Call to worship
God, Word of life and being, you are light and hope. You are incarnation, truth and love. Help us to worship you in spirit and in truth.
Hymn StF 272
From heaven you came, helpless babe, entered our world, your glory veiled, not to be served but to serve and gave your life that we might live.
Chorus: This is our God, the Servant King, he calls us now to follow him, to bring our lives an offering of worship to the Servant King.
There in the garden of tears my heavy load he chose to bear: his heart with sorrow was torn, ‘Yet not my will but yours’, he said.
Chorus
Come see his hands and his feet, the scars that speak of sacrifice, hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered.
Chorus
So let us learn how to serve and in our lives enthrone him, each other’s needs to prefer, for it is Christ we are serving.
Chorus
Prayers of thanksgiving
Almighty God, praise be to you.
We give you thanks for the blessings you have poured out upon us, for the difference you have made to our lives. For gifts beyond measure: not the gold, frankincense and myrrh the wise men brought to Jesus at Epiphany, but gifts of forgiveness way beyond what we deserve, for love everlasting, light in our darkness and hope in our despair.
Almighty God, praise be to you.
We give thanks for the constancy of your being, eternal, unchanging, reliable and secure, which grounds us when life around us seems constantly in flux.
Almighty God, praise be to you.
We give thanks for the glimpses we catch of you unexpectedly as we go about our daily living. Glimpses in the light and in the dark.
Glimpses that uphold and sustain us.
Almighty God, praise be to you.
Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
Please use the version that you prefer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours
Now and for ever.
Amen.
Bible Reading
John 1:1-14
The Word became flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Reflection
Johns’ gospel is different, which makes it both a joy and a struggle to understand. Tom Wright describes it as like going to visit a friend for the first time, not knowing where they live and being very surprised by the long winding driveway, beautiful gardens and very splendid house at the end of your journey. I cherish these verses at the beginning of Johns gospel as a poetic reminder of what Christmas is really about – incarnation, revelation of God in human form. Not only in one place and time, but for always, for us here and now and all future generations. We often read this portion of the bible during carol services, or at other Christmas services, but like a puppy, John’s gospel is for life, not just for Christmas! From the earliest times, the followers of Jesus have seen him as the fulfilment of promises made in the Jewish scriptures that God would send a saviour to the world. In that sense his birth makes those promises ‘real’. Our Gospel reading today sums it up succinctly – as a prologue to a great drama should – ‘The light shines in the darkness’ and ‘He was in the world … yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.’ Some translations of the ending of verse five say the darkness did not ‘comprehend’ the light. There was much more work for Jesus to do, and for the Church to do today in making the promise of salvation fully real to the world.
Incarnation- becoming the fulfilment of these promises, is a long-term project.
A decisive moment like the birth of Jesus can start the process, but there’s a lot more to do and it’s only right that this should be clearly stated and that those who wish to see a promise made real should recognise the work involved. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells those who want to be his followers, ‘But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?’ (Luke 14:28, New Living Translation) The baby Jesus had a difficult journey to travel before the promise he embodied achieved its full reality. And we have work to do in making that promise comprehensible and ‘real’ to the world in our time.
Hymn StF 440
Amazing grace-how sweet the sound- that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.
God’s grace has taught my heart to fear, His grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; God’s grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures; he will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.
And when this heart and flesh shall fail and mortal life shall cease, I shall possess within the veil a life of joy and peace.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing Gods praise than when we first begun.
Prayers of confession
Eternal God, as we start this new year,
we confess our failings and our shortcomings.
We confess that so often we pack your challenges away with the Christmas cards and wrapping paper. We do not explore your gift enough, we do not always let it change us, but as you have promised so much to us,
so we promise to try to be the people you want us to be, and to live the best life we can.
Amen.
Prayers of intercession
Immanuel, God with us, help us to discern your presence in strange and unexpected places. May we see you in the face of the stranger. May we see you in the face of those we love. May we see you in the face of those who turn away from us. May we see you waiting at the side of the road.
Help us to make space in our lives and in our imaginations, so that the wonder of your presence will never cease to amaze us. As we see our humanity reflected in your story, help us to learn from you what it is to be fully human and made in your image.
Amen
Hymn StF 176
Like a candle flame, flickering small in our darkness, Uncreated light shines through infant eyes
Chorus: God is with us, alleluia. God is with us alleluia. Come to save us alleluia. Come to save us. Alleluia
Stars and angels sing, yet the earth sleeps in shadows; can this tiny spark set a world on fire?
Chorus
Yet his light shall shine from our lives, Spirit blazing, as we touch the flame of his holy fire.
Chorus
Sending out prayer
As we savour the presents of Christmas
and begin to make them part of our lives –
things to use, to wear, to play with –
so may we savour and use
the blessings we have unwrapped
in the gift of Jesus and make his promise real in our lives.
Amen.
