Christmas Eve at All Hallows (Tuesday, December 24, 2024)

Welcome to Christmas Eve at All Hallows.

The Twelve Days of Christmas begins on Christmas Eve, the eve of the Feast of the Nativity, and lasts until Twelfth Night, the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany. Beginning on Christmas Eve and throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas, we celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. On the Feast of the Epiphany, we celebrate his revelation to the Gentiles, to the Magi, or Wisemen, who came from the East, bearing gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh.

This evening’s message examines a unique characteristic of the Christian faith and way of life.

Take a moment to quieten your mind and settle your thoughts. The service will begin as soon as you are ready. May it bless you this Christmas Eve and those with you. May that blessing last beyond this night and remain with you always.

GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

Open this link in a new tab to hear Joshua Messick’s arrangement of CAROL OF THE BELLS for solo hammered dulcimer.

Silence

Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy, which will come
to all the people; for unto you is born this day in the city of
David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10, 11

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Silence

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins
through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all
goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in
eternal life. Amen.

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as
it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Alleluia.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Reawake Hymn’s arrangement of John Francis Wade’s “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

1 O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant.
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of angels.

O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

2 God of God, light of light,
Lo, he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
True God, begotten,
not created:

O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

3 Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all yea citizens of heav'n above;
Glory to God, all
Glory in the highest.

O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

4 Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory given;
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing.

O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Open this link to hear Marty Haugen’s responsorial setting of Psalm 96, “Today Is Born Our Savior.”

Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all you lands;
sing to the Lord, sing to the Lord, bless his name.

Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

2 Announce his salvation forever, his glory proclaim to the earth;
tell all the peoples the wondrous deeds of our Lord.

Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

3 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
Let the seas now resound in his praise.
Let the plains be joyful, and the forests exalt.

Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Christ the Lord.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Paul Inwood’s arrangement of James Quinn’s metrical paraphrase of Psalm 117, “Come, Praise the Lord, the Almighty for organ, choir, assembly, trumpet, and trombone.

1 Come, praise the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of the nations!
Tell forth his fame, O you peoples,
with loud acclamations!
His love is sure;
faithful his word shall endure,
steadfast through all generations.

2 Praise to the Father most gracious,
the Lord of creation!
Praise to the Son, the Redeemer
who wrought our salvation!
O heav’nly Dove, praise to you,
fruit of their love,
giver of all consolation!

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 62:6-12

On your walls, Jerusalem, I have placed sentries;
They must never be silent day or night.
They must remind the Lord of his promises
And never let him forget them.
They must give him no rest until he restores Jerusalem
And makes it a city the whole world praises.

The Lord has made a solemn promise,
And by his power he will carry it out:
“Your grain will no longer be food for your enemies,
And foreigners will no longer drink your wine.
But you that planted and harvested the grain
Will eat the bread and praise the Lord.
You that tended and gathered the grapes
Will drink the wine in the courts of my Temple.”

People of Jerusalem, go out of the city
And build a road for your returning people!
Prepare a highway; clear it of stones!
Put up a signal so that the nations can know
That the Lord is announcing to all the earth:
“Tell the people of Jerusalem
That the Lord is coming to save you,
Bringing with him the people he has rescued.”
You will be called “God's Holy People,”
“The People the Lord Has Saved.”
Jerusalem will be called “The City That God Loves,”
“The City That God Did Not Forsake.”

The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Silence

Open a link in a new tab to hear Isaac Watts’ “Joy to the World.”

1 Joy to the world! The Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and heaven and nature sing!

2 Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let all their songs employ;
While field and floods, rocks, hills, and plains.
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

3 No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.
Far as the curse is found.
Far as , Far as the curse is found.

4 He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove;
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love.

A reading from Paul’s Letter to Titus
Titus 3:4-7

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior was revealed, he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us. God poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for.

The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Carols Ancient & Modern’s arrangement of Christina G. Rossetti’ “Love Came Down a Christmas.”

1 Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

2 Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, Love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men*,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

*In some versions of this hymn “all men” has been altered to “all the world,” “others,” or “neighbors.”

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke
Luke 2:1-20

At that time Emperor Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Roman Empire. When this first census took place, Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Everyone, then, went to register himself, each to his own hometown.

Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to the town of Bethlehem in Judea, the birthplace of King David. Joseph went there because he was a descendant of David. He went to register with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him. She was pregnant, and while they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby. She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger—there was no room for them to stay in the inn.

There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, but 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. This very day in David's town your Savior was born—Christ the Lord! And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

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

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!”

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.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger. When the shepherds saw him, they told them what the angel had said about the child. All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said. Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about 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 Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Silence

The Way of Christ

The Japanese set great store in harmony, harmony with other people, harmony with nature, harmony with the kami, the gods and spirits of a locality. This view of life is commendable in a number of ways. Even Westerners have adopted the principles of chyouwa, of living in balance with everything.

However, this way of living is missing a very important ingredient. This ingredient is living in harmony with the one true God, having a right relationship with the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is not something that we can attain on our own, by our own efforts. No matter how disciplined we are, no matter how dedicated we are, we cannot achieve a harmonious relationship with God from our own end. This is one of the things that distinguishes the kirisutochyou, the way of Christ, from Buddhism, Shinto, and other Eastern religions. Buddhists may practice self-abnegation and the other teachings of Gautama Buddha and free themselves of the cycle of reincarnation or so their philosophy teaches.

However, Christians cannot by following the teachings of Jesus put themselves right with God. Our obedience to Jesus’ teachings flows from our faith in Jesus. The faith by which we are reconciled to God is a gift from God. This is what apostle Paul is saying in his letter to Titus in tis evening’s reading. The first stirrings of our faith are the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It is something that God gives us out of his own goodness—what Paul refers to as “grace.” Grace is defined as God’s favor and goodwill toward us, favor and goodwill that we do not merit or deserve. We cannot earn it. We cannot buy it. It is wholly God’s to give or withhold.

The flip side of these stirrings of faith is regeneration which is also the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Faith and regeneration are the opposite sides of the same coin. A crude analogy can be drawn with the way regeneration affects us and turning on the laptop, computer or other device that we are using. If the device is not plugged into a power source and turned on, all we can do is play with the keys and look at our reflection on the screen. We may open and close the device. But the device is dead. It can do nothing. Well, we might be able to use it as a paper weight or press flowers with it. .

Before the Holy Spirit regenerates us, we are like the dead device. We are dead too, spiritually but not physically. We are incapable of turning away from what comes between us and God. We are incapable of turning to God, much less of having a right relationship with God. When the Holy Spirit regenerates us, it is like connecting the device to the power source and turning the device on. It begins to function—to do what is supposed to do.

The difference between regenerations and powering up and turning on a device is that God is the one who connects us to the power source and turns us on. God himself is the power source. We begin to function. We recognize what has come between us and God and seek to turn away from it. We seek to turn to God, to have a right relationship with God.

A device can have a lot of clutter on it and when it is powered up and turned on, it does not function properly. That describes our condition when we are regenerated. We have been powered up and turned on, but we are not functioning properly. God will work in us to clean up the clutter. God will also install new software and give us a major upgrade. .

Theologians are apt to quibble over which comes first—regeneration or faith. But what matters most is that God takes the initiative, not we ourselves. Our salvation is God’s doing from beginning to end. God works in us to will and to do his good pleasure—what pleases him. This is why Paul writes Titus, “…when the kindness and love of God our Savior was revealed, he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us. God poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for.”

If you feel a stirring of faith in you, if you feel a growing desire to live more in harmony with God, if you are drawn to Jesus and to his teachings, that is God working in you. God has plugged you in. He has flipped your switch. You are ready to go.

If you are thinking to yourself, “I feel none of those things,” keep one thing in mind. God is like a gardener. God prepares the soil before he plants a seed. God may add fertilizer. God may let the soil rest for a while. God takes his time. God knows the number of our days. God is working in your heart this very moment. You may not feel God’s presence, but God is there. For God loves you more deeply than you may realize.

God loves us so much that God in the person of the Son became human like ourselves. God didn’t just take the appearance of a human being. He was born as a human baby, a baby that would grow up to be Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus not only made God known through his words and deeds, but he also put things right between God and humanity by his death on the cross and rising to new life. It is Jesus’ birth that we celebrate this Christmas Eve and the Twelve Days of Christmas the birth of our Savior and Lord. It is not just a special occasion in the life of a Christian. It is a special occasion in the lives of all people. Why? Jesus is the Savior and Lord of all humankind! 

Silence

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER

The Lord be with you
and also with you.

Let us pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

That this evening may be holy, good, and peaceful,
We entreat you, O Lord.

That your holy angels may lead us in paths of peace and
goodwill,
We entreat you, O Lord.

That we may be pardoned and forgiven for our sins
and offenses,
We entreat you, O Lord.

That there may be peace to your Church and to the whole
world,
We entreat you, O Lord.

That we may depart this life in your faith and fear,
and not be condemned before the great judgment seat
of Christ,
We entreat you, O Lord.

That we may be bound together by your Holy Spirit in
the communion of all your saints,
entrusting one another and all our life to Christ.
We entreat you, O Lord.

O God, you have caused this holy night to shine with the
brightness of the true Light: Grant that we, who have known
the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy him
perfectly in heaven; where with you and the Holy Spirit he
lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Be our light in the darkness, O Lord, and in your great mercy
defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love
of your only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore:
Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you,
all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women
everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “Carol at the Manger (Holy Child Within the Manger).”

1 Holy Child within the manger,
long ago yet ever near;
come as friend to every stranger,
come as hope for every fear.
As you lived to heal the broken,
greet the outcast, free the bound,
as you taught us love unspoken,
teach us now where you are found.

2 Once again we tell the story--
how your love for us was shown,
when the image of your glory
wore an image like our own.
Come, enlighten with your wisdom,
come and fill us with your grace.
May the fire of your compassion
kindle every land and race.

3 Holy Child within the manger,
lead us ever in your way,
so we see in every stranger
how you come to us today.
In our lives and in our living
give us strength to live as you,
that our hearts might be forgiving
and our spirits strong and true.

Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son shared at Nazareth the life
of an earthly home: bless the homes of the children in this...........
(neighborhood, community, or district) and throughout this nation
and the world, and help their families to live together in your love.
Teach them to serve you and each other, and make them always
ready to show your love to those in need; for the sake of Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, whose Son had nowhere to lay his head:
Grant that those who live alone may not be lonely in their
solitude, but that, following in his steps, they may find
fulfillment in loving you and their neighbors; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to your
never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come,
knowing that you are doing for them better things than we
can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you
through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him,
that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope
of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so
guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our
wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to
you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always
to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Almighty and eternal God, ruler of all things in heaven and
earth: Mercifully accept the prayers of your people, and
strengthen us to do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

The Lord bless us and keep us. Amen.
The Lord make his face to shine upon us
and be gracious to us. Amen.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon us
and give us peace. Amen.