Meditation for Gathering

Isaiah 9:1-4

When voluminous darkness descends and plods the earth
And your eyesight adjusts too comfortably to the dimness of sin
And your soul gropes wildly as if blind to righteousness

When putrefied darkness paints your face with moral decay
And people tell you, “you’ve changed”
And you realize that you can’t will yourself into “doing better”

When smothering darkness attempts to strangle the twinkle in the stars
And choke any hope in the future
And suffocate the last vestige of breath from your dreams

When it appears that the shadowy side of life has triumphed
Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined”

Kwasi I. Kena, The Africana Worship Book, Year A, Valerie Bridgeman Davis and Safiyah Fosua, eds., (Discipleship Resources, 2006), 30.

Entry into Celebration

(inspired by Isaiah 9:2, John 1:1, 14)

The impossible is about to happen in a stable.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
Those who lived in a land of deep darkness,
on them has the light shined!

This is the evening when creation stood still and held its breath,
for God was doing the most unbelievable, dangerous thing.
This is the evening when God embraced humanity
from the inside, as one of us, from birth to death.

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
full of grace and truth.
Amen!

Written by Bruce Prewer and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage; reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2011/11/call-to-worship-for-christmas-eve.html.

Call to Worship

Glory to God in the highest!
And hope to every discouraged heart.
Glory to God in the highest!
And peace to every conflicted soul.
Glory to God in the highest!
And joy to every downcast spirit.
Glory to God in the highest!
And love to everyone.
Let us sing praises to our God.
Let us offer this light against the darkness.

Prayer

Holy God of Love,
There is light in our lives
because of the abundance of your steadfast love.
A love so vast, so deep, so real,
that you became one of us.
May we live within the power of this love.
And may we share its light with a world
where too many dwell in darkness. Amen.

Joanna Harader, posted on Spacious Faith, http://spaciousfaith.com/. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2016/12/call-to-worship-prayer-christmas.html.

Call to Worship, Opening Prayer

We count it in mere hours now.
Soon the first pains of labour will be felt.
Soon the Light will shine in the darkness,
soon the baby will be born.
Soon God will once again break into our lives,
coming in a way that is expected yet unusual,
challenging our expectations
and calling us to see life differently.

Prayer

God of birth, God of light,
in this time of song and prayer and silence,
reawaken in us the awe of Christmas.
As we hear again the story of a young woman and a surprising visitor,
remind us that we are called to respond to you in unexpected ways.
And when we leave this place,
may we be willing to sing praises
for a young woman who said YES
and the birth that we prepare to celebrate.
We pray in the name of the child
who even now is starting to push from the womb,
who would later teach his friends to pray saying
Our Father…

Posted by Rev Gord on his blog, Worship Offerings. http://worshipofferings.blogspot.ca/. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2014/12/call-to-worship-opening-prayer.html.

Benediction

May the everlasting love of God enfold you in blessing,
May the Spirit’s light shine before you,
And may the embrace of the Holy Child
Keep you this night and always. Amen.

Heidi Neumark, The Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, Series 2, Year A, Leonora Tubbs Tisdale (Abingdon, 2001), 38.