Celebrate and sing!
Play your harps for the LORD our God.
He fills the sky with clouds and sends rain to the earth
so that the hills will be green with grass.
He provides food for cattle
and for the young ravens, when they cry out.
The LORD doesn’t care about the strength of horses or powerful armies.
The LORD is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love.
Psalm 147: 7-11

Reflect on the word GOODNESS for a few moments.

How much I take for granted each day!

The sun and moon keep their appointed way. Clouds cause rain to drench the earth. Birds and beasts, flowers and trees always color the world. The seasons follow each other. The rhythms of creation are not dependent on human inventions.

Why then do we build more technology that destroys creation? Arm nations to conquer through violence and power? Pollute our environment? Go to war over the ownership of land and water?

Do I recognize your goodness each day? Or worship you as my God if I do not honor the work of your hands? Or walk past the person sleeping on the pavement while I stay preoccupied with my own needs? Can I sing of your goodness and love when I take you for granted most of the time?

And yet you continue to create and re-create, to heal and make whole, to care abundantly for us.

God of all creation, my God and my Creator, forgive me for taking you for granted and for failing to honor your Holy Name!

---

© Ranjini Wickramaratne-Rebera

For a number of years, our dear friend Ranjini Rebera wrote Biblical reflections for the use of Gungahlin Uniting Church and others, usually for Advent and Lent. We were privileged to receive these, as Ranjini had a working history of writing and teaching on a global stage. Each time she completed the considerable work on one of these studies for us she would announce firmly, ‘That’s it. That is the last one I’m writing. No more. End of story!’ But as Advent or Lent came around again she would start hinting that she’d had an idea for a reflection – and she would write another one.

When she completed a Reflection for Lent 2021, we were not to know that this really was the last one. Ranjini died on 13 October 2021. We miss her intellect, her leadership, her vivid personality, her artistic gifts, her deep faith and her pastoral heart. We have lost some colour from our world.

The Gungahlin Uniting Church Worship Team, where Ranjini served for several years, offers Ranjini’s study material, first produced in 2015, as we give thanks for her life shared among us.

Shout praises to the Lord! He is good to us, and his love never fails.
You should praise the LORD for his love
And for the wonderful things he does for all of us.
To everyone who is thirsty, he gives something to drink;
To everyone who is hungry
He gives good things to eat.
Psalm 107: 1, 8-9

Reflect on the word THANKSGIVING for a few moments.

I stand before you, God, in wonder!

You created the heavens and the earth. You created humankind to experience the richness of relationships with each other and with you

Alone by choice or circumstance, I realise that there is power when breaking bread at a table. My table is always laden with food and often surrounded by family and friends. Sometimes I don’t pause long enough to give thanks for your provision and goodness to me.

I wonder if into all your goodness we have introduced greed and need. Have we created economic structures that drive people to be lonely, hungry and isolated? Is it hard to give thanks when someone has so little or nothing to be thankful for?

I take so much for granted when I walk through a supermarket with a laden trolley, when the huge malls lure me with dazzling buys, when Internet shopping makes it so easy for me. I am thankful for the resources I have and yet, sometimes there is a nagging doubt in my mind. How can I offer the gift of thanksgiving to those who seem to have so little?

God of Broken Bread, I stand with thanksgiving and love for all you have given me. May I not lose sight of those who have been pushed to the edges of society.

---

© Ranjini Wickramaratne-Rebera

For a number of years, our dear friend Ranjini Rebera wrote Biblical reflections for the use of Gungahlin Uniting Church and others, usually for Advent and Lent. We were privileged to receive these, as Ranjini had a working history of writing and teaching on a global stage. Each time she completed the considerable work on one of these studies for us she would announce firmly, ‘That’s it. That is the last one I’m writing. No more. End of story!’ But as Advent or Lent came around again she would start hinting that she’d had an idea for a reflection – and she would write another one.

When she completed a Reflection for Lent 2021, we were not to know that this really was the last one. Ranjini died on 13 October 2021. We miss her intellect, her leadership, her vivid personality, her artistic gifts, her deep faith and her pastoral heart. We have lost some colour from our world.

The Gungahlin Uniting Church Worship Team, where Ranjini served for several years, offers Ranjini’s study material, first produced in 2015, as we give thanks for her life shared among us.

God sent the angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee with a message for a virgin named Mary.

”The Holy Spirit will come down to you, and God’s power will come over you. So your child will be called the holy Son of God. Your relative Elizabeth is also going to have a son, even though she is old. No one thought she could ever have a baby, but in three months she will have a son. Nothing is impossible with God!”
Luke 1:26, 35 – 37

Reflect on the word ADVENT for a few moments.

Does Advent get lost as we prepare for celebrating Christmas? Why does Advent not become a priority in churches as they prepare for Christmas celebrations? We prepare lists of things to do, things to buy, names for sending greeting cards. We prepare to decorate our homes, trim a tree, plan a Christmas dinner. We spend hours of time in preparation.

Preparation is also a time for anticipation. What went through Mary’s mind as she anticipated the months ahead while waiting for her baby to be born?

A pregnant young woman standing at a bus stop – how is she preparing for the birth of her baby? A family struggling to make ends meet since the wage-earner was retrenched months ago and Mum is expecting her third child any day – do they dread these months when signs of celebrations are everywhere?

Advent is a time for waiting, for preparing and for anticipation. Do I have time to wait in quietness to hear God’s voice? In the noise and activity around me, where would I find stillness and silence, to wait?

God of my quiet-times, you know how difficult it is to be still when I am busy preparing for the celebration of Christ’s birth. May I have the will to create quiet spaces every day, as my days get busier.

---

© Ranjini Wickramaratne-Rebera

For a number of years, our dear friend Ranjini Rebera wrote Biblical reflections for the use of Gungahlin Uniting Church and others, usually for Advent and Lent. We were privileged to receive these, as Ranjini had a working history of writing and teaching on a global stage. Each time she completed the considerable work on one of these studies for us she would announce firmly, ‘That’s it. That is the last one I’m writing. No more. End of story!’ But as Advent or Lent came around again she would start hinting that she’d had an idea for a reflection – and she would write another one.

When she completed a Reflection for Lent 2021, we were not to know that this really was the last one. Ranjini died on 13 October 2021. We miss her intellect, her leadership, her vivid personality, her artistic gifts, her deep faith and her pastoral heart. We have lost some colour from our world.

The Gungahlin Uniting Church Worship Team, where Ranjini served for several years, offers Ranjini’s study material, first produced in 2015, as we give thanks for her life shared among us.