Advent Readings & Ideas

Voices resound worldwide with the greetings of the Season – Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah! Gifts are unwrapped. Thank you’s are exchanged and lovingly prepared delicacies will be shared from Christmas throughout Christmas day.

For many Christians, the midnight mass from the Vatican is the event that marks their observance. Other believers gather in local congregations to sing carols and listen to the recurring story of the Christ child’s birth. There are many television programs that in some manner acknowledge the significance of the day. And with all of it, music sets the atmosphere.

The wonder of a child, a very special child. And working people were the first to receive the good news of great joy.

Happy, Happy Holiday!

Went to a Presbyterian church this evening. Here’s part of the service:

Isaiah 9:2-7  |  Luke 2:1-14
and the Responsive Reading

(To the tune of Away in a Manger)

We honor Messiah with Christ’s candle flame
Our Christmas Eve candles glad tidings proclaim.
O come all ye faithful, rejoice in the night,
As God comes among us, the Christian’s true light.

Leader: Let us pray …

All: Eternal God, this Holy night is radiant with the brilliance of your own true light. May that light illumine our hearts and shine in our words and deeds. May the hope, the peace, the joy, and the love represented by the birth in Bethlehem this night fill our lives and become part of all that we say and do. May we share the divine life of your son Jesus Christ, even as he humbled himself to share our humanity. Amen

The Light shines in the darkness