Worship
Service for Christmas Eve December 24, 2021
Click Here for YouTube video
Prelude(s)
Christ Be Our Light - Choir
Call to Worship
L: Our Savior’s birth is celebrated with bold
faith.
P: May our hearts be willing.
L: Like Mary, who showed humble surrender:
P: May our hearts be willing.
L: Like Joseph, who exhibited unconditional
trust:
P: May our hearts be willing.
L: Like the shepherds, who displayed
awestruck wonder:
P: May our hearts be willing.
L: Like the angels, who sang glorious praise:
P: May our hearts be willing.
L: For all who are willing to receive the
gift of the Savior born in Bethlehem:
P: Grant that we might have the peace of Christ
as we wait, the love of Christ as we act, and the grace of Christ as we speak.
Lighting of the Advent Candle – all candles and the Christ Candle
Hymn – O Come, All Ye Faithful #249 in Blue Hymnal
We welcome Baby Jesus – (a
child from the congregation places baby Jesus in the Manger)
Prayer of Confession
Gracious
God, who promised to send a Redeemer to Your people, we confess that we have
not trusted Your promise, but have busied ourselves with activities which
obstruct its fulfillment. We give
presents, but fail to be present with one another. We socialize with friends, but fail to
welcome the stranger in our midst. We
create commotion and refuse to receive Your peace. Forgive us, God, for our busyness and our
lack of trust. Teach us to wait with
expectant patience for the fulfillment of Your promise to us. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: This is the good news in Jesus
Christ. We can stand before God, not
through our own goodness, but through God’s great kindness to us.
P: Let
us rejoice and be glad, for God comes to us this night and always!
Choir Anthem: Christ is Born This Holy Night
First Reading: Isaiah
9:2-7
Hymn: Away in a Manger #262
Second Reading: Luke 1:26-38
Third Reading: Matthew 1:18-25
Hymn: O Little Town of Bethlehem #250
Fourth Reading: Luke 2:8-15
Offertory: Night Song
Prayer of Dedication
Fifth Reading: John 1:1-5
Hymn: Joy to the World #270
Sixth Reading: Luke 2:1-6
Sermon(ette) – God’s Gift (A
Christmas Eve Sermon)
The central figure in tonight’s story is of course, the
Christ child, but there are lots of participating characters as well when you
read over the full account throughout the scriptures. Even going all the way back to Old Testament
times and the age of the prophets – each of them proclaimed the coming of a
Messiah - Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Micah, Daniel, Joel, Malachi. And then there are the more familiar
characters like the angels, Mary, Joseph, the ubiquitous Innkeeper, the unnamed
shepherds, and the traveling wisemen.
They all served a purpose – whether they come to us down through the
ages like the prophets, or are ever-present in the story itself like Mary and
Joseph, whether they were rich like the wisemen or poor like the shepherds,
whether they trusted and obeyed the angels’ instructions, or were simply too
busy to be bothered much like the innkeeper – they were all witnesses to what
God was doing in the world.
For many, the idea of a Messiah was that he would be a new
political leader or ruler, not that he would save us from our sins. But Christ came as an infant child to show us
the true meaning of innocence and giving.
After all, God’s willingness to be present with us, to show us the truth
of love, hope, joy, and peace was to give us a gift. And that gift came as an innocent baby, born
into the world, like all other babies – perhaps even more poor than most,
considered homeless at birth. Born to
earthly parents who loved him but had little to provide for him, visited by
equally-poor shepherds, but also the richest of kings. It was the most ordinary of births
considering the time, but also the most extraordinary, as well.
Thanks to the connectedness of friendships on Facebook, I
came across this Christmas story written by Nancy Gavin, which resonated with
me, so I’ll share it:
It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches
of our Christmas tree. No name, no
identification, no inscription. It has
peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. Oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the
commercial aspects of it – overspending and the frantic running around at the
last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma –
the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the
usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I
reached for something special just for Mike.
The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was on the wrestling
team at the school he attended. Shortly
before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an
inner-city church. These youngsters,
dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing
holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy
blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other
team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect
a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the
ragtag team obviously could not afford.
Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly,
"I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but
losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids
– all kids. He so enjoyed coaching
little league football, baseball and lacrosse.
That's when the idea for his present came.
That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and
bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes, and sent them anonymously
to the inner-city church. On Christmas
Eve, I placed a small, white envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike
what I had done, and that this was his gift from me.
Mike's smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that
year. And that same bright smile lit up
succeeding years. For each Christmas, I
followed the tradition – one year sending a group of mentally handicapped
youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers
whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The white envelope became the highlight of our
Christmas. It was always the last thing
opened on Christmas morning, and our children – ignoring their new toys – would
stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the
tree to reveal its contents. As the
children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the small,
white envelope never lost its allure.
The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to
dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled
around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an
envelope on the tree. And the next
morning, I found it was magically joined by three more. Unbeknownst to the others, each of our three
children had for the first time placed a white envelope on the tree for their
dad. The tradition has grown and someday
will expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down that
special envelope.
Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be
with us.
For the Man Who Hated Christmas
(A true Christmas Story by Nancy W. Gavin, December 2015)
For those of you who don’t know this, my sister Joy passed away earlier this year and in keeping with this story, I’ve also started a new tradition. Tonight, I’ll place a plain white envelope (hold up the envelope) containing the gift that I’ve given my family this year in memory of my sister. (If you want to know about the gift inside this envelope, you'll have to wait because I'm not going to spoil the surprise before Christmas Morning.) Oh sure, there will be chap stick and dusting powder to open, but the greatest gift I could give them is the lasting legacy of my sister, paying it forward for those who are less fortunate.
May God’s greatest gift inspire you to become a gift to
others. And may the spirit of Christmas
enlighten your souls with hope, love, joy and peace.
AMEN.
Congregational Candle Lighting – with instruction (do not start Silent Night until all the individual candles have been lit)
Hymn: Silent Night
Benediction
Postlude
No comments:
Post a Comment