Carol Service

Call to worship

LIAM

The fourth Advent candle could be lit.

Lay aside your thoughts about cooking the turkey tomorrow. Lay aside any worries about whether you’ve got everything. Lay aside concerns about visitors or visits. And instead… fill your mind with the story of the stable, feel the peace the Christ child brings, experience the joy of heaven at the birth of God’s Son, and open your heart to the Lord.

In the Bleak Midwinter

A gathering prayer

Father God, as we gather together this Christmas Eve, help us to look beyond the familiar to find something new in the ancient stable story. Help us to see the real people in the nativity scene, people full of hopes and fears, filled with questions and uncertainties, experiencing joy and pain. People who loved you, listened to you, and took risks for you – people like us. Amen.

A prayer of adoration

KARON

Father God, you are faithful and true, full of power and mercy.

You grace the world with salvation,

the gift of your Son who we eagerly await.

Your Holy Spirit moves among us, filling us with joyful expectation.

Your love knows no end.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

we lift our hearts to you. Amen.

A prayer of confession

Two voices read alternate lines; all respond with bold text.

God, you chose Mary, a young girl not yet married, to take part in your story.

You chose her for one of the greatest acts of obedience ever demanded.

You asked her to risk everything.

How must she have felt?

Stunned? Puzzled? Scared?

She must have wondered how Joseph would react.

He could have refused to marry her.

The consequences would not have been pleasant.

An unmarried mother.

An outcast.

Joseph, however, came good.

But Mary agreed to your will, God, before knowing that.

She put her whole life in your hands.

Yes, she had total trust in you.

ALL

God, your call on our lives will never be as great as that of Mary, mother of our Lord and Saviour. Yet still we may hesitate, have doubts, and question the consequences. And perhaps think the risk too great to follow through. Forgive our lack of trust, our doubts and fears. Help us to be like Mary, open to you, wholly obedient and trusting in all things. Let it be as you will. Amen.

Assurance of forgiveness

God sent Jesus as a living sacrifice to atone for our sins once and for all. Through him our sins are washed clean, forgiven and forgotten. Amen.

Angels we have heard from high

Luke 1:26-38

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most, High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most, High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

See Amid the Winter Snow

What do you think Mary’s experience of meeting an angel was really like?

Script PAM

In so many ways it was just a normal day. So many chores to get through, as usual; there’s always a long list. And, as usual, I was carefully avoiding the jobs I really hate! It’s always the sweeping. I can’t bear that, a bottom of the list job. But that day I’d reached the point where I’d run out of excuses: shopping done, bread made, mending all finished. So, the broom it was. I couldn’t put off the sweeping any longer. I remember I was just heading to the corner, in fact just reaching out my hand for the broom, when it happened.

Looking back, I can’t quite remember what struck me first. I think it was the shift in the light. The day was cloudy and quite dull, and the sudden brightness made me stop in my tracks. But it was also another change in the room, even now I can’t quite describe it, like the very air I was breathing had become heavier, as if the world had slowed down slightly. And there he was. He filled the room, beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. It’s funny, I can’t recall now what he really looked like. Were there features on his face I would recognise? How was he clothed? I can’t summon those details in my mind, but I knew straightaway that he wouldn’t hurt me, that he was gentle. I also knew straightaway that he was a warrior, that he was feared by some, and in that first moment I was completely overwhelmed by his presence.

‘Greetings favoured one. The Lord is with you,’ he said. Again, I can’t now explain how I heard those words. They seemed to echo off the walls, they surrounded me and at the same time I felt them beating in my heart. What did he mean? Why was I favoured? That was reserved for the rabbis, not for someone about to sweep their house. Now I felt afraid.

I was about to open my mouth, to express my confusion, to reveal my anxiety, but the words never formed or left me. He seemed to look right into my heart and see everything happening there. ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.’ Did I hear those words or feel them? The effect was extraordinary. My fears were stilled, I felt a strange rush of calm fill me up, I realised I had been trembling but with his words the trembling ceased. I looked again at this presence in my room and listened to what he was telling me.

‘A son, the most, high, the throne of David.’

How?

‘The Holy Spirit, the power of the most, high, overshadowed, a holy child.’

‘The Son of God.’

Then he told me about Elizabeth. Elizabeth, my beautiful cousin who had longed for a child for so many years, who had resigned herself to the fact she would never give birth, never hold her own baby…he told me that she was pregnant! Pregnant? God had gifted her a child, a son. Elizabeth, past the age you can carry a child, and barren for so long, and me, not even married to Joseph, too young, too early, we were both being given a son. God had chosen us, chosen me.

I remember my exact words, ‘Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’

Then he was gone, I realised my hand was gripped round the handle of the broom. The sweeping still needed to be done and for once I actually rejoiced, in the task.

Silent Night

Joseph Mohr penned the words to this carol in 1816 as he looked over a very quiet winter town, he wrote it as a poem not long after the violence of the Napoleonic wars had taken its toll on Austria.

It wasn’t until 1834 that the poem was set to music, the story goes that he approached the organist on Christmas Eve and wanted to perform this at the evening service, not much of a task!

It was played on the guitar as this was the instrument that the people in the public houses were used to.

There is also the heart-warming story in the first world war of the Germans singing Sille Nacht.

I though this morning we could recreate that original performance only in English.

[Verse 1] 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 [Verse 3] Silent night, holy night Son of God, love's pure light Radiant beams from Thy holy face With the dawn of redeeming grace Jesus Lord, at Thy birth Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

What did Mary risk when she said ‘Yes’ to God?

video

Sermon

Mary has an encounter with a heavenly visitor who brings unsettling news. The conversation that follows launches Mary into life-changing decisions, which she accepts willingly.

It’s easy to let the Christmas story wash over us at this time of the year. It’s so familiar, wrapped up in nativity plays, carols and crib scenes. So, it’s easy to forget exactly what Mary took on when she said ‘Yes’ to God’s plan. Becoming the mother of the Christ child was a huge risk for an unmarried young woman in her society. She put herself, her reputation, and her future on the line for God with an act of immense courage and faith. What are we prepared to risk for God and God’s plans?

O’ Holy Night

A prayer of thanksgiving

Father, how can we thank you enough for your Christmas gift to us? We give thanks as labour pains intensify, heralding Jesus’ birth, the empty cradle soon to be filled and overflowing with love – a love that touches, convicts, renews and blesses. We thank you for the joy that fills us as we wait with baited breath to celebrate our Saviour. We give thanks for your loving glory which comes down this Christmas time. Amen.

KARON

O, Lord Christ who reigns in beauty

in the throne room of my heart,

Let thy gracious love enfold me

with the joy thou dost impart.

Let my life sing out the message

angels sang in ages past.

Let my words speak out the glory

of thy love so pure and vast.

let the radiance of thy presence

shine throughout the darkest night,

till at last the whole world knoweth

That thou art the truth and life.

Prayers of intercession

LIAM

We pray today for those who feel far from themselves and others. We pray that this Advent season might, in the midst of demand, provide soft nights and ease, so that people can return to themselves, knowing you, too, are always in the heart, and always wait for us with kindness. We ask this, in the name of all that is good. We remember today all who have not given their consent, but whose lives and bodies and integrity are taken for granted. For them, we pray for justice, reparation and truth. We ask this, in the name of all that is good. Today we remember that God surprised us by coming among us through the ‘Yes’ of Mary. Let us always be open to the surprise of finding God in unexpected places. We ask this, in the name of all that is good. Amen.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

A sending out prayer

‘Our Lord, we will sing of your love forever. Everyone yet to be born will hear us praise your faithfulness. We will tell them, “God's love can always be trusted, God’s faithfulness lasts as long as the heavens.”’

Lord, let us feel your steadfast love, and sing your praises this Christmas time. Let us proclaim to our friends and family how great you are. Let us see the power of the baby in the cradle. Let us say ‘Yes, let it be’ this Christmas time. Amen.