Patrick Comerford
Monday next is Christmas Day, and the Revised Common Lectionary offers three sets of readings for the principal service:
1, Isaiah 9: 2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11-14; Luke 2: 1-20.
There is a direct link to these readings here.
2, Isaiah 62: 6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3: 4-7; Luke 2: (1-7), 8-20.
There is a direct link to these readings here.
3, Isaiah 52: 7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews: 1: 1-4 (5-12); John 1: 1-14 (15-18).
There is a direct link to this set of readings here.
Why are there three sets of readings, and how do I avoid confusion as I plan services and sermons for Sunday night and Monday morning?
When the lectionary was first being compiled, it was assumed by the compilers that many people – not just priests – would take part in several celebrations of the Eucharist between midnight on Christmas Eve and lunchtime on Christmas Day, and so would want a rounded set of Gospel readings over that 12-hour period.
At one time, the Christmas Eucharist was celebrated at Midnight, at Dawn and later in the Morning. Now, the reality is that, apart from priests and readers, most people in our parishes are only going to go to Church once in the 24-hour period of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The reason is simple: it leaves the time free for festivities or to visit families and friends on Christmas Day.
Even if we have a celebration in all churches in a parish or group of parishes, priests and readers are probably the only ones going to attend more than one Christmas celebration. So, there is no problem about which set of readings we use, as long as we use one set consistently and do not ‘Pick and Mix.’
Most people are going to expect to hear ‘the Christmas story’ at the celebration they attend. Luke 2: 1-20 comes closest to the account of that story in the Gospels, and most priests believe this is the most appropriate Gospel to read. This is probably the Gospel you want to use as you prepare your Christmas sermon.
In some parishes, however, there may also be a tradition of using the shorter form of the prologue in Saint John’s Gospel (John 1: 1-5, 9-14) found in the Lectionary.
So, this posting looks at those two Gospel readings, with ideas for reflections and sermons.
In addition, the Liturgical Resources for Christmas Day, including Collect, Kyries, Peace, Preface, Post-Communion Prayer and Blessing, as well as prayers at lighting the last candle on the Advent Wreath and Hymn suggestions, are brought together here.
The images are all available for use on parish service sheets and notices, which should name Patrick Comerford as the photographer.
Introduction:
Christmas still fills me with a sense of wonder and awe.
That sense of awe and wonder never seems to go away, no matter how old we get, no matter – in some cases – how horrid other aspects of our childhood had been.
Do you remember the sense of anticipation and wonder you had as a child at Christmas?
Nothing today ever seems to match the beauty and the glamour and the glitz of childhood Christmas lights, childhood Santas, childhood presents and love and warmth and care and affection … each tree a real tree, decorated with candles, lights and bundles of presents at its feet.
And we seem as adults to constantly compare our present, adult Christmases, with our past, childhood Christmases.
Why, in our dreams, it seems that just as every childhood summer had long, sunny days, with wonderful times by the beach, every childhood Christmas was a white Christmas … deep and crisp and even.
But, of course, our adult experiences are often very different. We lose the awe and the wonder and the joy of Christmas as it becomes a chore … wrapping the presents, getting the cards posted in time, cooking the meals, answering the doorbell to a constant stream of visitors, often family members we never see otherwise from one end of the year to another, and so often tipsy while we have to stay sober.
And then there were the sad Christmases: when a child was sick, a job was lost, a loved one died.
But Christmas is always the promise of fresh beginnings, of a new start, of hope returning once again.
Remember how you were filled with awe and wonder on Christmas morning as a child, year after year. The expectations never faded, even when you knew that there had been times when things went wrong, even when things that went wrong could have robbed you of hope.
And Christmas is our image of God always being full of promise. God comes to us in the Christ Child with the promise of fresh beginnings, of a new start, of hope returning once again. God’s expectations for us, for the world, never fade, even when he knows that things have gone wrong, even when things that went wrong have robbed those he loves of hope.
The Holy Family by Giovanni Battista Pittoni, the Altar Piece in the Chapel of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)Luke 2: 1-20:
It is interesting that each Gospel begins to tell its story in its own unique, different way.
Saint John begins at the beginning, at the very beginning: ‘In the beginning was the word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1: 1).
Saint Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus, generation after generation, with long lists of sometimes unpronounceable names (Matthew 1: 1-17), before he summarises the story of the first Christmas in seven crisp verses … and even then he seems to concentrate more on how Saint Joseph’s fears and suspicions were allayed than on the Christmas story (see Matthew 1: 18-25).
Saint Mark has no Nativity narrative, has no story of the first Christmas. Instead, he begins his Gospel at the Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist in the River Jordan, an event that comes a little later on in the other three Gospels.
Although in Year B the Revised Common] Lectionary is taking us through Saint Mark’s Gospel, because Saint Mark has no Nativity story, the main Gospel reading on Christmas Day is either the Nativity Narrative in Saint Luke’s Gospel (Luke 2: 1-14 or 1-20) or the Prologue to Saint John’s Gospel (John 1: 1-14 or John 1: 1-18).
Saint Luke begins with a personal explanation to Theophilus of why he is beginning to write the Gospel (Luke 1: 1-4), before moving on to the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1: 5 ff). It takes him a full chapter before he gets to tell the story of the first Christmas (Luke 2: 1-20).
There is a telling, short sentence at the end of this Gospel reading: ‘Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.’
At the heart of this Gospel narrative is the understanding that things aren’t always going to work out the way we would like them to. But at the heart of the Gospel story of Christmas is the truth that God is always with us, and that God’s expectations for us, God’s awe and wonder at being in our presence, should be as much a source of mystery as our awe and wonder at being in the presence of God.
When we wrap our presents and gifts in festive colours, and decorate our homes and workplaces with lights and tinsel, it is easy to think we have bundled our fears and despair away – at least for the next week or two. Our popular celebrations of Christmas become comfortable and comforting as we sing carols and try to convince ourselves that ‘all is calm, all is bright.’
Yet all is not calm in our world, in Europe, in our land or in our economy, nor is all bright for those who are homeless this Christmas, who live in dark fear of poverty or who dread what the future may hold.
All those well-wrapped, warm and homely celebrations are in danger of forgetting that the first Christmas was one filled with fear and dread. Immediately after the birth of the Christ Child in Bethlehem, the scene in Saint Luke’s account moves to a hillside where shepherds are working at night, in the dark and in the cold, easy prey to wolves, thieves and the cold weather, less valuable than the animals they tend. And the Gospel writers tell us that those poor shepherds are terrified when they see the angelic host.
The initial task of the angels is to calm those fears. Their first words to those frightened shepherds are not ones of call or command, but words to calm them: ‘Fear Not.’
This Christmas time, when the world is a cold, frightening and uninviting place for many, the first task of the Church must be to bring hope where there is fear, love where there is no peace, to give rather than receive. The angels’ call to the shepherds to ‘fear not’ is not a platitude or an invitation to piety, but one that is linked with the promise of Good News, the promise that God’s plans for humanity and for creation are brighter than the darkness of their night: ‘Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people’ (Luke 2: 10).
But where is there good news for the homeless, the unemployed, the elderly, the parents of vulnerable children?
Where is the hope of great joy for people around the world denied democracy and human rights, for those who live in poverty and under oppression?
In a thought-provoking column in he current edition of New Statesman, the Revd Lucy Winkett, the Rector of Saint James’s Church, Piccadilly, writes:
‘This festive season, I find myself musing on the often-repeated thought that “it’s for the children”, and hoping that the estimated 70,000 London primary pupils who go to school hungry children each day, and the estimated 300,000 unaccompanied child refugees in camps across the world, get some of our attention. Especially at the Feast of the Incarnation, when Christians celebrate God becoming real to us in the vulnerability of a baby, but with the light and power and warmth of the sun.’ Link: www.sjp.org.uk
On a visit to Saint James’s Church, Piccadilly, I noticed a slogan: ‘Christ did not come so that we could have church and that more often. He came so we could have life and that more abundantly.’ For many people this Christmas, their principal fear is about life, the apprehension that they do not have the abundances to face the future without fear.
In his poem Christmas, John Betjeman dismisses the commercialisation of Christmas and challenges us to return to the truth of the Christmas message:
And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all...
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?
When, in John Betjeman’s words, the ‘Christmas-morning bells say ‘Come!’,’ we are called not only to hear the story of Christ’s birth, the story of a child born to a couple for whom ‘there was no place’ in Bethlehem, but called too to ensure the words ‘Happy Christmas’ are not hollow and meaningless.
John 1: 1-14
‘Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος,’ ‘In the beginning was the Word’ … this is one of the most dramatic opening lines in any great work of literature. The Fourth Gospel, the Gospel According to Saint John, is one of the great works of literature, as well as my favourite book in the Bible.
‘To begin at the beginning’ – these are the opening lines of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas (1954). Or I might begin with words from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol. In Chapter 12, the White Rabbit puts on his spectacles.
‘Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?’ he asks.
‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’
TS Eliot’s ‘East Coker,’ the second of his Four Quartets, is set at this time of the year and opens:
In my beginning is my end.
And he goes on to say:
In my beginning is my end. Now the light falls
Across the open field, leaving the deep lane
Shuttered with branches, dark in the afternoon …
The opening words at the beginning of a play, a novel or a poem – or for that matter, a sermon – can be important for holding the reader’s or the listener’s attention and telling me what to expect. Begin as you mean to go on.
That is why I am surprised that Charles Dickens waits until the second sentence in David Copperfield to say: ‘To begin my life with the beginning of my life …’
Saint John begins the Fourth Gospel at the beginning, at the very beginning: ‘In the beginning was the word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1: 1).
The narrative translations with which we are so familiar often miss the poetic and dramatic presentations of this Gospel. But the Prologue is first and foremost poetry. It is a hymn – a poetic summary – of the whole theology of this Gospel, as well as an introduction to it.
The Johannine scholar Raymond Brown (1928-1988) has presented a translation from the Greek of the Prologue in poetic format:
1 In the beginning was the Word;
the Word was in God’s presence,
and the Word was God.
2 He was present with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things came into being,
and apart from him not a thing came to be.
4 That which came to be found life in him,
and this life was the light of the human race.
5 The light shines on in the darkness,
for the darkness did not overcome it.
(6 Now there was a man sent by God, named John 7 who came as a witness to testify to the light, so that through him all might believe – 8 but only to testify to the light, for he himself was not the light.)
9 He was the real light
that gives light to everyone;
he was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world,
and the world was made by him;
yet the world did not recognise him.
11 To his own he came;
yet his own people did not accept him.
12 But all those who did accept him,
he empowered to become God’s children –
those who believe in his name,
13 those who were begotten,
not by blood,
nor the flesh,
nor human desire,
but by God.
14 And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us.
And we have seen his glory,
the glory as of an only Son coming from the Father,
rich in kindness and fidelity.
Reading the Prologue:
The first chapter of Saint John’s Gospel can be divided into two parts: the Prologue (verses 1-18); and a second part (verses 19-50) that shows that Saint John the Baptist was preparing for the coming of the Messiah.
The Prologue is an introduction to the Gospel as a whole. It tells us that the Logos is God and acts as the mouthpiece (Word) of God ‘made flesh,’ sent to the world in order to be able to intercede for humanity and to forgive human sins.
The Prologue is of central significance to the doctrine of the Incarnation. The Prologue can be compared with Genesis 1, where the same phrase, ‘In the beginning …,’ first occurs along with the emphasis on the difference between the darkness and the light.
Saint John is the only Gospel writer to speak of Christ’s pre-existence as the Logos and this is the only Gospel to include a poetic prologue.
The Prologue provides a profound and highly developed theological summary that has a structural integrity of its own, while also introducing many of the key themes of the Gospel account that follows.
What about Saint John’s use of the term λόγος or Logos (1-2) – most frequently rendered ‘Word’ in modern English translations?
This term is deeply rooted in Old Testament thought (see Genesis 1, Proverbs 8). The role of the Johannine Logos also parallels, in some ways, that of personified Wisdom in a number of traditions in Judaism (see Sirach 24). However, Wisdom and the Logos need not be identified with each other, since Wisdom is a creation of God (Sirach 1: 9), while the Logos is pre-existent and Divine. At the same time, Saint John’s use of such language in a first century Mediterranean setting also recalls associations with Hellenistic thinking of the time, when the term ‘Logos’ played a key role in Stoic thought and in the writings of Hellenistic Jewish thinkers such as Philo.
Professor CH Dodd (1884-1973) argues that Saint John’s adoption of the term deliberately reflects the ambiguity of the word in Judaism, using a Greek philosophical term to capture both the immanent and transcendent dimensions of meaning, yet within a Christian framework. Others argue that while Hellenistic connotations are inevitable for 1st century readers, these associations are secondary as the use of terms in the Fourth Gospel is so often contrary to a Hellenistic worldview, while being distinct from previous Jewish uses.
It is worth noting the relationship of the Prologue with the rest of the Gospel. A number of Johannine terms are introduced, including ‘life,’ ‘light’ (verse 5), ‘believe’ (verse 7), ‘world’ (verse 9), ‘children of God’ (verse 12), and ‘flesh’ and ‘truth’ (verse 14). These concepts are introduced in the context of the Logos, who is decidedly at the centre of all that is being said.
The Prologue also introduces the figure of Saint John the Baptist (verse 6), although this interrupts the flow of the poetic and liturgical sections of the Prologue.
The Prologue lays the foundation for the development of the ‘realised eschatology’ of the Fourth Gospel. When Saint John speaks later of life in the sense of ‘eternal’ life, the Prologue has already established that from the beginning in Christ the eternal God and source of life is present and is among men and women for that purpose.
In Christ, God enters into all the ambiguities, difficulties, and trials of human life. He comes to live among his people as one of them, revealing God at first hand, and offering new life as the source of life from the beginning.
The writer relates the Logos in turn to God (verses 1, 2); creation (verses 3-5); the world and its response (verses 6-9); his own people (verses 10, 11); his children (verses 12-13); a specific circle of disciples and witnesses (verse 14); and later in the Prologue to a particular historical person, Jesus Christ (verse 17). Finally, in verse 18, the intimacy of the relationship of the Logos to the Father is re-emphasised in language similar to that used in John 13: 23-25 to describe the intimacy between ‘the beloved disciple’ and Christ himself.
The Prologue is a model and a summons to us to think carefully and deeply about the implications of the Incarnation and to apply this concept in all its comprehensiveness to our life and our world. For all its broad, cosmic scope, the Prologue presents a direct and personal question to readers of all times: will the one who reads believe, and share in the fullness of grace given by the One who has come from the Father to dwell among us?
Some concluding thoughts:
Giles Fraser’s weekly column in the Guardian is coming to an end this month as that newspaper moves to a new format. Some years ago [6 December 2014], he tried to summarise Christmas values in that column: ‘ “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” is how Jesus expresses his mission in Saint John’s Gospel. “The glory of God is a human being fully alive,” wrote Irenaeus in the second century. In other words, the point of Christianity is to generate a deeper form of humanism.’
‘In my beginning is my end ... In my end is my beginning.’
Christ is coming, and in his birth, life, agony, death and resurrection he is reconciling the whole world, each of us with one another and with God. He is coming with a vision of a world in which all of the barriers that separate us – poor and rich, North and South, male and female, Jew and Gentile, nation and nation, home-happy and homeless – will be no more.
His coming is just the beginning of the Good News and the beginning of hope. Let us prepare the way of the Lord: he casts down the mighty and raises up the lowly, he lets justice and righteousness go before him, peace is the pathway for his feet, we must do justice and make peace. And let this be just the beginning.
Collect (night):
Almighty God,
you have given us your only-begotten Son
to take our nature upon him
and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin:
Grant that we, who have been born again
and made your children by adoption and grace,
may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect (day):
Almighty God
you have given us your only-begotten Son
to take our nature upon him
and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin:
Grant that we, who have been born again
and made your children by adoption and grace,
may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Post Communion Prayer (night):
God our Father,
whose Word has come among us
in the Holy Child of Bethlehem:
May the light of faith illumine our hearts
and shine in our words and deeds;
through him who is Christ the Lord.
Post Communion Prayer (day):
God our Father,
whose Word has come among us
in the Holy Child of Bethlehem:
May the light of faith illumine our hearts
and shine in our words and deeds;
through him who is Christ the Lord.
Liturgical resources:
These additional liturgical resources are provided for Christmas in the Book of Common Prayer (2004):
Penitential Kyries:
Lord God, mighty God,
you are the creator of the world.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary,
you are the Prince of Peace.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Holy Spirit,
by your power the Word was made flesh
and came to dwell among us.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Introduction to the Peace:
Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and his name shall be called the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9: 6)
Preface:
You have given Jesus Christ your only Son
to be born of the Virgin Mary,
and through him you have given us power
to become the children of God:
Blessing:
Christ, who by his incarnation gathered into one
all things earthly and heavenly,
fill you with his joy and peace:
The Advent Wreath:
On the Advent Wreath on Christmas Day, the last of the candles, the central white candle, is lit, symbolising the Christ Child arriving as the Light of the World. The other candles in a circle surrounding it were lit during the Sundays of Advent and represent the Patriarchs and Matriarchs (Purple), the Prophets (Purple), Saint John the Baptist (Pink) and the Virgin Mary (Purple).
The prayers at the Advent Wreath help us to continue our themes from the Sunday before Advent [26 November 2017], which we marked in these dioceses as Mission Sunday, supporting projects in Swaziland in co-operation with the Anglican mission agency, the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG).
As we light our Advent candles in anticipation of celebrating the coming of the Christ child, USPG is inviting churches and parishes to pray for mothers and children who are served by the mission world church in Tanzania, Ghana, Bangladesh and Palestine.
USPG suggests this prayer when lighting the last candle:
Christmas Day (White Candle), Jesus Christ
Holy God, your only son was born with
no home and laid in a manger;
fill us with compassion for all in need today.
Bless your church as it works for dignity,
healing and peace across the world.
And give us generous hearts
to respond to your most generous gift,
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Suggested Hymns:
These are among the hymns suggested for the three Propers and sets of readings for Christmas Day in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling:
Proper 1:
Isaiah 9: 2-7:
146, A great and mighty wonder
159, Born in the night, Mary’s child
151, Child in the manger
52, Christ, whose glory fills the skies
124, Hark the glad sound! the Saviour comes
192, How brightly beams the morning star!
133, Long ago, prophets knew
174, O little town of Bethlehem
505, Peace be to this congregation
369, Songs of praise the angels sang
323, The God of Abraham praise
199, The people that in darkness walked
184, Unto us is born a Son
Psalm 96:
166, Joy to the world, the Lord is come
705, New songs of celebration render
196, O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
710, Sing to God new songs of worship
8, The Lord is King! Lift up your voice
373, To God be the glory! Great things he has done!
377, You shall go out with joy
Titus 2: 11-14:
160, Hark! the herald–angels sing
Luke 2: 1-14 (15-20):
146, A great and mighty wonder
147, Angels from the realms of glory
148, As Joseph was a–walking
149, Away in a manger
159, Born in the night, Mary’s child
151, Child in the manger
156, Don oíche úd i mBeithil (About that night in Bethl’em)
693, Glory in the highest to the God of heaven
157, Glory to God! all heaven with joy is ringing (omit verse 3)
692, Glory to God in highest heav’n
158,God rest you merry, gentlemen
162, In the bleak mid–winter
163, Infant holy, infant lowly
585, Jesus, good above all other (verses 1, 2, 5)
170, Love came down at Christmas
171, O Bethl’hem is a small place
172, O come, all ye faithful (Adeste, fideles) (omit verse 4)
176, On Christmas night all Christians sing
177, Once in royal David’s city
182, Silent night, holy night
198, The first Nowell the angel did say (verses 1, 2, 6)
187, When the crimson sun had set
188, While shepherds watched their flocks by night
Proper 2:
Isaiah 62: 6-12:
134, Make way, make way for Christ the King
142, Wake, O wake, with tidings thrilling
Psalm 97:
34, O worship the King all–glorious above
281, Rejoice, the Lord is King!
8, The Lord is King! Lift up your voice
Titus 3: 4-7:
305, O Breath of life, come sweeping through us
Luke 2: (1-7) 8-20:
146, A great and mighty wonder
147, Angels from the realms of glory
148, As Joseph was a–walking
149, Away in a manger, no crib for a bed
159, Born in the night, Mary’s child
151, Child in the manger
156, Don oíche úd i mBeithil (About that night in Bethl’em)
693, Glory in the highest to the God of heaven!
157, Glory to God! all heaven with joy is ringing (omit verse 3)
692, Glory to God in highest heaven
158, God rest you merry, gentlemen
162, In the bleak mid–winter
163, Infant holy, infant lowly
585, Jesus, good above all other (verses 1, 2, 5)
170, Love came down at Christmas
171, O Bethl’hem is a small place
172, O come, all ye faithful (Adeste, fideles) (omit verse 4)
176, On Christmas night all Christians sing
177, Once in royal David’s city
182, Silent night, holy night
198, The first Nowell the angel did say (verses 1, 2, 6)
187, When the crimson sun had set
188, While shepherds watched their flocks by night
Proper 3:
Isaiah 52: 7-10:
479, Go, tell it on the mountain
125, Hail to the Lord’s anointed
129, How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him
166, Joy to the world, the Lord has come
597, Take my life and let it be
387, Thanks to God whose Word was spoken
142, Wake, O wake! With tidings thrilling
Psalm 98:
146, A great and mighty wonder
147, Angels from the realms of glory
259, Christ triumphant, ever reigning
125, Hail to the Lord’s anointed
160, Hark! the herald–angels sing
468, How shall I sing that majesty
166, Joy to the world, the Lord is come
170, Love came down at Christmas
705, New songs of celebration render
175,, Of the Father’s heart begotten
710, Sing to God new songs of worship
369, Songs of praise the angels sang
114, Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown
Hebrews 1: 1-4 (5-12):
84, Alleluia! raise the anthem
381, God has spoken – by his prophets
3, God is love! let heaven adore him
696, God, we praise you! God, we bless you!
94, In the name of Jesus
164, It came upon the midnight clear
276, Majesty! worship his majesty!
228, Meekness and majesty (omit verse 2)
7, My God, how wonderful thou art
33, O Lord of every shining constellation
175, Of the Father’s heart begotten
387, Thanks to God whose Word was spoken
John 1: 1-14 (15-18):
146, A great and mighty wonder
84, Alleluia! raise the anthem
87, Christ is the world’s light, he and none other
259, Christ triumphant, ever reigning
410, Dearest Jesus, at your word
160, Hark! the herald–angels sing
427, Let all mortal flesh keep silence
195,Lord, the light of your love is shining
172, O come, all ye faithful (Adeste, fideles)
175, Of the Father’s heart begotten
136, On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
491, We have a gospel to proclaim
Updates and corrected: 24 December 2017
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