ADVENT Four: Love 24 December

ADVENT Four: love 24 December

After Cyclone Ian hit Tonga’s Ha’apai group in 2014, Milika Tovi organised the clearing and replanting of our partner Ama Takiloa’s demonstration garden in her village. Working together inspired everyone to do the same on their own plots of land. The gardens flourished until a drought hit later the same year.

Opening Words/ Call to Worship

My soul magnifies the Lord. Luke 1: 46b

My spirit rejoices in God my saviour.

For the Mighty One has done great things, Luke 1: 49

and holy is God’s name.

Lighting the Fourth Advent Candle: Love

Read the Partner Story from the Pacific: Our story is more than survival

Pacific peoples look out on a sea that is creeping closer. King tides and salt water are claiming crops and safe water supplies. Changing weather is making life more hazardous – drought and then a cyclone in Tonga’s Ha’apai Group and widespread destruction from Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu. They plant coastal crops in an effort to halt the erosion and make plans to survive natural disaster. At every level, Pacific peoples are seeking allies in their campaign to stop global warming with its threats to their homes and their land. By doing all we can to stop the rising global temperature, we can share the hope of survival.

Lighting the Advent Candle of Love

In the lighting of this fourth Advent candle we make space within ourselves to hear and engage with the voices of those we might otherwise miss but with whom we are connected by our common humanity.

We remember also the voice of God’s messenger – Mary, the mother of Jesus calling us to be bearers of love in a troubled world.

Light the candle.

We light the candle of love.

May it light the way for us

as we make hope our story.

The Readings

2 Samuel 7: 1-11, 16:God promises King David that he will rule in a kingdom that will “be established forever”. David’s family and influence will become part of God’s plan and fulfilment.

Luke 1: 46b – 55:The Magnificat – the Psalm for today, Mary proclaims how God works through one ‘lowly woman in influence politics, economics, and the community of faith.

Luke 1: 26 – 38:The description of the angelic visit – Gabriel comes to Mary announcing that God has taken the initiative to act in Mary through reproduction thus continuing the work of God in continuity from the line of David.

Sermon Notes

God acts in a relational manner. God takes the initiative to act on behalf of creation.

The reminder that God acts and takes initiative in both the act of creation and the act of redemption brings home the radical and essential nature of our own createdness. We are relational beings. We are not autonomous, self-made human beings. We receive our essential human identity only in relation to God, created world, and one another.

We are created to act for one another and the world. Like Mary – mother of the Christ child to be born, God has already taken the initiative to act in, for and through us for the purposes of radical love.

Therein lies the source of power that will and must influence politics, economics, and how we live in interdependent manner one with another and God’s world.

Questions/Reflection:

For whom will we act in love this day?

You may like to include more about the work done by the Pacific Conference of Churches in the sermon.

Partner Story: Our Story is one of water

Milika Tovi knows what it is like to survive a major cyclone. Along with other residents of the Ha’apai Islands, she endured the worst storm to make landfall in Tonga. More severe weather patterns are a product of climate change. Pacific peoples have taken to the world stage, urging much deeper action to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees celsius. The Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) has been an important player educating its people about climate change, helping with resettlement, and talking about its impact outside the region. In the same way, PCC is bringing together Pacific churches to look at gender based violence, self-determination for New Caledonia (Kanaky), Tahiti (Maohi Nui) and West Papua as matters of faith. The Christmas Appeal will support PCC in its work across the “Oceania” continent.

Every day people living on the coast of the Pacific look out on an ocean that is slowly rising. At peak times its waters lap at the edges of their homes. In the worst, they flood.

Milika (pictured) endured high winds and heavy rains when Cyclone Ian battered Tonga’s Ha’apai islands in 2014. The worst recorded storm to hit Tonga claimed one person’s life, injured 14 more and destroyed over 50% of homes in the northeast. Tents were distributed to many families as part of the emergency response. Most now have new or repaired homes.

In other parts of the Pacific, communities have already relocated because of climate change. Carteret Islanders began moving from their homes in Papua New Guinea in 2006 after the community established its own relocation programme. In 2014, Vunidogoloa on Fiji’s Vanua Levu island was relocated two kilometres inland when the sea killed food crops and flooded their homes on a daily basis.

Churches have been supporting communities faced with some uncomfortable choices. They have helped with coastal protection and discussions about what will happen next. Part of the community, many are aware of how culture and tradition are bound up with the land and coast. Some people worry about what will happen to their community when they move from their customary land.

Speaking in Germany for the 2017 climate change negotiation, Frances Namoumou from PCCsaid,“This is a matter of survival. Losing our land to the sea means losing our identity as a people”.

It is important that people affected can make the decisions about their future and are given adequate resources to retain their livelihoods and dignity in the process.

At meeting after meeting, Pacific peoples have raised their fears for the future. They have found ways to share stories of danger and offer the world a path out of destruction. Church leaders have united in their concern for families who are losing land and livelihoods and fear for the future of their culture and tradition. They worry about what is happening to their moana and are exploring ways to support the rights of climate migrants, people who have lost their homes.

Those living close to the water are doing all they can: planting sea resistant crops, organising evacuation procedures and protecting their homes and livelihoods. Long term they need food, water and safety that comes with climate justice. Only global action can stop the rising temperatures, make sure those who must be resettled flourish, and provide funds needed to help the most vulnerable families. PCC stands between the local and the global. When it speaks for the climate, it advocates for us all.

Read more about the Pacific Conference of Churches.

YouTube video: "WCC member churches from the Pacific at COP23: "We are not drowning, we are fighting"

You tube video: “Talk to your Government” Frances Namoumou sums up.

‘The world is a small place. We need to make sure we hear the voices of the people crying out for food, water and justice and respond in ways that give life and hope. In this way, we can help bring love to the world.’

CWS 2017 Christmas Appeal Kit

Donations to the Christmas Appeal will train local people and give them the resources they need to improve their livelihoods and become more resilient.

Prayers of Intercession

Let us join our voices with Mary,

who celebrates God’s greatness and sings of God’s blessing

for all who are poor and oppressed.