Advent 2015 – Christmas Eve
For the longer Advents – this is Advent 28
Here is the Advent Log for day 28:
Christmas Eve Advent Log – Day 28
Tradition was that we would have pizza. Then, we would get serious.
This is the evening that we would have communion – preparing our hearts for the coming of the King.
Christmas Eve Communion
For years I attended Midnight Mass at Christ Episcopal Church. Mass = Communion.
This was our family tradition.
When we had children, we attended non denominational, or non liturgical churches that had their Christmas Eve services in the evening. There wasn’t always communion.
Christmas Eve
Busted Halo gives a very short explanation on why we go to Midnight Mass.
Wikipedia information on Midnight Mass
My memory is that we were combining the vigil of waiting for Christ’s birth, and preparing ourselves to give Him room, and at Midnight, we celebrated his birth.
Christmas Carols
Joy to the world, the Lord has come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart, prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing!
Christmas Carols
Christmas Eve, Jim would read the Christmas story from Luke.
Jim reading Christmas Eve devotions
Then, we would say the Lord’s prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the Glory and the power forever,
Amen.
This prayer, given to us by Jesus, covers most of what any worship service should cover:
- Glorify God
- Align yourself with His will.
- Ask for needs.
- Ask for forgiveness, as we forgive.
- Ask for help to walk in this world.
- End with praise.
We would then read the communion scripture:
Usually using this passage for the communion:
1 Cor 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
In 1 Corinthians 10:16, The Apostle Paul asks
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”
The whole focus of our Advent Meditations was to turn the eyes upon Jesus and giving, and off of the worldly focus of Santa and getting gifts.
Communion is an outward sign of choosing to set aside my life, and decide to follow Jesus.
Tonight, I will pull out my old Episcopal Prayer Book, and go through communion with my husband. Here is the Episcopal Prayer book Online.
Lifeway has a set of resources online for practicing the Lord’s Supper. They are for churches, but could easily be adapted for your home.
For us, it was just simple to do the Lords Prayer, and then follow 1 Cor 11:23-26.
In a world where Christmas is so full of rabble rousing, and even those that say they know the reason, we wanted it to be a somber, and sacred celebration. Jesus didn’t come to earth so that we could get ginormous flat screen TVs! Jesus came to save our souls!
Hail, the heav’n 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 should die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth!
Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the New born King!
Why lies He in such mean estate where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear” for sinners here the silent word is pleading/
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
the cross be born for me, for you;
Hail, Hail, the Word made flesh,
the Babe, the Son of Mary.
Oh 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 Emanuel.
We sang many Christmas Carols!
- Joy to the World!
- O Come all ye Faithful
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- Good Christian Men Rejoce
- The First Noel
- Angels from the Realms of Glory
- Angels we have heard on High
- And many others!
One of my favorite Christmas Albums is by Don Moen, 1990
Praise Worship, Christmas
Here’s a compilation of the Piano Guys for Christmas
Since it’s pretty obvious that I love Pentatonix – here’s a compilation of their Christmas songs.
Instead of reading the Night Before Christmas, we would read a few different things. The Shoemaker stories:
AdventShoemakerNVP004 AdventShoemakerCTB2006 AdventShoemakerCTB1005
We compared Jesus to Santa.
And we read Twas the night before Jesus came. (c) 1993 Bethany Farms, Carrollton, IL.
I found a cute printable Christmas Story book on Ministry to Children that may be useful for those that still have littles. My littles have all grown up.
One last thing, is this A Christmas Prayer for the Home by Henry Van Dyke, from The Book of Jesus edited by Calvin Miller.
More Advent Devotions
Merry Christmas!
Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
I want to thank
- Blue Letter Bible and
- Bible Gateway and
- Bible Hub
for the ability to search the Bible online.
“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest
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Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.
There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.
Here s how it works. Start Advent two weeks early, and celebrate it for four weeks, ending with Advent 2 on the current calendar. There are no changes in the lectionary so far. You just back up and use the previous two weeks as Advent readings.