Eucharistic Readings for Christmas Eve
Isaiah 9:2 to 7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11 to 14: Luke 2:1 to 20:
In keeping with my Christmas tradition for Christmas Eve:
The First Night Before Christmas
It was me and my buddies out watching our sheep,
The night was quiet, not one of them bleeped.
It was so quiet in fact, we were about to sleep,
When we noticed someone out by the sheep.
Then all at once it became very clear,
No ordinary person was with us here.
We were all afraid, but he said “Fear Not.”
And then there were more, and their numbers wouldn’t stop.
He said go to Bethlehem and see the Baby,
He is the Word of God, there is no maybe.
He said the baby’s in Bethlehem, lying in a manger,
He can save you all, from permanent danger.
Then they all left, praising God for this birth,
Just like they came, they were all gone from the earth.
Then I and my friends said, “let’s go if we’re able,”
To Bethlehem there, and straight to the stable.
And there we were on a cold winter’s night,
We saw Mary, Joseph and Baby, what a sight!
We told them everything, right from the start,
But Mary just smiled, pondered our words in her heart.
So we left there then in the thick of the night,
Asking you to thank God with all of your might.
Luke 2: 8 – 20
The Reverend John Thomas Frazier (2006)
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP 212)
onewhoponders 