Christmas Eve 2022

Call to Worship

We’re gathered this Eve of Christ’s birth, not to emulate a Norman Rockwell painting, or to be a live-action Kinkade…with glowy light oozing from every window. Rather, we gather because God sent His warrior angel Gabriel to bring us tidings that the war against darkness was about to take a glorious, irreversible turn. The great Hero was come unto us, and His coming rang the death knell of death.

So we assemble as a choir of redeemed souls, to rejoice in the birth of the Christ-Child who came to conquer your sin and sorrow, your grief and guilt, your depravity and death. The Hero has now come to rule the world with eternal truth and everlasting grace.

Our Good & Gracious Father,

You have not cast us off as our sins deserved. You sent Your Son to assume all that it is to be human, yet without the poisoned taint of sin. He came as both our divine deliverer & human brother.

So we gladly sing your praise, not out of sentimental duty, nostalgic reminiscence, or hidebound tradition. We lift our hearts and hands and voices as a trumpet blast of triumphant Christian joy, because the Christ promised in the ruins of glorious Eden, was born this day in humble Bethlehem.

So Almighty God, who by the Spirit’s overshadowing power joined the seed of the Woman to the eternally begotten Son, we come to adore You now, Father, Son, & Spirit, One God who shall reign forever and ever. Amen.

Charge and Benediction

The charge is this, go home rejoicing and to rejoice. Go and have a blast. And keep in mind what the Narnian Lion, Aslan, once said: “You do not look as happy as I intend you to be.” All the joy to be found in fudge, stocking stuffers, the laughter at old stories, and all the merry-making is the first echoes of the rolling thunderous Joy which Christ, the Word made flesh, has ushered into this world.

Now go forth to rejoice in the great love which God your Father has lavished upon you in sending His Son to be the Savior of the World, that you might dwell in Him, and He in you, because He hath given you of His Holy Spirit. Amen.