Christmas Eve Bulletin 2024

The “guns of August” boomed in 1914 and threw Europe into war. In November Pope Benedict XV called for a cease-fire on Christmas Day. The response on both sides was, “Impossible.” The German High Command told their troops, “to let their hearts beat to God during the coming season, and to keep their fists on the enemy.” This is a military expression of the classic split between spirit and flesh, a split that the feast of Christmas struggles to overcome. However, the generals were not heard and on sundown of Christmas Eve the firing stopped. Troops on both sides came out of the trenches. They sang carols and exchanged gifts. On Christmas Day they ate together and played soccer games. As evening fell, they embraced one another and said goodbye. Christmas was over. The next day was war as usual. It was a one-time event; it never happened again. A young English soldier wrote home that the Germans were friendly, “jolly good fellows.” At the end of his letter he stated simply the conundrum of that Christmas truce: “Both sides have started firing and are enemies again. Strange it all seems, doesn’t it?” 

- John Shea, Starlight

Call to Worship

Beloved in Christ, at this Christmastide let it be our duty and delight to hear again the message of the angels, and in heart and mind to go to Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and the Babe lying in a manger.

Therefore let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the story of the loving purposes of God who, from before the first days of our disobedience, had prepared this glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child.

But first, let us pray for the needs of the whole world; for peace on earth and goodwill among all His people; for unity and brotherhood within the Church He came to build, and especially in this our congregation.

And because this would rejoice His heart, let us remember, in His name, the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry, and the oppressed; the sick and those who mourn, the lonely and the unloved, the elderly and the little children; all those who do not know the Lord Jesus, or who do not love Him, or who by sin have grieved His heart of love.

Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are one for evermore.

As we come to offer these prayers and praises before the Throne of Heaven, let us pause in silence.