We are sorry not to be able to meet together for our usual Christmas Eve Services, but we have recorded a Family Christingle Service and a Watchnight Service, both of which will go live on our YouTube Channel on Christmas Eve. Here is the Service link and order of service for the Christingle Service so you have it in plenty of time. The Watchnight links will be in the next post 
.
Welcome
Call to Worship
Leader: Jesus, who left behind unimaginable riches and came to find us,
All: Jesus, you are here. We share in God’s love.
Leader: Jesus, who came and walked alongside us to demonstrate God’s love for us,
All: Jesus, you are here. We never have to walk alone.
Leader: Jesus, who showed us how to love all your children, especially those with no one else to turn to,
All: Jesus you are here. Together, we can reach out and care for one another so all are included.
Leader: We join to worship this evening together.
Praise: O come, all ye faithful
O come all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant
O come ye o come ye to Bethlehem
Come and behold Him
Born the King of angels
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
VERSE 2
Sing choirs of angels
Sing in exultation
Sing all ye citizens of heaven above
Glory to God
Glory in the highest
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
CHORUS
Hallelujah hallelujah
The King has come
VERSE 3
Yes Lord we greet Thee
Born this happy morning
Jesus to Thee be the glory given
Word of the Father now in flesh appearing
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
POST CHORUS
Oh come all ye faithful
Come let us adore Him
Oh sing hallelujah
Come let us adore Him
Prayer
Lighting of the Advent Candles
Praise: Come and join the celebration
Chorus
Come and join the celebration
It’s a very special day
Come and share our jubilation;
There’s a new King born today!
Verse 1
See, the shepherds
Hurry down to Bethlehem,
Gaze in wonder
At the Son of God who lay before them
Chorus
Come and join the celebration
It’s a very special day
Come and share our jubilation;
There’s a new King born today!
Verse 2
Wise men journey,
Led to worship by a star
Kneel in homage
Bringing precious gifts from lands afar, so
Chorus
Come and join the celebration
It’s a very special day
Come and share our jubilation;
There’s a new King born today!
Verse 3
“God is with us”
Round the world the message bring
He is with us
“Welcome”, all the bells on earth are pealing
Chorus
Come and join the celebration
It’s a very special day
Come and share our jubilation;
There’s a new King born today!
Reading: John, chapter 1, verses 6-14
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 recognize 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.
History of Christingle
Christingle celebrations have been taking place for many years. The first Christingle service at Lincoln Cathedral took place in 1968, but Christingles themselves go back much further to the Moravian church in Germany.
At a children’s service in Marienborn in 1747, Bishop Johannes de Watteville looked for a simple way to explain the happiness that had come to people through Jesus, and created a symbol — the Christingle — to do this.
Praise: Angels from the realms of glory
1 Angels from the realms of glory,
wing your flight o’er all the earth;
ye who sang creation’s story
now proclaim Messiah’s birth:
Come and worship!
Worship Christ, the new-born King!
2 Shepherds in the field abiding,
watching o’er their flocks by night;
God with man is now residing,
yonder shines the infant light:
Refrain
3 Sages, leave your contemplations;
brighter visions beam afar!
Seek the great ‘Desire of nations,’
Ye have seen his natal star:
Refrain
4 Saints before the altar bending,
watching long in hope and fear,
suddenly the Lord, descending,
in his temple shall appear:
Refrain
James Montgomery (1771-1854)
Making the Christingle
Each element of a Christingle has a special meaning and helps to tell the Christian story:
- The orange represents the world
- The red ribbon (or tape) symbolises the love and blood of Christ
- The sweets and dried fruit represent all of God’s creations – 4 cocktailsticks/seasons of the year
- The lit candle represents Jesus’s light in the world, bringing hope to people living in darkness.
Praise: The orange of Christingle (Tune: holly & Ivy)
The Orange of Christingle
The world reminds us of,
And how our God created us,
And on us sheds His love.
O song about Christingle,
Your voices loud employ.
Your praises bring to God our King;
For Jesus and His joy.
The candle of Christingle,
With shining flame so bright;
Reminds us of our loving Lord
Who is the world’s true light.
Chorus
The red band of Christingle
Which plainly we can see;
Reminds us of how Jesus Christ
Was killed upon that tree.
Chorus
The four sticks of Christingle,
With which the orb we spear,
Remind us how God cares for us,
Thro’ the seasons of the year.
Chorus
The whole of the Christingle
It is a joy to see;
It shines to show how our Father God,
Loves even you and me.
Chorus
Lighting of the Christingle
Praise: Away in a mange
1 Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head;
the stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,
the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.
2 The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.
I love thee, Lord Jesus! Look down from the sky,
and stay by my bedside till morning is nigh.
3 Be near me, Lord Jesus: I ask thee to stay
close by me for ever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
and take them to heaven, to live with thee there.
A Christingle Dedication
Leader: Will you take your Christingle as a symbol of the light of Christ coming into your lives and the life of the world?
All: We will.
Leader: Will you take the light of Christ within you, and seek to share that light in the places where you work, meet and share together?
All: We will, with the help of the Holy Spirit of God.
Leader: So let your light shine that others may see the light of Christ in you and give thanks to God. All: God of all, may we, to whom the Spirit gives light, bring light to the world. Alleluia, thanks be to God.
Prayers
Leader: Lord Jesus Christ,
All: may your love bring light.
The Lord’s Prayer
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 the wrong we have done, as we forgive those who have wronged 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 forever. Amen.
Praise: Hark! the herald angels sing
Hark the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With angelic host proclaim
Christ is born in Bethlehem
Hark the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
Christ by highest Heaven adored
Christ the everlasting Lord
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a virgin’s womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus our Emmanuel
Hark the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
Hail the Heaven born Prince of peace
Hail the son of righteousness
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King
The Blessing
