Although I wrote htis for a serivce on the evneing of Advent 3, I sense it might better fit Advent 4, where the focus in Mary... feel free to use if it works for you!

In her famous poem-cum-carol, Christina Rosetti penned these words:

Enough for him, whom cherubim worship night and day,

A breast full of milk, and a manger full of hay...

There came a day when Mary, realising that milk was no longer sufficient succour for her child, took bread, broke and handed him a small piece, smiling to herself as his eyes widened at the unfamiliar texture and taste…

Week by week, as the setting sun heralded Shabbat, Mary would light the lamps and intone the prayers, watched by the keen eyes of her eldest child… 

And the day came when this boy was old enough to participate in the special Shabbat of Passover, asking the traditional questions, evoking the familiar responses, and for the first time sipping the rich, red, bitter wine…

Year by year, growing, observing, participating, experiencing… 

Then one year the man hired a guest room and gathered his friends for this festival of festivals…

The bread held in his hands, the years rolling backwards to that first time… the familiar words of the blessing, the gentle tearing of the bread, and the shocking words, “this is my body… broken… for you…” 

The cup lifted for all to see, the memories of Passovers past… the soothing, familiar blessing spoken softly… and the heart-breaking cry, “this is my blood… poured out… for you… for many…”

An old memorial reimagined?

A new born rite?

Violence as the way of peace?

Darkness leading to light?

Mystery

Mystery

Mystery

So we gather, drawn from the shadows of observing in to the heart of the story

To break bread

To sip wine

And to live the memory of Mary’s son.

Let us pray:

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, through you goodness we have this bread and this wine, produce of earth and work of human endeavour. 

May we find blessing in the sharing and nourishment for the journeying as remember

Amen.

[sharing of bread and wine without (or with if you prefer) further words]

Son of Mary, you shared our frail humanity

Son of David, you began the reign of eternity

Son of God, you bring us peace.

BPW 320, a hymn I don't think I have ever sung.  Orignally Greek and old enough to be out of copyright:

The King shall come when morning dawns
and light triumphant breaks,
when beauty gilds the eastern hills
and life to joy awakes.

Not as of old a little child,
to bear and fight and die,
but crowned with glory like the sun
that lights the morning sky.

O brighter than the rising morn
when he, victorious, rose,
and left the lonesome place of death,
despite the rage of foes.

O brighter than the glorious morn
shall this fair morning be,
when Christ our King in beauty comes,
and we his face shall see!

The King shall come when morning dawns
and light and beauty brings;
'Hail, Christ the Lord! your people pray,
'Come quickly, King of kings!'

John Brownlie (1857-1925) from Anonymous Greek

This hymn expresses the more traditional, eschatological view of Advent -  focussing on the second coming, the great consummation, the end of time.

Of course, if we take Jesus at his word, no one can predict what time of day this will take place any more than the precise date it will occur.  I have to confess, I am minded towards seeing it as coterminus with the natural end of all things, though as a teenager had a somewhat stupid fascination with the idea of the 'rapture' and regularly asked God to delay it until I could just do x or y that I wanted to achieve first.

Perhaps what I like about the 'dawn' metaphor in this hymn, emerging from a northern hemipsphere context where dawn is a fairly leisurely process (contra equatorial regions where, I am told, it is near instantaneous) is the idea that this is no 'zap pow' arrival, but something glimpsed as darkness slowly shifts into light; something that becomes clearer and nearer and more wonderful as the light increases.

The phrase (it's strictly two words in Aramaic) "Maranatha" is both a please, "Come, Lord" and a promise "the Lord is coming".  In this hymn, I see more of the second, a hopeful yearning for the completion of a process already began.  The King will come when morning dawns... a process already begun and moving gently, imperceptibly to its fulfilment in the brightness of day.

To my surprise there are many videos of this hymn, among which is this gentle choir and orchestra version:

Today's cross referenced hymn is BPW 315 "Joy to the World" an Isaac Watts classic, but with words that can bewilder a 21st century reader.  Even though some updating has been done, we still have, at the end of verse 2:

while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

repeat the sounding joy

That should give any thoughtful singer pause... floods repeating joy...?  Floods, surely are destructive, sweeping away joy... what does this hymn mean?

Etymology, reveals that 'flood' can mean 'flow', so I guess Watts really means rivers, but that would be two syllables and mess up the metre of his hymn.

I recall singing the Kendrick hymn "Shine, Jesus, shine" when I stood with 200 other "women vicars"+ two women rabbis at the end of Downing Street for the Make Poverty History thing... it was still in the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami... how could we sing "flow, river, flow, flood the nations..." - even with grace and mercy?  Floods destroy hope, not bring it. 

Etymologically, Kendrick could have actually said "flood, flood, flood, flood the nations..."

Of course we understand the meataphor, of course we are expressing a desire for the goodness of God to fill the whole of creation... but the language is risky, and unthinking singing can be dangerous.

Perhaps then, we recognise the power of joy, grace, mercy within the flood, within the overwhelming horror, and the transformative potential it brings.

Perhaps, too, we might reword the hymn thus:

Rivers and fields, rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy...

It's hard to beat a good flashmob - and this was one of the first I saw, back in the day...

Today has been our Sunday School nativity - as always wonderful fun - followed by the Sunday School party and now I'm taking a quick break before the evening communion service.

BPW's cross sectional index gives us number 311, "Hills of the north, rejoice", a hymn that takes me back to my teens, sitting in as we did in the back row of the URC.  Last year I used it for our candle lighting, this year it hasn't featured at all, so I'm happy to have the opporunity to share it today.  I don't have the spare energy needed to offer any reflections, so I hope you will simply enjoy the richness of its global reach...

In Jesus all shall find their rest,

In him the universe be blessed

Back in the 1980s I heard of a church that was in the ground floor of a multi-storey building.  Allegedly one Sunday moring as they sang "How lovely on the mountains... our God reigns" water began to pour through the ceiling... it may be apocryphal, but it led to it being dubbbed the umbrella hymn.

And it is one of those listed in the additional hymns for Advent list in BPW.  Not always the most singable lyrics - who can forget having to sing "on his shoulders, on his shoul-oul-oul-oul-ders, on his shoul-oulders he bore our shame"?

BPW has two versions - the more singable four verse one (without the shoulders) and the longer, orignal version (with added shoulders warbles)

It was a hymn of its time, I think, and certainly for me has only positive associations (including indoor rain and warbly shoulders).  A valiant attempt to make a hymn of part of Isaiah 52, and really more for Passiontide than Advent, it is nonetheless worth another airing (this version shoulder of lamb not included!!)