Advent Journeys
A taste of Fr John’s Advent Journey sessions. All the links open in new pages.
1: The Magi
Listen: The Magi’s Dream, Carols from King’s 2017
Pray:
Creator of the heavens,
who led the Magi by a star
to worship the Christ-child:
guide and sustain us,
that we may find our journey’s end
in Jesus Christ out Lord. Amen
Read: Matthew 2:1-12
Ask: What bit of the passage speaks most to you about your journey with God, and why?
Listen: T. S. Eliot reads ‘Journey of the Magi’
Look & ask: What do you see? How does it speak of the Magi’s journey? What does it say to you about your own?
Pray:
Lord God, the bright splendour whom the nations seek:
my we, who with the wise men have been drawn by your light,
discern the glory of your presence in your Son,
the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
2: Joseph
Listen: Little Hymn to Saint Joseph
O God our Father,
who from the family of your servant David
raised up Joseph the carpenter
to be the guardian of your incarnate Son
and husband of his mother Mary:
Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life
and his obedience to your commands;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Read: The Temptation of St. Joseph by W.H. Auden
Look & ask: What do you see? How does it speak of Joseph’s journey? What does it say to you about your own?
Heavenly Father,
whose Son grew in wisdom and stature
in the home of Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth
and on the wood of the cross
perfected the work of the world’s salvation:
help us, strengthened by his passion,
to walk with him in simplicity and trust;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
3: Mary
Listen: Mary’s Magnificat – Andrew Carter
Pray:
Eternal God,
as Mary waited for the birth of your Son,
so we wait for his coming in glory;
bring us through the birth pangs of this present age
to see, with her, our great salvation
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Read: Luke 1:26-56; 2:6-7
Ask: What bit of the passage speaks most to you about your journey with God, and why?
Read: The Visitation – Elizabeth Jennings
Look & ask: What do you see? How does it speak of Mary’s Journey? What does it say to you about your own?
who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of the promised saviour:
fill us your servants with your grace,
that in all things we may embrace your holy will
and with her rejoice in your salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ,
your birth at Bethlehem
draws us to kneel with shepherds
in wonder at heaven touching earth:
accept our heartfelt praise
as we worship you,
our Saviour and our eternal God. Amen.
Read:
In the days of Caesar, when his subjects went to be reckoned,
There was a poem made, too dark for him (naïve with power)
to read
It was a bunch of shepherds who discovered
in Bethlehem of Judah, the great music beyond reason and
reckoning:
shepherds, the sort of folk who leave the ninety-nine behind
so as to bring the stray back home, they heard it clear,
the subtle assonances of the day, dawning toward cock-crow,
the birthday of the Lamb of God, shepherd of mortals.
Well, little people, and my nation, can you see
the secret buried in you, that no Caesar ever captures in his lists?
Will not the shepherd come to fetch us in our desert,
gathering us in to give us birth again, weaving us into one
in a song heard in the sky over Bethlehem?
He seeks us out as wordhoard for his workmanship, the laureate
of heaven.
God our Father, whose angelic message of joy has come to us
in the Holy Child of Bethlehem:
may the light of faith illumine our hearts
as it did the Shepherds’
and shine to your praise in our words and deeds;
through your Son, who is Christ the Lord. Amen.