ADVENT THREE: JOY 17 DECEMBER

Life for Musa (left), Kakuma and Twine has changed for the better now they have their own water tank. Their grandmother Zipora says they are now happy at school.

Opening Words/ Call to Worship

The Promised One of God brings good news to the oppressedand binds up the broken-hearted. Isaiah 61: 1

We are witnesses to the light of Christ! John 1: 7Christian World Service

PO Box 22652, Christchurch 8140

0800 74 7372 christmasappeal.org.nz

Christmas Appeal 2017

The Promised One of God proclaims liberty to captivesand release to prisoners. Isaiah 61: 1

We are witnesses to the light of Christ!

The Promised One of God comforts allwho mourn Isaiah 61: 2-3and gives a mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

Rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, 1 Thess. 5: 16-17, 21holding fast to what is good,we are witnesses to the light of Christ!

Lighting the Third Advent Candle: Joy

Read Partner Story from Uganda: Our story is of water ….

Thanks to freshwater on tap, the lives of three HIV and AIDS orphans have been transformed in Southwest Uganda. Spared from long treks and early morning queues, they enjoy drinking crystal clear water from their very own water tank. When everything is dry and dusty from another drought, there is nothing better than fresh water to drink. They have time to help their grandmother with gardening and chores, and go to school. The Centre for Community Solidarity channels hope through 25 local associations of people caring for the orphans of HIV and AIDS.

Lighting the Advent Candle of Joy

In the lighting of this third Advent candle 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 God’s messengers calling us to be bearers of joy in a troubled world.

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

The Readings

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Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8 -11: The prophet Isaiah proclaims – describes what this “year of the Lord’s favour” will result in: release, favour and justice to those who mourn or experience captivity and oppression. The prophet responds to such divine favour in joy.

Psalm 126: The psalmist remembers a time of rejoicing in God’s acts in Zion. May God act again on behalf of the community.

1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24: Paul urges the people to “rejoice always and in everything.”

John 1:6-8, 19-28: John the Baptist appears, bearing witness to the light, to the one greater than John. John embodies – enacts the words of Isaiah as one who is crying out in anticipation of the new realm of God.

Sermon Notes

Again this week we hear a word of radical comfort. This voice uttered by the person of John is not there by its own desire. This is the voice as of God. This is the utterance of hope from God who both hears and cares

This light of God we await to be manifest in the advent of Christ reminds us that at the heart of our Christian faith is a God who appears within and of the material world. We encounter this God in the material world in and through all of our created senses.

We experience hope and joy never by ignoring or escaping reality in all its suffering, brokenness, imperfections, and it’s not-yetness but by affirming that God is already at work, present, transforming reality in and through us and beyond us and at times in spite of us.

Questions/Reflections:

How might we utter and enact the joy of hope around us and beyond us this week?

To whom do we need to be as enactors of ‘light in the darkness’?

You may like to include more about the work done by the Centre for Solidarity in the sermon.

Partner Story: Our Story is one of water

In Uganda’s southwest corner Musa and Kakama no longer have to walk hours each day to collect water. With their youngest brother Twine and grandmother Zipora, they are now the proud owners of a water tank. Fresh water on tap has transformed their lives. The Centre for Community Solidarity is making sure families caring for HIV and AIDS orphans have water and support to improve their livelihoods. Since 2008, they have built 695 tanks with local communities. CWS is committed to providing matching funding so they can build 420 more.

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The outskirts of the community where the family lives. Bananas are the major crop grown in the region.

When their parents died from HIV and AIDS, Musa, Kakama and Twine were left to fend for themselves. The oldest Musa looked after the others, but they had no money for school or even food. The brothers knew they were finished. They lived with the shame of having to steal in order to feed themselves. Worse, when the middle brother Kakama was caught in the act, he was beaten and left for dead.

Word of what happened reached their grandmother who took the boys home with her. She did not have much food and the boys had to spend long periods of the day collecting water. The land on top of the hill where they live is fertile and good for growing bananas that are their staple food and a source of cash. Climbing down the very steep and stoney hillsides in bare feet is not easy. The older boys navigated the narrow paths that go around the rice, maize and millet grown on the terraced slopes to collect water and firewood for the family’s daily needs. There was no time for school.

Poor quality water meant poor health. They picked up malaria, and because there was not enough food for them all, often went to bed hungry. There seemed no way out of their misery until grandmother Zipora joined her local association for caregivers set up by the Centre for Community Solidarity (CCS) on the recommendation of one of its volunteers. Joining the local association gave her access to support, education and the opportunity of clean water through the low interest credit scheme it runs.

Your donations to CWS gave her the matching funds needed to construct a rainwater tank. CCS organised the materials and provided the expertise. Association members all helped to build the tank. Now the family has safe water and the boys are back in school.

Musa (14 years) the eldest is in his second year of high school and wants to be a doctor. Kakama (aged 12) wants to be a teacher and after seeing an airplane fly over their village, the

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youngest Twine (9) wants to be a pilot. They have a six year old sister Kobugabe who lives nearby.

According to Charles Rwabambari of CCS, there are literally thousands of young people affected by HIV and AIDS in Isingiro District where they live.

“Musa and his brothers are among the lucky ones. So many of these children are affected by the lack of access to safe water coupled with HIV. Others live with the punishing legacy of poverty: pervasive and generational poverty, poor health, inadequate infrastructure and too few opportunities to go to school. These girls and boys are eager to learn. But for so many of them, circumstances far beyond their control have robbed them of the opportunity to build brighter futures.

“More support to construct more rainwater tanks will assist so many more children like Musa and his brothers overcome seemingly insurmountable odds,” he adds.

Read more about the Centre for Solidarity and Uganda.

‘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 joy 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 who restores, Psalm 126:1,3you have done great things for us and we rejoice!So often you have filled us with laughter, Psalm 126:2even turning tears of sadness into shouts of joy. Psalm 126:5-6You send prophets, who point the way to justiceand show the way to you.We thank you for sending good news to us Isaiah 61: 1-4and repairing so much that we have devastated.

In this season of light,we lift up in prayer so many who wait in darkness:

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Kakuma (left) studies hard now he can go to school.

people oppressed by poverty and discrimination,by political upheaval and ongoing military conflict,people imprisoned wronglyand also those imprisoned justly.Right what is wrong among us and in usand restore us to you,to others,to ourselves.

Make the brokenhearted whole again;comfort those who mourn;repair our ruined cities.In all the jostling and jingling of these days,do not let us lose sight of youor those whom you came especially to servethrough us your incarnate body;people in need of healing,people who are overlooked or undeserved,those who are lost,and those who we have made to feel little and least.

Light of the world,live among us always,full of grace and truth.Amen.1

The Blessing

THE BLESSING

With the love of Godmay we be warmed and welcomed.With the justice of Jesusmay we be challenged and made whole.With the breath of the Spiritmay we be filled with courage and life.Amen2

1 Adapted from: Long, Kimberley Bracken, (Editor). Feasting on the Word. Worship Companion. Liturgies for Year B Volume 1. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014, 13-14.2 Taken from: Burgess, Ruth and Kathy Galloway (Eds:) Praying for the Dawn. Wild Goose Publications, 2000, 185.

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