(The following is a Christingle Service I gave to Oasis Christian Fellowship in 2017.)
Oasis
Christian Fellowship Christmas Eve Carol & Christingle Service 2017
Introit: “Silent Night”
Introduction
Good
evening! My name is Nick, and I’m a part
of the church family here at Oasis Christian Fellowship. We’d like to offer you a warm welcome to this,
our last carol service before Christmas and, as we start, I’d just like to pray
for a special blessing on us all this Christmas Eve.
Our Father in Heaven, your
loving kindness and goodness – your light, and life, and love - has been
available to us since the world began. I
pray that you would work something miraculous in each of us this Christmas Eve,
for the glory of your Son, Jesus Christ – Amen!
So,
tonight, we’ve got loads of carols to sing over the next hour together,
interspersed with a few short talks - a bit like the Nine Lessons And Carols
service you might hear on the radio or TV … except we’ve got 10 carols (one of which you’ve just
heard; the others we can all sing together) and only 5 talks … and each of
those will get shorter as the evening goes on!
We’ll
also have a little Christingle section fairly early on - where the younger ones
create a symbolic, sweet-skewered surprise, just to ensure your children get a
real sugar high just before Santa visits!
Now,
if any of you have brought along any guests tonight, who have come from beyond
our county’s borders, we are going to start, this evening, by enculturing them in
song with our first carol!
Nicknamed
“The Sussex Carol”, Vaughan Williams collected the lyrics and tune to “On
Christmas night, all Christians sing” while visiting in 1904.
If
you wouldn’t count yourself a Christian here tonight and you’ve only come along
for the carol-singing, jingle-belling ride, don’t be put off by this first
line: for the time you’re with us, you’re as part of the family.
So,
let’s warm up our vocal chords now as we stand to sing “The Sussex Carol”!
Carol 1: The Sussex Carol
Christingle Invitation
“All
out of darkness we have light, which made the angels sing this night” … Light
in the darkness will be our first theme this evening, as we incorporate some
elements of a Christingle service into our time together.
A
Christingle is essentially an orange with a candle stuck in the top … and a
ribbon around it and sweets stuck onto it - every aspect of it represents a different
bit of Christmas, and those who know the song
can sing about that to us a bit
later.
For
now, though, if you have any young ones who would like to make a Christingle,
please do have them join our helpers at the back, and we’ll process them up the front in about 10
minutes or so.
In
fact, why don’t we give everyone who wants to do that time to go get set up,
while we sing our next carol: Ding Dong Merrily On High!
Carol 2: Ding Dong Merrily
On High
Lesson 1, with Reading 1: John 8:12, 1:4, 9-13; 3:16-17, 19-21
“Evetime
songs” were for the evenings, when darkness fell, while “matin chimes” were for
the mornings, welcoming the light back again.
The
Bible describes God, in the beginning, separating
darkness from light, and calling the darkness “night” and the light “day”.
I
doubt the symbolism of darkness and light is lost on anyone but, just to make
the point, which of the following phrases do you recognise, and what kinds of
feelings do they evoke?
·
“Like a thief in the night”? … or, “like a thief in the light”?
·
“Things that go bump in the night”? … or, “things that go bump in the
day”?
·
“Nightmares”? … or, “daymares”?
·
“In the dead of the night”? …
or, “in the dead of the light”?
The
night and darkness tend to be associated with bad things. In fact, one traditional
Christmas reading goes as far as to say: “The
people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in
the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
Here, darkness is linked to death, as if to give an
indication of just how bad
these bad things are to God. … Conversely
- and in Jesus - light is linked to life,
as we’ll hear in our first reading: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will
have the light of life” … In him was life, and that life was the
light of all mankind … Light has come into the
world, but people
loved darkness instead of light … it may be seen plainly that what
they have done has been done in the sight of God.
So,
in Jesus is life, “that life was the light of all mankind”, and that “light has come into the world” …
but “people loved darkness instead of
light” – that sounds crazy, doesn’t it?!
If the darkness is as bad as death to God, how can we love it?
… Christmas,
typically, is a time of overeating (bear with me!) - we all know that eating too much is not good for us: it can lead
to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
And yet we still serve up far too much food at Christmas anyway! Why? Because
there is something very comforting
about eating.
Similarly,
there are things we do – with deeper effects than overeating – despite knowing they’re bad. Some of these things are bad just for us,
some are bad for those around us too - and yet we continue to entertain those
things because in some way they comfort us.
We love (at least, our own) darkness.
Many
of these things are so familiar or subtle, we don’t recognise them. But our love of the darkness is not restricted to our own lives – it has pervaded our culture
too. For example, let me ask you this: what
is “a day”? How do we define this 24-hour period that we
call “a day”?
We have inherited our “day” from the Romans. In the century before Jesus was born, the
Romans decreed that “a day” starts and ends at midnight.
Prior to this, “a day” started as the sun began to descend from its highest point at noon. Daylight faded into the darkness of night, which
was then flooded out again by the light of dawn, and, finally, the “day” ended with the sun at its peak again.
But
the Romans changed all that … and in a very revealing way: they believed that history started and ended in chaos and
darkness. So, both their decree and their
belief revealed a worldview based on a darkness-to-darkness story, with no hope
of light finally winning over the darkness.
And,
actually, they got that right! From their point of view: without God, it is
darkness to darkness.
So,
what’s the alternative? What did the original idea of “a day” represent?
· In the beginning, there was light - when God walked the Earth with
mankind.
· This turned into darkness - as we (as all mankind) chose to distrust
and reject God.
· God, in unimaginable humility, accepted this rejection and left the
Earth to us … but the absence of God
- the light of life - brought in darkness and death.
· Thankfully, that is not the end: one day, God will return, and His light and life will
drive out all darkness and death forevermore.
The
original definition of a “day” proclaimed the hope of light’s ultimate victory
over darkness.
We
are, now, in the darkness between the original light and the light to come. But, as the moon provides light in our
earthly darkness, God also provided light in our spiritual darkness – and that is what we celebrate at Christmas: Jesus’
birth - the light of the world coming into our darkness.
Why
don’t we get our Christingle-lings up the front as we sing the Christingle
Carol (do help them out if you know the song)!
When you guys reach the front, just line up to show everyone your
Christingles, so we can all share in
their light until we finish singing, and then you can take them back to your
seats (they’re electronic candles, so the risk of burning the hair of the lady
in the seat in front is quite low!) After
that, Jade and Naomi, two members of the church family here, will read a poem Jade
wrote for this occasion.
Song: Hope Of Heaven
(Christingle Song)
Poem: “Hope, Light and
Peace”, by Jade
Link
It
was important, symbolically, that Jesus - the Light of the World - came at our darkest, coldest time: not only in
the middle of the night, but in the middle of winter too.
He
came when we needed Him most. Our next
carol is about Jesus’ coming in the middle of a cold, dark night, in the middle
of a cold, dark winter. Let’s stand now
to sing “In The Bleak Mid-Winter”!
Carol 3: In The Bleak
Mid-Winter
Lesson 2, with Reading 2: Luke 2:1-7: In those days
Caesar Augustus issued a decree … she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there
was no guest room available for them.
So,
we’ve had a look at Jesus as the light coming into our darkness, but why did He
have to come as a baby human being? Why
couldn’t He have just shone out as a great light from the heavens … perhaps
with a big booming voice for a bit more effect?!
I’m
going to suggest that there are three big reasons why He did it the way He did.
I want to suggest that Jesus became a
human being:
1. to meet us where we’re
at;
2. to tell us and show us what God is like; and
3. to suffer and die, as a human being, and for our sake.
So,
first, Jesus came to meet us where we’re at.
He removed the distance between God and mankind, and got first-hand
experience of what it’s like to actually be a human being – a created being.
So,
He tasted food like you and I do; He smelled fragrances as you and I do; He
felt with the same fingers you and I feel with; He looked through the same eyes
and listened through the same ears as we do.
He
experienced the stress of being born, the joys and challenges of learning
as He grew up, and He suffered frustrations, disappointments, tears, laughter,
delight, and joy, as we do.
As
light, He came into our darkness, and yet there was no darkness in Him. That is something that can be said about no-one else in all history.
There
is a story that, as a prank, the Sherlock Holmes author, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, sent an anonymous telegram to each of about a dozen of his friends, all of whom numbered amongst “the great
and the good” of late 19th century Britain – a time when, arguably, moral and
ethical living reached something of a peak.
The
telegram simply read: “FLEE! ALL IS
REVEALED!” - it wasn’t signed.
By
the following morning, all twelve of his friends had left the country!
There
are dark secrets hidden deep within each of us that, at best, threaten our
honour and dignity – at worst, a lot more than that.
But,
despite this darkness in us, and our
rejection of Him, the Son of God came down into our dark, self-absorbed world,
and He didn’t just visit, He became like
us.: born of Mary, He became the Son of Man – “God made Him who had no sin … in
the likeness of sinful flesh”, as the Bible puts it.
I
mentioned, before, that we rejected the God of light and life, so were left
with darkness and death, but God is also love.
True love always puts others first. So,
our rejection of God has left us with
a compromised, self-serving version
of love, and we often find ourselves doing, saying, and feeling things that we want
to keep in the darkness.
That is why we hate the light.
But
in our self-absorbing darkness, we can’t
know God – and this brings me to my
second reason why Jesus became a human being: to show us who God is … what He’s like.
You’ve
heard the expression “it takes one to know one”? Well, God figures you also need to know one
to take one! In other words, we need to know Him before we are persuaded to take Him as our Father. So, Jesus came to teach us about His Father,
in words and actions.
Jesus,
as The Son of God, is a ‘chip off the old block’ - like Him in every way, the
Bible describes Him as “the image of
the invisible God”: if we look at Him, we see His Father. So, what are He and His Father like?
Well,
this brings me to my third reason why Jesus became a human being: Jesus became a human being to die that we
might have life.
Does
it surprise you to think of Jesus’ suffering and death at Easter as something
His Father did too?
It
did me, but Jesus Himself said: “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing”. On the cross at Easter, Jesus and His Father, God, were separated through
death for the first and last time in all eternity. It was the most terrible and dark time ever …
and yet, it bought us forgiveness for
our rejection of God.
Another
member of the church here, Helen, will now read a poem she wrote about Jesus’
birth and what it brought about, inspired by her own grandson, lying cradled in
his father’s hands.
Poem: “A Child Is Born”, by
Helen
Link
Let’s
stand to sing of the babe in the stall in our next carol: “Once In Royal
David’s City”.
Carol 4: Once In Royal
David’s City
Who is God? What do you
think? … “His shelter was a stable, and
His cradle was a stall; with the poor, and mean, and lowly, lived on earth our
Saviour holy”. Our next reading this
evening sheds some more light on what God is like: Christ Jesus, though he was
in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped … and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
When
you think of “God”, does this sort of
abject humility come to mind?
Jesus,
as Son of God, was equal with God His
Father, but He did not grasp at
that. Instead, He came down, down, down:
-
from holy heaven to dusty Earth;
-
and not only to Earth, but smelly, grubby, sinful humanity;
-
and not only to humanity, but to be born as a helpless, writhing,
incontinent baby, completely dependent on a couple of scandal-scarred, first
century teenagers in an insignificant corner of the occupying Roman
administration.
This,
surely, is an upside-down God, no? I mean, it’s starting to become hard to think
of Him as the Son of God, isn’t it? But,
I assure you, the irony doesn’t end there:
·
He came down, that we might go up;
·
He was born into our darkness, that we might be born again, into His light;
·
He suffered ultimate humiliation, that we might ultimately have
dignity;
·
He submitted to Man’s perverted judgement, that we might go free under
God’s perfect judgement;
·
He suffered separation from His Father, that we might be united with
His Father;
·
He died, that we might live.
His
loss has always only ever been for our gain.
In fact, He became our servant
to such a great degree, that it would be hard to believe He is the Son of God,
had He not then risen from the dead too.
Only
God has power over death. Only God could
never be in the shadow of death. And
only God can raise us from the dead
to give us a second birth, and this one to eternal life.
This
is what the final verse of our next classic carol speaks of:
-
“Light and life to all He
brings, risen with healing in His
Wings”;
-
“Mild, He lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die”;
-
“Born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth”.
Let’s
stand to sing “Hark! The Herald Angels
Sing”.
Carol 5: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Lesson 4, with Reading 4: 1 John 4:7-19
“Christ,
by highest heaven adored, Christ, the everlasting lord”.
What
is your reaction to the phrase,
“Jesus Is Lord”?
I’ve
been a Christian for almost 20 years, and yet I still find that that phrase
bristles – I don’t want a Lord over me! And
yet, I’ve also been around long enough to know that William Ernest Henley is
not right either, when he wrote his poem, “Invictus”: I am not the master of my fate; I am not
even the captain of my soul.
So,
I’m stuck between two worlds. Before I
became a Christian, I chose to not know or trust God at all. At some point, I got to know Him just enough
to put my trust in Him and, at that very
point, I became a child of His, which means that, one day, I will know and trust Him completely.
But,
right now, I’m just “growing up”. Like a
child growing up in his parents’ home, there are times I push boundaries,
argue, and rebel. But, as a good father,
God doesn’t leave me or kick me out, and I can trust Him to finish the long work
of pulling me out of the darkness and into the light, that He has begun in me (Philippians 1:6).
So,
the phrase “Jesus Is Lord” bristles a bit
with me now, but I find myself accepting it more and more as the years go by
and I get to know that His being Lord
is nothing like any human I’ve known
lording it over me. He is The Servant King.
He
is the Lord, who is also my Father. He is the Lord
who loves me this much:
There is a radical verse in
the Bible that says: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us”. We’ll now hear more
of this love in our penultimate reading this evening: Dear friends, let us love one another, for
love comes from God ... We love because he first loved us.
I
can submit to this Lord. This
Lord gives me rest, and has me rest in His merry, smiling embrace.
Let’s
stand to sing of that comfort and joy
in our next carol: God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.
Carol 6: God Rest You Merry,
Gentlemen
Reading 5: Luke 2:8-12
Now, I’d like to set up our next carol with our
final reading for this evening – another traditional Christmas passage that
leads on from our second reading this evening:
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby … So they
hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the
manger.
Let’s
stand to sing our next carol: While Shepherds Watched
Carol 7: While Shepherds Watched
Lesson 5
“When
the angels had left them, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to
Bethlehem and see this thing!’” … What would you have done if you were in their
sandals?
You’ve
just been invited by an army of angels to go to visit the Saviour, Messiah, and
Lord on His very first day on the planet – chances are you’re not going to say
“no”!
So,
you ought to take a gift, right?
But
you’re a shepherd - socio-economically, one of the lowest of the low. And it’s the middle of the night: even if you
had money to spend, there’s nowhere open to buy anything. Some of your fellow shepherds have thought to
grab a lamb but, in the rush to be on your way, you weren’t able to catch
one. You are woefully unprepared – this
could be embarrassing.
As
you enter Bethlehem, you are grateful that it is the middle of the night –
usually you are not well treated by city-dwellers. You scurry through the shadows and when you arrive
at the stable, Mary and Joseph are a little surprised to see you. But one of the other shepherds with you tells
them everything that happened with the angels, and the message, and the
singing, and – remarkably – they just accept all they hear and beckon you in.
Suddenly,
the kings arrive! The sheer brilliance
of their clothing, their entourage, and their gifts forces you into the shadows
of the stable, behind Mary.
You
couldn’t feel more out of place.
And
then everyone wants to present their gifts all at once, and Mary looks around
for someone to hold the baby so that she can accept the gifts and thank people properly. But everyone
has their hands full, holding their gifts.
Everyone, that is, except you.
You arrived empty-handed. You –
unwashed, unkempt, and unready you – are … ironically, the only visitor who is
actually ready and able to receive
Jesus … and Mary calls you out of the shadows and into the light, to take Jesus
in your arms.
This
is all of us tonight.
Wherever
you are, with respect to Jesus – be it that you feel unready, unworthy, some
combination of the two, or even if
you accept completely where you are right now – Jesus has been offered to you,
by God, as a gift of light, life, and love.
If you
can relate to anything I’ve spoken about concerning our darkness, or our not
having life in all its fullness, or the self-serving compromise in our love for
others – know that you have been offered the free gift of light, life, and
love. And, as with all true gifts, you do not have to pay for
it, and you do not have to give anything in return - you just have to reach out,
and accept it.
Jesus
said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God; believe also in me … Believe me when I say that I am in
the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the
works themselves … Anyone who loves me will obey this teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to
them and make our home with them.”
If
you want to take any practical steps towards knowing God more, either before
you accept Him or as a result of accepting Him, can I point out 3 opportunities
you have right now:
One
would be to join us, Sundays – you’d be most welcome! We’ll meet again 4:30pm next Sunday, and then
10:30am each Sunday after that.
Another
would be mid-week: Bob and Rosemary, from the church family here, are giving up
an evening a week, starting in February, to chat with you more personally – catch
them at the back by the door after this (they’re also great people to ask to pray
for you, or with you, if you’d like).
Lastly,
if you’d rather start off with something just on your own, please take one of
the “Four Kinds Of Christmas” books as a free gift from us to you – they’re at
the back of the church and in the lobby - just help yourself!
Let’s
finish, now, with a final carol, calling all “the faithful” – all who trust in
Jesus, the light and life of the world - to come and enjoy His love, singing in
exultation. Let’s stand to sing “O Come
All Ye Faithful”.
Carol 8: O Come All Ye
Faithful
Blessing
Father, please give us, this Christmas, a
deep and certain knowledge and assurance of your love – in Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
Well,
folks, we’ve certainly sung for our supper tonight so please do enjoy some
minced pies and mulled wine (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) before you leave, and
take with you our best wishes for a happy Christmas.