Readings (Click the links to see the readings)

Isaiah 26.1-6 | Psalm 118.19-25 | Matthew 7.21-27 |

Advent (On A Theme by Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
by Pamela Cranston

Look how long
the weary world waited,
locked in its lonely cell,
guilty as a prisoner. As you can imagine,
it sang and whistled in the dark.
It hoped. It paced and puttered about,
tidying its little piles of inconsequence.
It wept from the weight of ennui,
draped like shackles on its wrists.
It raged and wailed against the walls
of its own plight. But there was nothing
the world could do
to find its own freedom.
The door was shut tight. It could only be opened
from the outside. Who could believe the latch
would be turned by a pink flower—
the tiny hand
of a newborn baby?

Prayer

Blessèd are you, Sovereign God,
our light and our salvation;
to you be glory and praise for ever!
May we who walk in the light of your presence
acclaim your Christ, rising victorious,
as he banishes all darkness from our hearts and minds,
and praise you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
Blessèd be God for ever!
— Celebrating common prayer.

The House built on a Rock, by Sandi Hester c. 2009

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock." Matthew 7:24.

Anatoly Lyadov. Troparion—Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, from Ten Arrangements from Obikhod [a 1575 book of Russian Orthodox liturgical chants] Op. 61 (1909). The St Petersburg Chamber Choir.

Sergei Rachmaninov. We Praise Thee, from Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op.31. The St Petersburg Chamber Choir.