Carol Service

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston, Minister for Digital Worship.

Opening Music  Good Christians All Rejoice arranged and played by the Revd Phil Nevard and used with his kind permission.

Introduction 

Welcome to this Carol Service where, through reading, reflection, prayer and song we will celebrate God becoming one of us in Jesus.  At this time of the year there are a range of emotions – excitement and exhaustion, a sense of community and a sense, sometimes, of being alone, a time of reflecting over the year just past and a sense of wondering what’s coming next.  We take all our hopes and fears and bring them to Bethlehem’s crib and unite them with God, revealed to us in the vulnerability of a child about to become a refugee.  My name is Andy Braunston; I am the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship I’ve put this service together using some material from Nick Fawcett who was a Baptist Minister and writer and who produced fascinating reflections which we’ll here in this service.  They, and the Biblical readings, are brought to us from many of my colleagues who work for us all in the URC.  I hope you find this a useful way to start our Christmas celebrations together.  Let’s sing now the ancient Advent hymn, O Come O Come Emmanuel which brings in song various prophecies in the Old Testament which we apply to Christ.

Hymn  O Come O Come Emmanuel
Translator: J. M. Neale (1851)
sung by the people of St. Augustine by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Santa Monica, California
and used with their kind permission

O come, O come, Emmanuel, 
And ransom captive Israel, 
That mourns in lonely exile here 
Until the Son of God appear. 

Rejoice! Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel! 

2 O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, 
Who orderest all things mightily; 
To us the path of knowledge show, 
And teach us in her ways to go. 

3 O come, O come, thou Lord of might, 
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height 
In ancient times didst give the law,
In cloud and majesty and awe. 
 
4 O come, Thou branch of Jesse’s tree, 
Free them from Satan’s tyranny 
That trust thy mighty power to save, 
And give them victory o’er the grave. 
 
5 O come, Thou Key of David, come, 
And open wide our heavenly home; 
Make safe the way that leads on high, 
And close the path to misery. 

6 O come, Thou Day-spring from on high, 
And cheer us by thy drawing nigh; 
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, 
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

7 O come, Desire of nations, bind 
In one the hearts of all our kind; 
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, 
And be Thyself our King of Peace. 

8 O come, O come, Emmanuel, 
And ransom captive Israel, 
That mourns in lonely exile here 
Until the Son of God appear. 

Prayer

We come to You, O God, longing for You to come to us;
to lighten the gloom of our world,
to speak peace to our nations furiously at war,
to overturn the tables and rebalance the scales.

As Your people of old longed for their Messiah, we long for You to come again.  
As we prepare to celebrate Your coming to us in Jesus long ago,
gladden our hearts, open our minds, 
and take us again to the heart of these stories,
that we may live knowing You are one with us.  Amen.

Lighting of Advent Candles

We who dwell in a land of great shadows,
light these candles, O God,
to celebrate Your light and life.
For in the gloom of oppression You have freed Your people bringing salvation to all,
and showing Your glory in the cries of a vulnerable helpless baby
in whom our redemption draws ever nearer.  Amen. 

Andy: We hear again now the story of Gabriel’s visit to Mary, read for us by Sam Richards, Head of  Children and Youth Work.

Reading  St Luke 1: 26 – 38  read by Sam Richards & members of the Children & Youth Work team

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born  will be holy; he will be called Son of God.  And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.  For nothing will be impossible with God.’  Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

Andy: As we reflect on those words from Luke’s Gospel we sing the Basque Carol

Hymn  The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came
Translator: S. Baring-Gould Public Domain Sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission.

The angel Gabriel from heaven came,
his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
“All hail,” said he to meek and lowly Mary,
“most highly favoured lady.” Gloria!

2 For know a blessed virgin mother you shall be.
All generations praise continually.
Your Son shall be Immanuel, by seers foretold,
most highly favoured lady.” Gloria!

3 Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head;
“To me be as it pleases God,” she said.
“My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name.”
Most highly favoured lady, Gloria!

4 Of her, Immanuel, the Christ, was born
in Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,
and Christian folk throughout the world will ever say,
“Most highly favoured lady.” Gloria!

Andy:  The stories we tell at Christmas needed Joseph’s blessing yet we don’t often think about him.  In this reflection Roo Stewart, Head of Public Issues for the URC, plays the role of Joseph, Mary’s fiancé.

Meditation of Joseph 

I didn’t know what to think, 
not when she first told me – 
my sweet innocent Mary, pregnant!
I suppose I should have been angry, 
and I was later, extremely!
But that wasn’t my first reaction; 
it was shock, more like, disbelief, an inability to take it in.
You see, I just couldn’t see her playing around, 
deceiving me behind my back – not Mary.
Other girls perhaps, but she wasn’t like them;
I’d have trusted her with my life if necessary.
So when she started chattering on about this angel, 
about being with child by the Holy Spirit, do you know what?
I listened!
No, honestly, I really did!
Maybe that does sound daft,
but I just couldn’t believe she was making it all up, 
inventing an excuse to get her off the hook.
And, let’s face it, 
if it were an excuse it was a pretty lame one;
Precisely.
I mean, when’s the last time you saw an angel?
But if I took it calmly at first, it wasn’t long before the doubts set in, 
the questions that couldn’t be answered, 
the niggling voices that wouldn’t go away.
And in no time suspicion had grown into something worse – 
resentment, bitterness, condemnation.
I’d have called off the engagement, 
there’s no doubt about that;
much as I liked the girl,
there was simply no way a man in my position 
could countenance going through with it, 
not if I wanted to keep any semblance of respectability.
She was tarnished, 
according to the Law anyway, 
her purity soiled; 
and if I took no notice the village gossips would soon put their heads together
and decide I had done the tarnishing –
too impatient to wait until the goods had been paid for.
So that was it.
My mind was made up.
It was just a question finding the right words and the right time, 
breaking it to her as gently as I could.
Only then I had this dream,
almost a vision you might say it was, looking back, 
so powerfully did it speak to me.
Suddenly it was me seeing angels, not Mary,
it was me hearing the voice of God instead of her;
and it was the same message, 
the same story – this child she carried, born of God, his gift to humankind,
the one who would at last redeem his people.
Did I believe it?
Well, I suppose I must have done, in a way.
I married her after all, despite the snide remarks, the wagging tongues.
Maybe, of course, I wanted to marry her anyway, or just didn’t want to hurt her.
Maybe I simply liked the thought of being a dad, and wanted to believe that story of hers, 
incredible though it seemed.
To be truthful
there were probably all kinds of reasons behind my decision; 
yet perhaps it’s through such things as those, 
just as much as through dreams and visions, 
our everyday thoughts and feelings, 
that God chooses to speak to us.
Perhaps through those most of all.

Prayer 

We give You thanks, O God, 
for Joseph, who long ago, 
risked ridicule and dared to trust – 
in his fiancée and his dreams;
we thank You for all who nurture children,
parents and step parents,
foster families and friends,
and for those who show that love is deeper than genes.
Amen.

We listen now to Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus read by Carrie Kaunda, the URC’s Training and Development Coordinator for Safeguarding.

Reading St Luke 2: 1 – 7 

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

 We sing Michael Perry’s hymn See Him Lying on a Bed of Straw

Hymn See Him Lying in a Bed of Straw
Michael Perry (1942-1996) Jubilate Hymns OneLicence 
Performed and Recorded by Frodsham Methodist Church and used with their kind permission

See him lying on a bed of straw:
a draughty stable with an open door;
Mary cradling the babe she bore
the prince of glory is his name.

O now carry me to Bethlehem
to see the Lord of love again:
just as poor as was the stable then,
the prince of glory when he came.

2 Star of silver, sweep across the skies,
show where Jesus in the manger lies;
shepherds, swiftly from your stupor rise
to see the saviour of the world!

3 Angels, sing again the song you sang,
sing the glory of God’s gracious plan;
Sing that Bethl’em’s little baby can
be the saviour of us all.

4 Mine are riches, from your poverty,
from your innocence, eternity;
mine, forgiveness by your death for me,
child of sorrow for my joy.

One of the fascinating things about the Christmas stories is there are always characters on the edge that we don’t often think about.  Andy Jackson, our Head of Communications, now plays the role of the Inn Keeper.

Meditation of the innkeeper 

I felt sorry for that couple, I really did.
They were at their wits’ end, the pair of them, just about all in.
But it was the lady who concerned me most; fit to drop she was,
and hardly a surprise given her condition – 
not that I’m an expert in these matters 
but I felt sure her pains had already started; 
and so it was to prove, poor lass.
As for him, he was beside himself, frantic with worry,
almost abusive in his frustration; and I can’t say I blamed him – 
I’d have been the same in the circumstances.
Yet what could I do?
There wasn’t a room to spare, 
that was the fact of the matter.
We were packed already, bulging at the seams,
and I could hardly turf someone else out just to fit them in, could I?
I mean – be reasonable – that would have caused a right-old to-do, no use to anybody.
So I offered them the stable, if they could make use of it.
Not much of a prospect I agree,
especially on such a night as that turned out, but it was a roof over their heads,
a shelter from the worst of the wind if nothing else.
All right, so I still feel bad about it, 
wish now I’d taken the wife’s advice and given up our room for them.
But to be honest we were both whacked, what with all the extra custom to see to.
We had an inn to run, remember,
 and we were rushed off our feet, 
longing only for a good night’s sleep ourselves.
so we gave them the stable and that’s the end of it-
no point brooding over what might have been.
And to be fair, they were grateful,
glad of anywhere to put their heads down.
But when I heard the baby crying, 
that’s when it got to me – out there in those conditions!
I felt ashamed, disgusted with myself.
So we hurried out, the wife and I, anxious to help,
not sure what we might find though fearing the worst.
But what a surprise!
There was no panic, no sign of confusion.
Quite the contrary – they seemed so peaceful, so full of joy, utterly content.
And the way they looked at that child – I mean, 
I’ve heard of worshipping your kids but this was something else – 
they were over the moon, absolutely ecstatic!
And that wasn’t the half of it, 
for suddenly there in the shadows I spotted a bunch of shepherds – 
God knows where they came from.
Thought for a moment they were up to no good, 
but they weren’t.
They just stood there gawping into the manger, 
wide-eyed with wonder,
almost as though they’d never seen a baby before!
And then they walked away, 
joy in their faces, delight in their steps.
It’s all quiet now, the inn and the stable, 
as if that night had never happened.
And so far as I know both mother and child are well.
You could say that’s down to me in part,
for at least I did something to help if no one else did.
Yet I can’t help feeling I should have done more, 
that I let everyone down somehow –
that it wasn’t finally them I left out in the cold – 
it was me.

Prayer

For the gift of hospitality, O God, we give thanks; 
for those who open their hearts and their homes to people in need,
for those who collect food for the hungry, clothes for the cold,
and give money to the needy, we thank You 
and remember that You were to be found
cold, naked, and vulnerable,
and are still be found on the edge of our world. Amen.

Now we listen to the famous words of Isaiah, long seen by Christians to be a prophecy of Jesus’ coming brought to us by Sam Richards and members of the Children and Youth Work team.

Reading Isaiah 9: 2 – 7 
read by Sam Richards & members of the Children & Youth Work team

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.
You have multiplied the nation,
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
    and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
    and all the garments rolled in blood
    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
    and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
    and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
    He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

 With those stirring words in our minds, we sing the lovely carol In the Bleak Midwinter.  

Hymn In the Bleak Midwinter
Christina Georgina Rossetti (c. 1872) Public Domain
sung by Liverpool Walton Salvation Army and used with their kind permission.

In the bleak midwinter
frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone: 
snow had fallen,
snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

2 Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away
when he comes to reign:
in the bleak midwinter
a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

3 Angels and archangels
may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim
thronged the air,
but only his mother,
in her maiden bliss,
worshipped the Beloved with a kiss.

5 What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb,
if I were a wise man
I would do my part,
yet what I can I give him, give my heart.

Now we think of the maiden mother who worshipped the Beloved with a kiss as Karen Campbell, our Secretary for Global and Intercultural Ministries,  brings us a take on how Mary may have been feeling.

Meditation of Mary 

What a day it’s been!
I’m shattered, exhausted, and yet I’m over the moon!
Does that sound strange?
Well, let me tell you what happened, then you’ll understand.
It could hardly have started worse,
arriving in Bethlehem like that to find the place packed.
My heart sank.
I knew we wouldn’t find anywhere, not a chance, but Joseph wouldn’t have it.
‘Next time,’ he kept saying, ‘you’ll see.’ 
Next time indeed!
A stable, that’s what we ended up with – 
hardly the accommodation I had in mind!
It wouldn’t have mattered, mind you, 
not in the usual run of things, 
but I was nine months pregnant 
and my pains had started that morning, 
getting stronger by the minute.
I was in agony by the end, 
you can imagine, just about desperate by then, 
not bothered where we stopped just so long as I could rest.
That’s why we accepted the innkeeper’s offer, 
makeshift though it was.
I lay there with cattle breathing down my neck, 
straw prickling my back,
and what felt like a gale whistling beneath the door – 
but I didn’t care;
I didn’t care about anything by then, 
just wanted the baby to be born.
Poor Joseph, he was beside himself.
No idea how to cope or what to do next,
but thankfully one of the women from the inn took pity on us.
You’ll never kindly now good it was 
to see her kindly reassuring face, 
her confident smile beaming down at me
through the haze of pain.
It seemed like an eternity for all that,
but it wasn’t long really.
And then that sound, that wonderful exhilarating sound, 
my son, Jesus, crying!
I didn’t want to let go of him, but I had to, of course, eventually.
I was exhausted, just about all in.
So I wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger.
Sleep came easy after that, blissful peace at last,
but a moment ago I woke with a start, remembering those words in that vision I had –
‘And they shall name him Emmanuel, God with us’.
My child, Emmanuel?
Can it really be true?
God come to his people?
He’s everything to me, I admit that, I could gladly worship him.
But others? I wonder.
Time alone will tell, I suppose.
Anyway, no more time for talking, I need my sleep.
But wait, who’s this knocking on the door?
Shepherds!
What on earth can they want at this time of night?
I don’t know.
What a day it’s been!
What a day!

Prayer

Lord, it’s hard sometimes to know what to make of Your mother;
she’s pretty central to the story but she wouldn’t want to displace You.
Her ‘yes’ was vital yet dangerous.
We catch glimpses of her in the gospels;
sometimes urging You to act, sometimes scolding You,
but, most hauntingly, standing with You at the Cross.
We can’t imagine her pain nor her joy;
we thank You for all who say ‘yes’ to You,
for all who show fierce yet tender love, 
for all who show the simple trust and faith we need to emulate.
Amen.

And now the action moves away from Bethlehem to the fields as Marion Brown, Stepwise and Digital Learning Administrator tells the next part of the story.

Reading St Luke 2: 8 – 20  

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’

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.

There are many tunes associated with our next hymn, this one probably being the most fun…

Hymn While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
Nahum Tate (1700) performed by Ruth and Joy Everingham 
and used with their kind permission

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
all seated on the ground,
an angel of the Lord came down,
and glory shone around.

2 “Fear not,” said he for mighty dread
had seized their troubled mind
“glad tidings of great joy I bring
to you and humankind.

3 “To you, in David’s town, this day
is born of David’s line
a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord;
and this shall be the sign:

4 “The heavenly babe you there shall find
to human view displayed,
all meanly wrapped in swaddling bands
and in a manger laid.”

5 Thus spoke the seraph and forthwith
appeared a shining throng
of angels praising God, who thus
addressed their joyful song:

6 “All glory be to God on high,
and to the world be peace;
goodwill henceforth from heav’n to earth
begin and never cease.”

As images of the fields, and Ilkley Moor, fade away we listen now to Victoria James, our Chief Operating Officer, as she brings a shepherd’s perspective to us.  

Meditation of the Shepherds

It was just an ordinary day, that’s what I can’t get over; 
nothing special about it, 
nothing different, 
just another ordinary day.
And we were all just ordinary people, 
that’s what made it even more puzzling; 
not important, 
not influential,
just plain ordinary shepherds out working in the fields.
Yet we apparently were the first, 
singled out for special favour!
The first to know, 
the first to see, 
the first to celebrate, 
the first to tell!
I’m still not sure what happened – 
one moment night drawing in, 
and the next bright as day; 
one moment laughing and joking together, 
and the next rooted to the spot in amazement; 
one moment looking forward to getting home, 
and the next hurrying down to Bethlehem.
There just aren’t words to express what we felt, 
but we knew we had to respond, 
had to go and see for ourselves.
Not that we expected to find anything mind you, 
not if we were honest.
Well, you don’t, do you?
I mean, it’s not every day the Messiah arrives, is it?
And we’d always imagined when he finally did it would be in a blaze of glory, 
to a fanfare of trumpets, 
with the maximum of publicity.
Yet do you know what?
When we got there
it was to find everything just as we had been told, 
wonderfully special, 
yet surprisingly ordinary.
Not Jerusalem but Bethlehem, 
not a palace but a stable,
not a prince enthroned in splendour but a baby lying in a manger.
We still find it hard to believe even now,
to think God chose to come through that tiny vulnerable child.
But as the years have passed –
and we’ve seen not just his birth but his life, 
and not just his life but his death, 
and not just his death, his his empty tomb, 
his graveclothes, his joyful followers – 
we’ve slowly come to realise it really was true.
God had chosen to come to us, 
and more than that, to you – to ordinary, everyday people,
in the most ordinary, everyday of ways.
How extraordinary!

Prayer

Sheep can be very cute Lord,
lovely as lambs gambolling around the fields,
serene as they munch grass, playful as they explore,
obedient to the dogs sent to round them up;
their wool and their meat have been useful for thousands of years;
but these days we don’t think much of shepherds;
modern machinery makes sheep keeping a bit easier than it was in your day,
but those shepherds, up all night, protecting their flock,
not able to keep all the Law as sheep needed protection all the time,
they were the ones You sent the angels to!
We still sing of peace and goodwill,
we still imagine the angels rejoicing.
Help us, Good Shepherd, 
to sing their song, to work for peace, to show goodwill,
and to keep, at the heart of it all,  the simple trusting love of a baby. Amen

We listen now as Sharon Barr, our Designated Safeguarding Lead, reads the theological musics of the writer of John’s Gospel

Reading St John 1: 1 – 18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.  He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,  who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”’)  From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son ] who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

As we ponder John’s prologue we sing one of the oldest hymns still used in the Church, Of The Father’s Love Begotten.

Hymn Of The Father’s Love Begotten
Aurelius Clemens Prudentius Translator: J. M. Neale 
sung at the Shenandoah Christian Music Camp and used with their kind permission

Of the Father’s love begotten,
ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the Source, the Ending He,
of the things that are, that have been,
and that future years shall see
evermore and evermore!

2 O that birth forever blessed,
when the virgin, full of grace,
by the Holy Ghost conceiving,
bore the Saviour of our race;
and the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
first revealed His sacred face,
evermore and evermore!

3  O ye heights of heav’n, adore Him;
angel hosts, His praises sing:
pow’rs, dominions, bow before Him
and extol our God and King;
let no tongue on earth be silent,
every voice in concert ring,
evermore and evermore!

That song echoes down the ages for us.  Now Nicola Furley-Smith, our Secretary of Ministries, muses on what it must have been like for a resident of Bethlehem all those years ago.

Meditation of a Resident of Bethlehem 

Have you heard the news?
They’re saying the Messiah’s been born right here in Bethlehem.
Honestly, that’s what I was told, the Christ,
God’s promised deliverer, come at last to set us free.
Do I believe it?
Well, I’m not sure.
It’s hard to credit, I admit,
but this friend I spoke to seemed pretty certain.
Heard it from a shepherd apparently,
some chap who claimed to have seen the child for themselves, and by all accounts he was delirious with excitement, absolutely full of it.
He may have been mistaken, of course, or simply spinning some old yarn – 
you never can be sure, can you?
And, believe me, I don’t go round believing everything I hear.
But this friend of mine,
the one who heard it from the shepherd,
 he was full of it too.
You would have thought he’d been there,
 in the stable, beside the manger, 
the way he spoke.
He was utterly convinced, there’s no question about that, 
and as I listened to him chattering on, 
I felt the urge welling up inside me, 
just as he had done, to tell someone else,
to share the good news with those around me.
If he was right then this wasn’t something to keep to myself, 
not for the privileged few, but a message for everybody, one they all needed to hear.
But before I say anything more, 
risk making a complete fool of myself, 
there’s something I have to do – 
something my friend should have done and which the shepherds presumably did – 
and that is go and see for myself.
Call me a cynic if you like but I believe it’s important – 
no, more than that, vital – 
for if you’re going to accept something, 
let alone expect others to do the same,
you have to be sure of your ground,
as certain as you can be that it’s not just all some grand delusion.
So I’m going now,
off to find out the truth for myself, off to see this child,
if he really exists, with my own eyes.
And if I find everything just as I’ve been told, 
the baby lying there in a manger, wrapped in strips of cloth,
then I shall go and tell others what I have seen – 
for let’s be honest, 
what else would there be to do?
What else could anybody do in my place?

Prayer

It’s hard, Lord, 
when we think and sing about Bethlehem 
to separate out the town when you were born and what it is now;
a place caught up in pain, violence, disputed land, and hatred.
We want to think of it sleeping in stillness,
but the TV news reminds us of a different reality.
Help us to work, for peace, to see, in Your birth and life,
a pathway to a fierce truth-telling, justice-seeking love 
which meets the hopes and fears of all the years.  Amen.

The shepherds weren’t the only folk searching for Jesus as our next reading reminds us.  

Reading   St Matthew 2: 1 – 12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,  asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’  When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
    who is to shepherd my people Israel.”’

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’  When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

One of the interesting things is about Christmas is we sing material from across the ages with modern hymns taking their place alongside Victorian carols and ancient material.  Our next carol comes from the 14th Century but has been very popular because of the pairing of lovely words with a fun tune.
 
Hymn Good Christian Friends Rejoice
Latin 14th Century, translator JM Neal, Public Domain 
sung by the Beyond the Walls Choir and used with their kind permission

Good Christian friends, rejoice
with heart and soul and voice;
give ye heed to what we say:
Jesus Christ is born today!
Ox and ass before him bow,
and he is in the manger now.
Christ is born today! Christ is born today!

2 Good Christian friends, rejoice
with heart and soul and voice;
now ye hear of endless bliss:
Jesus Christ was born for this!
God has opened heaven’s door,
and we are blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!

3 Good Christian friends, rejoice
with heart and soul and voice;
now ye need not fear the grave:
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all
to gain the everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!

 For our final reflection Neil Hunter, our Digital Content Manager, plays the role of one of those mysterious magi.

Meditation of the Magi 

We knew it would be worth it the moment we saw the star,
worth the hassle,
worth the effort, 
worth the sacrifice.
But there were times then we wondered, can tell you!
As we laboured over those dusty barren tracks,
as we watched fearfully for bandits in the mountains, 
as the sun beat down without a break, 
and still no sign of an end to it, 
we wondered, all too often.
We asked ourselves whether we’d got it wrong, misread the signs.
We argued over whether we’d taken the wrong turning somewhere along the way.
We questioned the wisdom of carrying on as the days dragged by.
And when finally we got to Jerusalem
only to find his own people had no idea what was going on, 
then we really became worried.
Quite astonishing – the biggest event in their history, 
and they didn’t even realise it was happening!
Thankfully they looked it up, 
eventually, 
somewhere in one of their old prophets, 
and we knew where to go then.
It was all there in writing if only they’d taken the trouble to look – 
God knows why they couldn’t see it!
Anyway, we made it at last, tired, sore and hungry, but we made it.
And it was worth it, more than we had ever imagined, 
for in that child was a different sort of king, a different sort of kingdom,
from any we’d ever encountered before.
As much our ruler as theirs, as much our kingdom as anyone’s.
So we didn’t just present our gifts to him, 
we didn’t just make the customary gestures of acknowledgement.
We fell down and worshipped him.
Can you imagine that?
Us, respected, wealthy, important,
kneeling before a toddler.
Yet it seemed so natural,
the most natural response we could make, 
the only response that would do!

Prayer

It’s odd, Lord, really, 
that those astrologers found You; 
the wisdom of other peoples having a lead on the court.
But then it’s odd that you were found not in a palace but a stable,
not in a bed but in a manger,
not with the up and in but the down and out.  
I imagine those gifts were useful though,
kingly gold and priestly incense in particular;
I guess your mum was too polite to turn the myrrh down though,
nasty stuff, as bitter as sacrifice, an odd gift for a baby.
But then the odd story continues,
terrible murder, lonely exile, the highs and lows of ministry,
the betrayal of politics, and enthronement on a cross. 
Help us this Christmas, Lord, to ponder the oddness of following You.  Amen.
 
A carol service wouldn’t be the same without this exuberant carol from Charles Wesley.  If you’ve not had your favourite carol yet, don’t worry we have URC services being sent out for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the Sunday after Christmas and Epiphany!  We sing now, Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

Hymn Hark the Herald Angels Sing  
Charles Wesley, Public Domain, Sung by the Northern Baptist association and used with their kind permission

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th’angelic hosts proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King”

2 Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin’s womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th’incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel. 

3 Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.

Blessing 

May the joy of the angels,
the eagerness of the shepherds,
the perseverance of the wise men,
the obedience of Joseph and Mary,
and the peace of the Christ child
be yours this Christmas;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.

Closing Music   Good Christians All Rejoice arranged and played by Phil Nevard and used with his kind permission.