You can hear the entire service by clicking this link: https://soundcloud.com/emsworthup/december-24-2014-7-02-45-pm
Christmas Eve 2014
Readings and Scripture
The Coming of God (Ann Weems)
Our God is the One who comes to us
in a burning bush
in an angel's song,
in a newborn child.
Our God is the One who cannot be found
locked in the Church,
not even in the sanctuary.
Our God will be where God will be
with no constraints,
no predictability.
Our God lives where our God lives,
and destruction has no power
and even death cannot stop
the living.
Our God will be born where God will be born,
but there is no place to look
for the One who comes to us.
When God is ready
God will come
even to a godforsaken place
like a stable in Bethlehem.
Watch...
for you know not when
God comes.
Watch, that you might be found
whenever
wherever
God comes.
Isaiah 9:2-7
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a
great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has
shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they
rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing
plunder.
4 For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their
shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in
blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child has
been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he
is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the
throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice
and with righteousness
from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 11:1-9
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit
of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the
Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the
meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be
the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf
shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and
the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow
and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion
shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the
asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not
hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Love Alone (Gian Carlo Menotti)
The Child we seek
doesn’t need our gold.
On love, on love alone
he will build his kingdom.
His pierced hand will hold no scepter,
his haloed head will wear no crown;
his might will not be built on your toil.
Swifter than lightening
he will soon walk among us.
He will bring us new life
and receive our death,
and the keys to his city
belong to the poor.
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin
engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s
name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord
is with you.’* But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of
greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you
have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a
son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son
of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor
David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there
will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a
virgin?’* The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born* will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your
relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the
sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible
with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with
me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Emperor
Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the
first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All
went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph 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. 5He
went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a
child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her
child. 7And 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.
8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping
watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood
before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were
terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for
see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in
bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with
the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14“Glory
to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
REFLECTION
(Adapted from Barbara Brown Taylor’s, “God’s Daring Plan”)
Once upon a time, before there were clocks or
calendars or Christmas trees, God was all there was. And one day, God decided to make a world. Maybe God was bored, or maybe God was
lonely, or maybe God just liked to make things and thought it was time to try
something new. Something
big. Something really big.
For whatever reason, God made a world. And when the world was finished, God
stood back and took a look. God
was happy with the world, but it occurred to God that something was
missing. God wasn’t sure what was
missing at first, but soon God knew what was needed.
Everything God had made was interesting and
beautiful, but there was nothing in the world that looked like God. So, God decided to make a man and woman
and both of them would be reflections of God, and both could keep God and one
another company.
God made them out of flesh and blood, a
wonderful medium and warm to the touch.
Since God was not made out of anything at all, but was pure mind and
spirit, God was fascinated by the two creatures. God knew how fragile they were, but their very breakability
made them more touching to God, somehow.
Soon, God found himself falling in love with
the humans. In fact, God liked
being with human beings better than any of the other creatures, and God
especially liked walking with them in the garden in the cool of the evening.
Then the human beings broke God’s heart. The humans did the one thing God told
them not to do. And after doing
that one thing, the man and the woman made things worse by hiding from
God. God searched for them until
way past dark, calling their names over and over again.
After that, things between God and the humans
were very different. God still love the human creatures best of all, but the
attraction was not mutual.
In fact, it wasn’t long before most human
beings forgot all about God. All
of them were very busy learning how to make things, grow things, buy things,
sell things, and the more that human beings learned to do for themselves, the
less they depended on God.
People began to call themselves “self-made”
men and women as if that were a good thing. They forgot about God’s love and care for them. They forgot to thank God for all the
good things that happened to them.
But when something went wrong, they often blamed God. Mostly, they just ignored God.
Night after night, God threw pebbles at their
windows, inviting them to go for a walk and maybe have a talk, but the men and
women said they were too busy. Sorry.
God could have put a stop to it. When God saw things like wars and
famines and the terrible things happening to the people God created, God
thought maybe God should put a stop to it. But there was a problem with that. God had made the human beings free. God had given them their freedom just
like their hearts and brains, and even God could not take back human freedom
without killing the humans themselves. It almost killed God to watch what they were doing to
one another, how much they hurt each other, how cruelly they treated one
another.
God would yell to them, “Please stop what
you’re doing before you destroy yourselves!” but all the people could hear was
thunder. God would shout, “I love
you as much now as the day I made you,” but all the people could hear was a
loon calling across the water. God
invaded people’s dreams, and if that did not work God woke them up in the
middle of the night with whispering.
No matter what God tried, God came up against the barriers of flesh and
blood and human freedom.
Babies were the exception to this sad state of
affairs. While their parents
seemed to have a hard time hearing God’s messages, babies had no trouble at
all. Babies spent a lot of time
laughing at God’s jokes or crying with God when God cried. The babies’ parents had no idea what
was going on. “Colic,” the
grownups would say, or “Isn’t she cute?
She’s laughing at the dust mites in the sunlight.” But, the baby was really laughing
because God has just told her it was cleaning day in heaven and what the baby
saw were fallen stars the angels were shaking from their feather dusters.
Here’s another thing about babies. Babies did
not go to war. Babies never made
hate speeches or littered or refused to play with each other because they
belonged to different political parties or different religions. While no one
asked babies their opinions about anything, almost everyone seemed to love
babies, and that gave God an idea.
Why couldn’t God become one of these
delightful creatures? Why couldn’t
God become a baby?
God tried the idea out on his angels. The angels told God how much they would
worry about God if God decided to become a baby. There was no telling what
people would do to God, the angels said.
Couldn’t God at least become a magical baby with special powers so God
would be safe? Like the power to become invisible or hurl bolts of
lightening?
God thanked the angels for their concern but
said, no, God thought a regular baby would do. How else could God gain the trust of God’s creatures? How else could God persuade them that
God knew their lives inside and out unless God lived like one of them? That was part of what God wanted humans
to know: that God was willing to risk everything to get close to them, in hopes
that they might love God again.
It was a daring plan, but once the angels saw
that God was dead set on it, they broke into applause – the steady kind of
clapping that goes on and on when you have witnessed something you know you
will never see again.
Benediction:
While the angels were still clapping, God turned around and left them, shedding God’s robes as he went. The angels watched as God’s midnight blue cape fell to the floor, so that all the stars collapsed on it in a heap. Then a strange thing happened. Where God’s robes had fallen, the floor melted and opened up to reveal a scrubby brown pasture speckled with sheep. In the middle of the pasture, there was a bunch of shepherds sitting around a campfire drinking wine out of a skin.
It was hard to say who was more surprised,
the shepherds or the angels. One
of the angels finally stepped up to the edge of the hole. Looking down at the shepherds who were
all scared out of their wits, the angel said in as gentle a voice as she could
muster, “Do not be afraid; for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy
for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who
is the Messiah, the Lord.”
And away up the hill, from the direction of
town, came the sound of a newborn baby’s cry.
Hush (Lucinda Hynett)
Sssh.
Can
you hear it?
An
expectant silence,
a
hushed anticipation,
as if
the very galaxy
is
holding its breath.
There
are some truths
even
the stars know,
like
darkness,
like
loneliness
and
how the night
can be
a living thing.
And
how once, long ago,
the
night waited in wonder
along
with the darkness
and
the loneliness,
for
the sound of a baby’s cry,
for
the miraculous
to
come down
to the
earth mundane.
John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into
being. What has come into being in him was life,* and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose
name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might
believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to
the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the
world.*
He was in the world, and the world came into
being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,* and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received
him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who
were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but
of God.
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.
Christmas Hallelujah (Leonard
Cohen/Cloverton)
I've heard about this baby boy
Who's come to earth to bring us joy
And I just want to sing this song to you
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
With every breath I'm singing hallelujah
Chorus:
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
A couple came to Bethlehem
Expecting child, they searched the inn
To find a place for you were coming soon
There was no room for them to stay
So in a manger filled with hay
God's only Son was born, oh hallelujah
ALL: Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
The shepherds left their flocks by night
To see this baby wrapped in light
A host of angels led them all to You
It was just as the angels said
You'll find Him in a manger bed
Immanuel and Savior, hallelujah
ALL:
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Congregation
(Singing)
I know
you came to rescue me
This baby
boy would grow to be
A man and
one day die for me and you
My sins
would drive the nails in you
That
rugged cross was my cross, too
Still
every breath you drew was hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
(2x)
*POSTLUDE
*Those that are able may stand.
With Thanks To Our:
Readers: Keith Mihelcic, Rachel Rothenberg, Sue Schneider, Mark Shannon
Choir: Jean Ackerman, Marti Smart, Tom Smart, Georgia Stringert,
Mary Tadler, Max Fisher
Special Music: Madison Hintemeyer, Keith Mihelcic,
Erin Williams, Rachel Rothenberg,
Organist and Choir Director:
Cindy Ward
Custodian: Paul Zende
