Christmas Eve: Step out of Darkness

Lisa Frenz 2013

Prelude

Litany: (Spoken over music.)

A: Fear...

Insecurity...

Self-hate...

Echoes of life in the world...

In our time...

Echoes reverberating in us...

P: Fear...

Negativity...

Self-denigration...

Pressures and fear tactics...

In our world...

In our time...

A: Fear...

Longing...

Self-doubt....

Reflections made by hatefulness...

Bombarding us...

Finding us...

P: Step into this waiting room of expectancy.

Step out of the world’s darkness.

Step over the barriers

Into God.

Into self-love...

Into warmth...

Into hope....

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Tune Name: VENI, EMMANUEL

Text Source: Text: Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum, Koln, 1710; tr. composite

Music Source: Music: French processional, 15th cent.

An Advent wreath and/or other candles may be lighted as the song is sung. If additional time is needed an extended introduction, interlude or ending should be added.

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,

and ransom captive Israel,

that mourns in lonely exile here

until the Son of God appear.

Refrain: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

shall come to you, O Israel.

O Wisdom, word of God most high,

embracing all things far and nigh:

in strength and beauty come and stay;

teach us your will and guide our way. Refrain

Greeting:

P: Welcome in the name of Christ Jesus who opens himself to everyone.

Welcome in the name of the Creator in whose image you are made.

Welcome in the name of the Spirit who floods the world with love.

Welcome, and may God be with you.

C: And also with you.

Gathering Prayer:

A: Let us pray. O God of all our hopes,

C: Come to us, be with us. Open us to your infinity of love and acceptance. Help us to step beyond our self-limitations, step beyond our world, into your countenance. Teach us to look with love at everyone, including ourselves. Amen.

P: To get wisdom is to love oneself;

C: To keep understanding is to prosper. (Proverbs 19:8)

P: Praise God who loves us, unconditionally.

C: Thanks be to God!

Thanksgiving:

A: The Lord is our God. Praise God’s name forever!

C: O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

A: You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

C: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

A: Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

C: O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

(Psalm 8:3-5)

Song: Jesus, What a Wonderful Child (repeat as desired)

Tune Name: WONDERFUL CHILD

Text Source: Text: African American traditional, alt.

Music Source: Music: African American traditional; arr. Jeffrey Radford, b. 1953

Jesus, Jesus, oh, what a wonderful child.

Jesus, Jesus, so holy, meek, and mild;

new life, new hope the child will bring.

Listen to the angels sing,

"Glory, glory, glory," let the heavens ring!

Scripture Lessons

Gospel

Message

Response Song:

Testimony:

God created us; in God’s image we are created. We believe in a Creator who made us, loves us, and is with us today and always.

God saved us; by God’s grace we are saved. We believe in Christ Jesus who, being one with the Creator, joined us on earth for a brief time as a man, walked with us, healed us, and taught us, reminding us of who we are. With his life, death and resurrection Christ gathers all of us back into a loving relationship with God.

God is creating us anew; in God’s love we thrive and grow. We believe in the Spirit who, being one with Christ and the Creator, calls us, comforts us, and guides us every day and every moment of our lives.

Offering

Dedication of Life:

A: How majestic is God’s name in all the earth! For God has made us for love.

C: And in love we respond: with all our hearts, all our minds, all our souls, giving as we have received, loving as we have been loved, dedicating our lives, in a unity of spirit to being, doing, and expending ourselves for God in God’s world, among all of God’s creation. Amen.

Greeting of Peace

P: God has received us, pardoned us and loved us; let us forgive each other in love and share the peace of Christ. Peace be with you.

C: And also with you.

All may greet one another in the name of the Lord.

Holy Communion

Eucharistic Prayer:

P: “So God created humankind in God’s image; in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them.” And thus began a journey that we are still on today. We wait in this waiting room of God’s earth. We wait in fear. We wait in hope. We wait for what our souls hunger for: love, safety, acceptance.

P: (spoken over music) Beloved, let us love one another because love is from God,

And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ℞

℞ “This is the way of love” WMA (See Music)

P: Those who do not love,

do not know God because God is love.

The love of God is made visible among us in this way:

God’s only son was sent in to the world

so that we might live through him. ℞

P: This is the way of love:

Not that we have loved God

But that God has loved us,

And sent God’s son to wipe away our sins. ℞

1 John 4:7-10

P: For I received from the Lord

that which I also handed down to you—

that the Lord Jesus

in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;

and after giving thanks, He broke it and said,

“This is My body, which is for you;

do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way also He took the cup after supper, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant which is in My blood;

do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,

you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

I Corinthians 11:23-26

Distribution of Holy Communion

Dismissal from Holy Communion:

P: Remember, Christ has set you free, and in Christ “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” May the body and blood of Christ Jesus unite you in his body and keep you always in God’s grace and love. (Galatians 3:28-29)

C: Amen.

(Individual candles may be lighted during the introduction to the song. Once all candles are lit the song may be sung.)

Communion Song: Silent Night, Holy Night

Tune Name: STILLE NACHT

Text Source: Text: Joseph Mohr, 1792-1849; tr. John F. Young, 1820-1885

Music Source: Music: Franz Gruber, 1787-1863

Silent night, holy night!

All is calm, all is bright

round yon virgin mother and child.

Holy Infant, so tender and mild,

sleep in heavenly peace,

sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight;

glories stream from heaven afar,

heav'nly hosts sing, alleluia!

Christ, the Savior, is born!

Silent night, holy night!

Son of God, love's pure light

radiant beams from your holy face,

with the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at your birth,

Jesus, Lord, at your birth.

Repeat verse first verse.

Blessing:

P: May God, in whose image you are,

bless you and keep you;

May God’s face shine on you,

And be caring towards you;

May God’s countenance fill you,

And give you peace.

C: Amen.

Sending Song: Joy to the World

Tune Name: ANTIOCH

Text: Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

Music: ANTIOCH, George F. Handel, 1685-1759, adapt.; arr. Lowell Mason, 1792-1872

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive its King;

let ev'ry heart prepare him room

and heav'n and nature sing,

and heav'n, and heav'n and nature sing. Continued

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!

Let all their songs employ,

while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

repeat the sounding joy,

repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sin and sorrow grow

nor thorns infest the ground;

he comes to make his blessings flow

far as the curse is found,

far as, far as the curse is found.

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, wonders of his love.

Dismissal:

A: Go in peace and serve the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God.

(Blow out individual candles.)

Postlude