What do we call this day? Is it Christmas Sunday? Is it Boxing Day? Is it St Stephen’s Day? Whatever it is, it is a day to think of someone else, your neighbour or a stranger, but someone in need! It is a time to keep that “Christmas spirit” of caring and sharing as we prepare to move into a new year.
Hymn Good King Wenceslas
Prayer: Holy God, the angels have sung and the shepherds have come to the stable, And we are filled with wonder.
Thank you for coming to us in a little baby; thank you for such good news; thank you for this time of wonder.
Come into our lives today and every day, that we might have the joy and peace and love that only Jesus Christ brings us, for we pray with awe and wonder. Amen. ( a prayer written by Nancy E. Hardy, then of London, ON, and printed in Gathering, A/C/E 2005-6)
Scripture Lessons: Colossians 3:12-17
Psalm 148 p.871VU
Luke 2:41-52
Carol Once in Royal David’s City #62VU
Meditation
Prayer: O God, we admit it is sometimes easier to love Jesus as a baby than it is to consider the boy and the man he became. Help us to remember that the story of his birth and its poverty reveals your care and concern for all who are poor and in need. We remember how Jesus grew and learned how to live and serve as your messenger, how he brought comfort and good news to those who were discouraged and sad; and how he showed compassion to those who were sick or isolated. May the Spirit who led and taught Jesus in his life fill us and help us to learn from Jesus and to follow in his way. We pray in faith and hope. Amen.
A Christmas Creed: (that I had planned to use on Christmas Eve)
We believe in God, who created the earth, loved it, and who refuses to give up on it.
We believe in God who through the prophets, promised peace and justice for all God’s children.
We believe in God, whose love was revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, whose birth we have now celebrated.
We remember how the Holy Spirit helped him to grow and to reveal God’s love, faithfulness, and forgiveness in his life, death, and resurrection.
We remember how Jesus proclaimed good news for the poor and how his birth was celebrated by shepherds and angels.
We remember that the angels offered good news of great joy to those who were afraid or alone.
We rejoice that Jesus’s birth is a sign of God’s goodwill and favour, and we welcome him as a source of light and hope for all the world.
May this faith and hope strengthen and sustain us now and forever. Amen.
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