Christmas Eve | Friday 24 December 2021

Today is Friday the 24th of December, Christmas Eve.

Salt of the Sound sing, ‘O Holy Night’.  As you enter into prayer today, notice how you are feeling as we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ tomorrow.

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 1:67-79
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
   for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
   in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
   that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
   and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
   to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
   before him all our days.
 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
   for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
   by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
   the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
   to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

Zechariah has been struck dumb until the point when his son, John the Baptist, is born.  The Gospel of Luke then puts these words on Zechariah’s lips.  They are about Jesus – God’s salvation, and they are about John – God’s prophet of hope.  Zechariah’s world: his nation and his religion are in a bit of a mess.  Into this mess comes our God . . .  and the way that God comes is literally in baby steps . . .

How does this response of God speak to you? . . . What do you want to say to God about this? . . .

As you listen again to Zechariah’s blessing of God - which we call the Benedictus, meaning blessing - can you sense his faith and his hope in God . . .

Is our world in any less need of saving?  Do we not also need real hope?  Travel from John the Baptist now born, to Jesus still in his mother’s womb, and bide with them there, waiting . . .

O Wisdom
Lord and Ruler
Root of Jesse
Key of David
Rising Sun
King of the Nations
Emmanuel
Come, Lord Jesus