Please note that no video was recorded for this service.
WELCOME & ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
On the Dharawal escarpment, they were watching at night for signs of the Creator at work.
Low on the horizon they saw a bright light and wondered what this might mean as they talked with others. We acknowledge their elders past & present. Today a Saviour has been born! And if a cattle trough in a small village on the other side of the world can become a sacred place where the Son of God is born then all of this land carries the footprint of God’s loving engagement with humanity.
LIGHTING OF THE CHRIST CANDLE
Over the past four Sundays we have lit the Advent candles of peace, hope, joy and love.
We light them again and remember…that the ways of peace, hope, joy and love are brought to birth in, through and amongst all of creation.
Four Advent candles are lit.
Now we come to light our Christmas candle. It brings light and love as we celebrate this Christmas Day. It is a candle of understanding which drives away fear. It is a candle of truth. It will lead to unknown paths, paths of Love not yet embraced.
A Child was born who taught us to love and understand one another. They called him Yeshua.
The Christmas Candle is lit.
Let us Pray…God of every sunrise, today, we celebrate the new beginning that Jesus’s birth represents for us and the whole creation. We pray on this Day of Christ’s Mass, that we will see your love in the ordinary – and yet extraordinary event of your birth. May today we experience the Christmas story in ways that will surprise and delight us, disturb and inspire us. Amen
HYMN – Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Hark! the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King
peace on earth, and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all you nations, rise
join the triumph of the skies;
with the angelic hosts proclaim
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King.”
Christ, by highest heaven adored
Christ, the everlasting Lord
late in time behold him come
offspring of a virgin’s womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail the incarnate Deity
pleased in human flesh to dwell
Jesus, our Immanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King.”
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings
risen with healing in his wings:
mild he lays his glory by
born that we no more may die
born to raise us from the earth
born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King.”
Charles Wesley 1707 – 1788 Public Domain
WELCOME…
BIBLE READING
Luke 2: 1 – 14 (NIV) In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING & CONFESSION
God of this Christmas and every Christmas, many have read and listened to this story so often, it is so easy for us to think that surely there can be no new surprises for us. Forgive us for all we take for granted this day: the health we do have, those around us and your presence Lord amongst us.
You came, born in a cattle trough, of no account to those in the Inn, you came in humility and accepted the wonder of outcast shepherds, embraced first by an animal kingdom valued only for the wool, milk and meat they provided. Forgive our indifference. You accepted the 3 gifts the Wise Men brought gifts that would define your whole life – help us to accept the responsibilities and gifts we have been given to be salt, leaven and light in the world bearing the gifts of your Peace, Compassion and Justice. Thank you for being born into our lives on this day of new beginnings.
We are not the people we were last Christmas and this is not the world it was last year. This is a new day, a new moment, a new beginning. May it be so. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
SETTING THE MANGER…
CHILDREN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXWoKi5x3lw
‘The Christ Child – A Nativity Story’ Play from 2 min 20 sec – 8 min 50 sec
HYMN – Once in Royal David’s City (Words amended)
Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother’s child
Jesus Christ her holy child.
He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all
And his shelter was a stable
And his cradle was a stall:
With the poor, despised and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.
Not in that poor lowly stable
With the oxen standing by
We shall see him: but in heaven
Set at God’s right hand on high
When we all gather round
Bright like stars, his glory crowned.
Cecil Frances Alexander 1818 – 1895 Public Domain
MESSAGE The Inn of our lives
HYMN Who is the Baby an Hour or Two Old
Who is the baby an hour or two old
Looked for by shepherds strayed far from their fold
Lost in the world though more precious than gold?
This is God with us, in Jesus.
Who is the woman with child at her breast
Giving her milk to earth’s heavenly guest
Telling her mind to be calm and at rest?
Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Who is the man who looks on at the door
Welcoming strangers, some rich but most poor
Scanning the world as if somehow unsure?
Joseph, the father of Jesus.
Who are the people come in from the street
Some to bring presents and some just to meet
Joining their song to what angels repeat?
These are the new friends of Jesus.
Will you come with me, ev’n though I feel shy
Come to his cradle and come to his cry
give him your nod or your ‘yes’ or your ‘aye’
give what you can give to Jesus?
Words & music Wild Goose Songs John Bell & Graham Maule. Used with permission CCLI # 31951
PRAYERS FOR OUR WORLD & RETIRING OFFERING FOR UNITINGWORLD
We are told a Roman Census was taken not to value human life but so people could be taxed to make Rome rich. A decree which turned countless lives upside down. Yet in one small village in-spite of all Rome’s might and power a child is born who unlike Caesar is the true Son of God & Prince of Peace. We pray today for all those who are dislocated by natural calamity, violence or military/govt decrees. We continue to uphold and actively seek ways to bring peace in Ukraine, in Gaza and Lebanon and now Syria. We pray for our 1st nations people, especially their children separated from family and country. And for all for whom affordable housing and food on the table overwhelms. Help us to be part of the solution individually and through our politicians in Macquarie St & in Canberra.
Emmanuel, God with us, hear our prayers.
We pray for all who work for our emergency services & allied health across Australia but especially: our Ambos, the RFS, Police and SES. This past Spring has been the hottest in recorded human history, human accelerated climate change increasingly affects our lives and livelihoods. Give our politicians the courage they need to respond with a sense of urgency for all life on earth.
Emmanuel, God with us, hear our prayers.
We pray for families, scattered, fragmented or gathered together on this day. Your Peace Lord bind them together, comfort and strengthen them especially those for whom this year there is an empty seat at their Christmas gatherings – uphold us all in your loving kindness.
Emmanuel, God with us, hear our prayers.
We pray for your Church Lord, which you have gifted and called into being as the Body of Christ.
May we always be known by what we say and do as people of inclusion and compassion, of love, reconciliation and justice making. And help us celebrate God’s affirmation of humanity as seen in the birth of God’s Son. Emmanuel, God with us, hear our prayers. Amen
HYMN – Joy to the World
Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her king
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and Heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth! The Saviour reigns
Let us our songs employ
While fields and streams, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders, wonders of His love.
Isaac Watts 1674 – 1748 Public Domain
BLESSING
Good People all, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice
Listen well to what we say:
Jesus Christ is born today
Calls you one and calls you all
For you are blessed for evermore
Christ is born today
Christ was born for this.
John Mason Neale 1818 – 1866 Public Domain.
We go today blessed with the gift of Jesus. We go today filled with the gift of the Spirit.
We go today in the great joy of God, who in taking the lowest place embraces every one of us.
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