Lord of the New Song:
Hum the harmony of Hope into our desperate world,
Muse the melody of Joy amidst our broken hearts dispair,
Place the passion for Peace among our staccatoed stressed out schedules,
and Tune our notes in our actions and words and lives to your Love.
Emmanuel, God with us, God within us; Sing anew!
Be Born anew to us today in the Song of Christmas: Jesus, Amen.
(C)2021, Nathan Decker, Worshipswake.wordpress.com
Because sometimes kids need to be kids…
Tonight is not the quiet little town of Bethlehem
There are packages to wrap, parties to attend
Jesus came to a noisy world
Filled with sheep, donkeys, cows, people arguing about taxes.
So tonight, mom and dad, it’s okay if we’re a little noisy
We just can’t help it… we’re excited!
So tonight, we sing
Not to add more clutter to the chaos
But to bring hope, peace, joy, and love to all
Becuase here in noisy Bethlehem, Christ is born.
(C)2021, Nathan Decker, Worshipswake.wordpress.com
Lord, you were there, in the tears of joy from Mary.
You were there, in the fatherly joy beaming from Joseph.
You were there, in the communal joy from the Shepherds.
You were there, in the songs of joy from the Angels.
Be here now. Be joy in our hearts and lives as we hear your word. Amen.
LIGHTING THE HOPE CANDLE
This year has been devastating…
Wildfires, hurricanes, shootings, turmoil
It would be so easy to give in to apathy,
to let our hearts grow dark with despair.
But there is a light shining in the darkness.
(the candle is lit)
A single candle, a small voice, a still reminder…
Hope.
Hope in the Word proclaimed by the prophets.
Hope.
Hope in the Promise of Emmanuel.
Hope.
Hope in the birth of our Savior.
Hope.
LIGHTING THE LOVE CANDLE
She places a hand on her belly to feel the kicking from within as they journey down the road toward Bethlehem…
a Babe will be born, a Savior will arrive, Love will come down.
The lost world pushes on drudgingly, slaves to a never ending care-less-ness.
It would be so easy to give in to apathy,
But there is a light shining in the cold winter.
(the candles are lit)
A simple hope, a wonderful gift…
Love.
Love nurtured by a Mother’s embrace…
Love.
Love shared from the Father’s strength…
Love.
Love in the birth of our Savior.
Love.
LIGHTING THE JOY CANDLE
Cheerless faces marching in the land of misery…
Chained to our desires, held captive by our regrets, slaves to our brokenness.
It would be so easy to give in to apathy,
to let our hearts grow deaf, our open lips mute with pain.
But there is a song shining in the silence.
(the candles are lit)
A simple hope, the gift of love, a song of joy…
Joy.
Joy brought the Angel’s song to the shepherds.
Joy.
Joy inspired the Wise to follow their starry dreams.
Joy.
Joy in the birth of our Savior.
Joy.
LIGHTING THE PEACE CANDLE
War affects more than those who are fighting.
Men, women, children, babies, refugees.
Turning a blind eye, pretending it isn’t our problem,
It would be so easy to give in to apathy.
But there is a light shining in the night.
(the candles are lit)
A simple hope, the gifts of love, a song of joy, the peace of Christ…
Peace.
Peace born in a prince lain in a manger.
Peace.
Peace waging in our hearts, seeking justice, offering mercy.
Peace.
Peace in the birth of our Savior.
Peace.
LIGHTING THE CHRIST CANDLE
(all the advent candles are lit)
She gives him a nod; he realizes it is time,
There is no room in the inn.
It would be so easy to give in to the apathy that surrounds them,
Yet they don’t give up, pressing on to the stable.
Light is born in the darkness. A child is born unto you.
(the Christ candle is lit)
A simple hope, the gift of love, a song of joy, the peace of Christ…
His name is Jesus.
Wonderful, Counselor,
He is Emmanuel – God with us.
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,
He is the Christ child.
Amen.
from Isaiah 42:1-9
The little boy and girl were as close to heaven as they were to the earth. Jessica and Jerome: fraternal and inseparable twins they were. At age seven, they looked at the world through double lenses of reality and fantasy. It didn’t take much in their eyes to turn a play house into a castle or a tree with low hanging branches into an attacking dragon, and behind the castle, a puddle of mud into a swimming pool.
They each took turns cannonballing into the mud and the muck. She first noticed that you could turn it into a slip and slide if you ran first. He figured out that you could ball up the mud and throw it (even at her). They were in the ecstatic giggles and youthful joy when mother’s voice called them to dinner. “Lord have mercy, how did you two get so dirty? You both will have to have a bath before dinner.”
That’s when the buts showed up. “But mom, we don’t want to.” “But mom, do we have to?” “But mom, we look alright to each other.” And in a tone that warned her that teenage years were approaching far too quickly, “Mother!”
And we understand these feelings all too well in our spiritual journey. As Christians we see the word through double lenses. We see the world as it is. We see the racism that persists in our nation from generation to generation. We weep at the funerals of police officers that have been ambushed while striving to serve and protect. The greedy horde while the poor starve. Nations are shutting doors to immigrants and refugees in irrational fears based on the same nationalism and prejudice that fueled the Nazi party almost 100 years ago. The world seems to be playing its own version of Hunger games and we are all in the arena.
But as Christians, we also see the world as God believes it could and should be. Love that sees difference of culture and skin tone not as a bad thing but as an a reflection of God’s own diverse love and color. Righteous anger at those who abuse power, manipulate crowds with fear, and use tragedy as a means to fuel their own agendas. Compassion for moms and dads who just want a safe place from war, rape, and unrest for their children to grow up and have it better than they did.
And in all of this God asks us to take a bath. Our Lord invites us to awaken within our baptismal waters and be transformed by them. Jesus wants us to be changed by his Grace, to be transformed in his Compassion, to use these waters shared with us as a gift. God invites us to be more than a people who worship in wishes? God invites us to be love in action. God calls us to raise our voice for the voiceless, give our strength to the weak, and lift up those who have been pushed down.
And that’s when the buts show up. “But God, we don’t want to.” “But God, do we have to?” “But God, we look alright to each other.” And in a tone that warns of our tendency to rebellion, “Father!”
Isaiah preaching to the people about the Messiah speaks of who God is. “He will bring justice to the nations.” Our Savior brings peace and wholeness to the world. “He won’t cry out or shout.” Our Lord doesn’t call attention to himself. God doesn’t have an ego or need all eyes on him. “He won’t break a bruised reed; he won’t extinguish a faint wick, but he will surely bring justice.” He won’t brush aside those who are bruised and hurt. The smallest and most insignificant light is still precious in his eyes. The weak will be made strong, the poor will be rich: this is God’s Kingdom, a revolution through spiritual practice.
Isaiah, preaching, gives a word from God about who we are. God is an all-powerful God who has chosen to share that power with us. “I, the Lord, have called you for a good reason… I’m giving you as a promise to the people, as a light to the nations.” The Lord who created the heavens, the one who stretched the sky from east to west and north to south, the one who breathed life into your lips wants you to be the change. God calls us to be the life in this world of death. God calls us to be the hope in this despair. God calls us to be the new beginning in the end of endings.
We are the folks who have taken a bath. Jessica and Jerome didn’t want to take a bath. So their mother gave them a different option. A little liquid soap up into water balloons, a two water guns, and mom with the hose and bath time was no longer a chore but had become a transformed moment of joy, love, and memory.
We are the folks who have taken a bath. We’ve been given a gift in our baptismal waters. We are God’s promise to the nations. We are God’s lights of joy, love, and testimony. As we remember our Baptism today, let’s not just be wishful worshippers. Let’s be the changed, the transformed, the renewed, those who have been washed in God’s love. Amen.
There are some Christmas Traditions that won’t die – like going to church on Christmas Eve. The tradition I grew up in didn’t go to church on Christmas Eve. Midnight Mass sounded too Catholic for them. Instead, my family’s tradition was to open our gifts from ma and pa on Christmas Eve knowing on Christmas Day we would go to the extended family Christmas. The one where you got all these gifts you didn’t want from Aunts and Uncles you wouldn’t see again until the next family gathering.
The irony is the first Christmas Eve service I ever went to was in a Catholic Church. I was at college in Danville. Two of my good friends were Catholic, so when they invited me, I went. The priest was very open and joyful. He didn’t care that I wasn’t Catholic. So when the time came for me to receive communion, I went forward with everyone else. And that’s when I encountered the wafer.
I’m not sure what brand of dissolvable cardboard the priest gave me, but it wasn’t bread. Bread has flavor. Bread has texture. Bread travels down to your stomach with a sensation that is real, sensual, and gratifying. Not so with the wafer. It had no flavor. It had no texture save the distinct realization by my tongue something had been placed on it with a micro-measure of weight. And after it dissolved in my mouth, I’m not sure any remnant made it any further down the pipe.
I’m not trying to poke fun at our Catholic sisters and brothers. I respect their understanding and practice of the Lord’s Supper. Yet it occurs to me that many times that wafer represents my own experience in spirituality. It lacks flavor. There are times that I can’t tell you the last time I tasted the joy of the Lord’s presence. It lacks texture. There are long places in my own life where I don’t feel as if God is with me; quite the opposite of Emmanuel. It leaves me hungry.
At the first church I served as pastor, I was reminded of this by a 4 year old boy named Cody. It was an ordinary Sunday with ordinary hymns. You might say we were going through the motions. I’m sure it was the first Sunday of the month, because we were having communion. Folks were coming up to the rail in groups as was tradition. They knelt and received a torn bit of bread which they were invited to dip into the cup. But the ordinary disappeared when little Cody received his bread.
“Is that all I get?” He had said it as any 4 year old would have said it. Quiet enough that the entire congregation heard him. Loud enough to embarrass his mother and father. But what struck me was his honesty about the hunger. He didn’t come here for wafers or crumbs. Cody wanted the flavor, the texture, the fulfillment. Cody wanted the feast, all that God would give him. Cody wanted to experience God at the table.
You may be asking what does this have to do with Jesus, the Stable, the Manger, etc. God didn’t offer us fast food solutions, but instead offered us a full multi-course feast in this babe, in this birth, in this life, in this death, and in this resurrection. He could have been born in a palace, yet he chose a stable. He could have had Angels announcing his coming to all humanity, yet he chose shepherds in a field. He could have picked any town – Rome, New York, Washington DC, yet he chose Bethlehem, a Hebrew word that translates as “House of Bread.” He could have had the best Tempurpedic, double down, plush bed for his crib, yet mother Mary laid him in a manger – fancy word for a “feeding trough” for animals.
We didn’t come here for a little snack or a bit of fast food. We came here for the whole experience of who Jesus is. Tonight we celebrate his coming to us. Tonight we are invited to experience the whole of who God is in a little child laid in a manger. Tonight we are invited to experience the whole of who God is in a candle light dinner of a little bread and a little wine. Thank God some traditions won’t die. Amen.
Advent Candle Readings
Note: I’ll be using these at my Midnight Mass service for 2016. They could be used in separate services, however, for future years. Please feel free to edit the places of conflict mentioned under the Candle of Peace.
We light this candle in hope.
Hope for salvation from apathy and hatred.
Hope for change in our hearts and minds.
Hope for holding hands instead of holding wounds.
Hope to warm us in the dark of night.
We light this candle for peace.
Peace for hearts shell-shocked with grief.
Peace for places like Aleppo, Mosel, and Yemen.
Peace for Police and Protester.
Peace to shine in the dark of night.
We light this candle for joy.
Joy for a family finding a place for the birth.
Joy for a baby born in a stable.
Joy for shepherds sharing good news.
Joy to comfort in the dark of night.
We light this candle in love.
Love for Emmanuel, God with us.
Love for Jesus, Savior born this night.
Love from God; Love come down.
Love to bring light in the dark of night.
Light this candle for Christ.
Christ, the Child who gives us Hope.
Christ, the Promised Prince of Peace.
Christ to whom the Angels sing – “Joy unspeakable!”
Christ, God’s Love. Emmanuel. God with us.
Jesus, Love divine that came down from heaven.
Jesus, Joy that awakens each heart this night.
Jesus, Peace to quell the fears and wars of humanity.
Jesus, Hope in this darkness.
God lights this Candle for you and me.
God lights this Candle giving us the best gift possible.
God lights this candle to comfort us in the warmth of hope and joy.
God lights this candle to shine peace and guide us to love in the dark of night.
God light this Candle for Christmas, and may its flame never extinguish.
Amen.
(CC) 2016. Worship’s Wake, Nathan Decker
This may be used all together or spread out within the service among the carols, prayers, scripture, sermon, and communion.
LIGHT THE FIRST CANDLE
Worship's Wake 