CHRISTMAS EVE / COMMUNION SERVICE

December 24, 2020 - 7:00 PM

The Ministers: Rev. Lorrie Lowes & Rev. Kim Vidal
Music Director: Abe TeGrotenhuis

THE GATHERING

Gathering Music: Christmas is Coming – Guaraldi (Charlie Brown) Abe-keyboard

Welcome & Announcements Kim

Good evening. On behalf of BCUC, I welcome you to our Christmas Eve Service. May you find in this gathering a significant opportunity to reflect on the meaning and relevance of the Christmas story. Tonight, we not only acknowledge the story of Jesus’ birth, but, more importantly, the truth that is at the heart of its meaning, love is born at Christmas. May this celebration remind us too that we are all God’s children, no matter what colour, race or creed we profess. We are all recipients of God's welcome to the manger.

As we are in the midst of the pandemic, please note of the following reminders:

Please remain seated throughout the service unless you want to use the washroom.
There is only one washroom that is available for use. That is the accessible washroom between the sanctuary and the main hall. Kindly sanitize after use.
A reminder to bring your coats with you as we are not using the coat rooms tonight. Be mindful of your valuables.
We will be celebrating the sacrament of communion during the service. I hope that you have picked up the communion elements on your way in along with a tealight.
Right after the sending forth, as we sing Silent Night, we are going to turn on the tealights and you will be dismissed by Lorrie in an orderly fashion. Please remain seated until Lorrie gives you the signal to leave. Please bring the tealight home.
There will be no fellowship after the service and that once out of the building, you may leave immediately. A friendly reminder to be conscious of social distancing at all times.
There is also an offering basket in the narthex for your Christmas offering and other donations. You may drop your offering after the service upon dismissal.

I would like to highlight a couple of announcements:

On the First Sunday after Christmas (Dec 27) there will be a Service of Christmas Poetry and Music and we will be joined by Glen Cairn and Kanata congregations. The service will be offered in text and video formats. Link will be posted on our website at bcuc.org. You can also listen to the audio recording via telephone at 613-820-8104.
The service on January 3, 2021 will be offered in text format only which will be posted on our website. You can also join Stittsville United’s livestream worship service on Facebook or check out other church services online.

Let us now prepare our hearts, mind and spirit as we gather in worship.

Carol: “O Come All Ye Faithful” - Voices United #60

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;

Refrain:
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,
very God, begotten, not created: R

3. Sing, choirs of angels,
sing in exultation,
sing, all ye citizens of heaven above;
Glory to God in the highest: R

4. See, how the shepherds
summoned to his cradle,
leaving their flocks, draw nigh with lowly fear;
we too will thither bend our joyful footsteps; R

5. Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be all glory given;
word of the Father, now in flesh appearing: R

Words in English: Frederick Oakeley, 1841; Music: John Francis Wade, 1743.
Song # 592e04d371906 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Lighting of the Christ Candle Acolytes: Monica Peck, David Jones and Samantha

(Gord Dunbar, Gathering, ACE 2019-2020)

Reader 1: In this season of expectant waiting, we have held hope in our hearts. Hope that in the vulnerable infant Jesus we find a promise for transformation.

Reader 2: Hope leads us to pray for peace, to cultivate harmony in all relations. In that peace, we find the Prince of Peace.

Reader 3: Peace transforms into joyful celebration; walls torn down, chasms filled, barriers levelled. Joy inspires us to dance with abandon.

Reader 1: Joy embraced fosters love that makes all things new. And in that newness, we discover the deep meaning of love shared.

Reader 2: Love self-given, through humility, shows us the way to Jesus, still completely vulnerable, yet filled with promise.

Reader 3: Tonight, we light this Christ candle reminding us of God’s love through the birth of Jesus. (The Christ Candle is lit).

Sung Response: A Candle is Burning - Voices United #6 (Verse 5)

We honour Messiah with Christ candle’s flame,
our Christmas Eve candles glad tidings proclaim.
O come, all you faithful, rejoice in this night,
as God comes among us, the Christian’s true light.

Call to Gather (Rt. Rev. Richard Bott, posted on Facebook) Lorrie

On that first Christmas Eve,
Mary, Joseph, and the newborn
Jesus were in their family bubble;
safe and together, for that night.
We gather tonight,
distant, but together;
as families in our own homes,
but also as family with Jesus.
We may be separated from the night of his birth
by geography and time.
We may be separated from each other,
because of this pandemic.
But we are together in God's love.
Nothing can separate us from that,
or from each other in that.
So, friends - in Jesus name –
let us be together in this time of Christmas worship!
Alleluia! Alleluia, Amen!

Prayer of Approach Lorrie

Loving and generous God, we praise and thank you for the joys of this Christmas: the music and the singing, the gathering of family and friends, the gifts we give and receive. We thank you most of all for your great gift to us, the gift born this night – your child Jesus. May Christ’s Spirit of love fill our hearts to overflowing. May Christ’s Spirit of peace be upon everyone, everywhere. Amen.

Special Music: Heavenly Star - Valerie Mackenzie

CGS/Bells Canto - Director: Erin Berard

Time for the Young at Heart

“Sharing the News: A Light-Hearted Christmas Pageant”

Carol: Away in a Manger - Voices United #69

1 Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,
the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

2 The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.
I love you, Lord Jesus; look down from the sky,
and stay by my side until morning is nigh.

3 Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask you to stay
close by me for ever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in your tender care,
and fit us for heaven, to live with you there.

Words: Author Unknown; Music 1895 William James Kirkpatrick
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

THE WORD

The Reading: Luke 2:1-20 Reader: Jan Pound

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 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. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 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.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to all of us. Thanks be to God!

Christmas Meditation: “Love was Born at Christmas!” Kim

It's in the air tonight and we can feel it. We are standing on the edge of Christmas Day. All our preparations are almost coming to an end and now the celebration begins. On this beautiful night, we celebrate the birth of Jesus once again. Throughout the season of Advent, we have lifted up the words of the prophet Isaiah and the gospel writer Luke who narrated the story of Mary and Elizabeth. Now we have arrived at Bethlehem to celebrate this wondrous birth!

Ask any mom or dad or grandparent about the birth of a new baby and they can describe the event in great detail. From labour pains to the birth of the baby, the stories never cease to amaze us! Birth stories are often extremely powerful. They can immediately bring us back to a joyous moment, they can sadly remind us of some couple’s struggles with health issues, they can stir our imaginations of children hoped for, and they can make us aware of the difficult circumstances some couples had to overcome in their lives. As most birth stories, the storyteller sets the stage. They describe the setting and the situation into which the child was born. They bring us into the realities of the event. Like the Gospel storytellers Matthew and Luke who wrote the birth stories of Jesus. The birth of Jesus is a joyous event, but also mysterious in so many ways. But have we thought of the questions – why are we celebrating Christmas and is Christmas still relevant for us today?

It was in the year 336 CE, during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor, that the first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th took place. A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December that would make this year its 1684th celebration. Like any other traditions, Christmas evolved in many different ways, in almost all countries in the world. The way we celebrate Christmas has changed over and over again.

Did you know too that the observance of Christmas was illegal in Boston in 1659 and that there was even a time under Cromwell when the Puritans banned the celebration of Christmas in England? Do you know that Christmas was pronounced as Christ-Mass for hundreds of years before it became Christmas? Did you know that Christianity’s fascination of the nativity story known also as the Christmas pageant, didn’t actually happen when Christianity began? In the 13th century, St. Francis of Assisi couldn’t fit his congregation into the church building on Christmas Eve and came up with the brilliant idea of holding the Christ-mass in the streets. St. Francis set up an altar in the niche of a rock near the town square and legend has it that because Christ-mass was an important market-time the town was full of all sorts of farmers bringing their livestock to market. That’s how the cattle, the sheep, and yes even the donkey made it into the nativity scenes, the gospels certainly didn’t mention animals.

The gospel storytellers Matthew and Luke crafted their stories about the birth of Jesus in their own unique way. Matthew for instance started the birth narrative with genealogies, focused more on Joseph and had the magi visited the infant Jesus. Luke on the other hand began his story with a census, focused more on Mary and had the angels visited the shepherds. These were the images that brought inspiration to their own communities. And what we in the churches did was to put the two stories of Matthew and Luke together and voila! We have a full nativity story. But does it matter?

I don’t know about you but I certainly do not take the stories literally. I understand that these stories are what the NT scholar John Dominic Crossan calls “parabolic overtures” designed to communicate truth beyond words. The stories of Jesus’ birth according to Matthew and Luke are parables designed to make us think beyond words. When the angel announced to Mary that she will bear a child, what does that mean to your faith? When the angels pronounced to the shepherds, “fear not!”, what does that mean as you address your own fears? When Joseph was visited by an angel in a dream, what does that have to do with your hope and vision for the future? If I take the birth story as a story of truth, not a historical fact, will it diminish my faith or make me a lesser human being? My answer is a resounding “no”! For me, the stories of the birth of Jesus, just like any birth story of a child, is the coming of love and joy and hope and peace.

“It is the incarnation of LOVE”, according to theologian Richard Rohr, “that lies at the very heart of all that is!” And Rohr continues, “The incarnation of LOVE that the nativity parables point to is the same LOVE that was encountered in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. In this radical, freethinking, boundary breaking, justice seeking, peacemaker, wound-healing individual, the people discovered the image of God who is LOVE in ways that shattered their understanding of reality…That’ s why the Christmas story has become such an important parable in our annual celebrations of life. Everything about the nativity point us to the reality of the spiritual in the everyday stuff of life. In the simple birth of a child, in the poverty of a people, in the struggle to be free, in our quest to love and to be love in the world, it is here that Christ takes on flesh and dwells among us. Wherever we are connected in right relationship, you might say, wherever we are “in love” there is the Christ, the body of God, the essence of life itself.”

Friends, to celebrate Christmas is to celebrate LOVE that is born over and over again. It is to recognize the intimate connection between the spiritual and the material and to marvel at the reality that holds it all together. To celebrate the Christ in the Christ-mass is to open ourselves to the wisdom of the ages and dare to explore the wonders that we are discovering each and every day. So, Christmas Eve is the time for stories about life way back when. But it is also a time to take in the wonders of this very night and to look forward to all that is to come. So when you encounter the question, “Is Christmas still relevant for us today? I think the answer is a resounding Yes!

Tonight, the Christmas story reveals to us the meaning of true love that lives and breathes in, with, through, and beyond us. As we pay attention to the manger, a symbol of all our potential lying there ready to grow, we can begin again to dream dreams of a new way of being in the world; dreams of joy, compassion, justice, peace, and LOVE.

Tonight, we encounter love in the face of an infant. It’s unexpected. It’s real. It’s hopeful beyond any telling of it. Tonight, we see the human face of God through the nativity parable of Christ Jesus and in each other.

The poet Ann Weems reminds us the meeting of the human and the holy in the stable. Listen as I read to you her poem entitled: “Christmas Comes”

“Christmas comes every time we see God in other persons.
The human and the holy meet in Bethlehem or in Times Square,
For Christmas comes like a golden storm on its way to Jerusalem –
determinedly, inevitably…
Even now it comes in the face of hatred and warring –
No atrocity too terrible to stop it,
No Herod strong enough,
No hurt deep enough, no disaster shattering enough.
For someone on earth will see the star,
Someone will hear the angel voices,
Someone will run to Bethlehem,
Someone will know peace and goodwill: the Christ will be born!”

As we break bread and share the cup on this holy night, my prayer for each of you and indeed for all the world, is that we can see the face of Christ in one another. May the love we celebrate tonight, and every night, might usher in a new way of being. Rejoice and be glad! Love was born at Christmas! Amen.

THE RESPONSE

Christmas Prayer Kim

Let us gather our hearts in prayer.

Blessed are you gracious God, in this season of blessing. We give you thanks for family and friends, for the time to be together and to renew our bonds of love and relationships. We give you thanks for this church family and those in our community who warmly support each other, bringing your vision of peace and hope to earth. We give you thanks for the ministry of this church and for those who offer their time, talents and resources in bringing life to our congregation, and to the communities where we live.

We thank you for the Christmas Story as it has unfolded among us tonight .Thank you for reminding us once more that through the birth of Jesus, you reveal to us that you are the God of love, in the flesh – One with us- One who is in us.

God of Light, we seek your radiant glory to shine into our lives. In a world that often seems unhappy and despairing, we need you to show us the way, the path that you would place before our feet. We think of many dark places in this world that needs your presence and your light. We pray for those who are sick and in need of your healing touch, especially those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, for all those who reach out to you for comfort and strength. We pray for those of us who are grieving and hurting. Bless those who are lonely, the depressed, the discouraged, those who are alone, all those who need your healing mercies. We pray for those who are confronted by natural disasters, political and economic upheavals, military and civil wars, environmental concerns and the daily anxiety that beset most of us. Grant us all, O God, a special measure of your light that we may experience your peace and healing power in our lives. In the silence of our hearts, we offer to you, those concerns that are too personal for words and too intimate to name [SILENCE].

O God of joy and wonder, may the light of this season continue to shine in our hearts, and transform your people and your world until your whole creation shines with the light of Jesus. We pray in Jesus' name in whose birth we rejoice. Amen.

Carol: “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime” – Voices United #71

1. 'Twas in the moon of wintertime,
when all the birds had fled,
that mighty Gitchi Manitou
sent angel choirs instead;
before their light the stars grew dim,
and wandering hunters heard the hymn:

Refrain: Jesus your King is born,
Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria.

2. Within a lodge of broken bark
The tender babe was found,
A ragged robe of rabbit skin
Enwrapped his beauty round,
But as the hunters brave drew nigh,
The angel song rang loud and high. R

Celebration of Communion

The Invitation Kim

Friends, welcome to this still, sacred night, wherein bread is broken for the gifts of compassion, and the wine poured for the healing of all. For in this moment of celebration of the common with the extraordinary, earth with heaven, and of the humanity with the Divine, the joy and mystery of Christmas is given, not just to behold, but to live out with gratitude, love and joy.

Prayer of Thanksgiving Kim

May the peace of the Infant Jesus be with you.
And also with you!
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up before God.
Pour out your souls.

All: It is a good thing to offer our adoration and praise.
It was as a baby that you came to us, gracious God. A child in a
manger, staring out in wonder and sleeping in contentment. As we
celebrate Jesus’ birth once again, fill us with wonder and joy. As we
celebrate his birth, so we commemorate his time among us. He grew up as an adult to be
your instrument of love, healing the sick, preaching your Word, being one
among the people.

The Fraction Lorrie

Reader 2: We remember, how, on the night that Jesus was betrayed,
he sat at supper with his disciples. While they were eating, Jesus broke bread
and as he shared it, he said, “remember me.”
Later, he took a cup of wine and shared it with these words: “remember me.”
And so, as Jesus did, we bless these gifts and share them amongst ourselves,
and in doing so, we remember his presence with us – always.
Bless us, God, in the breaking of bread and inspire us through the sharing of cup. For these unfolding gifts, we are grateful. For this living hope, we offer our lives.

The Lord’s Prayer Lorrie

Let us recite together this prayer that Jesus taught his friends and followers in the language of your choice.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kin-dom 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 kin-dom, the power and the glory,
Forever and ever, Amen.

The Sharing of the Bread and the Cup Kim
Let us now share and partake the bread and the cup reminding us of God’s unconditional love.
This is the bread – food for the journey. Take, eat and be nourished by God’s love.
This is the cup – drink for the journey. Take, drink and be sustained by God’s grace.

Prayer after Communion Lorrie

We give thanks O God, because you have refreshed us at your table, touched our deepest needs, and called us to a life shared in memory and hope. Send us forth with courage and joy in the name of Jesus Christ, that we, too, may become bread and peace for one another and the world. Amen.

Invitation to Offer Lorrie

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, remember that the gift of love came to all of us, enabling us to make the world a more welcoming place for the God of joy and peace. I invite you to respond to that love by offering our time, talents and treasures together and present them as an offering to God.

If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the slot by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer

Christmas God, on this night of many gifts, when the wondrous gift is given, receive what we have offered here and bless all those whose lives it touches, in your name. Amen.

THE BLESSING

*Carol: “Joy to the World” - Voices United #59

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 Saviour reigns:
let all their songs employ
While fields 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 earth 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.

*Sending Forth: (Robin Wardlaw, Gathering ACE 2017-2018) Kim

Send us forth this Christmas Eve, O Love Incarnate,
with the light of Jesus glowing within us.
Send us forth from this feast of love to celebrate
the One who is bread for the journey
and the cup of blessing. Amen.

Departing Music: “Silent Night, Holy Night” – Voices United #67 (recorded)

As people leave, they are invited to share the light and exit through the labyrinth door

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 Saviour, is born!
Christ, the Saviour, 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.

Christmas Eve Service - December 24, 2020