Worship, Prayers and Bible Resources
First Sunday of Christmas Year B
Introduction
We don’t hear very much in the Gospels about the family life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. But we can piece together quite a lot about them from the hints given in the accounts and from the work that Bible scholars and historians have contributed. Over time, beliefs about Mary and Joseph were formed by the expectations and values of the different ages in which the Bible was read. In Victorian times, for example, much emphasis was placed on Mary as a meek and mild wife. Jesus was described as a dutiful and obedient child. This sort of moral and social belief about the Holy Family is fantasy, because we simply don’t know these details about their life.
At some periods of history, things that we do know about the Holy Family from the Gospels have been ignored or denied. For example, the fact that Jesus’ brothers are referred to on several occasions, was quietly ignored by those who wished to focus on Mary’s eternal sexual purity. The fact that she was a mother to anyone other than Jesus did not suit certain ideas, and hence the phrase 'first born' in reference to Jesus lacks it's meaning, scriptural references are passed over.
The facts of Jesus’ early life suggest that it was lived in fear and upheaval as Joseph moved his family from Judea to Egypt and then on to Galilee, because Judea was too dangerous for them. The Holy Family became akin to what we would now call political refugees or asylum seekers. Does this change our perspective on modern day refugees?
It is all too easy to concentrate on the bits of the Bible that we agree with and to ignore the uncomfortable teachings. As an example, Jesus says far more about greed and meanness being spiritually dangerous than he said about sexual morals. Yet Christians have over centuries been happy to use the Bible as a weapon to beat the “immoral” with while hoarding up wealth.
The teachings of Jesus make uncomfortable reading for us, just as they did for the people who first heard them, and God understands our pain and anxiety. Yet painful choices have to be made in order to gain a greater, eternal kind of security.
Opening Verses of Scripture Matthew 1:21
”You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins”
Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray
Almighty God, who wonderfully created us in your own image and yet more wonderfully restored us through your Son Jesus Christ: grant that, as he came to share in our humanity, so we may share the life of his divinity; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. CWGod in Trinity, eternal unity of perfect love: gather the nations to be one family, and draw us into your holy life through the birth of Emmanuel, our Lord Jesus Christ. CW
First Bible Reading Isaiah 61:10-62:3
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch. The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. NRSV
Second Reading Galatians 4:4-7
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Gospel Reading Luke 2:15-21
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. NRSV
Post Communion Sentence
Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son shared at Nazareth the life of an earthly home:
help your Church to live as one family,
united in love and obedience,
and bring us all at last to our home in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. CW
Commentary
Richard Ledger 27 December 2020
The Interpreters Bible focuses on Luke 2:20 from today’s gospel reading. It was the road back for the shepherds – back to work with their sheep in familiar pastures – from a shinning, amazing happiness to the humdrum. Now, we often feel a bit ‘flat’ after Christmas or any great celebration, but the shepherds are glorifying and praising God for all they have heard and seen. They took this wonderful, new experience with them; it really had been exactly as the angel had said. So what was it they took with them?
1. They realised that their greatest happiness had its source in God. As they returned with the sky blank now and only ordinary ground under foot – they were glorifying God for what they had seen and heard. It had touched and inspired their lives for the present and the future. Moments of God’s blessing can be a permanent mainspring for our lives.
2. They realised that their happiness was focused in something very simple yet new. God had been seen as very distant – with awe in the clouds of Sinai or, inaccessible in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The shepherds learnt the wonderful truth that to come to us God chose an ordinary family in a crude shelter in Bethlehem. Even the stable gave God enough room to enter because life and love were there. God can be found in the thing that are really close – the blessings of friendship and the daily beauty of patience, devotion, faith and love – often beyond our deserving. We’ve seen real evidence of this during the covid pandemic. We can, like the shepherds, therefore glorify God as we go about the routine of life.
And they know what they had seen in Bethlehem was unique and would have important consequences. They didn’t know how, but they had learnt that the baby in Mary’s arms would be a king. They’d not have understood about a cross and crown of thorns, but they knew dimly that he was somehow royal and that the new power that had come so silently there in Bethlehem would grow and grow. It is a bit like that for us. We don’t know really business and international trade relations can express the values of Jesus; how the law of the jungle can be transformed into the law of love. But we do know that change can only come through the love of Jesus; he has the key; he is the key – and if we have known that even once we can live praising God.
This is certainly different: Susan Sayers and Tom Wright call it revolutionary. We see the grace of God’s wide, unconditional love as the bringer of God’s saving power and justice is born on the straw of a stable, and unclean and unrighteous, marginalised and powerless shepherds hear and see the news. They are told he is the Messiah, and Tom Wright says this is the start of a confrontation between the Kingdom of God, in all its apparent weakness and vulnerability, and the kingdoms of the world. It is explosive truth: the baby is already being spoken of as the true king of the world, where his values hold sway. The Oxford Bible Commentary sees a world where, in Jesus, the excluded are included and the outsider brought within the people of God. Luke is clear about the worth to God of tax-collectors and sinners, women, the poor, the marginalised and Gentiles. All, as the hymn says, are welcomed God’s banquet to share.
Susan Sayers also sets all this in the context of the modern Christmas where we push the boat out trying to live as people of goodwill, at least over the Bank Holiday – though it wasn’t so clear-cut this year from December 23rd – 27th ! The traditional Christmas celebrations are a great strain; often fragile relationships implode, (or explode!), with divorce and suicide rates up. She says that that is why this baby is such good news. It shifts the emphasis from the hopeless struggle of trying to live up to what we are supposed to be. Instead God calls us simply to be ourselves – unique in the image and likeness of God as his sons and daughters. We should stop trying to impress Him, ourselves and one another with what we are not! John Ortberg in “The me I want to be” says that we are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) – that God is a hand-crafter, not a mass-producer: so he never grows two people the same way.
What a release this can be. There is a new relationship – as Galatians 4: 4 – 6 says. In his ministry Jesus offered forgiveness, release from sin and guilt to all who would receive it. His forgiveness is the secret of freedom – and more than that it really does heal our lives. And reconciliation with God enables reconciliation between people and also within ourselves. We come just as we are, as the hymn says, and discover, if we just ask, that he gives us release from the past, with all the darkness and sin in our lives taken away. This gives us a sure and certain hope for the present and the future. In Jesus light comes into the world and shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. And that really is good news of great joy for all the people for 2021 and beyond. Richard Ledger
Meditation
Mary could not have known what she was saying “yes” to: we pray for her trust.- Joseph could not have known where his trust was leading him, we pray for his patience.
- The wise men could not have known the end of their journey, we pray for their boldness and adventure.
- The shepherds could not have known the meaning of their vision: we pray for their open minds.
- The Christ-child could not have known what was happening to him, we join with him in his fragile humanity in bringing before the unknown of divinity our prayer, praise and wonder this Christmas.
Peter Armstrong
Into a world without light, Jesus Christ is born.
Coming to conquer the darkness, Jesus Christ is born.
He comes to bring us a new world,
Jesus our Lord is born every day!
He comes to bring us his peace, Jesus Christ is born.
Where there is strife, blood and hatred, Jesus Christ is born.
Wherever his people are struggling,
Jesus our Lord is born every day!
He comes to teach us to love, Jesus Christ is born.
Throw off the shackles of hatred, Jesus Christ is born.
Join hands sisters and brothers!
Jesus our Lord is born every day!
He wakes the world from its sleep, Jesus Christ is born.
He stirs and calls us to action, Jesus Christ is born.
In every heart that is hopeful,
Jesus our Lord is born every day!
A Venezuelan Carol by Juan Antomic Espinosa
A Meditation for Today
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
Hymns
- In the Bleak Midwinter
- Go tell it on the mountain
- See amid the winter’s snow
- Joy to the world
- Joy to the world, the Lord has come
- Let me tell you about a baby
- Unto us a boy is born (in all three books)
- Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown (St Margaret) MP 697 HP 154
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead.
Thank you God, that the time of waiting is now over, that with Simeon we
can bless you for the coming of Jesus into the world. We praise you for a
new intimacy you invite us to share with you.
We too are inspired by the Spirit.
We confess those many times we fail to see your purpose, your presence, in
what lies before us. We confess closed minds and stunted expectations,
spurning the creativity and spirit with which you have entrusted us.
We too are inspired by the Spirit.
We pray for millions of people today who in material terms can afford
very little to honour the birth of Jesus. We pray that you will constantly
move us to stand alongside our sisters and brothers in need.
We too are inspired by the Spirit.
Direct what we think, say and do that we may be transformed by your new
beginning in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Salvation. Give us a passion for
your Gospel and a vision of your kingdom in which all are included.
We too are inspired by the Spirit. Amen. Gray Featherstone 2002
God in our hopes and fears, our smiles and tears, of all the years, take our
hand as we cross over the border between this year and the next. Sustain in
us faith, hope and love. Help us to hear in the cry of the new-born Christ
the first sounds of your great 'perhaps'. Amen. Paul Johns
Lord God, in the birth of Jesus your Son I see the fulfilment of your
promises, not just for all the world but in particular for me. I thank you
for the reassurance this gives me of your love. I look back on the year and
see your presence in my life. Help me to live securely in your love during
all that the coming year brings. Amen.
May Christ be born afresh into our hearts. May doors be flung open to
welcome, bless and inspire. May new gifts be discovered cherished and
expressed. May love be nurtured, gently given and received. May courage
continue in dark nights. May joy flash at dawn. May bread and wine be always
a sign of grace, forgiveness and redemption. And may each prayer, each day,
of this New Year draw us closer together as we rejoice in our diversity and
seek to serve the world in all its need. In Jesus' name, Amen.
God who became as we are, may we become as you are.
Amen (after William Blake)
We thank you Lord, that we are citizens of a world made up of
different races. Your grace touches us all, whatever our race and
colour. We rejoice in the richness of our cultures, our music and
dance, our folklore and legends. We thank you for all these gifts. We
delight in the joy they bring to our lives. Amen. (Women of
Brazil)
Enlarge our souls, O God, with the gift of divine grace, that hoping
all things and enduring all things we may become for others instruments of
your healing mercy. In all things attune our hearts to the impulse of your
Kingdom and our lives to the harmony of eternal love; that your will may be
done on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen
James Martineau, 1805-1900
Jesus, Baby of Bethlehem, as a baby, by placing yourself into human hands, you show us how much you trust us. In the way we live may we be worthy of your trust.
Lord Jesus Christ, from birth to death, you lived in harmony with the whole of creation. May we too be strengthened by your pattern, that the whole of our lives may be lived as an offering to you, this Christmas, and always. Amen Churches Together in England
Almighty God, who has poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word; grant that the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Mass of Christmas at dawn. Sarum Rite
Loving Father, help us to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds and the wisdom of the wise men. Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires in every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings and teach us to be merry with clean hearts. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894)
Oh sweet Child of Bethlehem, grant that we may share with all our hearts in this profound mystery of Christmas. Put into the hearts of people this peace for which they sometimes seek so desperately and which you alone can give them. Help them to know one another better and to live as brothers and sisters, children of the same Father. Reveal to them also your beauty, holiness and purity. Awaken in their hearts love and gratitude for your infinite goodness. Join them all together in your love. And give us your heavenly peace. Pope John XX111 (1881 – 1963)
Lord, may the ways you have come close to us this Christmas not be forgotten but, hidden in our memories, to be a rich resource to lift us when times are painful and humble us when things go well, for you are our life, our light and our salvation this season and always, because of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Gathering for Worship; The Baptist Union of Great Britain
Additional Material
Commentary
We don’t hear very much in the Gospels about the family life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. But we can piece together quite a lot about them from the hints given in the accounts and from the work that Bible scholars and historians have contributed. Over time, beliefs about Mary and Joseph were formed by the expectations and values of the different ages in which the Bible was read.
In Victorian times, for example, much emphasis was placed on Mary as a meek and mild wife. Jesus was described as a dutiful and obedient child. This sort of moral and social belief about the Holy Family is fantasy, because we simply don’t know these details about their life.
At some periods of history, things that we do know about the Holy Family from the Gospels have been ignored or denied. For example, the fact that Jesus’ brothers are referred to on several occasions, was quietly ignored by those who wished to focus on Mary’s eternal sexual purity. The fact that she was a mother to anyone other than Jesus did not suit certain ideas, and hence the phrase 'first born' in reference to Jesus lacks it's meaning, scriptural references are passed over.
The facts of Jesus’ early life suggest that it was lived in fear and upheaval as Joseph moved his family from Judea to Egypt and then on to Galilee, because Judea was too dangerous for them. The Holy Family became akin to what we would now call political refugees or asylum seekers. Does this change our perspective on modern day refugees?
It is all too easy to concentrate on the bits of the Bible that we agree with and to ignore the uncomfortable teachings. As an example, Jesus says far more about greed and meanness being spiritually dangerous than he said about sexual morals. Yet Christians have over centuries been happy to use the Bible as a weapon to beat the “immoral” with while hoarding up wealth.
The teachings of Jesus make uncomfortable reading for us, just as they did for the people who first heard them, and God understands our pain and anxiety. Yet painful choices have to be made in order to gain a greater, eternal kind of security.