Christmas Festival Eucharist
On Zoom (Meeting ID: 850 453 964 | Passcode: 670510), YouTube and in church on Christmas Day at 10.30am come together with friends and family for Mass to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Overview
Despite Christmas being a public holiday, religion is largely regarded as private affair, a matter of personal conscience. For Isaiah, 9:2-7, religion was a public and political act: God’s presence would lead to freedom, the end of oppression, cessation of war between nations. He depicts God’s reign in political terms, his messiah will have authority and will rule kingdoms. In contrast, our gospel reading, Luke 2:1-14, presents us with a tiny town in a regional backwater: one small family, a bunch of labouring shepherds: surely not the stuff of political revolutions? Yet, Luke is making a most radical political assertion: he begins the story with the rule of the emperor Augustus and the governor Quirinius and then tells us that God is not working through the powerful and the mighty, but through the ordinary and everyday lives of mothers and labourers, of you and me.
FIRST READING
Isaiah, 9:2-7
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
You have multiplied exultation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
GOSPEL
Luke 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’
This year we are supporting Ace of Clubs, The Children’s Society and Ukranian Refugees.
For other events this Christmas, see here.
