Croeso! Merry Christmas! Bore da! Nadolig Llawen! Welcome to you all Christmas day. Please do make yourself known to me if you are popping in or if I can help in any way.
+Yn enw'r Tad, a'r Mab, a'r Ysbryd Glan. Amen
+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
Our opening carol today is: Hark the Herald Angels sing
Heavenly Father,
we have sinned in thought, word and deed,
and have failed to do
what we ought to have done.
We are sorry and truly repent.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ
who died for us, forgive us all that is past,
and lead us in his way
to walk as children of light. AMEN
May God our Father,
who by the Lord Jesus Christ
has reconciled the world to himself
and forgives the sins of all who truly repent,
pardon and deliver us from all our sins,
and grant us the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
John 1:1-14 NRSV
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.[b] 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own,[c] and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[d] full of grace and truth.
Reflection
Here we are, the long weeks of waiting of Advent have run their course and in houses up and down the land and around the world children, despite the pandemic, will be keenly unwrapping gifts - probably in the early hours of today! Christmas is indeed here.
Did you manage to see the Star of Bethlehem low on the horizon this week? The alignment of Saturn and Jupiter low in the sky in the South West? The light which some say might have been what the Angels, the Shepherds and Wise Men saw and followed, was visible in the sky. The light, which proclaims the presence of Christ, in the same manner as a sanctuary light near the aumbry, where the Sacrament is kept for the sick and dying, proclaims the presence of Christ in the Sacrament. The star in the sky over Bethlehem was like the first sanctuary light an announcement Christ is here!
Babies can bring out the most amazing things in people especially those who haven’t had contact with tiny helpless children for so long. Think of Simeon and Anna and think about people you know perhaps an elderly man who reaches out just to touch a child and visibly melts in the process. In the recognition of who this helpless and vulnerable child actually is, we melt, as we greet Our Saviour. We have longed as we have travelled through Advent for God’s promised one and now in this crib we see that reality – not a wooden effigy or a plaster babino but “Our God contracted to a span incomprehensibly made man.”
Now in a few minutes you will have the chance to pay your own pilgrimage, to come to the manger, marvel at the fact God has indeed entered our humanity and the Love which comes across is completed as we see the sacrifice Christ makes on the cross for our sake, in the resurrection, ascension and gift of the Holy Spirit. This day is about love, gifts and sharing, but also about confronting what we most desire, but don’t always recognise at the time. Love comes down from heaven to be with us in Coronavirus shattered days, but also as the light which illuminates and shows us the truth about ourselves, as well as the Love of God. The fullness of our lives is when in Christ, when we give as Christ gave, when we love as God loved us first, and as we step out into the world this Christmas morning to share the Hope of God in Christ for all. The Light of the World, bright and shining is here, unquenchable in our very midst.
Nadolig Llawen! Happy Christmas!
What will you take to the manger as you greet the Christ child whose birth we celebrate today?
Prayers
In the beginning - you were
In this second - you are
You are the tiny baby
crying in the hay - helpless and vulnerable
You are the man stretched across the cross - in love.
You are our God
and we are your people whom you welcome.
You hear all our prayers.
We pray for our Coronavirus ridden communities,
For empty churches, on this day above all days,
For those who merriment is real and those who loneliness is isolation,
We pray for the sick, those who are without this day, for those who feel forgotten
For the dying and those who mourn.
You are our God
and we are your people whom you welcome.
You hear all our prayers.
We pray for children everywhere on this special day
That we might be enthused in our faith, as they in the magic they discover
May we sing with the angels, respond like the shepherds,
give like the wise men.
You are our God
and we are your people whom you welcome,
You hear all our prayers
AMEN
Emmanuel,
God with us
bless us and caress us
this Christmas day
and all the days of our life. Amen
The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and ever more. AMEN
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Ewch mewn tangnefedd i garu a gwasanaethu'r Arglwydd.
