FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT PENITENTIAL RITE YEAR A AND BLESSING OF WREATH

PRIEST:          We gather today on this last Sunday of Advent Preparation to share. through our Eucharist, God’s great dream that Joseph welcomed as he obeyed with love and took Mary as his wife,  and her child as his own. One dream lay shattered, but another grew in its place. We welcome the coming of our Emmanuel,  for God is always ‘with us’. Let us take God’s dream into our heart as we share Mary’s song of joy in the Coming of our Saviour.

                    [proceed to wreath singing ‘Magnificat’ twice]

Let us pray…
O God of our History, from all eternity You have dreamed of a world worthy of your love: you spoke Your Word, creating the heavens and earth,  and making man and woman in Your own image and likeness.  You dreamed of a People who would truly serve Your Kingdom in the world. In the fullness of time, Your dream formed a woman so full of love that Your Word could make His home in her heart and her womb. Through her you have become our Emmanuel,  God who walks with us!  And in Joseph you have found a man who dared to share your Dream for your Son and for our world.  Bless this Wreath of Light and Expectancy and bless our parish community with the faith and love of Mary and Joseph,  that we might dream your dream and welcome the Day of His Kingdom …
In the Name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…AMEN!

READER:      Mary, the woman of faith, risked saying ‘yes’
                           to an unknown future in God’s plan:
for our lack of faith and trust,

                                            LORD HAVE MERCY

                           Joseph, the strong silent man of faith,
                           risked God’s dream and obeyed in love:
                           for the ways we risk little in the service of God and His kingdom,

                                            CHRIST HAVE MERCY

                            Mary, the woman of love, welcomed the Word in her heart
                            before she welcomed the Word in her womb:
for our lack of love that silences God’s Word in today’s world,

                                            LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST:    O Lord, stir up your might and come!
                       Touch us with Your overshadowing Spirit,
                        speak Your Word of forgiveness to our hearts and world,
                        so that the Saviour, our Emmanuel,  may come again
                        and bring us life everlasting

                                               …AMEN!

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