Christmas Eve Candlelight Service--December 24, 2024
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Prelude We Greet Thee, Heavenly Dove, arr. Rinehart

Lighting of the Christ Candle Steven, Clare, Trip, and AJ Kranz

Call to Worship (responsive)
One: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,
and set lights in the sky — sun and moon and stars.
All: By these stars, our ancestors charted their journeys. By these stars, they knew God was with them.
One: In the beginning, too, was the Word.
All: And the Word, too, has come down from heaven to earth. By the Word made flesh, Christ our Savior, we know God is with us.

Hymn No. 133 O Come, All Ye Faithful

Welcome

Prayer of Confession (unison)
Gracious God, you call us to celebrate, yet we struggle to find hope in the suffering and despair of our world. What reason is there to rejoice? We turn from each other and from you, questioning the power of love in the face of the world’s cruelty. Comfort your people, sovereign God. Return us to the faith born this night. Save us from hopelessness. May the promise and possibility of the Christ child renew our strength and trust in You. Amen.

Kyrie No. 121 (verse 4)
O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us; abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!

Declaration of Forgiveness

Gloria Hymn No. 113 (verse 3)
Come to Bethlehem and see him whose birth the angels sing; come, adore on bended knee Christ, the Lord, the newborn King. Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Passing the Peace

Prayer for Illumination

First Reading Isaiah 9:2-7

Special Music O Holy Night, Dr. Damion Womack, soloist

Word to Grow By

Second Reading Luke 2:1-20

Meditation Rev. Dr. Kathy Wolf Reed

Hymn No. 119 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Affirmation of Faith (unison) The Apostles’ Creed, Hymnal p. 35

Communion
Hymn No. 145 What Child Is This?
Hymn No. 115 Away in a Manger

Prayer after Communion

Illumination

Hymn No. 122 Silent Night, Holy Night

Benediction

Congregational Response No. 134 (v.1) Joy to the World

Postlude Postlude on “Antioch,” Peterson


After receiving communion, you may choose either a candle or a penlight for the final hymn, "Silent Night." Before we begin to sing, ushers will light the candles of those seated near the center aisle, and the light will pass from worshiper to worshiper (holding lit candle upright). Those holding penlights should turn them on when the candle lighting reaches them. Both the candles and penlights should be extinguished when "Silent Night" ends and returned to baskets in the narthex.

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