ADVENT ONE: HOPE 3 DECEMBER

Clarita is pleased with the root crops and banana trees she has planted in her new garden. She wants to grow more so her family has a cushion against future calamities.

Opening Words/ Call to Worship

O that God would tear open the heavens and come down! Isaiah 64: 1Of that day or hour, no one knows, only God. Mark 13:32Be alert! Keep awake! Mark 13: 33, 37The time is drawing near:The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Mark 1:1

The Son of God.Christian World Service

PO Box 22652, Christchurch 8140

0800 74 7372 christmasappeal.org.nz

Christmas Appeal 2017

Lighting the First Advent Candle: Hope

Read Partner Story from the Philippines: Our story is one of local resilienceThe memory of Typhoon Haiyan drives 74 year old Clarita who lives near the coast of Aklan province in the Philippines. In 2013, her house and crops were badly damaged. She wants to have a cushion against future calamities and make her community stronger. Together they have planted fruit trees and root crops, and started their very own farmers’ market. In the face of climate change, they are preparing with hope for an uncertain future.

Lighting the Advent Candle of Hope

In the lighting of this first Advent Candle of Hope we make space within ourselves to hear and engage with the voices of those we might otherwise miss but with whom we are connected by our common humanity.

We remember also the voice of the prophets calling us to be bearers of hope in a troubled world.

Light the candle

We light the candle for hope.May it light the way for usas we make hope our story.

The Readings

Isaiah 64: 1-9: The prophet cries out to God to put aside divine anger at the people’s sin and to act again to help and to heal.Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19: The psalmist pleads for a powerful God to forgive the people and act on their behalf.

1 Corinthians 1: 3-9: Paul pastorally counsels the Corinthians not to lose hope in their waiting for the return of the Christ.

Mark 13: 24-37: This portion of scripture is known as ‘the little apocalypse’ in its stark use of apocalyptic imagery. Jesus teaches that the one to come – the Unpredictable One – (or Son of Man) will affect nature and result in the establishment of a new community of people living out of a differing centre of desire. The church thus responds to this promise with a sense of expectancy, even in the midst of great uncertainty.

Sermon Notes

Advent is that season of expectation and waiting, waiting for the promise to be revealed, waiting in a manner that is in itself an enactment of hope. The church waits in anticipation of the appearance of the Christ. We wait expectantly and in a manner of being receptive.

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Advent is preparing us to celebrate the birth afresh for another year and season. We prepare by cultivating personally and collectively as ‘church’ a particular kind of desire that longs for the coming of God on earth.

Key questions:

What is it that we are anticipating?

What are we hoping for?

As we engage for another year in this season of Advent let us reflect on what the season is training us, both as individuals and communities to long for, to desire for? Our desires are both personal and social. Our desires are deeply formed by social context and events we have experienced and as such affect not only us but others around us.

What kind of society do we desire?

How will this affect then our communal practices as church?

What do we desire when we hope for the coming of God?

The CWS Annual Appeal Theme for 2017 is ‘Make Hope Our Story. Hope must always be enacted in the here and now. You may like to include more about the work done by Developers in the sermon.

Partner Story: Our Story is one of resilience

In the Philippines, Christian World Service wants our partner Developers to have what it needs to help communities prepare for an uncertain future. CWS partner Developers Foundation has worked to rebuild homes and livelihoods. But as climate change worsens, they are thinking about the next disaster and how to secure their survival.

Locals attend an investment seminar on banana and cassava.

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The memory of Typhoon Haiyan drives 74 year old Clarita. The 2013 typhoon, the worst to make landfall, had brushed across the northern coast of Aklan province where she lives in the Philippines. In a few days, record-breaking winds and rain destroyed much of her home and the fruit tree and vegetable crops she had tended for decades. Thanks to your support, Clarita has a home constructed out of rescued timber and covered with corrugated iron roofing donated by donors to CWS appeals.

Before the typhoon, she lived a largely subsistent life, dependent on the food she and her family grew. It was enough to feed them most days in the year. She also worked as a volunteer health worker in her community, part of Developers’ self-help programme. Along with other members of her community she has learnt a lot from Developers. They have a good understanding about their local environment and the effects climate change will have.

Typhoon Haiyan was the wakeup call. Filipinos know the temperatures are rising and typhoons will be more severe. Despite their economic poverty, they are determined to be better prepared for the next superstorm.

Clarita wants a cushion against future calamities. She is taking nothing for granted. Every day, she works on her land, tending her newly planted fruit trees and crops. Knowing how important the community is when disaster strikes, she participates in the planting drives organised by Developers. For the last four years, their story has been only of disaster, but a new one is emerging.

After Haiyan, they realised they could replace what they had lost or work to a bigger vision. They chose the big step. All sectors in each of five villages are developing an economic plan for the future. Groups of farmers, children, women and fisherfolk contribute to the effort.

The most visible sign is the new farmers’ market (pictured) built by local people with materials paid for from last year’s Christmas Appeal. Instead of paying money to a middleman this inland market keeps funds in the local economy and helps three fishing families who bring their catch inland. Now they need funds to buy more fruit trees (banana and coconut) and root crops (cassava, sweet potato and taro) and learn skills so they process the fruit into products like banana chips. They want to replace mangroves that were cleared from the coasts to improve fish habitat and protect the foreshore from tidal surges. Always aware of possible disaster, they need to brush up on first aid skills and community disaster planning. Read more about Developers and the Philippines.

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‘The world is a small place. We need to make sure we hear the voices of the people crying out for food, water and justice and respond in ways that give life and hope. In this way, we can help bring hope to the world.’

CWS 2017 Christmas Appeal Kit

Donations to the Christmas Appeal will train local people and give them the resources they need to improve their livelihoods and become more resilient.

Prayers of Intercession

God of Advent, always coming,restless and unceasinglike the southern skyand Te Moana nui a Kiwathe Great Pacific Ocean,we start our Advent journey today.Like a river running to the sea,like the Godwit’s flightwe follow the course set out for our journey.

The path of hope,the way of peace,a road of joyand the gateway of love.

Keep us true to the journeythat we make our way again to the manger.

To every place where the way of Jesus takes flesh,your word is enacted amongst usand your kingdom comes.

May the lengthening of summer dayssee a greater radiance.As we prepare to remember once again the birth of Jesus may our lives be a mangerthat carries the Christ.We ask this in the name of Christ. Amen.

David Poultney (used with permission)

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The Sending Forth

You whom God has called,Keep listening.You whom Christ has fed,Live simply.You whom the Spirit has filled,Love completely. And receive the blessing that awaits you.Amen

Erice Fairbrother   in Gifts in Open Hands, Maren C Tirabassi and Kathy Wonson Eddy, Pilgrim Press 2011 (used with permission)

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Working together with people from the communities, we can make the hope of Christmas our story.