Worship
Service for December 25, 2022
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: How beautiful upon the mountains are the
feet of one who brings good tidings.
P: We receive good tidings of joy, words of
peace, a message of salvation.
L: Break forth into singing, for God has
comforted the people, brought bloom to the wasteland, shown strength in all the
nations.
P: Word of the infant born in Bethlehem is
our good news.
L: Christ is born. The prophet’s hopes are made flesh and all
our longings are made human in joy.
P: Rejoice and be glad, for Christ is born
today!
Opening Hymn – Go Tell It on the Mountains Hymn #29
Blue
Prayer of Confession
O God, the prophet proclaims,
the angels announce, the star lights the way, and we still ask, “Where?” Like children, we stand first on one foot and
then on the other, waiting impatiently for a parade, so eager
for the bands and floats that we miss it while telling a friend what’s
coming. We want a circus God. We want ringmasters and acrobats, tigers and
elephants, bareback riders – not some straw-strewn hovel with a swaybacked
donkey and tired woman with dark skin.
God, keep us willing and alert, that when You reveal Yourself, we may be
aware. (Silent prayers
are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Today, we greet the morning with joy and
with thanksgiving lift our spirits for all the mercies God has shown us.
P: Thanks be to God. AMEN.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
O God, whose love
blesses and unites us in this place and time, we come before You with hearts
gladdened by this holy season, its lights, its colors, and, most especially,
its message of peace and good will to all.
In the birth of Jesus, You have given our weary and struggling world
reason to rejoice. In the cry of an
infant, You have given hope to all who cry in despair. By the light of a star, You have helped us
find our way again. We thank You, good
and generous God, that in Jesus the Christ, You have made Yourself known and
have beckoned us to join You in the continual creation of a world where wolf
and lamb shall dwell together and justice will roll down like waters.
Create in us, O God,
hearts devoted to shaping that world and bless especially those for whom such a
world seems only a distant dream…the poor, the imprisoned, the ill, the lonely,
the despised. Open our hearts, Spirit of
Life, to the news of angels and the wonder of shepherds that these days may
renew us for the days to come.
Grant us, for the sake
of Christ’s ministry, hearts that ma discern how to make meaningful the gospel
which we cherish. Grant, to Your glory,
that those whose lives we touch may hear in our words and see in our lives that
truly You are merciful and gracious and abounding in steadfast love! These things we ask…trusting in Your care for
us today and always.…Our Father who 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. Forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors. And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – Angels
We Have Heard on High Hymn #23
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Isaiah
52:7-10
Second Scripture Reading – John
1:1-14
Sermon
– The Light of Christmas
(based
on John 1:1-14)
For
those of you who braved the cold and probably some grumpy people at home, this
morning; Christmas Day has a very different feel from Christmas Eve, doesn’t
it? Last night on Christmas Eve, it was
all about the excitement and flurry of activity that takes us to the manger. Today, especially later today however, the
feel and ambience will be more quiet, less crowded, and more calm.
A
friend and I used to lead youth groups on mission trips a number of years ago
and she would always say after an intensive day, “Ok, let’s get all the kids
together and re-group.” It was her way
of saying, “I think everyone has experienced a lot today and we need to slow
down for a moment, talk about what we saw and reflect.” Today, is about doing just that - slowing
down, re-grouping, and taking another look at Christmas. John makes us face Christmas without all the
activity and the characters; the angels, the shepherds, Mary and Joseph, or even
baby Jesus in a manger.
As I
very briefly mentioned last night, John tells a very different Christmas story
from the one Luke tells. It’s not a better
story, nor is it a worse story from Luke’s, it is just different. And I think we need both and, perhaps, that’s
why they are so different. Luke tells
the Christmas story with facts, John tells it with poetry. Luke tells it like an observer, a narrator
telling a story about something that happened, looking from the outside, John
tells it like a participant, someone who experienced Christmas, looking at it from
the inside. Luke tells us what happened,
John wants us to reflect on what it means. Luke describes an event, John describes a way
of being. Luke tells a story of
particulars – “In those days” and “in that region.” It’s about a particular place, time, and
people. John’s story is more universal
and cosmic – “In the beginning….” It’s a
creation story meant to encompass the whole world and all that has been created.
Luke has us focus on the child Jesus. John asks us to consider what it means for us
to “become children of God,” for the Word of God to dwell in our flesh to the
same degree it does in Jesus.
I
think we hear this story about the Word becoming flesh and living among us and
we immediately assume that it is referring to Jesus. And I don’t disagree with that. I certainly do think John is referring to
Jesus, I just don’t think it is exclusive to Christ, as if Jesus is the only
one in whom the Word became flesh. What
about you and me? What about the “power
for us to become children of God”? What
about the Word becoming flesh in us?
I
honestly believe that John is saying that the Word of God dwells in us, and
among us, as one of us; that the Word of God is cosmic and we can’t escape it. It’s everywhere, in all things. Every time we encounter the Word of God we are
encountering the very breath of God, the spirit of God – which surrounds us in
all that was created.
Try
this. Hold your breath and say, “Merry
Christmas.” What happened? You can’t do it, can you? You had to let breath out as you said it,
didn’t you? If you are going to speak a
word you have to breathe. That is the
breath of life. That is the Spirit of
God’s breath in you whether you recognize it or not, whether you believe it or
not. When God spoke the Word into flesh
God breathed God’s spirit into our lives and into this world. That means every time we know beauty,
experience generosity, offer mercy, act with wisdom, live with hope, feel
ourselves reborn and recreated, the Word, in that moment, is once again
becoming flesh. The Word has become
flesh in your life and my life. And that
Word is the Light of the world. It is
what brings goodness forward. It is what
allows us to dwell in the habits of the Holy Spirit and become ambassadors for
Christ.
The
incarnation of God, the embodiment of God in human life, the Word made flesh,
is not limited to Jesus. Jesus is the
picture, the pattern, the archetype of what the Word become flesh looks like. And we look at that picture so that we can
recognize it in ourselves and one another. It is to be our way, our truth, our life. It describes who we are and who we can become. It is the light dispelling the darkness that
came into the world. Word made flesh and
Light dispelling darkness. That is what
the gospel of John wants us to reflect upon to understand the meaning of
Christmas.
At the
close of last night’s service, I mentioned a quote from Howard Thurman, who was
an influential Religious Leader of the 20th Century, an author,
philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He said, “When the song of the angels is
stilled. When the star in the sky is
gone. When the kings and princes are
home. When the shepherds are back with
their flock. The work of Christmas
begins: To find the lost, to heal the
broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to
bring peace among others, to make music in the heart.”
You
and I are the continuation of the Word becoming flesh and living among us. We are the work of Christmas. We are the embodiment of all that Jesus came
to be and accomplish here on earth. We
are God’s own legacy; God’s Word made flesh.
So, what might that mean for you today? How will you let God’s Word speak through your
life, your flesh? With whom will you
share that Word? What will it say to a
world waiting to hear good news? What
hope might it offer? What new life might
that Word engender? What light might it
bring to the darkness? What if we
regarded and related to others as Christ did, the Word become flesh?
The
question isn’t whether the Word became flesh in you, me, or anyone else. The question is whether we have eyes and
hearts to see and trust that the Word has become flesh and is
living among us, to let Christmas become a way of being day after day after
day, and not simply a story to be told once a year.
The
work of Christmas is at hand – to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed
the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace
among others, and to make music in the heart.
That is the work of the Word made flesh in us.
As we re-group
and reflect on the experiences of what happened this Christmas. As we reflect on the specifics of Luke’s
story and contemplate the meaning of Christmas from the story told in John, let
us begin the work of Christmas.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Closing
Hymn – Good Christian Friends, Rejoice Hymn #354 Brown Hymnal
Benediction –
Postlude
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