Christmas Eve Worship - 24 December 2020

Service Sheet (pdf)

Welcome to worship for Christmas Eve. Wherever you find yourselves today, I invite you to join with us in celebrating the Good News of Christmas.

Advent Candles. 

In many churches an important part of the Advent season is the lighting of advent candles, one for each of the four Sundays leading to Christmas. Here, on the eve of the Christmas celebration, we remind ourselves of the message of those advent candles. The first is for the hope that lives in the people of God, as a people who live by the promises of God. The second is for the prophets who kept that message of hope alive in Old Testament times. The third is for John the Baptist, who relighted that prophetic hope, pointing to the coming Messiah. The fourth is for Mary, mother of Jesus, who carried the hope of the world within her. And so, as we stand even now at the cusp of Christmas, we have lit four candles of hope, shining light into the darkened room. As scripture tells us, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

Carol: 

O little town of Bethlehem

 

Opening prayer:

Promising God,
coming into the world as a child
fresh with vitality
demanding attention
crying with distress
prompting the love of a parent
the wonder of a shepherd
the offering of a king
move us so to worship you
that you alone
become the object of our love

our wonder
our offering

Come to us, Son of God, in our worship today.

Prepared God
Long expected Emmanuel
present in love
wrapped in a womb
labelled by a star
You have loved us since before our birth
seeing the promise in human lives
urging us towards fulfilment
Enter our lives with mercy and truth
humbling us and setting us right
bringing us assurance of your forgiveness
and the hope of your Kingdom.

Be known to us, Lord Jesus, in our worship today.

Reading

Luke 2.1-7

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

A posada nativity. 

In my own preparations for Christmas, I have brought our collection of decorations down from the roof, including this nativity set. I particularly like the figures of Joseph and Mary, so full of character, each very different from the other. They are made from gourds - seed pods – and that in itself says something important, that in Mary and Joseph’s story is the start of something new. Here also is the donkey. There is no donkey in the biblical telling of course, but since the time of St Francis, animals have formed an important part of the nativity scene, a reminder of how the Christmas story is Good News for the whole of creation, and how we as Christians are called to care for all that God has made. I bought this set many years ago from a Fairtrade shop, and for several Christmases it was used as a posada, a travelling nativity, as households in the church visited one another’s homes as a reminder of the journeying of Mary and Joseph in the narrative of the nativity.

For many of us visiting friends and family or receiving guests of our own is an important feature of the Christmas period. This year may therefore feel a lot different – we are restricted in these activities, and although we are allowed to meet as members of three households together, we may feel uneasy about it, and some of us may be deliberately choosing not to meet, for fear of spreading the virus to ones we love.

We should also have a thought for those for whom the Christmas period is simply more time spent without a place to call home – the homeless, the migrant, the refugee. We will want to be mindful of those organizations and charities who seek to offer even a temporary place of respite at this time, especially given the challenge of trying to work with the restrictions of a Covid-secure environment. The work of the homeless project, InnChurches, here in Bradford, will be missed this year. And so, I also bring out of the box the infant Jesus – tonight marks the night of his birth, after all – and whose place of arrival was a borrowed backroom. This Son of Man with nowhere to lay his head; the God of heaven who made a home with us, and who came and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. And now that hour of grace has come to us, as we hear in our next carol, Silent night.

Carol: 

Reading

John 1.1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

A different view.

Look at the photo taken from the back garden at the manse. Those of you who regularly follow these services from the Bradford North Circuit will know that several times during the summer I recorded services sat out here in the garden. It was a bit different then – for one thing it was a lot warmer. Now, I am feeling chilly already, and I am certainly hoping to record this piece in as few takes as possible! Something else that is different is that the leaves of the trees have now all fallen. My backdrop – brilliant green in summer – is now one of bare branches. But something else has changed, and it is only because the leaves have fallen that I can see beyond the trees to something that was not quite so visible before. Looking between the trunks I have a view across the valley of the River Aire, to Wrose on the hillside, Shipley in the valley bottom, and those of you who know the Bradford skyline will not be surprised when I say that I can see the chimney and buildings of Lister’s Mill further into the city (you can see it on this photo - honest!). A different and bigger picture, albeit partly obscured by bare trees, is now revealed. Other features may obscure the view – a morning mist resting in the valley, the onset of an early twilight at this time of year. Yet at the same time, even as the daylight begins to fade, the city lights will appear, twinkling in the darkness.

There are many people for whom Christmas time is a difficult one, perhaps because it is associated with a particular experience of bereavement, the loss of a partner, or a child, or close family member or friend; of loneliness, abuse or a broken relationship (an estrangement from family members perhaps); illness, or a pain or heartache that does not go away. For them, Christmas time feels more akin to the bare branches of winter than the green leaves of summer. Maybe you yourself, even as you join in this time of worship, identify with one of these experiences. Christmas, far from being an occasion for joy, or even frivolity, is instead a time of sadness that leaves you feeling ‘blue’, a time for hurrying through or simply enduring in order to leave its difficult resonances behind.

But I would also like to say, that even as we look at the bare branches of a blue Christmas, there might also be glimpses of a different picture, one that is not quite so bleak, but offering an insight into new possibilities that can come to us even in the midst of great hardship. And like the twinkling lights of the city, we too might glimpse signs of light and hope, as dim and distant as they might appear; a glimmer of Bethlehem from afar, perhaps. For this holy night, in the city of David, a child was born for each one of us, a light in our darkness, bringing hope even and especially into hopeless situations. Let’s reflect on this message as we join in with or listen to our next carol.

Carol

It came upon the midnight clear.

Prayers of intercession

For our prayers of intercession, we make use of the symbol of the holly leaf. Imagine holding a holly leaf in your hand. Feel its pointedness. Let it be as a reminder of the hardships and difficulties we might be facing in life. But also notice its evergreen quality, reminding us of the message of new life in Jesus Christ, and the everlasting love of God.

In our prayers you may want to join in with the response as it appears in bold, and I invite you also to say the words of the Lord’s Prayer with me:

For the great love of God, and the gifts of his grace
God of Christmas, we give you thanks.

For the Good News of Jesus and the joy of his coming
God of Christmas, we give you thanks.

For the homeless and those feeling sad at home
God of Christmas, hear our prayer.

For all who are hurting and for all who are longing
God of Christmas, hear our prayer.

For signs of light in darkness, and hope in helplessness
God of Christmas, receive our praise.

The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and for ever. Amen.

The Christ Light

At the close of our service, we return to the red candles of Advent with the white candle in the centre – the Christmas candle to mark the birth of Christ. And I light this candle now, because here we are on the verge of Christmas. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out. May that light of hope shine in us, as the Christ is born into our hearts and lives this Christmas.

Carol:

O come all ye faithful

The Blessing

May the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, 
be among you and remain with you this Christmas time and forevermore. Amen.

Acknowledgments: Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Photos of Advent Ring and Holly leaves downloaded from theworshipcloud.com, with permission to use in acts of worship.