Resources for adults and all ages

Christmas Day

Adult & All Age

Planning
LECTIONARY
Isaiah 9.2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2.11-14; Luke 2.2-20

Context
Christmas Day has arrived at last. Will it fulfill all our expectations? And what if it doesn't? The ancient expectation of a Messiah was not for a baby born in a stable in Bethlehem. Perhaps that was why the news of his birth was communicated first to shepherds, people who were almost social outcasts. In the same way, if we are to find him today, perhaps it will be on the edges of society.

Common thread – Where is the Prince of Peace? (Luke 2.2-20)
The ROOTS resources today examine Luke's account of the nativity and ask what was so important about the Christ child's first visitors, the shepherds.

PLUS
Hymns and songs
A great and mighty wonder
Carol of the Advent (WGWR)
Christians awake
Dona nobis pacem in terra (WGWR)
Give us your peace (Taizé)
Hark, the herald angels sing
Infant holy, infant lowly
It came upon the midnight clear
Love came down at Christmas
O little town of Bethlehem
See amid the winter snow
The aye carol (WGWR)
There is one among us (WGWR)
This child, secretly come in the night (Graham Kendrick)
While shepherds watched their flocks by night

Other resources
For a huge selection of images depicting the natural world and human life around the globe, try: www.imagesoftheworld.org
http://worldimages.sjsu.edu

Gather

Prepare the space
If your church has a nativity scene, you could invite people to move the shepherds away from the stable to a space created to depict a hillside with flock of sheep before the service begins. Then, as the Gospel reading is read, people could take the shepherds from this place to the stable again.

Call to worship
based on Isaiah 9
A child has been born for us.
A son has been given to us.
Authority rests upon his shoulders
and he is named:
Wonderful Counsellor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow
and there shall be endless peace. 

Prayers for all ages together

An opening prayer
Lord Jesus, Child of Bethlehem,
we have come to celebrate your birth among us.
Open our eyes so that we can recognise you
in young and old, rich and poor, friends and strangers.
Open our ears so that we can hear you
in the noisy and busy times, as well as in the quiet.
Open our lips so that we can share
your message of peace and joy with everyone we meet.
Amen.

A prayer of adoration
God among us,
into a world where many live in darkness,
we welcome you as the light of the world.
Into a world where many are hungry,
we welcome you as Lord of the harvest.
Into a world where many are persecuted and oppressed,
we welcome you as just King and loving Father.
Into a world where many are at war,
we welcome you as the Prince of Peace.
Amen.

A prayer of petition
Wherever Christians disagree, and quarrel among themselves,
come, Prince of Peace.
Wherever families are divided, or friends have fallen out,
come, Prince of Peace.
Wherever nations are at war,
come, Prince of Peace.
Wherever the rich and powerful exploit and oppress the poor,
come, Prince of Peace.
Wherever people cry out in hunger or in pain,
come, Prince of Peace.
Whenever worries and busyness make us unable to hear your message of joy,
come, Prince of Peace.
Amen.

Word and

Response ADULTS

Where is the Prince of Peace?
Luke 2.2-20

• For most of us, Christmas has been a long time coming. The first cards began to appear in the shops before the summer holidays were over. Since then, the preparations have gathered pace until they reach their climax today. Has it been worth it? Is Christmas coming up to expectations? If we are honest, probably not. For many of us, the reality of Christmas is quite different from the dream. The rush and excitement leave both adults and children exhausted. Family reunions rarely go as smoothly as we hope. We eat and drink too much and are tetchy as a result. We spend far more than we can afford, and are already worried about the January bills. It can all seem a long way from the angels' message of peace and joy.
• The whole message of Christmas is one of contradiction, of sharp contrasts between expectation and actuality. The reading from the prophecy of Isaiah is a powerful expression of the ancient Jewish hope that God would send his Messiah to establish a kingdom in which all created things would live peacefully under his just and gentle rule. However, the hopes expressed in those marvellous names were never fulfilled in the history of Israel.
• The angels' proclamation echoes the prophet's promise of peace and joy, and points to its fulfillment in the birth of the Christ Child. But 2000 years on, what can we make of this event? In a world torn apart by wars and civil conflict, it too seems to disappoint. Where is the Prince of Peace?
• The message of the angels came in the darkness to shepherds who lived on the very edge of society. Their work was dirty and rough. It precluded them from Sabbath observance, and excluded them from worship in the synagogue. Both socially and religiously, they were regarded as outsiders, yet they were the first to seek Jesus, and to spread the good news of his birth.
• The Messiah revealed to the shepherds was not the majestic or triumphalist figure portrayed in Old Testament prophecies. He was a tiny baby, born in conditions of stark poverty. Whatever they might have been expecting, would it have been this? Yet the circumstances of this birth must have spoken to their situation as nothing else could. This is a Messiah who shares their poverty and their 'outsider' status. As Luke's Gospel progresses, we are shown again and again a saviour who keeps company with those on the edge of society: the poor, the foreigners, the sick and disabled, women.
• Perhaps it is good when our illusions of the perfect Christmas are shattered. If we look for the Prince of Peace in the glitz and the hype that accompany our celebration then we shall inevitably be disappointed. If we are to find him, and be touched by him, we have to look in the places we least expect, among the victims of war and famine, among those marginalized by poverty or failure, among those who, for whatever reason, simply do not fit in.
• We also need to remember that it was the shepherds, the outsiders, who relayed the news of Jesus' birth to the people of Bethlehem. Is it possible that sometimes we are so preoccupied with preserving the status quo, and with our own status as insiders in the Church as well as socially and professionally, that we are deaf to what those outside have to say to us? We agonise about 'outreach' and 'mission', but perhaps sometimes it is equally important to welcome and listen to those outsiders who may already have seen the Prince of Peace.

Word and Response ALL AGES TOGETHER

Where is the Prince of Peace?
Luke 2.2-20

Open the Word
Involve as many people as possible in miming the Gospel story as it is read.

Explore the Word
Invite several of the participants to take the 'hot-seat' and, in character, answer questions about how they saw the events of the first Christmas. You could interview Mary, Joseph, an innkeeper and several shepherds.

Respond to the Word
Look and listen: Play a recording of the chorus 'For unto us a child is born' from Handel's Messiah. If you have projection facilities, accompany this with a selection of images of scenes depicting some of the contrasts found in our world: peace and conflict, wealth and poverty, etc. (see Planning).

Pray: Following the exercise above, give each person a piece of white card cut in the shape of a dove. Ask them to think about where they can see the Prince of Peace at work in today's world, and then to write or draw something to represent that on the dove shape. Collect the doves at the offertory as 'Hark the herald angels sing' or another hymn or carol of praise and thanksgiving is sung.

Sing: Learn a setting of Psalm 96.

Make: Provide people with a selection of local, national and church newspapers from the previous week. Ask them to work in pairs or small groups to identify those areas of national, local and church life where the influence of the Prince of Peace is currently most needed. Pictures and headlines could be cut out to make a collage with the title 'Come, Prince of Peace'.

Pray: Ask each group to compose a short prayer of intercession based on the stories and situations identified above. As a response or as a ground to the prayers as they are read, use the Taizé chant 'Dona nobis pacem Domine' ('Give us your peace'), or an Iona song such as 'Dona nobis pacem in terra' ('Grant us peace on earth') or 'There is one among us'.

Discuss: Invite people to imagine the first Christmas taking place in today's world. Where might the birth of Jesus take place? Who might be the first to hear of it? How would they hear? Who would be the first to visit Jesus? How would they describe the event to others? In groups, ask people to devise and present scenarios in which some of those involved describe the event.

Reflect and share: The news of Jesus' birth was first announced to outsiders in society. Who are the 'outsiders' in our own community? How can we communicate the good news of Christmas to them? How can we take the message beyond the church building? How can we make sure that 'outsiders' are made welcome in church? What 'good news' might outsiders bring us? In groups, invite people to think of one or two practical ways of engaging with those outside the Church, and to share these with the rest of the congregation.