Year C – Christmas Day

This was a tough day to prepare for, for a number of reasons. One was that there are a lot of alternative readings for Christmas Day in the lectionary, so I needed to make a selection. Since I am a Methodist, and a large proportion of my readers seem to be Methodists, I decided to use the Methodist readings for this day – I hope you’ll forgive me if you’re not a Methodist and/or you are using the alternative readings. The truth is that a lot of the resources below will work for any Christmas Day service no matter what readings you are using, so I hope you’ll find something helpful here anyway.

I pray that your Christmas is a time of great celebration and great divine challenge. 

READINGS:  
Isaiah 52:7-10: Good news of the return of God’s peace, salvation and presence to Israel.

Psalm 98: A song of praise for God’s victory and salvation.

Hebrews 1:1-4(5-12): Jesus, God’s Son, radiates God’s glory, created all things and is exalted above all things.

John 1:1-14: The Word who existed in eternity with God, and through whom all things were made, has become flesh, lived among us, and revealed God’s glory to us.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:    
As is fitting, all of the Christmas readings are full of celebration and joy at God’s visitation, God’s glory revealed in Christ, and the hope of salvation that Jesus brings. The incarnation is good news, and God’s appearance among us overcomes darkness and is a manifestation of God’s victory and sovereignty.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION:  The incarnation is God’s reign revealed among us. Within the “weakness” of this Child, amazing strength is manifest – God’s refusal to buy into human political or economic systems or agendas, revealing their darkness while not being overcome by them. The incarnation, then, must call us to reject “worldly” values and strategies for implementing God’s agenda, and also refuse to allow Jesus or the faith of those who follow him to be co-opted into oppressive or exploitative agendas. This Christmas, let’s reaffirm our commitment to follow Christ alone, and our commitment to God’s hidden, peace-bringing, non-partisan ways.

LOCAL APPLICATION: The incarnation of Christ calls us to be participants in incarnation. In our communities and churches we can embody the ways of Christ, opting out of the power struggles and “worldly” use of faith/religion for political or material gains. We can embrace the hidden, agenda-less, self-giving life of Christ. And if we will renew our commitment to incarnation, we will seek and find the places that most need us to serve, heal, and reconcile while also confronting abuses of power, wealth or faith. What do you need to opt out of, oppose, or serve in your community this year?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
Silent Night
Come Again
The Foolishness Of Faith
The Familiar Story
Great God Of Miracles And Surprises
You Have Come To Us

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for Advent & Christmas

Hymns: 
The usual Christmas Carols are easily remembered and don’t need to be listed here, so I’m just going to offer a few unusual suggestions that may complement your normal Christmas music.
Christmas Angels Medley (Just a chord chart based on selected verses and well-known tunes of these popular Carols)
A King Is Born
Little Town (Link to YouTube video of Cliff Richard’s version)
Emmanuel (Link to YouTube video)
And check out Dean McIntyre’s settings of Christmas Carols in contemporary formats at the GBOD

Video:
The Word Became Flesh
What Do You Want?
It Is Christmas
A selection of Christmas video clips from popular movies at Wingclips.com

Images:
Christmas Backgrounds from Worship Graphics
Christmas Graphics from UsingPowerPointInChurch.com
Christmas Graphics from ImageVine

Drama:
Two short dramas for children on the Sacredise Advent & Christmas page
(Scroll down to find the links)
The Foolishness of Christmas
Colours & Kings

Additional Advent Resources & Reflections:
Sacredise Advent & Christmas Page
GBOD

Year C – Christmas 1

I started this post while moving house – the movers were packing our boxes and furniture into the truck while I sat in a corner on the floor typing! I finished it today, sitting in our new home – a beautiful apartment in Sea Point, Cape Town. So, although I had hoped to get this post out earlier in the week, I’m quite pleased that I got it out at all. All, going well, things will start to settle in the next couple of weeks, and I’ll be back into normal routines. Thanks for your patience.

Also, for those who subscribe to the email updates, I have tweaked things so that the email contains the whole post and not just the teaser with the link, as it was in the past. This post will test to see if it works. Please let me know if you prefer it this way, or in the previous, abbreviated, format. Thanks.

The Sunday after Christmas (this year it’s just a couple of days later – the 27th of December) is always a tough one to prepare for. Services, in my experience, are usually quite sparsely attended, and with all the energy that went into Christmas, it can be hard to find anything inspiring for this week. But, the readings are very challenging – a simple reflection on the Christ-child growing up in grace and stature, and the obvious question that is raised – what does the “good life” look like?

READINGS:  
1 Samuel 2:18-20,26: Samuel grows under the care of Eli the priest, and his parents visit him annually when they come to the Tabernacle for the sacrifice.

Psalm 148: A psalm calling all of creation to praise the God who has strengthened God’s people.

Colossians 3:12-17: Instruction on how those who have been chosen and forgiven by God should live – in compassion, harmony and peace.

Luke 2:41-52: Mary and Joseph accidentally leave Jesus behind in Jerusalem, and return to find him in the Temple in discussion with the religious teachers. Jesus is obedient and grows in wisdom and stature.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
Like Samuel before him, and for those who seek to follow him, Jesus is the example of a life well lived – in humility, obedience, forgiveness, peace and growth in character, in spirit and in compassion. At the heart of this “good” life, is the constant attitude of reverence and praise for the God who guides and strengthens us to live the best life possible.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: The Western world has long chased the dream of “the good life”, and has called other nations and people to aspire to the same dream. However, the cost of this “good life” has been shown to be way too high – for the planet that cannot sustain our high levels of consumption and waste, for poorer nations who have given up resources and have given their bodies in cheap labour to sustain the lifestyles of the wealthy, and for the wealthy themselves, who have discovered, after attaining the “dream” that it fails to satisfy the inner longing, and is, anyway, a fragile and easily lost lifestyle – as the economic crisis has shown. Our world desperately needs to redefine what “the good life” really is – in the terms that were modelled by Jesus: simplicity, humility, compassion, peace and reverence.

LOCAL APPLICATION: Every community knows the pain, frustration and disillusionment of those who have chased “the good life” and “failed”, and of those who have “succeeded” and found only despair. The pain is material, relational, communal and, of course, spiritual. The Church has a calling and a privilege in being able to offer an alternative “good life” – a Jesus-modelled life. Perhaps this Sunday would be a good time to repent of the ways we have allowed the world’s view of the good life to infiltrate our places of worship and our spiritual teaching, while also committing again to live and share the kind of good life that Jesus offers and teaches.

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
The Life That Is Truly Good
A Goodness Worth Pursuing

Hymns: 
All Creatures Of Our God And King
Jesus, Lord, We Look To Thee
O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee
Dear Jesus, In Whose Life I See
Be Thou My Vision
(A gender inclusive version of the lyrics is available here)
And a contemporary version: Be Now My Vision
Give Thanks
Let Me Shine (You can download the chord chart here – scroll down for the link – and listen to a preview of the song here).
All The Way My Saviour Leads Me
What Can I Do
Shine

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Eucharist

Video:
Jesus: Man of the Streets
Follow Me

Images:
Forest Path