St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh

Midweek Devotion 8th December 2022

Led by Rev Calum I MacLeod

Awake sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine upon you.

Ephesians 5: 14

Let us worship God.

The lesson is Matthew 1: 18-24

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’22All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 
23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ 24When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.

The word of the Lord; thanks be to God.

Reflection

We believe in a with-us God!

I love this affirmation. It’s taken from a contemporary statement of faith used in the context of prayers for peace and justice.

Rooted in the verses from Matthew which form our reading today - Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus - it lifts up the Old Testament promise of Emmanuel, meaning ‘God-with-us.’

We believe in a with-us God!

Not an against-us god - like Zeus flying down misfortune on humans as random thunderbolts striking what happens to be in their path.

Not a far-away-from-us god - like the god of Newton and the Deists who, having set the rules and principles of how the universe should run, takes a back seat and watches dispassionately as we make a mess of it.

Not a controlling-us god - laying out a future for each of us in which we simply become faits-accomplis in the grand, inscrutable plan.

We believe in a with-us God;

with us from birth for God was born in a barn;

with us in joy, for God had friends at the table;

with us in pain, for God was hurt by the world;

with us in hope, for God is coming soon;

with us in life, for God is here today.

O come, o come Emmanuel.

Amen

Prayer

Let us pray

In you O God, the world lives and moves and has being,

through your Son Jesus Christ,

who gave of his own self

that the world might know healing

from the fracture and brokenness which humanity creates.

Draw near O Healer, and bind up the wounds of those who hurt.

O Spirit of God give us a joy that outlasts our sorrows,

give us a hope stronger than despair,

call us to be glad for who we are

because you made us and meant us

to be your faithful people,

in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Lord hear our prayers for ourselves and others as we join together in the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father,

which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come,

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.

The Benediction

Organ Music

Max Reger Ave Maria Op 80