Sing to God, sing praises to her name…HOLY is her name, rejoice before her! …God you provided in your goodness for the oppressed. The AUTHOR OF LIFE gave the word; the women who proclaim the good news are a great army. [Psalm 68:4-5, 10b-11]
Now we do not want you to be ignorant…about those who have fallen asleep…For since we believe that Jesus died and rose, even they who sleep, will God by Jesus, bring with him…Jesus himself…will descend from heaven, and the dean in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left...will…meet Jesus in the air…we will be with Jesus forever. [1 Thess 13-14, 16b-17a]
And immediately there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly array, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among peoples whom God favors!”For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
[from The Nicene Creed, US Book of Common Prayer, p. 358]
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~ O Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, You come at last, filled with grace and truth. Our joy is unbounded for the arrival of our Glorious Child, One in Being with God and the Holy Spirit, who redeems and claims us for the work of Heaven on Earth.
~ O
Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, grant us energy and courage to give continuous
voice to Your truth in all places of political, elected, and authoritarian
power throughout this World, this Nation, and this Community. We pray
especially for: add your own petitions
Glory to God in the Highest Heaven!
Grant Peace on Earth to Us All
~ O
Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, we ask You who were homeless as you entered this
world, to enfold all who are homeless, hungry, sick, and downhearted, that they
may feel Your loving embrace on this Day of Days and always. We now join
our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions
Glory to God in the Highest Heaven!
Grant Peace on Earth to Us All
~ O
Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, lift up our hearts in the joy and the hope of the
Love that never ends, as we remember and celebrate all who have left the
woes of this earthly plain to live forever, deep in the heart of God. We
pray especially for… add your own petitions
Grant Peace on Earth to Us All
~ O
Holy Jesus, we pause in this moment to offer You our
other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add
your own petitions
Glory to God in the Highest Heaven!
Grant Peace on Earth to Us All
~ O Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, continue to excite the hearts of all who lead us in Your Church, with imagination and inspiration. Guide all our hearts to rebirth in a Spirit-filled life in Your service. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
Grant Peace on Earth to Us All
The
Celebrant adds: Most
High Lord Jesus, the Word, the Imprint, the Incarnate Grace of God sent to live
among us, we sing to You a new song of rejoicing. Let each breath we take draw
You into ourselves, that we may give out Your glory and praise in all that we
are, and all that we do. Guide us, guard us, goad us to live into Your divine
will. We ask through You, Prince of Peace; and through the Holy Spirit, our
Compass; who together with our Mighty Creator from the beginning, live and
reign as one God, now and forever. Amen.
Rejoice in the ALMIGHTY, you righteous…Praise SHE WHO IS MAJESTY…sing for her a new song…for the word of WISDOM is right…she loves righteousness and justice; the faithful love of the MOTHER OF ALL fills the whole earth…Let all the earth revere SHE WHO IS WISDOM. [Psalm 33:1-9]
Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation…all things have been created through him and for him. Jesus himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Jesus is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning…in Jesus all the fullness of God was well pleased to dwell and…pleased to reconcile Godself in all things whether on earth or in heave…making peace through the blood of his cross. [Colossians 1:15, 16b, 17, 18a, 19-20]
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…What
has come into being in the Word was life, and that life was the light of all
people. The light shines in the bleakness…The true light…was coming into the
world…to all who did accept him…he empowered to become children of God…And the
word became flesh and lived among us…full of grace and truth. [John 1:1, 3b-5a, 9, 12, 14]
Dr. Wilda Gafney’s* readings, as usual, offer an array of new insights into “other” readings not generally seen. For these three pieces that my Episcopal parish is using, Christmas Eve for two services, and especially Christmas morning for one. I am not posting the full readings. This week is crunch time for everyone. As always, I found many of her thoughts from her Christmas III notes and preaching prompts quite interesting, and importantly thought-provoking, especially in these current times. For example, she refers to Colossians as using the masculine pronouns repeatedly and, that in the Greek text of this letter the name of Jesus is not included. So, she says, “I have substituted it [the name of Jesus] for some of the pronouns for smoothness and clarity.” She continues to say that the traditional focus in John’s Gospel on the preexistent Christ [has been] a concept expressed in grammatical gender but ontologically beyond gender. This, she says, gives us a chance to think about why we and our spiritual ancestors…gender things the way we do and what that really means. She says more about the use of slave language from her translations and acknowledges how difficult it is to use in scripture, prayer, and liturgy; doubly so for Black folk.”
Leader: ~ O Holy
Jesus, God’s True Light, You come at last, filled with grace and truth. Our joy
is unbounded for the arrival of our Glorious Child, One in Being with God and
the Holy Spirit, who redeems and claims us for the work of Heaven on Earth.
~ O
Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, we REJOICE in the Almighty for the word of WISDOM
is right. She loves righteousness and justice and gives us her faithful love,
with the energy and courage, to give continuous voice to Your truth in all
places of political, elected, and authoritarian power throughout this World,
this Nation, and this Community. We pray especially for: add your own
petitions
~ O
Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, we ask You who were homeless as you entered this
world, to enfold all who are homeless, hungry, sick, and downhearted, that they
may feel Your loving embrace on this Day of Days and always. We now join
our hearts together to pray for those in need… add your own petitions
~ O
Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, lift up our hearts in the joy and the hope of the
Love that never ends, as we remember and celebrate all who have left the
woes of this earthly plain to rise and live forever, deep in the heart of
God. We pray especially for… add your own petitions
~ O
Holy Jesus, we pause in this moment to offer You our
other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add
your own petitions
~ O Holy Jesus, God’s True Light, continue to excite the hearts of all who lead us in Your Church with imagination and inspiration. Guide all our hearts to rebirth in a Wisdom- and Spirit-filled life in Your service. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
The Celebrant adds: O Jesus our Savior, God’s Word made Flesh, the light of all people. Your light shines through the bleakness, and rescues us all from the power of darkness, to transform our anxieties into fruitful action. Keep us striving toward Your purpose, as we offer our labor to soothe the sufferings of humanity near and far. We ask through Jesus, the image of our invisible God; and the Holy Spirit, the very Breath of Love; who together with You are our One God, the Word of, in, and for our lives every day, in every way, now and forever. Amen.
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