Service of Lessons, Readings, and Carols 12/20/2015

Transcription

1 Service of Lessons, Readings, and Carols 12/20/2015 In the Beginning Scripture Genesis 1: 1-5, Genesis 1:26-2:1, Genesis 3:21-24 Reading The Problem of Pain C.S. Lewis We do not know how many of these creatures God made, nor how long they continued in the Paradisal state. But sooner or later they fell. Someone or something whispered that they could become as gods. They wanted some corner in this universe of which they could say to God, This is our business, not yours. But there is no such corner. They wanted to be nouns, but they were, and eternally must be, mere adjectives. We have no idea in what particular act, or series of acts, the self-contradictory, impossible wish found expression. For all I can see, it might have concerned the literal eating of a fruit, but the question is of no consequence. The Covenant Scripture Genesis 17: 3-7 Reading I am Silent and Expectant Ted Loder How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given. I would be silent now, Lord, and expectant... that I may receive the gift I need, so I may become the gifts others need. Prophecy Scripture Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7 Reading The Mood of Christmas Howard Thurman Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes, and the heart consumes itself, if it would live, Where little children age before their time, And life wears down the edges of the mind, Where the old man sits with mind grown cold,

2 While bones and sinew, blood and cell, go slowly down to death, Where fear companions each day's life, And Perfect Love seems long delayed. CHRISTMAS IS WAITING TO BE BORN: In you, in me, in all mankind Foretold Scripture Isaiah 11: 1-4a, 6-9 Reading Excerpts of The Word Pablo Neruda The word was born in the blood, it grew in the dark body, pulsing, and took flight with the lips and mouth. Farther away and nearer, still, still it came from dead fathers and from wandering races, from territories that had become stone, that had tired of their poor tribes, because when grief set out on the road the people went and arrived and united new land and water to sow their word once again. And that's why the inheritance is this: this is the air that connects us with the buried man and with the dawn of new beings that haven't yet arisen. Still the atmosphere trembles with the first word produced

3 with panic and groaning. It emerged from the darkness and even now there is no thunder that thunders with the iron sound of that word, the first word uttered: perhaps it was just a whisper, a raindrop, but its cascade still falls and falls. Later on, meaning fills the word. It stayed pregnant and was filled with lives, everything was births and sounds: affirmation, clarity, strength, negation, destruction, death: the name took on all the powers and combined existence with essence in its electric beauty. I drink to the word, raising a word or crystalline cup, in it I drink the wine of language or unfathomable water, maternal source of all words, and cup and water and wine give rise to my song

4 because the name is origin and green life: it is blood, the blood that expresses its substance, and thus its unrolling is prepared: words give crystal to the crystal, blood to the blood, and give life to life. Annunciation Scripture Luke 1: 26-33, 38 Reading Christmas Homily Archbishop Óscar Romero No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God, for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God. Emmanuel. God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God The Birth Scripture Luke 2: 1-7 Reading The Glorious Mystery Madeleine L Engle This is no time for a child to be born, With the earth betrayed by war and hate And a nova lighting the sky to warn That time runs out and the sun burns late. That was no time for a child to be born, In a land in the crushing grip of Rome; Honour and truth were trampled by scorn Yet here did the Saviour make his home. When is the time for love to be born?

5 The inn is full on the planet earth, And by greed and pride the sky is torn Yet Love still takes the risk of birth. The Shepherds Scripture Luke 2: 8-14 Reading Amazing Peace Dr. Maya Angelou Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses. Flood waters await us in our avenues. Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche Over unprotected villages. The sky slips low and grey and threatening. We question ourselves. What have we done to so affront nature? We worry God. Are you there? Are you there really? Does the covenant you made with us still hold? Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters, Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air. The world is encouraged to come away from rancor, Come the way of friendship. It is the Glad Season. Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner. Flood waters recede into memory. Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us As we make our way to higher ground. Hope is born again in the faces of children It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets. Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things, Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors. In our joy, we think we hear a whisper. At first it is too soft. Then only half heard. We listen carefully as it gathers strength.

6 We hear a sweetness. The word is Peace. It is loud now. It is louder. Louder than the explosion of bombs. We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence. It is what we have hungered for. Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace. A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies. Security for our beloveds and their beloveds. We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas. We beckon this good season to wait a while with us. We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come. Peace. Come and fill us and our world with your majesty. We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian, Implore you, to stay a while with us. So we may learn by your shimmering light How to look beyond complexion and see community. It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time. On this platform of peace, we can create a language To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other. At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ Into the great religions of the world. We jubilate the precious advent of trust. We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope. All the earth's tribes loosen their voices To celebrate the promise of Peace. We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers, Look heavenward and speak the word aloud. Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud. Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation. Peace, My Brother. Peace, My Sister. Peace, My Soul.

7 The Wise Men Scripture Matthew 2: 1-12 Reading One king s epiphany Madeleine L Engle I shall miss the stars Not that I shall stop looking as they pattern their wild wills each night across an inchoate sky, but I must see them with a different awe. I cannot go back to night. O Truth, O small and unexpected thing, you have taken so much from me. How can I bear wisdoms pain? But I have shown: and I have seen. Yes, I shall miss the stars. The Word Scripture John 1: 1-14 Reading excerpt from The Dead Christmas Tree Dr. Heather Elkins