21ST DECEMBER 2014 THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 8.00am Said Eucharist Celebrant and Preacher: The Revd John Chynchen 9.00am Sung Eucharist & Sunday School Pageant Celebrant: The Very Revd Matthias Der Preacher: The Revd Catherine Graham Deacon: The Revd John Chynchen Setting: Communion Setting (Margaret Rizza) Hymns: 309, 360, 256, 422 Anthem: Ave Maria (Robert Parsons) 10.30am Sung Eucharist (in Mandarin) Celebrant and preacher: The Revd Peter Koon 11.45am Eucharist—Provincial Celebrant: The Revd Robert Martin Preacher: The Revd John Chynchen Setting: Communion Setting (Leonard West) Hymns: 309, 360, 256, 422 2.00pm Sung Eucharist (in Filipino) Celebrant and Preacher: The Revd Dwight dela Torre 6.00pm Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols Officiant: The Revd John Chynchen Welcome to all who worship here today. Visiting communicants, of whatever Christian tradition, are invited to receive communion here. Gluten-free communion wafers are available on request at all Eucharistic services in this Cathedral. Please enquire of the Sidesmen or Servers for directions to the distribution. Please turn off your mobile phone or switch to SILENT. THIS WEEK AT ST JOHN’S CATHEDRAL MON 22nd DEC 8.00am Said Eucharist 12.30pm Meditation Group 1.00pm One o’clock Prayers (Nave) TUE 23rd DEC 8.00am 1.00pm 3.00pm 7.00pm WED 24th DEC Christmas Eve Said Eucharist One o’clock Prayers (Nave) Tuesday Tots Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) 8.ooam 1.00pm 1.15pm Said Eucharist One o’clock Prayers (Nave) Lunchtime Recital— “The Many Moods of Christmas” The Baptist Convention of Hong Kong- Sunshine Chorus 3.00pm Short Crib Service 5.00pm Christingle Service 11.00pm Midnight Mass of the Nativity & Blessing of the Crib THU 25th DEC Christmas Day 8.00am 9.00am 10.30am 11.45am 2.00pm Said Eucharist Sung Eucharist Sung Eucharist (Mandarin) Christmas All Age Worship Sung Eucharist (Filipino) FRI 26th DEC (PH) 9.00am Said Eucharist SAT 27th DEC 8.30am 12.30pm 3.30pm 4.00pm 6.00pm Said Eucharist Said Eucharist (Filipino) Youth Fellowship (Cantonese) Andrew Fellowship (Cantonese) Said Eucharist (Cantonese) (Anticipated Sunday Service) SUN 28th DEC Readings: Isaiah 61.10-62.3 Psalm 148 Galatians 4.4-7 Luke 2.15-21 The First Sunday of Christmas 8.00am Said Eucharist Celebrant and Preacher: The Revd Nigel Gibson 9.00am Sung Eucharist Celebrant: The Revd John Chynchen Preacher: The Revd Nigel Gibson 10.30am Celebrant and Preacher: The Revd Peter Koon 11.45am Eucharist-Common Worship Celebrant: The Revd Desmond Cox Preacher: The Revd Nigel Gibson 2.00pm Sung Eucharist (Filipino) Celebrant and Preacher: The Revd Dwight dela Torre 6.00pm Christmas Choral Evensong Officiant: The Revd Nigel Gibson Preacher: The Revd Robert Martin Information about St John’s Cathedral and its ministries can be found at the Welcoming Table after the 9.00 am service, on the notice boards and on the website: www.stjohnscathedral.org.hk. Clergy are here to listen and help - please feel free to speak to one of them after the services, or make contact during the week: St John’s Cathedral, 4–8 Garden Road, Central. (花園道4-8號) Tel: 2523 4157 2 COLLECT, POST COMMUNION PRAYER, READINGS AND MUSIC LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT WREATH Voice one—On this fourth Sunday in Advent we light the candles of Hope, Peace, Joy again. (lights first two purple candles and one pink candle). Voice two—Today, we light a fourth candle and name it Love. (lights last purple candle). Voice one—This candle reminds us of Mary, Jesus’ mother. She was a person who had a lot of courage. This candle reminds us of a mother’s love for her child, Jesus, who was God’s own Son. Voice two—This candle is a symbol of God’s love that was born in baby Jesus on Christmas Day. It is a symbol of God’s love that is alive in us each day too. All O God, come, travel with us through Advent. Give us courage to spread love in the world. Amen. COLLECT God our redeemer, who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of your Son: grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour, so we may be ready to greet him when he comes again as our judge; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. FIRST READING 2 Samuel 7.1-11, 16 Now when David, the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.’ But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now therefore you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you, David, that the Lord will make you a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever. This is the Word of the Lord. All Thanks be to God. 3 COLLECT, POST COMMUNION PRAYER, READINGS AND MUSIC MAGNIFICAT 1. My soul doth magnify the Lord : and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 2. For he hath regarded : the lowliness of his hand-maiden. 3. For behold, from henceforth : all generations shall call me blessed. 4. For he that is mighty hath magnified me : and holy is his Name. 5. And his mercy is on them that fear him : throughout all generations. 6. He hath shewed strength with his arm : he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 7. He hath put down the mighty from their seat : and hath exalted the humble and meek. 8. He hath filled the hungry with good things : and the rich he hath sent empty away. 9. He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel : as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. SECOND READING Romans 16.25-end To God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith – to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen. All 4 This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. GOSPEL READING Luke 1.26-38 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her. All This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. POST COMMUNION PRAYER Heavenly Father, 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. MUSIC, ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS SERVICES Local Community Christmas Celebrations at St John’s. During the Advent Season St John’s Cathedral plays host to a variety of Christmas Concerts and Carol Services organised by local businesses charities and schools. You may be interested to know who has visited us this year. 2nd Dec - ‘Light Up a Life Concert’ Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care 3rd Dec - ‘A Celtic Christmas’ Celtic Connections Chamber Choir 4th Dec - ‘Christmas Concert’ LGT Bank 8th Dec - ‘The Fayre of St John’s’ Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre 9th Dec - ‘Christmas Concert.’ The Cecilian Singers 10th Dec – ‘Solicitor’s Carol Service’ Linklaters 11th Dec – ‘Christmas Carol Concert’ French International School 15th Dec – ‘Carol Concert’ Peak School 16th Dec – ‘Carol Service’ Goldman Sachs (Asia) Ltd 17th Dec – ‘Christmas Gala’ Die Konzertisten 18th Dec – ‘Carol Service’ St Paul’s Co-Educational College Alumni 22nd Dec – ‘Carol Service’ St Paul’s Co-Educational College Each one of these concerts is led or hosted by one of our cathedral clergy as part of our ongoing outreach to the local community. It is great joy that our beautiful cathedral church can be used by the local community in such imaginative way during this Advent season. St John’s Cathedral CHRISTMAS SERVICES Wed 24th December Christmas Eve 3.00pm Short Crib Service 5.00pm Christingle Service 11.00pm Midnight Mass of the Nativity and Blessing of the Crib Thu 25th December Christmas Day 8.00am Said Eucharist 9.00am Sung Eucharist 10.30am Sung Eucharist (Mandarin) 11.45am Christmas All Age Worship 2.00pm Sung Eucharist (Filipino) Sun 28th December The First Sunday of Christmas (Sunday Services as normal) 6.00pm Christmas Choral Evensong Wed 31st December New Year’s Eve 11.00pm Watchnight Eucharist A service to welcome the New Year We wish a blessed Christmas to all our visitors. 5 PRAYERS ANGLICAN CYCLE OF PRAYER Pray for the church of Kontagora (Lokoja, Nigeria) and The Rt Revd Jonah Ibrahim. HONG KONG SHENG KUNG HUI (Anglican Church of Hong Kong) CYCLE OF PRAYER Please pray for Paul, our Primate and Archbishop; Peter, Archbishop Emeritus; Andrew, Bishop of Western Kowloon; Timothy, Bishop of Eastern Kowloon and all the faithful members of the HKSKH, both clerical and lay. DIOCESAN CYCLE OF PRAYER Pray for The Province of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui; for the Most Revd Dr Paul Kwong, the Archbishop Emeritus Dr Peter Kwong, the Rt Revd Andrew Chan, the Rt Revd Timothy Kwok, the Bishop Emeritus Thomas Soo and the Rt Revd Louis Tsui, and all Provincial Clergy of HKSKH; for the "Bishop's Hill" preservation cum redevelopment project; for the ministry of pastoral care, missionary and the long-term development of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui. SJC CYCLE OF PRAYER Pray for St John’s Cathedral, Discovery Bay Church, St Stephen’s Chapel, Stanley and Emmanuel Church; for Dean Matthias, the Chaplains/Priestsin-Charge and staff. Pray for Cathedral Staff, the Cathedral Choir, and SJC Lunchtime Recitals. PRAYER REQUESTS Please pray for those who are sick. Bessie Chan Siu Oi, Carl Ye, Richard Firth, Adam Thompson, Amy Chan Siu Yuk, The Revd Canon David Dang, Sue Fletcher, Felix Chan, Ophelia Chan, Esther Tai, Toung Ming, May Cheng Wai Sheung, Daisy Chan, Chong Hang Yung Sebastian, Bronwyn, Juliet Vasantraj, Revd Johnny Chan, William Lam, Susana Westlake, Sherry, Raymond Cheung, 6 Jun Clarke, Barbara Saunders, Shelley Connolly, Bill Cox, Stephen Farmer, Simon Freeberne, Sin-Joh Chuang, Maria Erlyn Carbon, Revd Susan Hewitt, Isaac Wiens, Thomas Wong, Perronnelle Laskey, Karen Kwong Lee Yuen Kwan, Sidney Poon, Charles Dickson, Marlou Calalo, Robert Lee, Betty Bolloni, Margaret Pini, Carl Ka Tat Wong, Dennis Shea, Edith Hall, Brenda Bishop, Martine Porter, Betty Taylor, Lee Yuk Ying, Parveen Nadeem, Conor Henderson, Wendy Larkin, Juvy Bustamante, Wing Sung, Stephen A Isidro, Robert Trout, Ho Yiu Sing, Gener Galapon, Novel Chan, Bill Galvin, Revd Peter Frowley, Philip Law, Makiko Hardy, Arthuro Canuto, Wong Lee Mo Fong, Chai Ching Pau Nyin, Elena Hutchinson, Edward Wong Kar Yue, Fiona Bamber, Donna Mae Cuaresma, Inger Kvan, Stephanie Ng , Abigail Sun and Gerald Bishop. Please pray for Faithful Departed. Alma Martin Prayers will be offered for those named above during the weekday Eucharists. A PRAYER FOR HONG KONG Lord God, we ask for your blessing on the people of the Hong Kong SAR: at this time of divided opinions strengthen those who work for mutual understanding; make our hearts open to hear and embrace those who hold different views from ourselves; and may our leaders work together to seek the common good. We pray in the name of one who spread healing and reconciliation among all people, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. NOTICES EDUCATION FOR MINISTRY (EfM) English-speaking group-enrolment for 2015 year What is EfM? ST JOHN’S MIDNIGHT MASS CHRISTMAS EVE at 11.00pm Wednesday 24th December 2014 TICKETS (FREE SEATING) EFM is for those who want to discover more about Christianity and their ministry as baptised Christians. It is a comprehensive educational programme involving an intensive study of Christianity. Each Christmas Eve St John’s welcomes over 1300 people to our Midnight Mass of the Nativity and the numbers are growing. Unfortunately, the cathedral only seats a modest 550 people. Participants learn from their own experience, from other Christians and from the traditions of Christianity found in Scripture and in the history of the Church. Each week there are assigned readings and the group meets at the Cathedral to discuss what they have read. Groups are led by accredited Mentors. No specific qualifications are needed to join a group, beyond an ability to read English discerningly and make the necessary time commitment for the meetings and the weekly readings. As this is such a popular service we will be issuing tickets again this year to ensure that there is a fair distribution to members of the cathedral congregations and the wider community. The English-speaking Education for Ministry (EfM) group, meets at 7.00pm on Monday evenings, and is now recruiting new members for the 2015 year which starts on 9th February. An enrolment form can be obtained at the Cathedral office and should be returned to the office on or before 12th January 2015 with a cheque for HK$2,500 payable to "St John's Cathedral" by hand or mail addressed to EfM, St John's Cathedral, 4-8 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong. Due to unprecedented demand, kindly note that all the allocated tickets for Midnight Mass this year have now been distributed. The remaining 100 tickets will be distributed at the cathedral door from 9.30pm on Christmas Eve. Please note that these tickets will be limited to ONE per person and must be collected personally on the night. For those without tickets there will be some limited standing room in the cathedral. There will also be overflow provision for worshippers in both the Li Hall and the North Garden. Holy Communion will be distributed by the clergy in both venues. A further fee will be payable later depending on the size of the group. OPEN AIR CAROLS BY CATHEDRAL BRASS You will be contacted by phone or email as indicated in your enrolment form. Thank you for your interest in EfM. If you enjoy the traditional Christmas sound of a brass band playing carols out of doors, make sure you are in the grounds of St Johns on Tuesday 23rd December at lunchtime. For inquiries please contact John Davison on [email protected] or Evelyn Chan on [email protected]. 7 ST JOHN’S CATHEDRAL MINISTRY TEAM Dean: The Very Revd Matthias Der Clergy Ministry Co-ordinators: Communications & Publicity—The Revd Nigel Gibson Fellowship & Community Building—The Revd Desmond Cox Nurturing & Spirituality– The Revd Will Newman Outreach & Evangelism—The Revd Mark Rogers Pastoral Care—The Revd Catherine Graham Worship & Music—The Revd Robert Martin Chinese Ministry—The Revd Peter Koon & The Revd Wu Wai Ho Filipino Ministry—The Revd Dwight dela Torre Outreach Ministries: Cathedral Bookstore CLARES/Castaways Helpers for Domestic Helpers HIV Education Centre Mission for Migrant Workers Prison Ministry SJC Counselling Centre Honorary Chaplains: The Revd John Chynchen The Revd Hugh Phillipson The Revd Philip Wickeri The Revd Jenny Wong Nam Executive Administrator: Viola Ip For further information on the life and ministry of St John’s Cathedral, please visit our website at www.stjohnscathedral.org.hk or call the office at 2523 4157. Welcome to St John’s Cathedral! Please complete this form and hand it to one of the Clergy, a Sidesman or the Welcome Table. Surname: First Name: __________________________________________________ Name of spouse (if applicable) __________________________________________________ Names and ages of children (if applicable) __________________________________________________ E-mail: __________________________ Phone: _____________ Please circle as appropriate: I attend the 8.00am/9.00am/10.30am/11.45am/2.00pm/6.00pm service. I am interested in finding out about: Sunday School / Cathedral Choir / CLARES / Baptism & Confirmation / Flower Guild / Sidesman / Servers Guild / Fellowship Group / Stewardship Scheme / Uniformed Group. Other questions / information: __________________________________________________ Information provided will be treated as confidential. 8
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