Going Home Another Way

Daily readings and resources for Christmastide

,

• Publisher: Wild Goose Publications
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9781905010578
• eBook ISBN: 9781849520225
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Rituals & Practice

Resources for Christmastide to help you hear God's Word through the commercialism of the season, the propaganda of the times; and to glimpse the sacred in the secular.

Introduction

Iona was a great place to be at Christmastime and New Year. I remember walking to the north beach on Christmas Eve to shop for Christmas gifts – stones, seashells, feathers; making a candle in the craft room for a guest from America; bread sauce, and the smell of cloves from the kitchen – and the most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever seen in my life: a tree decorated not with the glitz and clutter of baubles, tinsel and lights, but with real, red apples … Shiny. Curved and delicious as God’s good world …

I remember New Year’s Eve: the crackle and sizzle of fireworks raining down like jewellery; dancing Strip the Willow in the village hall and waking up with bruises; dancing to Back in the USSR by the Beatles and Auld Lang Syne by Eddi Reader – holding hands in a big circle; single malt whisky with neighbours in the village, and – on the way home – the path of the moon across the great restless sea.

And after Christmas, in the dark days, when everything seemed over, closed up, buried, asleep, the solidarity, encouragement and companionship of community. The discipline and rhythm of work and worship. I missed that most when I left the island. That is one reason why I put this book together. On the mainland there were years when I lost the heart to travel into the New Year with faith and hope. Years when I couldn’t read, or even see, the stars … got lost on the way. There were times when I felt so swamped by commercialism and propaganda I found it near impossible to hear God’s Word; and times when I found it hard to glimpse or grasp anything sacred in the secular.

May this little book be a friend through the joy and euphoria of Christmas and New Year, but also give you strength, inspiration – feed you, companion you, challenge you – in the in-between times. There are good-hearted, human companions here. And we all need good companions as we journey through this cold, hard, bewildering, amazing, gorgeous world; this gift of a life.

At this time of year, I always remember, and hold on to, these words from George MacLeod: Follow the light you have and pray for more light.

Neil Paynter

A watch night service

John Harvey

The service starts at about 11:30pm, and can be preceded by carol singing, preferably outside, round the parish. When the worshippers enter the church, the lighting should be quite low, if possible, and each person should be given a lighted candle in a candle-holder and a copy of the order of service, with the songs printed out in full.

Welcome and introduction

Opening responses

Men and women, why are you here?

WE ARE HERE TO WAIT AND TO WATCH.

Men and women, for what do you wait?

WE WAIT FOR NEW HOPE, AND NEW LIFE.

Men and women, for whom do you watch?

WE WATCH FOR THE LIGHT THAT NO DARKNESS CAN PUT OUT.

Men and women, how would you wait and watch?

WE WOULD WATCH AND WAIT WITH ALL OUR HEART,

WITH ALL OUR SOUL

AND WITH ALL OUR MIGHT.

Song: ‘When Out of Poverty Is Born’ (CH4* 291)

Prayer

God beyond naming,

God beyond defining,

God for whom we yearn,

God we want to trust,

hear our prayer.

We are not many wise,

not many great,

not many powerful,

but we dare to ask

for a word from you

this night.

We have looked for you

in many ways and places,

in desperate trouble,

in deep despair,

when all else fails,

to come with might and power.

Tonight, we would look for you

in a different way,

and in a different place.

In tenderness and in pain,

in quietness and in secret,

in human need and parents’ love,

in joy, but also in suffering.

Show us yourself

in the baby of Bethlehem

and help us to see you

as you really are.

We pray in the name of that same child,

Jesus, Mary’s Son. Amen

Reading: St Luke 1:26–38

Read by three people, if possible, one reading as the narrator, one as the angel and one as Mary.

Reflection: on the theme of waiting and watching

Someone who has been recently, or is currently, pregnant could speak briefly about her thoughts and feelings at this time. The person leading the service could then speak, equally briefly, about common human hopes and expectations – relating them to today, to the experience of the congregation and to her/his own hopes and expectations.

A short period of silence, for people to do their own reflecting on what has been said and sung so far.

Song: ‘God’s Surprise’ (Heaven Shall Not Wait: Wild Goose Songs, Volume One; tune: Scarlet Ribbons)

Towards the end of this song, the lights of the church are gradually dimmed, until only the candles are left lit.

Prayer at midnight

Wonderful God,

at the beginning of everything,

you said: ‘Let there be light’

and there was light and life in all the earth.

And when men and women had grown tired,

weary of the darkness

of anxiety, confusion and sin,

you came into that darkness,

in Jesus, the true light

who lightens everyone born into our world.

Once again it is dark –

not just dark at midnight

but dark within and among us:

the darkness of doubt and fearfulness,

of warfare and hunger and illness,

the darkness of conflicting voices,

the darkness of death.

Once again, we welcome you

bending so low to creep in among us,

not forcing, not shouting,

too gentle to even flicker our candle flames.

Make your home among us again, we pray;

be our guest, in heart and home and city,

in the empty, howling wastelands of our times,

and light up our world once again

with the new hope

and the new life

that faith in you still brings.

We pray in Jesus’s name, and for his sake. Amen

When this prayer ends, the lights of the church are turned fully up, people are invited to blow out their candles, and to greet their neighbours with a Christmas Day greeting. As the greetings end, a solo voice could be singing, for example, ‘The Aye Carol’ (Heaven Shall Not Wait).

Song: ‘Make Way!’ (CH4 279)

Closing responses

The desert will sing and shout for joy;

EVERYONE WILL SEE THE LORD’S SPLENDOUR,

SEE GOD’S GREATNESS AND POWER.

Tell everyone who is discouraged:

‘BE STRONG AND DON’T BE AFRAID!’

The blind will be able to see,

THE DEAF WILL BE ABLE TO HEAR.

The lame will leap and dance,

THOSE WHO CAN’T SPEAK WILL SHOUT FOR JOY.

This is the promise of God.

GOD’S PROMISE WILL BE FULFILLED.

Benediction

We go out into Christmas Day

in the peace of Jesus Christ.

May his peace,

which lightens the soul with faith,

lifts the spirit with hope

and leavens the world with love,

be yours tonight and always.

And the blessing of God –

Creator, Son and Spirit –

go with you, and stay with you,

now and always.

AMEN

*CH4 – Church Hymnary 4, John L. Bell (ed.), Canterbury Press

Christm...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Introduction
• Epilogue page