Holding Space

Good Afternoon and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so, if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

Lessons & Carols

Glorious God, on this Christmas Eve, we hear beloved stories of Bethlehem, of shepherds and angels, of Mary and Joseph, and the infant Jesus, our Savior. Is there yet a new story you invite us to? A story to be learned from the heavens and the earth: where the roar of the sea, the exultation of the fields, and the joy of the trees are already raised in a chorus of glad rejoicing, ready to welcome you. Even if no ear may hear your coming, help us hear the story of creation. Then, with the whole cosmos, we will tell of your salvation, declare your glory, and in a crescendo of praise, bless your name: Wonderful Counselor! Mighty God! Everlasting Love! Provider of Peace! Amen.

Isaiah 40:1-2a, 3-5, 10-11a; 49:13 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. A voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Behold the Lord will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on the afflicted.

Isaiah 9:2–7

A time of silence follows each petition [S]

God of steadfast love, we thank you in this joyful Christmastide for all the blessings we enjoy: the shelter of home and the comfort of family and friends; the company of the faithful with whom we celebrate Christ’s coming; and for your love, which shines as a light in the darkness. For these and many other blessings besides, we offer our thanks and praise … [S]

God of mercy, in this holy season, there are people in need of your tender mercies: we pray for those who are ill and for those who are recovering; for those whose sadness is made heavier by memories of Christmases past or by some present pain. We pray for those who do not have enough: enough food, enough money, enough companionship, enough hope. Because there is not yet peace on earth, we pray for those in harm’s way. Protect them from war, violence, and cruel oppression. For these and many other needs, we offer our intercessions … [S]

God of hope, through long ages, you have given to your people dreams and a vision of the time when there will be no more war, no more pain or sorrow, no more death. We pray this day for the time to be fulfilled, when we will be reconciled to one another, to all creation, to you. Fill us with hope as we work toward your new day. Give us the will to work for justice and peace and the courage to follow you into every place. We thank you for dreamers and visionaries who respond with imagination and joy to what you are doing in the church and in the world, as we remember them before you … [S]

As a new year dawns, we know that all our times are in your hand. We entrust ourselves and those we love to your community of care. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Luke 1:26-35, 38 The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, with a message for a young maiden betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David; her name was Mary. The angel appeared and said to her, ‘Hail, most favored! The Lord is with you!’ But she was deeply troubled by what he said and wondered what this greeting might mean. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for God has been gracious to you; you shall conceive and bear a son, and shall give him the name Jesus. He will be great; he will bear the title ‘Son of the Most High’; the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David, and he will be the king over Israel for ever; his reign shall never end. ‘How can this be?’ said Mary. ‘I am still a virgin.’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the child to be born will be called the ‘Son of God’. Mary said, ‘I am the Lord’s servant; as you have spoken it, so be it.’ Then the angel departed from her.

All creation teams with the abundance of God’s provision: mountains and hills, fruit trees and cedars, creeping things and flying birds! Our own lives bear witness to the abundance of God’s love for creation. In joyful praise, we offer a portion of all that we have received from God’s bounty and blessing. Amen.

Jennifer Rudy, soprano Dave Albulario, tenor Hannah Yi, organist

In this gifting season, O God, we are grateful for the gift of your dear Son, who revealed your great love for us and the world. Receive, we pray, these gifts we return to you. May they be used in the service of your kin-dom. Amen.

Luke 2:1, 3-7 In those days a decree was issued by the Emperor Augustus for a registration to be made throughout the Roman world … For this purpose everyone made his way to his own town; and so Joseph went up to Judea from the town of Nazareth to Galilee, to register at the city of David, called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of David by descent; and with him went Mary who was betrothed to him. She was expecting a child, and while they were there the time came for her baby to be born, and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them to lodge in the house.

Luke 2:8-13, 15-16 Now in this same district there were shepherds out in the fields, keeping watch through the night over their flock, when suddenly there stood before them an angel of the Lord and the splendor of the Lord shone round them. They were terror-stricken, but the angel said, “Do not be afraid; I have good news for you: there is great joy coming to the whole people. Today in the city of David a deliverer has been born to you—the Messiah, the Lord. And this is your sign; you will find the child wrapped in his swaddling clothes, in a manger.” All at once there was with the angel a great company of the heavenly host praising God and saying … Gloria in excelsis Deo. After the angel had left them and gone into heaven the shepherds said to one another, “Come, we must go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with all speed and found their way to Mary and Joseph; and the baby was lying in the manger.”

Jennifer Rudy, soprano Dave Albulario, tenor Hannah Yi, organist

Let us pray: O Lord and giver of life, who gave to all the hope of everlasting life, grant that in truth we may seek your divine goodness; to the end that, ever guarded by your power, and conducted by the light of truth, we may offer to you glory and thanksgiving, now and for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

It was dark, and Jesus had not come to them in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.

The darkness was on the face of the earth; it filled the eyes and nostrils and hearts of humanity until all cried for light lest the world be swallowed in death.

But the darkness grew beyond the cries, beyond the winds of the world, for the darkness was the chaos of souls lost in the landscape of confusion until light could illumine human hearts.

Candle Lighter: Alvin Knowles The darkness was long, and ignorance struggles in layers of darkness at the edge of existence until GOD TOOK LIGHT FROM LIGHT and with it opened the eyes of his children.

And God saw that this light was good, for this was the new light of the world.

With this light you shall perceive all that is in my world. This light is truth, and it shall make you free.

In this light will your souls, your minds, your spirits, your hearts be illumined.

With this light you will not fear the terror by night or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that walks in darkness or the destruction that wastes at noon.

From the beginning the new light, because it was good, dispelled layers of darkness, and those given it carried the light as it grew in living intensity in the long portals of their minds. The light found what was dark and showed the way that had been lost in the shadow of Babel. Yet, humanity did not embrace the light, for despite its misery it had grown fond of the darkness and fought against those who carried the light of truth.

But the brave keep coming. Not the prisons, the tortures of tyrants, not death could stop the search for that which is, for what the light reveals. The world was divided between those who sought life and light and those who would extinguish the light.

Thus, the light was sent from God as a living being, and he came saying:

How blest are those who know their need of God; The kingdom of heaven is theirs. How blest are the sorrowful; They shall find consolation. How blest are the meek; They are the strength of the world, because they are the tabernacles of God in the world. They are the little ones. They do not know themselves. The whole earth depends upon them. These are the ones for whom it was all created in the first place. They shall inherit the earth!

They are the only ones who will ever be able to enjoy life altogether. They alone appreciate the world and the things that are in it. They are the only ones capable of understanding God’s joy. All else are too weak for that joy.

They are the clean of heart. They see God. Their luster and freedom are without limit. They reach out for us to comprehend our misery and drown it in the tremendous expansion of their own innocence, that washes the world with its light.

Come, let us go into the body of that light. Let us live in the cleanliness of that song. Let us throw off the darkness of the world. For this is what all hearts pray for when they cry out: “Thy will be done.” We long for the time when this light, this liberty, this truth, this unspeakable joy, this indefatigable love will catch us all and never let us go, when we shall never fall back from the Paradise of the meek and pure of heart into the forums of prudence where the wise of this world go up and down in sorrow and set their traps for a happiness that cannot exist.

Then, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had vanished. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice proclaiming from the throne: Now at last God is among the people. God will dwell among them, and they shall be God’s people, and God shall be with them. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be an end to death, and to mourning, crying, pain; for the old order has passed away.

Behold, I am making all things new. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. It will be my gift to the thirsty.

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Deep peace of the running wave to you Deep peace of the flowing air to you Deep peace of the quiet earth to you Deep peace of the shining stars to you Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you Deep peace of Christ, the Light of the World to you.