Prayers 12 24 2010
Christmas Eve, 7:30 PM
*Welcome to our annual tradition Christmas Eve Candlelight Service of Nine Lessons and Carols; It is the Light of Christ that has led us through the night to be here—Jesus Christ is the Savior who brings good news in the world!
*Of the 6 persons who joined our church on Dec. 12th, Eleanor Huang and Jose Arebalo are able to be with us tonight. The other readers are Deacons and church pastoral staff.
*Our music ministry has been planning and rehearsing for this night to make it a very special one—this includes members of the CBC Choir, Say Amen! Gospel Ensemble, Hand Bells along with our soloist, Wendy Quan, Andia Lee on the piano, Austin Choy on drums, and Joy Shih Ng at the organ; and finally, the directors, Lawrence Pang, Wallace Choy and Joy. You are in for a real Christmas blessing tonight!
*Our offering tonight will be a donation to retired American Baptist ministers and missionaries who have served faithfully in the Lord.
*Once we begin the “Lessons and Carols,” each part will happen without further announcements; please follow your bulletins; Readers please be ready to come forward to the pulpit.
*At the end of the service, we will all light our individual candles to symbolize that now that we know Jesus Christ is born, we take Christ’s Light to brighten the world that is in great need for love, peace, hope, joy, and God’s grace.
*After the Benediction, please come upstairs to the Fellowship Hall where you may have some Christmas cookies and coffee/tea and meet one another as friends. We thank all the choir members who brought the goodies for us to enjoy.
*On Sunday, Dec. 26th, we invite you to join us for the First Sunday after Christmas worship services at 9:10, 10:20, and 11:30.
Pastoral Prayer
Our God, we say goodbye to Advent, the hopeful season that brought us to today through patient waiting and hopeful expectation. And we are not disappointed; it is the wonder and amazement of Christmas Eve.
Tonight we know that the Lord will come. We light the candles of hope and proclaim the promise of the new covenant, and in the morning we shall see God’s glory, the Word made flesh, dwelling among us, living within us—brighter than the flaming sword that once cast us from you, our eternal and loving God.
This time, we make room in our hearts and homes for your coming. And so we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, abide with us.” We pray on this holiest of nights in the name of the One who has come into the world and who taught us to pray to God, saying, “Our Father…”
Christmas Offering
We are a people chosen for good deeds. Together we can accomplish much as we bring our offerings into God’s courts. Let our offerings be an expression of thanksgiving for the incarnation, for the peace God gives, for the joy that is ours today.
Thank you, God, for coming to us in human life so expressive of love that two thousand years have not extinguished the flame. May that love burn so brightly in our lives that its fire will spread. Use our offerings to say, “Thank you” to those who have served you as ministers, pastors, missionaries, and church workers that they also may know joy and peace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Benediction
You are a people who have seen a great light!
You are a people who have received the ultimate gift in the Son of God—the Light of the world.
Be bearers of the light, going with the blessing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, this night and always. Amen.
Christmas Eve
Lighting the Christ Candle
Reading the Scripture
From Luke 2, we read:
About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancé, who was pregnant.
While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel. (E.H. Peterson)
Lighting the Candle
We light this final candle to symbolize the birth of Jesus Christ who is light to the world.
(Light the tall white candle.)
Prayer
Let us pray. Holy God, on this sacred night we join with angels and shepherds in celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May the glow of your mercy vanquish the shadows of sin. May the brilliance of your love overcome the gloom of evil. In your great mercy, pardon our sin and lead us to gaze upon the face of the one who came into the world to save us. In his wondrous name we pray. Amen.