Christmas Eve 2024

Scriptures: Luke 1:26–38

Luke 1:26–38 NIV

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 favored! 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 favor 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 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.

Matthew 1:18–25 NIV

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Luke 2:1–5 NIV

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 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. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

Luke 2:6–7 NIV

6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 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.

Luke 2:8–14 NIV

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:15–18 NIV

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

12/24/2024

Order of Service:

Special Notes:

Opening Prayer:

Christmas Eve

Supporting Roles

Christmas has changed a lot over the years. For many homes, the stories of Christmas are no longer told through actors Jimmy Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, and Bing Crosby filling our homes with song; they are told by Will Ferrell, Tim Allen, and Dolly Parton, who fill our homes with laughter. You can watch Jim Carrey play both Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch, who stole Christmas. And while we may have different voices and faces sharing those stories with us, there are always VIPs in the background: supporting actors who bring those stories to life and give us reason to remember those stars of Christmas movies.

We sang a number of Christmas carols these past few weeks in anticipation of tonight and tomorrow. Perhaps you’ve watched one of the many Christmas Carol movies this season as well. That story is an excellent example of the importance of supporting roles. We usually remember who plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the star of the show, but there are several other very important people who help tell that story as well.

Even if you are going from the original written story by Charles Dickens, Scrooge is lost without the warning he receives from his former partner, Jacob Marley. He finds salvation only by following the three spirits of Christmas: Past, Present, and Future. These are all key players who lead Scrooge to a transformed life, like the angels who directed people to the manger at Bethlehem. Of course, Bob Cratchit plays an integral role in Scrooge’s life. But perhaps the most important supporting role in the entire story comes from the young boy, Tiny Tim. He doesn’t have many lines, and his character lacks any money or power. However, he stands on wobbly legs as a model for everything Scrooge and everyone else in the story hopes to become someday. Without Tiny Tim, there is no Christmas Carol.

Across history, millions of people have been invited out of the noisy background of life to come forward and play an important role for Jesus. God invites us out of the crowded audience to become supporting roles in the story of salvation.

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Angels

The original heroes of God‘s story of salvation were the angels. These heavenly beings and servants of God came to Earth to dispatch justice and discipline upon us, God‘s own people, who could not stop rebelling against Him and allowing sin to lead our lives. There was an angel who stood outside the Garden of Eden, preventing Adam and Eve from returning after the fall. When God rescued the Hebrew slaves from Egypt, He did not use an army of people to set them free. It was an angel of death who swept through the land, passing over only those who chose to put their trust in God and be obedient to Him. There was a terrifying angel who turned back the false prophet Baal and put words of truth in his mouth, instead of the words he was paid to prophesy over the Israelites.

In the Old Testament, and truly throughout the scriptures, angels are pictured as fierce, beautiful, and majestic beings. For us, as earthly creatures, they are terrifying to behold, whether they are invading the world and casting out the wicked or simply delivering a message from God. But something happened to them in the handful of centuries leading up to the birth of Jesus.

As God became quiet, the angels seemed to disappear from the scene altogether. Last seen in heaven by the prophets centuries before the birth of Jesus, they waited on God as they waited for God, no longer meaningful characters in the story. God may have used them to keep the candle oil filled in the temple for eight days during that very first Hanukkah, but if He did, He told them to keep out of sight. And then the mighty Gabriel was given the task of traveling to Nazareth and telling a young woman and her husband-to-be that God was coming back into the story in a new way. This time, instead of angels leading the way, He was inviting people to step up into some new roles.

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Shepherds

In the past few weeks, we’ve read about Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist and his parents, and many other people who played important roles in Jesus's life. Their names have been passed down to us over the centuries, and we’ve even inherited some of them. Some of the first people invited to the birth of Christ were the nameless shepherds who were watching their sheep on the hillside around Bethlehem.

They must have wondered why the angels came to them. God has always had a special place in His heart for shepherds. He calls Himself the Shepherd of Israel. He chose Israel‘s most famous king, David, from those very same hills, watching His own flock of sheep. They were nobodys, and they knew it. Some of them recognized that the sheep they were caring for were worth more than they were.

But God did choose them, and He invited them to step into the story of salvation. In ancient times, one of the most dishonorable things you could do was come into the presence of a king without bringing a gift. But that’s exactly what the shepherds did because they had nothing to give. They may not have even owned the sheep they were watching that night. Thankfully, God does not operate by man’s laws. Jesus was just excited that they were there because the rest of the world was asleep in their beds when salvation came to Earth.

The shepherds were the first evangelists. They took what they had received that night, and they went out and shared it with others. It wasn’t any more complicated than that. They didn’t have to perform any miracles or cast out any demons to tell people about Jesus. They took the message that they had received from the angels and saw it with their own eyes, becoming the supporting characters that helped the whole world know that Christ had been born.

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What is Your Role?

Where are you in the story of salvation?

God is still in the business of taking people from the background and turning their stories into supporting roles for His story of salvation for the world. When you think about how many Christmas carols have been written, recorded, and re-recorded every single year, it’s a bit mind-boggling. And while not all of those Christmas carols start off with the story of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, many of them get there eventually. How many of the words used in those carols to describe the birth of Jesus were passed down from those first shepherds, retelling their experience of what happened the night God entered our world?

Back in the days when society expected everyone to come to church every week, many church leaders had to figure out how to put on a Christmas pageant with 40 or 50 little boys and girls. It was always the running joke that all the little girls wanted to be Mary. Of course, it wasn’t a funny joke if you were the parent of several of those little girls who didn’t want any of the other male roles in the story. All the boys, on the other hand, wanted to be shepherds, probably because they didn’t have any lines, or at least not many; more importantly, they got to carry a big stick. Those boys might have changed their minds if they knew what the real role of the shepherds was, as they carried the story of Jesus out to the world after they left the manger.

You and I don’t live in that world where God has been silent for hundreds of years. We could probably go around the room, and each of us could share one or two miracles, big or small, that we’ve experienced in our lives and that show us that God is not done working with us yet. In fact, some of those miracles are so commonplace that we take them for granted.

The virgin birth was a miracle. God coming to us as a human being was a miracle too. Next year, we will celebrate the miracles of forgiveness, salvation, and resurrection. But I think the biggest miracle of all is what God does in you and me: redemption.

John Cage was a famous composer of classical music. He took out-of-tune pianos, filled them with nuts and bolts, and played them with brushes and hammers. His songs, needless to say, did not get played on the radio very often, but Hollywood loved him. His music helped inspire thousands of background tracks for movies that play all the time. His songs are like the nameless shepherds that bring those stories to life.

Perhaps his most famous song is called “Four Minutes, 33 Seconds.” If you’ve ever heard of John Cage, this is the song you’ve heard about, but I guarantee you cannot hum the tune. The sheet music for that song is a blank staff on a page with instructions to sit at the piano for four minutes and 33 seconds before standing up and leaving. Some call that cheating or not doing the work at all. But John saw it differently. To him, the music is not just in the instrument or in the hands or voices of the performers. To him, the music came from everyone in the room. That song highlighted all the sniffles and giggles, coughs and grunts, cell phone ringtones, and whispered questions of the audience and invited us to hear the music playing among us.

Like that song, the story of Christmas invites us to find our own role in the story. We can please ourselves just sitting back and being an audience, enjoying the show, and missing the point. We can decide we would rather have our own story apart from Jesus. And if we think about it and look deep into ourselves, we may find that we often make one of those two choices. But God is offering us a third choice today. Jesus is inviting us into His story. We are not going to be the lead role, but there is an essential supporting role waiting for you. It doesn’t matter how many lines God has for you or whether He puts you right up front or off doing important work to the side. That supporting role He has for you will help lift up and reveal the story of salvation in Christ in a significant way, and it will help share that story further than you will ever realize.

Where are you in the story of salvation?

Where is God moving you?

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, we celebrate your birth tonight, both in that little town of Bethlehem thousands of years ago and in our hearts and lives this day. We thank you for calling us out of the audience and giving us a role in your story, the most important story ever told. We come to you this evening, knowing we have nothing to offer you except ourselves and our lives. Would you take them again and redeem them so that we can share you, the best and most important gift of Christmas, with the world that still needs you? In Jesus’ name, amen.

Holy Communion for Christmas Eve

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good

and joyful thing,

always and everywhere to

give thanks to you,

Father Almighty, creator

of heaven and earth.

You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the earth.

You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.

When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God,

and spoke to us through your prophets.

In the fullness of time

you gave your only Son Jesus Christ

to be our Savior,

and at his birth the angels sang

glory to you in the highest and peace

to your people on earth.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name

of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed

is your Son Jesus Christ.

As Mary and Joseph went from

Galilee to Bethlehem

and there found no room,

so Jesus went from Galilee to Jerusalem

and was despised and rejected.

As in the poverty of a stable Jesus

was born, so by the baptism of his

suffering, death, and resurrection

you gave birth to your Church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant

by water and the Spirit.

As your Word became flesh, born of woman,

on that night long ago,

so, on the night in which he gave himself

up for us, he took bread,

gave thanks to you, broke the bread,

gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood

of the new covenant,

poured out for you and for many for the

forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it,

in remembrance of me."

And so, in remembrance of these your

mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died;

Christ is risen;

Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body

and blood of Christ,

that we may be for the world the

body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,

one with each other, and one in ministry

to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet. Through your Son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,

all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father,

now and forever.

Amen.

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

We are filled with joy for we have

heard good news of great joy.

We are filled with love for we have

tasted the sign of God’s great love.

We are filled with hope for the angels

still sing in our world and there is a

Light for us to follow.

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