Christmas Eve Candlelight

Christmas Eve Candlelight

Through Adversity Comes a Promise

Prelude:

Call to Worship:

Rejoice, for God is with us — Emmanuel.

In the darkness of our world shines God's holy light.

Now there is reason to hope, to love, to laugh, to live.

God is truly with us. We are not alone.

Thanks be to God!

Songs of Praise: - Everyone

Joy to the World (2 minutes)

O Come All Ye Faithful – Casting Crowns (4 minutes)

Prayer:

Reading:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. On the first day he separated the light from the darkness. On the second day he separated the seas and the skies. The third day vegetation appeared on the dry land. The fourth day the sun, the moon and the stars – to govern the day and the night and to mark seasons, days and years. The fifth day the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The sixth day all the animals and God saw that it was good.

And also on the sixth day – God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them and it….was….very….good

UNTIL

The serpent tempted the woman and lied to her and convinced her to eat from the tree of knowledge and she gave some to her husband and he ate as well and what was very good was now…..devastated.

The Lord cursed the serpent and said in Genesis 3, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” And the need for a Savior, for a redeemer began.

Later… a chosen nation would struggle and through adversity came prophecies of one to come….one who would save them….one who would set them free.

Song: Adore – Tomlin (everyone) (5 minutes)

Reading:

And so began a century’s long struggle. The people would struggle to follow the ways of the Lord, after a time they would cry out and God would save them only to repeat the cycle again and again. There was hope however. The prophets began to tell of one that would come and save his people. And then….silence. But that silence was about to be broken.

Mary had been betrothed to Joseph. Like all young brides there was both excitement and trepidation about being married, but the day was coming soon. Mary was waiting for that day when all the preparations that Joseph had been working so hard on would be complete and they could come together in marriage as husband and wife.

It was during that waiting period that an angel came to her and Mary was terrified. The gospel writer Luke tells us about this in Chapter 2. The angel spoke to her and told her not to be afraid and that she would be with child and she would give birth to a son and she was to give him the name Jesus. He would be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.

Mary asked how this could be since she had not been with Joseph and the angel told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her.

What would people say? She had been a good girl. No one would believe her. Her family would stand to lose the bride price because surely Joseph wouldn’t stay with her. She would be disowned. Yes, it would be a struggle and even though she didn’t fully understand all that would transpire she simply said, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.”

Song: Mary Did You Know (special) (3:30 minutes)

Reading:

The struggle wouldn’t be Mary’s alone but also to her betrothed, Joseph. An angel also appears to this carpenter named Joseph. Joseph was a descendent of the great King David. Joseph’s life was far from royalty. He made his living as a builder…..a carpenter. He had taken a young virgin girl to be his wife, Mary. But….now she was pregnant and it wasn’t his.

She had told him about being pregnant by the Holy Spirit and this being God’s son. He wasn’t sure what to think but he knew that he was not the father. This hurt him deeply and the gospel writer Matthew tells us that he planned to divorce her quietly until an angel appeared to him and corroborated Mary’s story… “what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.