December 24, 2025
WELCOME TO CHRISTMAS EVE
THE NIGHT OF WONDER!!
The Night of Candle lighting
A Service of Prayer, of Carols, of Meditation, and of Witnessing the Birth of Jesus
Lead Minister: The Rev. Jope Langejans
Music Director: Cody Obst
Minister Emeritus: Rev. Gerry Scharff
Honorary Associate Ministers: Rev. Clint Mooney & Rev. Kelley Warner
Chair of Council: Vacant
Readers: Elizabeth Wegg, Clint Mooney, and Don Branter
“Take time to be aware that in the very midst of our busy preparations for the celebration of Christ’s birth in ancient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn in the Bethlehems of our homes and daily lives…Take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the Divine Mystery that looks so common and so ordinary yet is wondrously present.” (Edward Hayes)
Gathering
(*Indicates that you may stand if you are able…)
PRELUDE
WORDS OF WELCOMING (Rev. Jope)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGING THE TERRITORY (Leader)
We acknowledge the traditional territories and the value of the traditional and current oral practices of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut’ina and Stoney Nakoda Nations, the Metis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
OPENING CAROL “What Child Is This” VU # 74
WELCOMING INTO THE LIGHT
LIGHTING OF THE CHRISTMAS WREATH CANDLES
Leader: We’ve arrived! It’s Christmas Eve! It’s time to celebrate! And as we begin our celebration, we light the circle of candles in the Advent wreath.
ALL: We begin, together, by lighting the candle of hope…of promise. We light this candle trusting that the living God gives us good reason to laugh and to dance.
(first blue candle is lit)
Leader: The second candle which is to be lit is the candle of peace, the candle of justice. Let us light this candle to remind each of us that to live in peace is not only a hope but needs to be a reality. (the second blue candle is lit)
ALL: The third candle in the wreath, the candle of joy, gives us its light for the celebration of new life. We now illuminate the candle of joy.
(the pink candle is lit)
Leader: The fourth candle which is to be lit, is the candle of love, of open hearts. In lighting this candle, we are reminded, each of us, that love is the strongest force upon this Earth.
(the final blue candle is lit)
ALL: And now, it’s the moment for which we’ve all been waiting – the moment for which we’ve been preparing – the moment when the light comes once again, into our sometimes-darkened world. We light the Christ Candle!
Leader: This is the candle at the centre of our Advent wreath.
This is the candle whose flame beckons, “God is with us”
ALL: Tonight, we light the Christ candle to proclaim the birth of the Christ-child once again, into our lives. May the story of Jesus’ birth never grow old! Let all of us proclaim a new dawning! Thanks be to our God!
(lighting of the Christ candle)
OPENING PRAYER (Rev. Jope)
CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)
Leader: One could wonder upon Christmas, a cattle-shed with cedar shakes, sheltering a patch of barnyard, standing with stability and confidence, enduring year after year as the birthplace of the Nativity.
ALL: One could dream Christmas as the re-creation of former feasts, when our ancestors came on stable legs, came in a Holy Pageant of memories.
Leader: So come once again to dwell and to bring delight in a patch of time within the shelter of traditions --
ALL: these unwrapped and relived when the moonlight overwhelms the sun’s rays, enduring year after year as the birthplace of our Christmas.
Leader: Dream and wonder what you will of the Sacred Pageants. Laugh and be enveloped by the prophet’s song: “A people who have long sat in darkness have seen a great light.” The comfort and joy of the season rests in that promise.
ALL: Yet contemplate if we can the brave night of Christmas with all of God’s courage coming to our generation with a restless faith, propelling us into the days ahead so the lame will walk, the blind will see, and the ones in sorrow will be made well.
Leader: Christmas is a night when God fills the manger of our humanity with healers and prophets that life may abound and endure and the sound of freedom’s laughter may ring through the land.
ALL: With the gift of God given to us, we turn to each other in this evening’s delight of Christmas Eve and pass the peace to each other with the words,
“PEACE OF CHRISTMAS, PAST, PRESENT,
and FUTURE.. TO YOU.”
LAKEVIEW’S CHOIR”S GIFT OF MUSIC
“See Amid the Winter’s Snow” by: Dan Forrest
Engaging the Sacred Text
1st SCRIPTURE READING
ISAIAH 9:2-7 (Rev. Jope)
1st PART OF THE CHRISTMAS STORY
LUKE 2: 1-7 (Reader: Elizabeth Wegg)
*CAROLING “O Little Town of Bethlehem” VU # 64
2nd PART OF THE CHRISTMAS STORY
LUKE 2: 8-14 (Reader: Clint Mooney)
*CAROLING “Angels We Have Heard on High” VU # 38
3rd PART OF THE CHRISTMAS STORY
LUKE 2: 15-20 (Reader: Don Branter)
A CHRISTMAS MEDITATIVE PRAYER (Rev. Jope)
*CAROLING “Go, Tell It on the Mountain” VU # 43
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: “SILENT NIGHT – HOLY NIGHT”
*CAROLING “Joy To The World” VU # 59
Responding
OFFERING INVITATION (Leader)
During this season, we are focused on gifts – the gifts we find for others, the gifts we receive under our tree, the gifts of love and caring that are shared among strangers for the good of all, and the gift of the baby Jesus. Let us now think about the ways that we ourselves share gifts of time, money, prayer, and commitment as we seek to enable the ministries that are important to us and support the partnerships that allow us to share in God’s purposes everywhere. We now present our Christmas offering.
CHOIR’S CHRISTMAS GIFT OF MUSIC
“Angels Did Sing” by: Steven Richards
PRAYER of DEDICATION (Rev. Jope)
CHRISTMAS BLESSING (Rev. Jope)
CANDLE LIGHTING
(The Christ candle will be taken from the Advent Wreath and brought down the aisles, lighting the outside candles…please hold your candle up when it is lit and the person beside you can tilt theirs and light their candle and so on until all the candles are lit…when we’ve transformed the sanctuary into ‘light’ we will sing “Silent Night”)
CLOSING CAROL “Silent Night, Holy Night” VU # 67
RECESSIONAL
POSTLUDE MUSIC
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(Thank you to our pianist, choir folks, readers and greeters this evening and to all the other angels who played special parts, usually behind the scenes…everyone one of you are truly blessings!!)
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!