRACE AND HOPE SO THAT WE, LIKE MARY,
MIGHT BE YOUR SERVANTS, AND WITNESS TO THE WORLD OF YOUR GOODNESS.
Holy God, we thank you for your love shown to us in Jesus Christ and confess each one our need of that love and of your mercy. 
WE HAVE NOT WALKED IN YOUR WAY AND HAVE NOT OBEYED YOU IN OUR HEARTS.  WE ARE SORRY AND ASK YOU O LORD, WHO BEARS ALL THINGS, TO FORGIVE US.
We thank you that Jesus died upon the cross for the redemption of the world and that you raised him to life again, a foretaste of the life we shall all share.  Bless this food and drink to our use, O Lord, so that we might make his sacrifice our own.  In his name we pray it, AMEN.

The institution of the Lord’s Supper in the words of St Paul.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples saying: ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.’
In the same way also He took the cup after supper, gave thanks, and gave it to them saying: ‘Drink of it all of you; this cup is the new Testament in My blood, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins. This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’

HYMN Mission Praise 539 ‘Once in royal David’s city
Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-95)

Luke 1:26-45

The birth of Jesus foretold
²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’
²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants for ever; his kingdom will never end.’
³⁴ ‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’
³⁵ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[a] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.’
³⁸ ‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her.

Mary visits Elizabeth
³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her!’