Jesus presented in the temple
Worship
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series II, Cycle B
Celebrating The Presence of God
Pastoral Invitation
In the name of the newborn one, welcome to the ____ day of Christmas. If Christmas is now over for you, then it never began; for as W. J. Cameron has stated, "There has been only one Christmas (the rest are anniversaries) and it is not over yet." So, how will you celebrate Christmas in this worship hour? (One minute of silence.)
Response
P: Will you continue to celebrate his birth?
M: We will! We do!
Hymn of Praise
"Angels, We Have Heard on High," French carol; trans. James Chadwick (1813-1882); alt. Arr. Edward Shippen Barnes, 1937.
Prayer of Praise
Thanks, God for inviting us to the birth of the world's Savior. Teach us how to keep on receiving him each day. (Perhaps you will want to add more. However, short prayers are more easily remembered than long ones.)
Celebrating The Act Of Forgiveness*
Sing several of the Christmas carols. Conclude with "We Three Kings of Orient Are." Ask three men to sing solos to stanzas 2, 3, 4.
The Community Looks Beyond Jesus' Birth
Introduction to the Act of Recognizing our Humanity
If I say it, and you feel it in your hearts: You and I, behind "Merry Christmas" smiles, are afraid to be alone. You and I, behind the presents we give, are reluctant to love. You and I, behind our friendly words, are unwilling to stand beside another. You and I, behind our hymns and prayers, are afraid to stand before God. I say it, and we feel it in our hearts, and are reluctant to act on what we know.
Introduction to the Act of Receiving New Life (Pastors and Ministers)
M: Lord, have mercy on us. (Sing this, putting the emphasis on a different word each time.)
P: I invite us to pray with an openness to receive God's gift.
M: Almighty God, in the maze of the mass media of our day, we have all but lost our true identity. Succumbing to the pressures to conform, we have forgotten how to be ourselves. We have sought to escape the birth-pain of selfhood, by seizing ready-made actions and responses of others. This betrayal of the self has left us "hollow persons." Forgive us when we fail to live up to our high calling, and reveal to us a future that transcends the sins of our past. Help us to know your liberating word that became incarnate in him who is the living word. So be it!
P: In Christ, we do experience and receive forgiveness. To us is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and to us is born, in this moment, life in him. We no longer yearn for God. Our healing no longer means a search but a surrender to him, who is always and everywhere present in Spirit. I invite us to sing Malotte's version of the Lord's Prayer.
(Following the singing, ask how many remember this act of worship used during Advent. For those who remember, ask them if this means more today than when first used. Give several moments of silence. For those who do not speak, ask them to write their thoughts on paper, with the option of your using them later.)
Celebrating The Word
Message with the Children of All Ages
(Continue to invite all ages to come forward. The presenter faces the congregation. This is no cute performance for the benefit of the people.) Focus on the marvelling of Jesus' parents to Simeon's words in verses 29-32. Then ask, "Have your parents ever marvelled at you, at something you said or did?" The word "marvel" has the notion of surprise. One example: some parents marvel, or are surprised, when their children bring home from school A's; others are surprised when their children bring home D's. Ask for other examples. Point out that this is all a part of our growing and learning. Then, translate verse 40.
Reading from the Scriptures
Dramatize the scripture using a reader, Simeon, Mary, and Joseph.
Proclamation of the Good News
Here are some possibilities for bridging the gap between nostalgia and cynicism: (1) Stop giving Christmas presents. Hold it! I said that to get your attention. It is so easy to give material gifts on a day, because everyone is doing it. How much more difficult to give of ourselves during the year. Physical gifts are poor substitutes for the giving of oneself. (2) Recognize that Christmas is not for children. Christmas is for the world. Offer things that we can do to heal the world. (3) Keep in mind that Jesus needs no more admirers. He has plenty of those, at least until the going gets tough. He needs obedient, committed servants.
Celebrating Our Gifts
Stewardship Challenge
Take Christ out of Christmas, and put him in the rest of the year. Our stewardship, if it is faithful, lives by that truth.
Celebrating Our Departure
Hymn of Thanksgiving and Commitment
"Joy to the World," Isaac Watts, 1719; alt. Attr. George Frederick Handel, 1742; arr. Lowell Mason, 1836.
Charge to the Congregation
"A great many people are trying to make peace, but that already has been done. God has not left it for us to do; all we have to do is to enter into it" (Dwight L. Moody).
Response to the Charge and Benediction
Tune: "Michael, Row Your Boat"
Glory be to God on High! Alleluia! (repeat)
Glory be to God on Earth! Alleluia! (repeat)
P: Go with God; Glow with God!
Meditation
"It's easy to gush over the baby Jesus; what a sweet picture the stable scene makes on a Christmas card with cute angels flying overhead. We must not forget that the baby whom everyone helps to adore, will grow up to be the man everyone helps to crucify" (Robert McAfee Brown).
*Note about Celebrating the Act of Forgiveness: I have used this particular act in Cycle A, in Advent 2 of Cycle B, and here. Notice the varieties of how it is used. Remember also that on any given Sunday only about one-third to one-fourth of the congregation is present. Remind the people that probably most of them watch television and movie reruns. I know people who have watched every episode of Star Trek a dozen times. Also, point out that most of us listened to the Good News dozens of times before hearing it, and after hearing it, many times before integrating it into our lives.
Music Possibilities In Addition To Those Already Suggested
Music for Preparation and Dismissal: Medley of Christmas carols. Ask the people to come early and to stay late to sing the carols.
Response to the Stewardship Challenge: "What Child is This?" William Chatterton Dix, c. 1871. English ballad, sixteenth century; arr. Christmas Carols New and Old, 1871.
Response to the Proclamation: "Angels from the Realms of Glory," stanzas 1-3, James Montgomery, 1816, 1825; stanza 4, Salisbury Hymn Book, 1857. Henry Thomas Smart, 1867.
Response to the Benediction: "I'm Gonna Sing When The Spirit Says Sing," spiritual, from Let the People Sing! (See Appendix I for address.)
Pastoral Invitation
In the name of the newborn one, welcome to the ____ day of Christmas. If Christmas is now over for you, then it never began; for as W. J. Cameron has stated, "There has been only one Christmas (the rest are anniversaries) and it is not over yet." So, how will you celebrate Christmas in this worship hour? (One minute of silence.)
Response
P: Will you continue to celebrate his birth?
M: We will! We do!
Hymn of Praise
"Angels, We Have Heard on High," French carol; trans. James Chadwick (1813-1882); alt. Arr. Edward Shippen Barnes, 1937.
Prayer of Praise
Thanks, God for inviting us to the birth of the world's Savior. Teach us how to keep on receiving him each day. (Perhaps you will want to add more. However, short prayers are more easily remembered than long ones.)
Celebrating The Act Of Forgiveness*
Sing several of the Christmas carols. Conclude with "We Three Kings of Orient Are." Ask three men to sing solos to stanzas 2, 3, 4.
The Community Looks Beyond Jesus' Birth
Introduction to the Act of Recognizing our Humanity
If I say it, and you feel it in your hearts: You and I, behind "Merry Christmas" smiles, are afraid to be alone. You and I, behind the presents we give, are reluctant to love. You and I, behind our friendly words, are unwilling to stand beside another. You and I, behind our hymns and prayers, are afraid to stand before God. I say it, and we feel it in our hearts, and are reluctant to act on what we know.
Introduction to the Act of Receiving New Life (Pastors and Ministers)
M: Lord, have mercy on us. (Sing this, putting the emphasis on a different word each time.)
P: I invite us to pray with an openness to receive God's gift.
M: Almighty God, in the maze of the mass media of our day, we have all but lost our true identity. Succumbing to the pressures to conform, we have forgotten how to be ourselves. We have sought to escape the birth-pain of selfhood, by seizing ready-made actions and responses of others. This betrayal of the self has left us "hollow persons." Forgive us when we fail to live up to our high calling, and reveal to us a future that transcends the sins of our past. Help us to know your liberating word that became incarnate in him who is the living word. So be it!
P: In Christ, we do experience and receive forgiveness. To us is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and to us is born, in this moment, life in him. We no longer yearn for God. Our healing no longer means a search but a surrender to him, who is always and everywhere present in Spirit. I invite us to sing Malotte's version of the Lord's Prayer.
(Following the singing, ask how many remember this act of worship used during Advent. For those who remember, ask them if this means more today than when first used. Give several moments of silence. For those who do not speak, ask them to write their thoughts on paper, with the option of your using them later.)
Celebrating The Word
Message with the Children of All Ages
(Continue to invite all ages to come forward. The presenter faces the congregation. This is no cute performance for the benefit of the people.) Focus on the marvelling of Jesus' parents to Simeon's words in verses 29-32. Then ask, "Have your parents ever marvelled at you, at something you said or did?" The word "marvel" has the notion of surprise. One example: some parents marvel, or are surprised, when their children bring home from school A's; others are surprised when their children bring home D's. Ask for other examples. Point out that this is all a part of our growing and learning. Then, translate verse 40.
Reading from the Scriptures
Dramatize the scripture using a reader, Simeon, Mary, and Joseph.
Proclamation of the Good News
Here are some possibilities for bridging the gap between nostalgia and cynicism: (1) Stop giving Christmas presents. Hold it! I said that to get your attention. It is so easy to give material gifts on a day, because everyone is doing it. How much more difficult to give of ourselves during the year. Physical gifts are poor substitutes for the giving of oneself. (2) Recognize that Christmas is not for children. Christmas is for the world. Offer things that we can do to heal the world. (3) Keep in mind that Jesus needs no more admirers. He has plenty of those, at least until the going gets tough. He needs obedient, committed servants.
Celebrating Our Gifts
Stewardship Challenge
Take Christ out of Christmas, and put him in the rest of the year. Our stewardship, if it is faithful, lives by that truth.
Celebrating Our Departure
Hymn of Thanksgiving and Commitment
"Joy to the World," Isaac Watts, 1719; alt. Attr. George Frederick Handel, 1742; arr. Lowell Mason, 1836.
Charge to the Congregation
"A great many people are trying to make peace, but that already has been done. God has not left it for us to do; all we have to do is to enter into it" (Dwight L. Moody).
Response to the Charge and Benediction
Tune: "Michael, Row Your Boat"
Glory be to God on High! Alleluia! (repeat)
Glory be to God on Earth! Alleluia! (repeat)
P: Go with God; Glow with God!
Meditation
"It's easy to gush over the baby Jesus; what a sweet picture the stable scene makes on a Christmas card with cute angels flying overhead. We must not forget that the baby whom everyone helps to adore, will grow up to be the man everyone helps to crucify" (Robert McAfee Brown).
*Note about Celebrating the Act of Forgiveness: I have used this particular act in Cycle A, in Advent 2 of Cycle B, and here. Notice the varieties of how it is used. Remember also that on any given Sunday only about one-third to one-fourth of the congregation is present. Remind the people that probably most of them watch television and movie reruns. I know people who have watched every episode of Star Trek a dozen times. Also, point out that most of us listened to the Good News dozens of times before hearing it, and after hearing it, many times before integrating it into our lives.
Music Possibilities In Addition To Those Already Suggested
Music for Preparation and Dismissal: Medley of Christmas carols. Ask the people to come early and to stay late to sing the carols.
Response to the Stewardship Challenge: "What Child is This?" William Chatterton Dix, c. 1871. English ballad, sixteenth century; arr. Christmas Carols New and Old, 1871.
Response to the Proclamation: "Angels from the Realms of Glory," stanzas 1-3, James Montgomery, 1816, 1825; stanza 4, Salisbury Hymn Book, 1857. Henry Thomas Smart, 1867.
Response to the Benediction: "I'm Gonna Sing When The Spirit Says Sing," spiritual, from Let the People Sing! (See Appendix I for address.)
