蜜芽传媒

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PLEASE NOTE: This script cannot exactly reflect the transmission, as it was prepared before the service was broadcast. It may include editorial notes prepared by the producer, and minor spelling and other errors that were corrected before the radio broadcast.

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It may contain gaps to be filled in at the time so that prayers may reflect the needs of the world, and changes may also be made at the last minute for timing reasons, or to reflect current events

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OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT FROM R4

蜜芽传媒 Radio 4.听 And now Sunday Worship in which, on the third Sunday of Advent, The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev鈥檇 Dr. Barry Morgan preaches on the theme of 鈥淭he Coming of Christ as Judge鈥�. The service comes live from St. Mary鈥檚 Church, Swansea and is led by the Rector, Fr. Simon Griffiths.

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ITEM 1听听 WELCOME & INTRO听听听听听听听 FR. SIMON GRIFFITHS

听 Bore da, good morning and a very warm welcome.听

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听 St Mary's is a vibrant city centre church in Wales' second city. Situated at the heart of the city centre, we receive many visitors and we鈥檙e home to a college of chaplains working in the local hospitals, prison and university. The church also provides a focal point for the spiritual aspirations of our common life, hosting many civic occasions, both celebratory and sad.

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听听 As we share our worship together, we鈥檙e mindful of the funeral of Nelson Mandela taking place this morning.听 We keep his family, friends and the people of South Africa in our hearts and prayers.

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听 Advent is a time of expectation; of watching and waiting. For many it's a time of excited expectation as they anticipate the festivities of Christmas. But, according to Christian tradition, it's also a time to think of the future, and to watch and pray for the promised time when Christ will come again as judge, to restore all things. Whether we therefore think of the near future or of the eternal - Hills of the north rejoice!

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Hills of the north rejoice;

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ITEM 3听 LINK听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 FR. SIMON

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According to the Gospels there are three ways in which we are told that Christ will come again. Firstly, we're told that he will come as a thief in the night. He will come therefore perhaps at a time when we least expect it as a thief comes to steal during the quiet hours of the night. The second image is that of Christ who comes as King who has been given all authority by God the Father and he comes to reign eternally. Lastly, Christ will come is as judge. He will come not only to judge us as individuals, but also there will be a finality as he comes to judge history before gathering all into his Kingdom.

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Let us pray.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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听ITEM 4听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 FIRST READING听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 KITTY听听听听 DUR:

听Our first reading is from the Letter of St James, chapter five, verses seven听to ten.

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Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble, brothers and sisters, against one another, that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the doors. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

ITEM 5听 ADVENT PROSE part 1听听听 CHOIR/ORGAN DUR:

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The second reading is from St John's gospel, chapter twelve, verses forty four to fifty听 听

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And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If any one hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me."

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ITEM 7听 ADVENT PROSE part 2听听 CHOIR/ORGAN 听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 DUR:

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Knowing that, left to our own devices, we are unable to establish the Kingdom as God would have it, let us ask for Jesus to return from his throne in heaven to establish that Kingdom.听 O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

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Come, O come, Immanuel,

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A Sunday School teacher once told me that, at the end of my life, God would have recorded every single word and action of mine on His ledger and depending on the balance of good and evil, I would end up either in heaven or roasting in hell.听 As a young boy of 6, I was terrified and didn鈥檛 sleep that night or for several nights afterwards.听听

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The debate about what kind of God God is and how he judges us has raged for centuries.听 If he鈥檚 a loving God how can he send anyone to hell, but yet we read that in the Bible, that those who reject him face eternal damnation.听 It鈥檚 a discussion that鈥檚 filled the pages of thousands of books.

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And the third Sunday of Advent brings together in a stark way both the love of God and the judgement of God.听 For on the one hand, we are looking forward to celebrating the coming of God to our world in the person of Jesus because of His great love for that world and yet a constant advent refrain is of the God who comes in judgement.听 How can a God who reaches out to us, saves us, forgives us, which was Jesus鈥� message, also be a God whose judgement seems severe.听 As a circular I received last month put it 鈥淏elief in a day of judgement is fundamental to the Christian faith.听 God judges us on His values and assesses how we have lived our lives and depending on His verdict, we go to hell or to an afterlife in heaven.听 After all, people are used to trials with their rewards and penalties.鈥澨� And one only has to walk down a city high street on a week-end to see people carrying bill boards with the words 鈥淧repare to meet your God鈥� with the clear implication that it is not going to be a pleasant experience when it happens.听 Which image of God is the true one?

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Well, the Bible does talk of an individual judgement at death, where we鈥檒l be judged according to our deeds, but also, perhaps more importantly and far reaching, a final judgement at the end of time when, as the Creed says, Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead.听 Either judgement could happen at any moment.听 The imminence of judgement is what the letter of James, just read to us a few moments ago, means about Jesus standing at the door.

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And the New Testament seems to endorse this final judgement that will separate sheep from goats, people to either eternal bliss or eternal punishment, where there will be torment and gnashing of teeth.听 And this according to the New Testament will be determined by our relationship to Jesus, so that the acceptance of His message seems to decide our fate.听

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Based on such passages, some people have an image of a God who is angry, vengeful, spiteful and quick to judge.听听听 Personally, I sometimes think we project on to God the way we ourselves judge and behave towards others, but the image I cling to is of a God shown in Jesus who is compassionate, who鈥檚 a loving Father, merciful and more ready to forgive and embrace than to judge and punish.听 That seems to me to be the central message of the New Testament.

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There鈥檚 no doubting that these can be difficult concepts to absorb.听 For example, a recent confirmation candidate told me that she had long wanted to make a Christian commitment but believed that because she鈥檇 lived a somewhat less than perfect life, committed a crime and been to prison, that she would never be acceptable in God鈥檚 eyes.听 Not true, of course, but sometimes we can be our own worst enemies and our harshest critics and unconditional forgiveness seems impossible.听听

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And I鈥檓 reminded here of the fictional figure of the police official Javert in the musical Les Miserables.听 For years he鈥檇 hunted for the elusive but essentially innocent escaped convict Jean Valjean, whose crime was that he鈥檇 stolen a loaf of bread.听听 Eventually when Javert catches up with him, amidst the street battles of the French Revolution,听 Jean Valjean has a chance to kill Javert, to exact revenge and secure his freedom, but instead, filled with the grace and wisdom of God, his sense of justice, fairness and compassion shines out and he lets Javert live.听 However, so disturbed is Javert by those actions, that he cannot live with himself and the knowledge of his own misdeeds, and he eventually ends his own life.听 He has judged himself and found himself wanting.听

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Of course, this week we鈥檝e heard so much about the forgiveness shown by Nelson Mandela towards those who had imprisoned him for 27 years and to those who had perpetrated the system of apartheid.听 His refusal to retaliate but to seek reconciliation so that all races could live together, displayed a wise judgement which averted a civil war.听听

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The New Testament uses pictorial language when talking of judgement, as of so much else, that we cannot know with any certainty how the promised judgement will be.听 Having said that, we have an indication about the kind of God He is, when we consider the teaching of Jesus who said that God was like the loving father who went out to meet the prodigal son when he saw him returning; or the Good Shepherd who searched for his lost sheep.听 And Jesus鈥� whole life was spent ministering to those on the margins of His society because of their gender, occupation, race or illness.听 He embraced all those whom others found unlovable, unacceptable or untouchable and said that He was doing so because that was God鈥檚 attitude towards them.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 And by raising Jesus from the dead to life in his presence, God endorsed the values portrayed by Jesus in his ministry, the values of care, forgiveness and compassion.听 Had God raised Herod from the dead, He would have been endorsing tyranny, cruelty and terror but He did not.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Jesus, for us, is God鈥檚 human face and judgement is the realization that we shall ultimately have to come to terms with those values and also the recognition of how far we fall short of them.

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If those are the values of God鈥檚 kingdom, they ought to make a difference to the way we live our lives now, right here in the present.听 鈥淭hy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven鈥�. The Christian life ought to be about exemplifying the values of love over hate, charity over greed, selfishness over self-seeking, humility over pride, peace over war, justice over injustice and a continual asking for God鈥檚 help in our attempts to do so.听

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In so far as we fail to live in this way 鈥� preferring darkness to light, as the Gospel of John puts it, we are already judged; judged not so much by God but by ourselves, by our failure to respond to God鈥檚 love and so separating ourselves from Him and living lives turned in on ourselves.听 When we come across a godly and compassionate person we realise our own shortcomings and find ourselves judged not so much by what the person has said but by the kind of person he or she is.听 The same may be true of our relationship with God.听

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It鈥檚 exemplified for me in the account in the Gospels of Peter鈥檚 denial, as Jesus predicted he would.听 According to Mark鈥檚 Gospel, once the cock crowed for the second time and Peter has denied that he knows Jesus three times, Jesus simply looks at Peter and Peter breaks down weeping because he realises the enormity of his betrayal.听 Jesus didn鈥檛 utter a word.

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听ITEM 11听听听听听 听听 ANTHEM听听听听听听听听听听 CHOIR (no organ)听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 DUR:

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Remember, O thou man

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Remember, O Thou Man, composed by our Musical Director, Dr. William Reynolds.

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听The famous painting adorning the Altar wall of the Sistine Chapel 鈥� Michelangelo鈥檚 鈥淭he Last Judgement鈥� -听 is both beautiful and disturbing.听听 This Masterpiece, showing the Second Coming with figures ascending to heaven or descending into hell, presents us with haunting depictions of man鈥檚 journey, our temptations, our aspirations, our fallenness, our goodness, our human state.听 And at the centre of this swirling mass of angels, demons, writhing souls is the One who judges the living and the dead.听听

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So what are we to expect when the day of our judgement arrives? Not exactly a cheery thought at this time on a Sunday morning!

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It is, of course, possible even when we come face to face with God, to fail to respond to His love and no-one can know what will then happen.听 For God respects our free will too much to force us to accept Him and his values.听 The freedom He gives us to respond or not to His goodness and love in this life, may also be true at the time of judgement.听 What then?听

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The clue again lies in the person of Jesus.听 In Him we see God鈥檚 love as a love that will not let us go.听 Can the God who through Jesus talks about forgiving seventy times seven, in other words, without end, stop trying to persuade us of His love, so that even if we give up on God, will He ever give up on us?听 Do not the Cross and Resurrection demonstrate the lengths to which God鈥檚 love is prepared to persevere and persist even forgiving those responsible for the Crucifixion?

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If God鈥檚 purpose in creating us was to enable us to share in and reflect His love, it must surely mean that however we respond, His light and love continue or else evil triumphs over goodness.听 As somebody put it 鈥淚f we turn our backs on sheer goodness, sheer goodness waits with hands stretched out and waits for ever.鈥澨�

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Judgement will still be difficult, for we鈥檒l have to come to terms with our failure to live by the values of the Gospel.听 Yet God is, according to Holy Scripture, a God who continually saves, redeems and renews.听 If that is so, then it is a message of hope since the God of Jesus is long suffering and of great kindness whose love and compassion are inexhaustible.听 Thank God then that He has eternity to work on us.听

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Never weather beaten sail more willing bent to shore

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Rector听听 Watching and waiting, let us pray for strength and courage to stand before God, our Maker and Redeemer.

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Judith听听听 Loving God, you sent your messengers and prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way of our salvation; your Son Jesus has promised that he will come again in glory as our judge. Judge us not as we deserve, O Lord, and not as we judge others - but according to your loving nature judge us with mercy and love.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Lord, hear us.

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Jimmy听听 For those who work in the judiciary; for judges, magistrates and lawyers. For those awaiting trial at this time and for all on jury duty. For all unjustly imprisoned and for those harshly sentenced.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Lord, hear us.

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Helen听听听 For guidance in all our deliberations and judgements and for all in authority or positions of influence. For all whose judgements affect the lives of others and all who are caught up in, or victims of, situations over which they have no control.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Lord, hear us.

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John听听听听听 For all who watch and wait this day. For those who watch and wait at the bedside of loved ones who are seriously ill; for those who because of anxiety, desperation or grief wait for the dawn of light and hope; for those watch and wait for the safe return of loved ones on active duty in the forces, and for those who watch and wait for news of missing persons and those who search for them.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Lord, hear us.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 On the day of his funeral, we pray for the repose of the soul of Nelson Mandela, giving thanks for his life and significant achievements. We pray for all who mourn his loss, for all who fear for their future, and for all who work to fight against prejudice, discrimination, oppression, inequality and injustice.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Lord, hear us.

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Judith听听听 With love and compassion,

Come, Lord Jesus.

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With judgement and mercy,

Come, Lord Jesus.

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In power and glory,

Come, Lord Jesus.

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In wisdom and in truth,

Come, Lord Jesus.

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Rector听听 Lord God, you sent your Son Jesus, Redeemer and Judge of all to save and redeem the world. You have taught us that you will come again. Hear our prayers and help us to live as those who wait expectantly for their Lord, that when He comes again to draw all into his eternal kingdom, we may not be found wanting but waiting with joy; we make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Let us pray for the coming of the Kingdom as we say:

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All听听听听听听听听听听 Our Father, who art in Heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy Kingdom come;听

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

and lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the Kingdom,

the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

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听There has been a church on the site of St Mary's since 1328. Since those times the church has undergone many alterations, rebuildings and incarnations. In February of 1941 St Mary's was extensively damaged during three days of enemy bombing on the city of Swansea.听听 The new St Mary's was consecrated in 1959 and among the notable features are the stained glass windows, the most recent of which is a stunning modern addition, the Millennium window designed by Martin Donlin and made here in Swansea by students at the Metroplitan University.

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The inspiration behind the design is based on the Book of Revelation chapter 22 with its themes of judgement, new hope and future consummation in God's kingdom.听 For me, the bright colours and symbols of the window speak of the eternal yearning for the triumph of goodness over evil, the hope of light shining through dark days, and the belief that in eternity, God's time, that all will ultimately be well.

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 With these thoughts in mind, the choir sing an anthem of great hope 'Zion at thy shining gates Lo, the King of glory waits' with music by Georg Guest.听听听听听听听听听听

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Zion at thy shining gates

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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you, and scatter the darkness from before your path, and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you, and remain with you always. Amen.

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And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you now and always, Amen.

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Hark what a sound, and too divine for hearing,

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ITEM 19听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 ORGAN VOLUNTARY听听听听听 PETER HEGINBOTHAM

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Organ Music - Ricercar on "Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland" by George Baker

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CLOSING ANNO听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听听

This morning鈥檚 Sunday Worship came live from St. Mary鈥檚 Church, Swansea and was led by the Rector, Fr. Simon Griffiths.听 The preacher was the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev鈥檇 Dr. Barry Morgan.听 The Musical Director was Dr. William Reynolds, and the Organist was Peter Heginbotham .听听 The Producer was Karen Walker.

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听Next week鈥檚 Sunday Worship comes live from St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, with The Revd Dr Sam Wells

And don鈥檛 forget that a guide to the themes and readings used throughout Advent is available each day on the Daily Service and Sunday Worship home pages.

"The Coming of Christ as Judge"

A service for the third Sunday of Advent from St Mary's Church, Swansea.
Leader: Rev Simon Griffiths
Preacher: The Most Revd Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales
Organist: Huw Tregelles Williams.
MD: Dr William Reynolds

James 5:7-10

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Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

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It鈥檚 usually at about this time in December that my Advent resolve begins to weaken.听 My early good intentions were to be patient and resist the commercialisation of Christmas so that I can take this important opportunity to prepare myself prayerfully with an open and loving heart to hear again the message of the angels.听 But those intentions are being sorely tested now by the sound of Christmas carols and the gleam and glitter of shop windows.听 If I鈥檓 to make the most of this beautiful Advent season, I know I must try to resist the temptation to turn everyday into a celebration and unwrap God鈥檚 Christmas present too early.听 Only then will my life and my relationships be in a fit state to meet Christ, our merciful Lord, Judge and Saviour.