The grace and peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Opening Sentences:
God has joined our living! The gift of the Christ child is among us.
Come in joy to worship our God!
Mary has been faithful! She has given her body in labour and pain
to bring this child into the world.
Come in joy, as faithful humankind shares in the birthing!
This is the day of giving and loving. This is the day when the bud breaks forth
as the blossoming of the life of God in our midst.
This is Christmas Day! Christ is the light of the world.
Into our drab darkness light has dawned.
Let us join the songs of welcome to the infant Jesus Christ!
(as delivered on Christmas Day by Helen)
Carol TIS 313 "Good Christians all, rejoice" All who follow Jesus are bid to rejoice at his birth. His birth that opened Heaven's door. "Jesus Christ was born to save! Calls you one and calls you all to gain his everlasting hall..."
A Play (based on Cloth for the Candle, Iona) followed the carol with a narrator filling in the background and God wrestling with what to do with this world he had created, that had become so wayward. God was distressed by all the talk of peace, without any real effort to achieve it. God was distressed about people working to profit for themselves, without a thought for the injustice about them. God was distressed about how self-centred people had become. God was distressed about all the faithless worship.
God was fed up! He began to cry and knowing he could not destroy the world, decided to let the world know he loved it.
He tried telepathy; he tried sign language; he tried prophets; he tried emails.
But nobody understood.
So he sent he sent the Word.
" So the Word became flesh: tiny and frail flesh, nappy wet and squirming flesh,
Bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, the son of Joseph and Mary."
Carol TIS 316 "O Little Town of Bethlehem" The little town into which the everlasting light was born, proclaimed by heaven and earth, to impart the blessing of Heaven to human hearts. " O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!"
Prayer of Praise and Confession. (condensed) God of good news, thank you for coming in love and for being a light in the darkness. Forgive us for being fearful, half-alive, unsharing, and convinced that everything is scarce. Forgive our smallness of heart. Bring us to life again, as we receive the gift of love in Jesus Christ.
Assurance and Pardon "The light of love has come into the world, a free gift of grace for ordinary people, a nurturing hope, and a promise of new things!"
Thanks be to God! From the spirit have we all received, grace upon grace.
Scripture Reading: John 1: 1- 14
V14 " The Word was became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Reflection "Light into Darkness" As you will realise this sheet was printed off before Christmas Day and so Helen's reflection was not available.
Prayer (first and last lines)
Lord Jesus in your nativity among us you came to show us the fulness of God's glory.
We thank you for making your home among mortals like us. Amen
Carol TIS 288 " Not the powerful, not the privileged" A wake-up call that the first to greet the infant Jesus were "no-ones and the needy". His family were a homeless wandering couple. A lesson that God's standards are different from ours, and that our sense of who we are should not grow out of our worldly achievements but out of belonging to God's people.
Prayer of Intercession
We prayed to the "God of love and light" to shine his light on the forgotten people and to remind us where true joy lies: among those who need it most. We asked to be reminded of the people who are left out of the "seasonal cheer and tinsel" and that it is there, through them that God will change the world.
We then prayed: God of good news, help us find you again in the hidden place.
Amen.
Then followed The Lord's Prayer.
Blessing
"Go in peace,
For this is the gift of God to us all.
And may the God who spoke to an ordinary woman, speak in your life,
The God who came as a vulnerable child, touch you in your vulnerability,
and the Spirit join you in songs of joy".
Carol TIS 312 " Once in Royal David's City" Again the emphasis is on Jesus' humble beginnings, his humanity and his humility. Today may be a day to re-order our priorities.
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