People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: Stir Up Our Joy ~ 3rd Sunday of Advent '24 WLC* Yr C

For Sunday, December 15, 2024, Readings: Isaiah 12:1-6, Psalm 118:1-9,

Revelation 1:4-6, 8, 12-18; Luke 1:39-45

You will say in that day, “I will give thanks to you, Redeeming One, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, then you confronted me. Behold! God is my salvation; I will trust and I will not fear, for Yah** [She Who Is] GOD is my strength and my might and has become my salvation.”

Give thanks to the ANCIENT OF DAYS who is good; God’s faithful love is everlasting! Let the children of Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah say, “God’s faithful love is everlasting!”…Let those who revere the FIRE OF SINAI say, “God’s faithful love is everlasting!” [Psalm 118:1-2, 4]

…Grace to you and peace from the One who is and who was and who is to come…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of those who reign on the earth…”Fear not; I am the First and the Last and the Living One. I was dead, and look! I am alive forever and ever!” [Revelation 1:4b,5,17b-18a

Now when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb...the baby in me leaped for joy. Now blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of those things spoken to her by the Holy One.”

On this Third Sunday of Advent, we light the rose-colored candle to symbolize the joy and anticipation of Christ's birth which is now in sight. In the Anglican/Episcopal Church tradition there is an informal title of "Stir Up Sunday" for this day in the Book of Common Prayer because the opening Collect [a prayer that collects or gathers the themes of the day or service] begins with the phrase: “Stir up your power, O Lord...” The message of this day and this week is "Gaudete," [gow-day-tay] from the Latin for rejoice and it gives us a slight respite from some of the more penitential aspects of this sacred Season that is found in the Revised Common Lectionary. This day is also about the intentional seeking of joy through our personal/home preparations for Christmas. The music and decorations often bring smiles for those of us fortunate to have memories of ourselves as children or our own children with growing anticipation as we leave our US Thanksgiving holiday behind and await the wide eyes on Christmas morning. (Perhaps, some preparation comes with more of a secular mindset than we’d like to admit.)

For us as adults, this week is also a sobering moment to consider all those near to and far from us, who are suffering in our country and the world from the ravages of war and domestic or other terrorism and violence, the effects of devastating fires, the still terrible conditions of recent hurricanes and earthquakes, or for those who live in abject poverty, among many more hardships. The now annual arrival of Flu, COVID, RSV, etc., with their attending miseries of isolation, further infection and/or death for so many add to the growing anxieties over political issues here and around the globe. Yet now is the time to remember to experience the true joy of Christ's first coming. “Celebration,” in a culture of excess, offers us an opportunity to look beyond the artificial trappings, fun and exciting as they are, and intentionally seek to find the authentic message. Now is the time to restore our part in relationship with Jesus, to find new ways to rejoice in and with our Faith, and to discover, again, the true reason for the season and ways to carry that over into our every day of living. Now is the time, pre-New Year’s Resolutions, to take on a renewed commitment to stir up our joy by giving to and seeking a message from our Christ each and every day in prayer with thanksgiving.

*Readings for our Parish in this Year C are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar, and is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Yr C, here after designated on my posts as WCL and translator of its biblical selections. Learn more about her and her work at her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/ [for slightly more detail, see my blog post for December 1, 2024, Advent I WCL, see link below] The readings and prayers of the people follow.

** In one important note this week, Dr. Gafney’s explains Yah [She Who Is] GOD: “’Yah’ (as in hallelujah/hallelu-yah) is, according to grammatical form, feminine…In some contemporary Jewish feminist practice and prayer…a feminine name for God…also the first syllable of the unpronounceable of YHWH…there are no strictures on pronouncing the first syllable. In Isaiah 1:2, I offer a feminine reading option in brackets for those who so choose.” Dr. Gafney explains her process and sources of translation of each reading she uses in her book, which is impossible to offer in this space. Fascinating and illuminating, not merely because of the womanist highlighting, but for a greater appreciation of and fresh perspective in each biblical reading as most are not, or rarely, used in Sunday preaching or Daily Lectionaries. For slightly more information: See: https://prayersofthepeople.blogspot.com/2024/11/prayers-of-people-advent-ure-begins.html

Dr. Gafney's Readings for Advent III, December 15, 2024:

Isaiah 12:1-6: You will say in that day, “I will give thanks to you, Redeeming One, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, then you confronted me. 2. Behold! God is my salvation; I will trust and I will not fear, for Yah [She Who Is] GOD is my strength and my might and has become my salvation.” 3. Then you all shall with joy draw water from the wells of salvation. 4. And you all shall say in that day, “Give thanks to the GOD OF OUR SALVATION, call on God’s name; acclaim God’s deeds among the nations, make known that God’s name is exalted.” 5. Sing praises to the MIGHTY GOD, who has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. 6 Shout [daughter]! Sing [daughter]! [Daughter,] you who dwell in Zion! For great in your midst [daughter] is the Holy One of Israel!

Psalm 118:1–9; 14–21: 1 Give thanks to the ANCIENT OF DAYS who is good; God’s faithful love is everlasting! 2 Let the children of Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah say, “God’s faithful love is everlasting!” 3 Let the house of Elisheba’s descendants say, “God’s faithful love is everlasting!” 4 Let those who revere the FIRE OF SINAI say, “God’s faithful love is everlasting!” 5 Out of my distress I called on YAH, THE ARK OF SAFETY; the FAITHFUL GOD answered me and set me in a broad place. 6 With the DREAD GOD on my side I do not fear. What can the children of earth and Eve do to me? 7 The FEARSOME GOD is for me, to help me; I shall look [down] upon those who hate me. 8 Better is it to shelter in the SAVING GOD than to trust in the woman-born. 9 Better is it to shelter in the SAVING GOD than to trust in the high-born. 14 The MIGHTY GOD is my strength and my might and has become my salvation. 15 The sound of song and of salvation is in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the MOST HIGH is mighty; 16 the right hand of the MIGHTY GOD is exalted; the right hand of the MOST HIGH is mighty.” 17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the ANCIENT OF DAYS. 18 The MERCIFUL GOD has punished me severely, but to death did not hand me over. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the FOUNT OF JUSTICE. 20 This is the gate of the LIVING GOD; the righteous shall enter through it. 21 I thank you for you have answered me and have become my salvation.

Revelation 1:4–6, 8, 12–18: John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you all and peace from the One who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before God’s throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of those who reign on the earth. To Jesus who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us to reign, priests serving his God and Father, to Christ be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Sovereign God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” 12 And I turned to see whose voice spoke with me and turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. 13 And in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Woman, wearing a robe (down to the feet) and with a golden sash wrapped around their chest. 14 Their head and hair were white as wool, white as snow and their eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 Their feet were like fine bronze, like that refined in a furnace, and their voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 And they had in their right hand seven stars and from their mouth a sharp two-edged sword came and their face was like the sun shining with all its power. 17 Now when I saw [the one like the Son of Woman], I fell at their feet as dead. Then they placed their right hand on me, saying, “Fear not; I am the First and the Last 18 and the Living One. I was dead, and look! I am alive forever and ever! And I have the keys of Death and of Hades.”

Luke 1:39–45: Mary set out in those days and went to the hill country with haste, to a Judean town. 40 There she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 Now when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Elizabeth exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 From where does this [visit] come to me? That the mother of my Sovereign comes to me? 44 Look! As soon as I heard the sound of your greeting in my ear, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Now blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of those things spoken to her by the Holy One.”

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O GOD OF OUR SALVATION, infuse our conscious preparations for the celebration just ahead, with many every-day faith-filled moments reminding us to look beyond the holly and holiday for the Hope, Peace, and Joy we can find before, on, and always after the Holy Day of our Savior’s birth.

O ANCIENT OF DAYS

RESPONSE: Your Faithful Love is Everlasting

~ O GOD OF OUR SALVATION, infuse us with such joy for the birth of our Christ again, that we turn away from the tide of hatred and division around us. Guide us to inspire all who design or impose their political pathways on this world, this nation, and this community, to turn toward justice, compassion, and mercy. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O ANCIENT OF DAYS