Transcription
Yeah, just a few quick points. Make sure you have your candles. Everybody got them? Kids, you got yours? Okay, everybody’s got them? Good.
It’s the most important part. Are we ready? Then let us rise if we’re able and sing our first hymn, the first two verses of the first Noel. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel Brothers and sisters, children of God, welcome.
Welcome on this Christmas Eve and welcome as we celebrate the birth of the King of Kings. Brothers and sisters, may we share Christ’s peace briefly with those around us. Let us pray.
You may be seated for a second. Amen. Gracious God, we thank you.
On this Christmas Eve, we are mindful of the great gift that you gave us. Help us to celebrate, help us to remember, and may we bring the peace, the hope, the love and joy of Advent into the Christmas season and all of the days hereafter. Amen.
Let us rise and continue singing. ♪ And where the dancing star ♪ ♪ Do you see the star ♪ ♪ Where is the star tonight ♪ ♪ To the northward song and say ♪ ♪ I know the place where Jesus lay ♪ ♪ And there is a king over Israel ♪ You may be seated. Brothers and sisters, hear our first lesson of tonight from Isaiah 9. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Those who lived in the land of deep darkness, on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy.
They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exalt when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us. Authority rests upon his shoulders and he is named wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. His authority shall grow continuously and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Brothers and sisters, you may remain seated as we sing together, O come, O come, Emmanuel, the first two verses.
♪ O come, O come, Emmanuel, the first two verses. ♪ ♪ O come, O come, Emmanuel, the first two verses. ♪ ♪ And ransom captive at once exile here.
♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee. ♪ ♪ O come, thou dayspring, come and cheer our spirits. ♪ ♪ By thine advent here, disperse the gloom of the day.
♪ ♪ Emmanuel shall come to thee. ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee. ♪ Our second lesson tonight comes from the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 11, verses one through 10 on Pew Bible page 555. Hear God’s word. A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of its roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear. But with righteousness, he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist and faithfulness, the belt around his loins. The wolf shall lie down with the lamb. The leopard shall lie down with the kid.
The calf and the lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze. Their young shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp and the weaned child shall put its hand over the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. On that day, the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples.
The nation shall inquire of him and his dwelling shall be glorious. Brothers and sisters, let us finish singing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. ♪ O come, O come, Emmanuel, O come, O come, Emmanuel ♪ ♪ Upon the wilderness’ shore ♪ ♪ And cause us in her ways to go ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel ♪ ♪ Shall come to thee, O come, O come, Emmanuel ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel ♪ Our third lesson comes from the Gospel of Luke.
Luke chapter one, verses 26 through 38. On Pew Bible page 826. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor, David.
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom, there will be no end. Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I am a virgin? The angel said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be holy.
He will be called son of God. And now your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren for nothing will be impossible with God.
Then Mary said, here I am, servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word. Then the angel departed from her.
Brothers and sisters, let us rise if we’re able and sing together, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. ♪ It came upon a song ♪ ♪ That there was peace on the earth ♪ ♪ And peace on the sea ♪ ♪ The world is all and still as they’ll see ♪ ♪ Still through the proven skies they come ♪ ♪ With peaceful wings unfurled ♪ ♪ And still their heavenly music floats ♪ ♪ Above the sad and lonely plains they land ♪ ♪ And in the sounds they’ll sing ♪ ♪ And hear the rushing love whose horns are bending low ♪ ♪ Toil with your steps and song ♪ ♪ Look up, for there lies beside the weary mountain ♪ ♪ And hear the angels sing ♪ ♪ For now the daysling on thy prophet’s arms foretold ♪ ♪ When with the ever circling years comes round the age of ♪ ♪ When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendor be ♪ ♪ And wonders free and love won’t give back the song ♪ ♪ That all the angels sing ♪ And now, brothers and sisters, let us hear of the birth of our Lord. In those days, a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.
This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem because he was descended from the house and family of David.
He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.
Let me, at this time, invite all of our younger members forward for their message. So come on, all you little ones. Come on.
Come on. Come on, grab seats, grab seats. No, you are not.
You are never too old for this. Come on, come on, come on. Come on, come on, come on.
Grab your seats, grab your seats, grab your seats. Come on. We’re not in a hurry, except you guys are probably in a big hurry to get home and get to sleep because the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner what happens? Santa! Now, all I have to say is the one thing, make sure, guys, can we scoot in, let Dakota in? Come on.
Come on, come on, come on, come on. Scoot, scoot, scoot. Oh, I understand.
So, how are all of you? Are you anxious? Are you nervous? You’re excited? Excited? You have a plan to see Santa? You know what? I’ll tell you a quick story. When I was about seven years old, I decided I was gonna watch Santa. And you know what? I got up and I went downstairs and Santa hadn’t come yet.
So I went back up and I laid there and I watched my clock and I watched the digital numbers change and change and change and change. And an hour later, you know what I did? I went back downstairs and you know what happened? I didn’t see Santa. He hadn’t come yet.
So I sat there watching my clock for an entire night, every hour, until about three o’clock. I couldn’t check the clock anymore. I was so tired.
And you know what? I woke up at about six o’clock and he had come in that three hour window. So do you think Santa was paying attention? Yeah, I think Santa was watching me. So make sure you get a good night’s sleep tonight because it’s gonna be a very exciting night tomorrow, right? Because Santa, you know what? Why would you catch him? Oh, to get all his presents, but then all the other kids couldn’t have presents, right? So you got a question for Santa? Did you write him a letter? He didn’t write back.
You know, sometimes, sometimes it takes time to get mail from the North Pole. Oh, well, I’ll tell you what guys. So do you guys ever, how many of you have a different name you go by than the one when you were born? Well, you have two you’re working on.
Lily, what do you go by? Well, what is, so Lily is what you go by. What is your first name? Lillian. Barbara goes by Barbara.
What do you go by? Elise goes by Ellie. Vivi is Vivian. Nat goes, what, Nat, what’s your full name? Oh, wow.
So I have some ornaments for your trees. Be careful putting them up. Everybody is gonna get one, and they all have different names for Jesus.
Now, we’re gonna have those, and then what do I always give you kids? I always give you a little something sweet because tonight is probably the sweetest night of the year, but I have a favor because Christmas is all about traditions, and one of the coolest traditions I always experienced was you don’t put baby Jesus in the manger until when, why? I can’t top that answer. So, Hattie, since your brother is not here, will you lead my young friends into the back and place baby Jesus in the manger? Everybody, can you follow Hattie? Hattie’s gonna lead us. I’ll tell you what, remind me next year.
Go. Happy birthday. Okay.
All right, follow, follow. Now, did we lose anybody? Not yet. Okay.
Okay. All right. Once everybody’s back up here, I’ll ask Vivian, Vivi, to hand out the ornaments, make sure everybody gets one.
If you and your brother both, okay, here’s the deal. If siblings each want one, siblings each can have one. All right? So, Nat, you and your brother can have one.
Vita, you and your sister can have one. Dakota, you can even grab one for your little brother. And you can grab one for your cousins.
Would you like to pass out a chocolate to everybody? I’ll get on unpacking. I want my brother has one. Now.
He’s not up here, he’s still. Oh, well, you can grab one for him, yeah. You know what? Can you pass out my chocolates to the back row? Hey, I’m passing out the chocolates.
I got you some help. All right, once you have your ornament and your chocolate, can you head back to your family? Family? And remember, eat them when your parents say you can eat them. When your parents say you can eat them.
Tomorrow. This parent says tomorrow. I got more.
It’s okay. All right. Actually, Hattie, for your brothers.
We need one more. Now, did you get one? Okay, Vivian’s got them. Okay, you save one for you.
Perfect. Well, I’ve got more. There’s one for you.
Did you get an ornament for your brother? Can I keep the tray? You may. Yes, go ahead. Go.
Of course. You’re welcome. Now, kids, remember, eat them when your parents say you can.
As Liam and Barb both eat, there’s a few. Then, Russ and Dino, at this time, let me invite you forward so that we can return to God from the many blessings that we have received. ♪ The storm is here, the stars shine bright ♪ ♪ And listen to the wise men came and shepherds wondered ♪ ♪ Where he lay upon his lowly bed ♪ ♪ Under the stars one blessed night ♪ ♪ The Christ child came to earth ♪ ♪ And through the darkness broke the light of morning light ♪ ♪ And his blood and sweet hosannas filled the air ♪ ♪ And guardian angels watched him where the virgin mother lay ♪ ♪ Under the stars, under the stars this happy night ♪ ♪ Once more ♪