Gathering Music
Welcome and Introduction
Centering
Chalice Lighting
Opening Song
#248 "O We Believe in Christmas"
Words: Percival Chubb, 1860 -1960, © 1955 American Ethical Union
Music: American folk hymn melody in The Revivalist , 1868
O we believe in Christmas, and we keep Christmas day;
and we will honor Christmas the ancient worldwide way:
the Christmas of all peoples, the sun’s returning cheer
rung out from towers and steeples at midnight of the year.
And we will join at Christmas the song of hope and joy
that finds its theme at Christmas in every girl and boy.
The flame of life will dwindle as fades the sunset sky
until a child shall kindle new light and raise that high.
Then sing we all at Christmas the song of that new birth
which holds the hope of Christmas and brings its joy to earth;
which knits the generations, each daughter and each son,
beyond all tribes and nations, and makes the many one.
Shine out ye lights of Christmas from hearth and tree and star!
And let the warmth of Christmas shed kindness near and far!
And clang, ye bells of Christmas, upon the frosty air!
And may the joy of Christmas spread gladness everywhere!
Reading: Luke 2: 1-14
Silence
Hymn
#1061 For So the Children Come
Words: Sophia Lyon Fahs, 1876 - 1978
Music: Jason Shelton, 1972 - , © 1998 Jason Shelton
Chorus:
Each night a child is born is a holy night:
A time for singing,
A time for wondering,
A time for worshipping,
Each night a child is born is a holy night.
Story: "The Birds of Bethlehem" by Tomie de Paola
Carol
#246 "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
Words: Phillips Brooks.
Music: Lewis H. Redner
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 wondrous 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.
Winter Solstice and Christmas Eve Prayer by Rev. Josh Pawelek
Silence
Carol
#231 "Angels We Have Heard on High"
Words: Earl Marlatt; Music, French carol
Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o’er the plains
and the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains.
(Chorus)
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?
(Chorus)
See him in a manger laid whom the angels praise above;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid, while we raise our hearts in love.
(Chorus)
Poem
“A Blessing for Traveling in the Dark”
by Jan Richardson
Offering for the Minister’s Discretionary Fund
Offering Music
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin
Story: “The Holly King and the Oak King” by J. C. Artemesia
Carols
#241 In the Bleak Midwinter
Words ad. By John Andrew Storey from Georgina Rossetti;
Music by Gustav Theodore Holst
In the bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter long ago.
Christ a homeless stranger, so the gospels say,
cradled in a manger and a bed of hay;
in the bleak midwinter, stable-place sufficed
Mary and her baby, Jesus Christ.
Once more child and mother weave their magic spell,
touching hearts with wonder words can never tell;
in the bleak midwinter, in this world of pain,
where our hearts are open love is born again.
#244 "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear"
Words by Edmund Hamilton Sears;
Music by Richard Storrs Willis
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their hearts of gold!
Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From heaven’s all gracious King!
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing
And ever o’er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world hath suffered long.
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong:
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring,
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.
For lo the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When, with the ever-circling years,
Shall come the Age of Gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendor fling,
And all the world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
“245 Joy to the World
Music by George Frederic Handel
Text by Isaac Watts
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 nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the world! The Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and flocks, Rocks hills and plainsong
Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
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 and wonders of his love.
#251 Silent Night
Words by Joseph Mohr
Music by Franz Xaver Gruber
Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born!
Silent night, holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord at thy birth, Jesus Lord at thy birth.
Extinguishing the Chalice
Closing Circle
May faith in the spirit of life,
And hope for the community of earth
And love of the light in each other
Be ours now, and in all the days to come.
Silent leaving
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