THREE QUESTIONS FOR CHRISTMAS
Order of Service for Christmas Eve
Over 2000 years ago, many travellers came to the little village of Bethlehem in Judea on what became the birthday of Jesus Christ.
Ever since, Christians have travelled in spirit to that village each Christmas Eve. Tonight we welcome you to Bethlehem once again.
Before our service begins, greet your fellow-travellers sitting near you. Introduce yourself to those you do not know, or exchange Christmas greetings.
In the service order you will find an Official Census Form in three parts, reminding us of the Roman census on the first Christmas. Of course, this is not a real census form to be collected by government officials, but something for each worshipper to look at and think about.
OFFICIAL CENSUS ENROLMENT FORM – PART 1WHO ARE YOU?
Family Name
Occupation
Town/City of residence
Names and occupations of any others with you tonight
P: Welcome to Bethlehem, fellow travellers. May God be with us all and bless us, as we remember what happened on that special night in Bethlehem, and as we think about three questions:
· WHO comes to Bethlehem?
· WHY have we come?
· WHAT will we do when we leave?
Congregation stands
P: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
P: Lord Jesus, we have travelled to Bethlehem tonight to hear the story of your birth. As you came into the world long ago, so come tonight and bless our worship.
C: Come, Lord Jesus, come!
MARY'S SONG OF PRAISE
P: My heart praises the Lord;
C: My soul is glad because of God my Saviour,
P: For he has remembered me, his lowly servant!
C: From now on all people will call me happy, because of the great things the Mighty God has done for me.
P: His name is holy!
C: From one generation to another he shows mercy to those who honour him.
P: He has stretched out his mighty arm
C: And scattered the proud with all their plans.
P: He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones,
C: And lifted up the lowly.
P: He has filled the hungry with good things,
C: And sent the rich away with empty hands .
P: He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors,
C: And has come to the help of his servant, Israel.
P: He has remembered to show mercy to Abraham
C: And to all his descendants forever.
All: Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for evermore. Amen.
CAROL: O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM
(Chi Rho Carol Book #39/ Together at Christmas 64/ LHS 633/ TIS 316)
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by:
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary;
And, gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the king,
And peace to men on earth.
How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.
O holy child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in:
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Immanuel!
THE LESSON: Luke 2:1-7
INNKEEPER: You all know me. My name is Isaac. I live here in Bethlehem, I'm the innkeeper. This is my place. It looks different tonight because it usually isn't this crowded.
By now most of you have greeted one another and have found a comfortable place to sit. If you see some who need a place, please make room for them. Make sure the children can see what's going on.
Some of the children want to tell you where they've come from and what they've come for.
RECITATION: By older children
We've come from eating, sleeping, working, playing,
We've come from singing, dancing, talking, praying.
We've come from listening, wondering, searching, growing,
We've come from walking, crawling, stopping, going.
We've brought our sorrow, failure, doubt, fear.
We've come to learn, sing, feel, hear.
We've come each man, woman, girl, boy,
We've come for faith, hope, love, joy.
INNKEEPER: Here's another couple I think you should meet.
JOSEPH (with Mary): Good evening. My name is Joseph. I work as a carpenter in Nazareth, but I've come here for the census. This is Mary with me. We are engaged to be married. She's about to have a baby so we're glad Isaac has found a place for us, even if it's only a quiet corner of the cow-shed beside his Inn.
Mary and Joseph take their place by the manger.
CAROL: ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID'S CITY
(Chi Rho Carol Book #58/ Together at Christmas 70/ LHS 632/ TIS 312)
Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall;
With the poor and mean and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.
And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love,
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above;
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.
Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him; but in heaven,
Set at God's right hand on high;
Where like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.
SOLDIER: Now it's time to look at the second part of your Official Census Form. As you do, think about WHY YOU ARE HERE.
OFFICIAL CENSUS ENROLMENT FORM - PART II
WHY ARE YOU HERE? (Tick all appropriate answers)
To meet our friends
To see the Christmas tree
Because I always come to church on Christmas Eve
Because someone from our family is in the Sunday School
Because someone invited me
To find help for my problems
To find comfort
To worship Jesus, the new-born King
Other: ......
THE LESSON (continued): Luke 2:8-14
Shepherds enter
1st SHEPHERD: Hey! Where is he? Have you seen the new baby? He must be around here somewhere. Hello there, Innkeeper! Do you have a cow-shed behind your inn?
INNKEEPER: Wait a minute. WHO ARE YOU?
2nd SHEPHERD: Our names aren't all that important. We're shepherds from the fields just outside
Bethlehem.
INNKEEPER: I see. But WHY ARE YOU HERE?
3rd SHEPHERD: Well, you're going to find this hard to believe. Just a while ago, we were out in the fields with our sheep. Suddenly everything lit up around us, and there was - I can hardly believe it myself- there was this angel, right in front of us.
1st SHEPHERD: He knew we were scared to death, and he said, 'Don't be afraid. I've got good news for you that will bring joy to everybody.'
2nd SHEPHERD: And then he told us that on this very day our Saviour, Christ the Lord, was born in David's town.
3rd SHEPHERD: And then the angel said, 'To prove it you'll find this new baby, all wrapped up in cloths and lying in a manger.'
1st SHEPHERD: Well, you could have knocked us over with a feather. But just to make sure we understood that this was for real, God filled up the whole sky with angels.
2nd SHEPHERD: What a sight it was - all of those angels, singing and praising God.
3rd SHEPHERD: So that's why we've come - to see this thing that the Lord told us about.
INNKEEPER: Well, my friends, you've come to the right place. A man and his wife from up north just arrived a while ago. They had hardly settled down when the young mother had her baby. The baby is right over there in that manger.
The shepherds take their place at the manger
CAROL: ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH
(Sing to Jesus #84/ Together at Christmas 7)
Angels we have heard on high,
Sweetly singing o'er the plains;
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyful strains:
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why these songs of happy cheer?
What great brightness did you see?
What glad tidings did you hear?:
Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee
Christ, the Lord, the new-born King:
INNKEEPER: Mary, you won't mind if the little children come to see the baby, will you? They can sing him a lullaby.
RECITATION (by little children gathered at the manger)
O look, there lies sweet Jesus,
The little baby king.
We've come to see our Saviour.
Let's all together sing.
SONG (by little children) ‘Away in a Manger’ or ‘In a little stable’ would be suitable
Wise Men enter
1st WISE MAN: Excuse me, Innkeeper. Do you know where the baby is who has been born to be king of the Jews?
INNKEEPER: Just a minute. WHO ARE YOU?
2nd WISE MAN: My friends and I come from the east. We study the stars.
INNKEEPER: And WHY ARE YOU HERE?
3rd WISE MAN: In the east we saw the star of the new-born king of the Jews. We followed it to Jerusalem. There we asked King Herod where the baby was.
1st WISE MAN: Herod asked the chief priests and teachers of the law where the Christ was to be born. They told him that an ancient prophet had said it would be Bethlehem of Judea.
2nd WISE MAN: That's why we've come here to search for the baby king. We've come to worship him.
3rd WISE MAN: And to give him gifts.
INNKEEPER: Well, sirs, the baby you are looking for is here.
The kings bring their gifts and take their place near the manger.
HYMN: AS WITH GLADNESS MEN OF OLD (Sing to Jesus 104/ LHS 40/ TIS 314)
As with gladness men of old
Did the guiding star behold,
As with joy they hailed its light,
Leading onward, beaming bright:
So, most gracious Lord, may we
Evermore be led to thee.
As with joyful steps they sped,
Saviour, to thy lowly bed,
There to bend the knee before
Thee, whom heaven and earth adore:
So may we with willing feet
Ever seek thy mercy-seat.
As they offered gifts most rare
At thy cradle rude and bare:
So may we with holy joy,
Pure and free from sin's alloy,
All, our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to thee, our heavenly king.
INNKEEPER: Well, now we know WHO the people are who have come tonight, and we know WHY WE'RE HERE. But the question still is: WHO is the baby? We know that he is Mary's son. The shepherds reported that the angels told them he was their Saviour - Christ the Lord. The three men from the east said that he is the King of the Jews. But why would a child like that be born here in a cow-shed? WHO IS HE? And WHY IS HE HERE?
CAROL: WHAT CHILD IS THIS? (Chi Rho Carol Book 56/ Together at Christmas 90/ LHS 746)
(By choir, soloist or older children - the congregation may join in the chorus)
What child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary.
Why lies he in such mean estate
Where ox and ass were feeding?
Good Christians, fear; for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading:
So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh;
Come, peasant, king, to own him;
The King of kings salvation brings;
Let loving hearts enthrone him:
ADDRESS (optional)
P: Who is this child, born on Christmas Eve?
P&C: I believe that Jesus Christ- true God, Son of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary- is my Lord.
P: Why did he come?
P&C: At great cost he has saved and redeemed me, a lost and condemned person. He has freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil- not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.
P: Why did he do all this?
P & C: All this he has done that I may be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.
CAROL: INFANT HOLY, INFANT LOWLY
(Chi Rho Carol Book #32/ Together at Christmas 40/ LHS 741/ TIS 292)
Infant holy, infant lowly,
For his bed a cattle stall;
Oxen lowing, little knowing
Christ the babe is Lord of all;
Swift are winging angels singing,
Noels ringing, tidings bringing,
Christ the babe is Lord of all,
Christ the babe is Lord of all.
Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping