December 24 – Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve through Epiphany, the worship suggestions are by Gayle MacDonald of Humphrey Memorial United Church, Moncton, New Brunswick, and music suggestions are by Chris Bowman of First United Church, Truro, Nova Scotia.

Lectionary

Isaiah 9:2-7

A child has been born for us.

Psalm 96 (VU pg. 816)

Sing to God a new song.

Titus 2:11-14

Live a godly, upright life.

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Jesus’ birth.

Spark

What might an undecorated Christmas tree standing in the church represent? It might represent those who are lonely, grieving, or forgotten. Invite the congregation to write prayers on slips of paper for these “forgotten” people and to place the slips of paper on the tree as they leave.

With Children

If there is no pageant, position the children’s time early in the Christmas Eve service. Have a manger scene ready to be set up, or if one is set up, take it apart before the service. Have enough characters or pieces so that each child has something to place in position. Tell the story and let the children add the appropriate pieces as you refer to them. If there are older children, ask them to assist you in telling the story. By handling the pieces, setting the scene, and talking about each of the pieces, the story becomes memorable and sets the stage for the rest of the service.

Sermon Starter

How do we look with fresh eyes at this overly familiar, beautifully simple, yet symbolically complicated story? Are Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem because of a census? Or is Emperor Augustus, by ordering a census, unwittingly part of a mega-drama divinely orchestrated? Believing Jesus to be the Messiah, did Luke deliberately create a revisionist narrative which places Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and has him born into the household of David’s descendants and raised in Nazareth, fulfilling Messianic prophecies?

Whether fact or theological imagining, the truth that Luke celebrates is the belief that God raises up the poor and insignificant—specifically, through the person of Jesus. This child’s destiny is wrapped up in that hope. It is reflected in the revolutionary content of the pregnant Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55) and implied in the nature of the birth in a stable—seemingly unnoticed by family, friends, and community, but rejoiced over in heaven (angels) and on earth (shepherds).

Hymns

Traditional carols plus the following:

VU 27              “Tomorrow Christ is coming”

VU 40 “Before the marvel of this night”

VU 47              “Still, still, still”

VU 49              “No crowded eastern street”

VU 57              “Oh, how joyfully”

VU 74              “What child is this”

MV 47             “Born in human likeness”

MV 51             “Yahweh be praised”

MV 110           “First-born of Mary”

MV 158           “Dream a dream”

MV 180           “Sing, sing out!”

MV 224           “May the God of peace”

Keyboard/Instrumental

Burkhardt, M.  “Gentle Mary laid her child” from Five Christmas Hymn Improvisations, Set 2 (Morning Star) Charming! Tune: PUER NOBIS NASCITUR

Daquin, L.C.    “Noël Suisse” from Noëls pour orgue (various publishers)

Choral

Bevan, A.         “Gentle Mary Laid Her Child” SATB or SSA, piano (CIM) A pensive setting of the traditional text, easy to learn.

Schalk, C.        “Before the Marvel of This Night” SATB/divisi, organ (Augsburg) The anthem from which the hymn at VU 40 was taken. A beautiful message, haunting melody.