Christ in the Manger - a Christmas Communion Service

Sunday 21^st Christmas Communion

Welcome

67 Once in Royal David’s City

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Happy Christmas!

Lovely poster in the porch with Happy Christmas in lots and lots of different languages.

How many Christmas greetings can we put together.

Today we give a special greeting to George and Barbar Cullis who join us in Church Membership from Market Street Church, Baptist URC church in Nantwich – with greetings from Sue Moult the Church Secretary.

We welcome George and Barbara Cullis into Church Membership

Reading:  Hebrews 1:1-4 and 2:1

¹In the past, God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets,²but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. He is the one through whom God created the universe, the one whom God has chosen to possess all things at the end. ³He reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being, sustaining the universe with his powerful word. After achieving forgiveness for human sins, he sat down in heaven at the right-hand side of God, the Supreme Power.  That is why we must hold on all the more firmly to the truths we have heard, so that we will not be carried away.

News from around the world

– mission partners

Stefan and Birgit

Stefan has come over to Germany for a course and is with Marit spending Christmas with the family.   While Birgit, Simeon and Jacob are back in Rolandia, Southern Brazil where Stefan is lecturing in OT studies in one of Brazil’s biggest evangelical theological seminaries.  He has been teaching on a course in Germany – a student who will be returning back in the Sertao, a rural area in norther-eastern Brazil, antoerhs student works with Eastern European victims of human trafficking here in Germanyu. Another is a midwife in Paksitan, someone from Hamburg working with migrants and another from Japan.

Pretty lonely and isolated for them – as Birgit finishes the term teaching … and working in a drug rehabilitation centre –

Three gifts for the tree.

Another international link – Chiks –

News from Sue …

We light the fourth of our Advent candles … thinking of that world-wide family of the church we belong to …

Lighting the fourth candle

Hope – Peace – Love - Joy

Hy-Spirit Christmas song

Offering and Dedication

It’s party time for the younger children

What was missing from our Nativity?

Look at the picture –

Our Christmas nativity drew on the carol On a Starry Night – and it only tells the story of the shepherds.  So when we dressed up the youngsters there were only shepherds and angels – no wise men, no kings.

In part that’s traditional isn’t it?   The wise men came after the birth and are traditionally associated with Epiphany.

But … I hold light to that tradition … we’ve been singing We three kings quite lustily with youngsters from Belmont and from Pittville who joined us for their carol services.

Another way of looking at it is that we told the story of Chrsitmas from Luke’s Gospel – all about shepherds, nothing about Wise men, let alone Kings.

Matthew’s gospel has another perspective altogether – it tells the story of Wise Men, Magi – doesn’t really mention they are kings.  But it does mention another King at the time, King Herod.

So, let’s think of the story of the wise men – it’s a lovely story of three wise men thinking they would find the King in a palace, going to the palace in Jerusalem, the king of the day being terrified, after all he was king – arranging to dupe the three wise men into finding out where the child was to be born.

They find the Christchild – fall down and worship him and present their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Lovely story …

But dig away at the story and there is a dark side.

A dark side you will rarely find in a school nativity play.

And it is such a pity because the school nativity play reduces the story to a pretty children’s story.

Whereas the story is a very dark one indeed.

Herod the builder – with the palace you see from Bethlehem – the National Geographic verdict on Herod –

Herod blended creativity and cruelty, harmony and chaos, in ways that challenge the modern imagination

This is a dark side to the story … that now unfolds further …

Reading:  Matthew 2:13-18

After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave.”¹⁴ Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt,¹⁵ where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make what the Lord had said through the prophet come true, “I called my Son out of Egypt.”¹⁶ When Herod realized that the visitors from the east had tricked him, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood who were two years old and younger — this was done in accordance with what he had learned from the visitors about the time when the star had appeared.¹⁷ In this way what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true:¹⁸ “A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is crying for her children;she refuses to be comforted, for they are dead.”

This is the cruel world Jesus enters into …

Let’s return to the message of Christmas – in some ways that says it all …

When horrific things happen, God is there with us, through those things – to give us a strength to go through them,

To keep going and not to give in

And to bring into those situations healing where people are hurting – and work for peace and for justice.

Another partnership we celebrate at Christmas time is the partnership we have with the de la Salles Scout group.

Christmas greetings personally from them,– and they share with us for Chrristmas a prayer …

This is the prayer that speaks into the horrors of a world at war where in that war even children are targeted in the atrocity that has hit home at us so hard this week.

Prayer for peace and justice

from the de la Salles school.

We pray to You, Lord

God of life and God of those who hope!

Listen to our prayer for the whole world

For peace among all peoples,

For prosperity in all lands.

We pray to You that evil may be overcome

And that all wars may end.

We pray to You especially for the members of our Lasallian Family,

Who suffer from war, injustice and intolerance,

And for the children

And young people

Who are poor and neglected.

We pray too, God, for peace in our lives,

In our towns, in our schools,

In our families and in our own hearts.

We pray for a peace that the world cannot give us

We pray for a peace that will make us whole

And transform us into ambassadors of Justice for your sake.

Lord, give us Your Peace!

Amen.

From the squalor of a borrowed stable

Prayers of Concern

Point out the prayers for this week – in our Advent and Christmas prayer calendar – are based on the ancient prayers of the church – the O’s of Advent that is the basis of O come, O come, Emmanuel.

66 O come, O come Emmanuel

Christmas Communion

59 Hark the herald angels sing

Words of Blessing

Child in the Manger - our Christmas Nativity Service

Our Christmas Nativity Service

lead into the service … Taize recording

– the Lord is my light and salvation, in God I trust

“Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!

Prayer

For bringing us to this place, we give you thanks, O Lord,

For the peace you promise and the blessing you give we give you thanks and praise, praise

Through all the worship we share help us to sense your peace, to know your blessing and to be sure that you are the Light of each one of us, that you are the God we can trust.

Be to each one of us such a blessing that we may go from this place and be a blessing to others, bringing your peace, your presence and your love into the lives of those we meet.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour,

Amen.

“Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!

Mary was deeply troubled by the angel's message, and she wondered what his words meant.³⁰The angel said to her, “Don't be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. ³¹You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, ³³and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end!”

From the depths of her heart, Mary’s song echoes down through the ages …

“My heart praises the Lord;

⁴⁷my soul is glad because of God my Saviour,

⁴⁸for he has remembered me, his lowly servant!

From now on all people will call me blessed,

⁴⁹because of the great things the Mighty God has done for me.

For Mary knew the kingdom that would never end would be a kingdom such as the world had never seen …

His name is holy;

⁵⁰from one generation to another

he shows mercy to those who honour him.

⁵¹He has stretched out his mighty arm

and scattered the proud with all their plans.

⁵²He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away with empty hands.

⁵⁴He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors,

and has come to the help of his servant Israel.

Hymn:  Tell out my soul

Firm is his promise, and his mercy sure

To children’s children and for evermore!

Mary knew in her heart of hearts this would be the one to come to the help of his people,

This would be the one to show love and mercy to us all, this would be the one

Our prayer as Christmas approaches is that the light of Christ may shine in our hearts, in our homes and in our world and fill this land with the  Father’s glory.

Our prayer as Christmas approaches is that the light of Christ may shine in our hearts, in our homes and in our world and flood the nations with grace and mercy …

The Chorus of Shine Jesus shine

Shine, Jesus, shine
Fill this land with the Father's glory
Blaze, Spirit, blaze
Set our hearts on fire
Flow, river, flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth your word
Lord, and let there be light

Reading: 

Isaiah 9:2-3 - Gus

Isaiah 9:6-7 - Joel

Isaiah 12:1-3 - Bethany

Isaiah 12:4-6 - Marc

Introduction

What’s on the news now is pretty distressing – if there had been TV news at the time of Isaiah it would have been disturbingly familiar – Isaiah 6-7 paint a picture of civil war the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and the threat of war from the world power of Assyria –

But in that situation they are to focus on God and the light God brings – a wonderful word in verse 1 of the NIV - NEVERTHELESS

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan –

Gus Isaiah 9:2-3

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light.

They lived in a land of shadows,

but now light is shining on them.

³You have given them great joy,LORD;

you have made them happy.

They rejoice in what you have done,

as people rejoice when they harvest their corn

or when they divide captured wealth.

What’s important is to live under God’s rule – what does that look like?  Don’t look to the might of warriors – but to a little child – and through the child see that this is what God’s rule looks like – wonderful counsel, wise advice, a might God who is Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  And the heart of that kindom will be what is right and justice

Joel Isaiah 9:6-7

A child is born to us!

A son is given to us!

And he will be our ruler.

He will be called, “Wonderful Counsellor”,

“Mighty God”, “Eternal Father”,

“Prince of Peace”.

⁷His royal power will continue to grow;

his kingdom will always be at peace.

He will rule as King David's successor,

basing his power on right and justice,

from now until the end of time.

The LORD Almighty is determined to do all this.

Where do we put our trust?  In God – God is my saviour, and I will trust him.

Bethany - Isaiah 12:1-3

 A day is coming when people will sing, “I praise you, LORD! You were angry with me, but now you comfort me and are angry no longer. ² God is my saviour; I will trust him and not be afraid.The LORD gives me power and strength; he is my saviour.³ As fresh water brings joy to the thirsty, so God's people rejoice when he saves them.”

It is to God that we turn for help and for strength – the God who is great … and the God who  lives among his people.

Marc - Isaiah 12:4-6

 A day is coming when people will sing, “Give thanks to the LORD! Call for him to help you! Tell all the nations what he has done! Tell them how great he is! ⁵ Sing to the LORD because of the great things he has done. Let the whole world hear the news.⁶ Let everyone who lives in Zion shout and sing! Israel's holy God is great, and he lives among his people.”

The Chorus of Shine Jesus Shine

It was dark on the hills around Bethlehem the night it happened,

It was a starry night and the hills were bright and the earth lay sleeping.

After our reading we are all going to remain seated and sing that Christmas song together …

Reading:  Luke 2:8-14

here were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, ¹⁰but the angel said to them, “Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. ¹¹This very day in David's town your Saviour was born — Christ the Lord! ¹²And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”

¹³Suddenly a great army of heaven's angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God:

¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!”

Starry night – song acted out by the children

It was on a starry night
When the hills were bright
Earth lay sleeping
Sleeping calm and still
Then in a cattle shed
In a manger bed
A boy was born
King of all the world.

Chorus:
And all the angels sang for Him
The bells of heaven rang for Him
For a boy was born
King of all the world.
And all the angels sang for Him
The bells of heaven rang for Him
For a boy was born
King of all the world.

Soon the shepherds came that way
Where the baby lay
And were kneeling
Kneeling by His side
And their hearts believed again
For the peace of men
For a boy was born
King of all the world.

Chorus:
And all the angels sang for Him
The bells of heaven rang for Him
For a boy was born
King of all the world.
And all the angels sang for Him
The bells of heaven rang for Him
For a boy was born
King of all the world.

Reading:  Luke 2:15-20

When the angels went away from them back 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.”

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger. ¹⁷When the shepherds saw him, they told them what the angel had said about the child. ¹⁸All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said. ¹⁹Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them. ²⁰The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them.

The shepherds went back singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen: it had been just as the angel had told them

The light of Christ shone in their hearts as they made their way home, the light of Christ filled the land with the Father’s glory.  The light of Christ shone in their hearts as they made their way home, and flooded the nations with grace and mercy

The chorus of Shine Jesus Shine

The shepherds went back, singing praises to  God for all they had heard and seen;  but what had they heard and seen?  For a few minutes you are invited to  have a look at the cribs of the Crib Festival … is there something in one of those cribs that makes you think anew about what you hear and see in the Christmas story.

A time for everyone to look at the Christmas Cribs

A time to share what people have heard and seen in the Christmas Cribs

From the squalor of a borrowed stable (Christmas words omitting verse with the Kings)

What’s the message of Christmas for today? – M’Ocean and Cooler’s input

Our young people shared with us their the thoughts they had come up with in discussion about the message of Christmas for today 

...

The (Cooler) message of Christmas

Before there was a wheel with six spokes, there were snowflakes with six points.

Each snowflake has its unique pattern, but each is made of the same basic material - a bit like people, and Christmas.

Christmas – at different times and in different cultures – can be celebrated in different ways.  But the basic material, the ‘irreducible core’ of Christmas, is God’s love for us, demonstrated in Jesus.

God’s Love

We have used the six points on the snowflake to convey something of the message of the Christmas story for us today.

Celebrate!

Jesus’ birth is good news of great joy – for God has come in love to save us.

Let’s celebrate the amazing love of God – as well as enjoying all the food, fun and presents.

Let’s celebrate – even if for some it is through tears.  God’s love understands pain too; the road from Christmas to Easter runs through Gethsemane and Golgotha.

Be humble!

If a stable was good enough for the King of Kings, and the status of a helpless baby was good enough for Almighty God – then who are we to think they might not be good enough for us?

God was content with lowly surroundings and was prepared to be vulnerable. Maybe this Christmas we should think about following his example.

(two clicks)

Include everyone!

Christmas is for everybody - shepherds and carpenters, civil servants and innkeepers, wise men and kings, young and old, rich and poor, powerful and powerless.

God’s love embraces everyone. 

Leave your comfort zone!

Mary and Joseph had to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

The wise men set off from their home not quite sure where they were going to end up.

Jesus left heaven for earth.

To share God’s love we need to be ready to step out from the familiar into the unknown.

(two clicks)

Don’t be afraid!

There were lots of reasons why Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and others might have been afraid that first Christmas. 

There are lots of reasons why we might be afraid or anxious this Christmas.

So let’s listen to the words of the angels ‘Fear not! God is with you.’  

Be open to the unexpected!

Mary and Joseph were expecting to get married – but they were not expecting to have the baby first.

The shepherds were expecting a night on the hills with their sheep – but they were not expecting angels to turn up in the middle of the shift.

The wise men expected to find a new born king – but they expected to find him in the royal palace in the capital city, not in a humble stable in a small town.

Although the coming of the Messiah had been foretold by the prophets, no one was really expecting Jesus to turn up quite the way he did. 

So this Christmas, let’s be prepared to find God in unexpected places.

Which brings us back to …..

Celebrate!

Jesus’ birth is good news of great joy for all people!

Quiet reflection on Luke 2:19 leading into prayers

Mary remembered all these things and pondered them in her heart –

Mary did you know – Christmas track

Prayers of Concern

Offering and Dedication

Final hymn:  Shine Jesus shine

Words of Blessing

The Lord is my light – Taize chant as people leave

When a sword pierces your soul

Today saw the start of our Big Welcome at Highbury with two special services.  This morning it was great to welcome our Beavers, quite a few friends to Highbury and also Robin Radley.  Robin is the inspiration behind Children's Homes in Kerala State, our Christmas Collection.

He told us of his meeting with Mother Theresa, and the way he was prompted to support one of her former nuns in setting up three homes for children in Kerala.

Over the last fifteen years or so our own Sue Cole has been very committed to the project and is out there today.   This last week, in recognition of the contribution she has made as a Vet, a new cowshed was named after her ... Susan  Farm!

You can see more about CHIKS on their Facebook page.

In the first part of the service we lit two candles for Hope and Peace.  I then told something of the story of Mary.   I then picked her story up in some reflections on those moments when everything goes wrong and it feels as if a sword is piercing your soul.

What do you do when things go horribly wrong?

There is a moment in Mary’s story when she is forced to anticipate the pain that is going to come to her through the birth of her son.  It’s the very elderly Simeon who says it to her –  a sword will pierce your own soul too.

When Jesus is 12 he goes missing on a family visit to Jerusalem and the temple – a sword pierces her soul as it dawns on her that she is losing the child as the child becomes a man.  The pain of letting go.

When Jesus’s time is spent bringing healing into hurting people’s lives, a sword pierces her soul as she has to come to terms with the time Jesus devotes to other people outside of her family.

But it is on the cross when at little more than 30 she has to witness the pain of her son’s agonising death that a sword pierces her soul once again.

What do you do when things go horribly wrong?  What do you do when a sword pierces your soul?

Mary’s story is a moving one.  It is a story she shares intitially with Joseph as fear is taken away and she sings that sing – My soul magnifices the Lord, My soul praises God.

It’s a story she then shares, in all likelihood as a widow, with her other children – through misunderstanding she comes to be one of that community of followers of Jesus who share in his resurrection victory.

It’s one of her other sons, James who came to be a significant leader of that community of followers of Jesus in Jerusalem.

He came to write a reflection on the teaching of Jesus.

What do you do when things go horribly wrong and a sword pierces your soul.

Find faith.  Rekindle that faith. Know the presence of God and make that faith real.

Martin Sheen was one who discovered faith.  It was back in 1981 at a time when his addiction to alcohol had threatened to destroy everything in his family.  A sword was piercing his soul:  he discovered in faith. He speaks of the way such faith helped him through.  By 2011 family problems were again threatening to overwhelm when this time it was one of his sons, Charlie, found his career falling apart because of addiction.   A sword once again was piercing his soul.

There was something strangely therapeutic in making a film with his film director son who had retained Martin Sheen’s family name – Emilio Estivez. 

Their family roots were in Northern Spain – and it’s there that the film The Way is shot.  A father walks the pilgrimage way of Compostela de Santiago and in the face of tragedy in his family discovers faith.

I enjoyed Martin Sheen’s portrayal of the fictional President Bartlett of the USA in the West Wing – but it was a foreword he wrote to a wonderful commentary on one of the Bible’s darkest books that caught my imagination.

In 2001 he wrote a forward to a remarkable commentary on Job by someone called Daniel Berrigan. (Daniel Berrigan, Job: And Death No Dominion (Franklin, Wisconsin, 2000)

In that forward Martin Sheen draws on Daniel Berrigan’s insights and suggests that “The haunting story of Job is an image of the world’s poor and our response to it.”

It tells of someone who loses everything and whose soul is pierced.

And yet, suggests Martin Sheen, that story of Job is ultimately

A story of faith despite our doubts,

Of hope despite our despair,

Of love despite our indifference.

It summons us to live more humanly;

to be people of peace, compassion and non-violence,

and to walk in solidarity with the suffering peoples of the world

 so that we may come to know ourselves more humanly as God knows us

and find more of God in each other’s suffering.

It’s a powerful statement of the faith someone discovers when all goes horribly wrong.

So what do we do with this kind of faith?

Santiago is of course St James.

The Pilgrimage way takes us back to that brother of Jesus as he reflects on all that Jesus shared and he suggests that faith needs to be put into action.

⁹Remember this, my dear brothers and sisters! Everyone must be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to become angry. ²⁰Human anger does not achieve God's righteous purpose.²¹So get rid of every filthy habit and all wicked conduct. Submit to God and accept the word that he plants in your hearts, which is able to save you.

²²Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice. ²³Whoever listens to the word but does not put it into practice is like a man who looks in a mirror and sees himself as he is. ²⁴He takes a good look at himself and then goes away and at once forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But those who look closely into the perfect law that sets people free, who keep on paying attention to it and do not simply listen and then forget it, but put it into practice — they will be blessed by God in what they do.

²⁶Do any of you think you are religious? If you do not control your tongue, your religion is worthless and you deceive yourselves. ²⁷What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.

The St James who gave his name to that Pilgrimage, a brother of Jesus, was convinced: “What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.”

That’s what prompts us at Christmas to have a special Christmas collection, this year for Children’s Homes in Kerala State.  While our own Sue is still out there in India we welcome Robin Radley this morning whotold us all the latest news from CHIKS.