St Clement Church Community Christmas Morning Service
Good morning to you all as we celebrate our Christmas Morning service whether in our own homes or church building.
We will be celebrating a Communion Service at our usual time of 10.15, this Service of the Word is for folk who are unable to be with us. I hope you have a blessed and happy Christmas.
May Christ’s love sustain you always.
Our love to you all,
Rev Di and family xx
Let us pray;
Lord Jesus Christ, your birth at Bethlehem draws us to kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth: accept our heartfelt praise as we worship you, our Saviour and our eternal God. Amen.
Carol: ‘Away in a Manger’
Our prayers of Penitence
Hear the words of the angel to Joseph: ‘You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.’ Therefore let us seek forgiveness from God through Jesus the Saviour of the world:
Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us, forgive our unwelcoming hearts…
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, Son of God, Servant of humanity, forgive our self-centred lives…
Christ, have mercy.
Jesus, Prince of Peace, Hope of the nations, forgive our bitter conflicts…
Lord, have mercy.
May our Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and for ever. Amen.
Let us pray our Collect for today
Almighty God, you have given us your only begotten Son to take our nature upon him and at this time to be born of a pure virgin: grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
Isaiah 52. 7-10 Hebrews 1. 1-12
Carol: ‘Once in Royal David’s City’
Our Reading is taken from the Gospel of John 1. 1-14
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Response: ‘Praise to you, O, Christ’)
Reflection
There’s a feeling of Christmas that permeates everything today doesn’t it? And since this is the time of year when nostalgia runs rampant, and nobody dares act like Scrooge and complain about it, let’s give in to it for a moment.
Today is a not just one thing but a combination of many things; memories, hopes, fears, joys, sadnesses. What you sense, see and hear and feel at this very moment is a combination of everything you have experienced this Christmas season and all the Christmases before it. What you are feeling in your heart and soul right now is the sum total of it all.
We know it won’t last, but we want to savour it for all it’s worth, we want to celebrate the buzz that comes only at this time of year.
The writer Barbara Taylor puts it this way... she says that Christmas Day is the time “when the membrane between heaven and earth is so thin you can almost see through it. Today is the day we measure all time against.”
So whether we like it or not, Christmas Day is like a time machine and this place is our Bethlehem where we have hauled the hopes and the fears of all our years and laid them in a manger.
For that reason alone, it’s good for us not to make the story we read a moment ago into a fairy tale. It was hardly that. There is a certain degree to which, even on Christmas Day, we have to deal with the reality of the story and not just the fantasy of it. There were no talking animals, no drummer boys, at the birth of Jesus. It was what it was, and we need to acknowledge that.
Christmas began with an arduous journey. It’s not much to us, seventy miles or so. Give us a motorway and we can make it in about an hour. Try it, however, on your own two feet, pregnant with a nearly full-term baby and see well how you do.
And we should face the fact that some of us have to deal with our own reality at Christmas, and that’s hard enough.
For some of us, Christmas is, in the words of a late friend; “the burdened season.” For some it’s a hard time of year, perhaps an empty chair to deal with, perhaps this Christmas will be lonelier than it’s been in a long, long time.
Truth be told, there’s not been a Christmas – not even the first one – that went off exactly like everybody would have wanted it to. But that doesn’t, and cannot deny the heart of the story; namely, that on this day, God chose to come in human form. Heaven came down and glory filled our souls.
That’s a nice thought on this Christmas Day, and one that I hope you will take with you. Sometimes we work really hard at Christmas time to bring heaven to us. We decorate with images of angels and shepherds, with wise men gazing up into a star, in order to make a connection between heaven and earth, divinity with humanity. I would not diminish that for a moment. In fact, I do the same. We all do.
But when all is said and done, when the house is decorated and the food is cooked and eaten, when the presents are unwrapped, we are finally left with this and this alone: today, at this very moment, our world has stopped simply because “a child has been born to us.” And in that child heaven came down to earth.
Amen.
Carol: ‘O Come all ye Faithful’
Affirmation of our faith
Let us declare our faith in God.
We believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist.
We believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again.
We believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world.
This is the faith of the Church. This is our faith.
We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Our Intercessions today are taken from the book: Times and Seasons
Let us pray to Jesus our Saviour.
Christ, born in a stable, give courage to all who are homeless.
Jesus, Saviour, hear our prayer.
Christ, for whom the angels sang, give the song of the kingdom to all who weep.
Jesus, Saviour, hear our prayer.
Christ, worshipped by the shepherds, give peace in earth to all who are oppressed.
Jesus, Saviour, hear our prayer.
Christ, before whom the wise men knelt, give humility and wisdom to all who govern.
Jesus, Saviour, hear our prayer.
Christ, whose radiance filled a lowly manger, give the glory of your resurrection to all who rest in you.
Jesus, Saviour, hear our prayer.
Jesus, Saviour, child of Mary, you know us and love us, you share our lives and hear our prayer. Glory to you for ever. Amen.
Gathering our prayers and praises into one, let us pray with confidence as Jesus taught us;
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.
Carol: ‘God rest ye Merry Gentlemen’
The Peace
Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called the Prince of Peace.
May the peace of God be always with us. Amen.
Blessing
May the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the perseverance of the wise men, the obedience of Joseph and Mary, and the peace of the Christ-child be ours this Christmas; and may the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among us, those whom we love, and remain with us always.
Amen.