Lighting the Christ Candle for Christmas Eve A – December 24, 2025

Tonight, we light the Christ candle.

Many of us consider this to be
the most holy moment of the season.
As we watch the candles of
hope, peace, joy, and love be lit,
a familiar wonder fills our hearts.

There is a lifting tonight,
a gentleness of spirit
making space for each of us
to bring our inner children before God.

These children within might be
damaged, lonely, unsafe.
They might be hungry and crying,
bewildered and afraid.
None of us arrives tonight unscathed.
We are all touched by the hardships of the world,
which is why this moment is so sacred.

Just as Jesus comes to us in the manger,
we stand here together,
rapt with the miracle of this season.
God sent to us a son, a human being
born of a vulnerable young woman
with no rights, no healthcare –
not even a woman by her side
as she gave birth to the Christ child.

Yet she survived.
Mary did what so many of us cannot –
she allowed her faith to become everything when she was afraid.
She conceived her child, confessed to her husband
that the child she carried was not his,
then gave birth to a son, who two millennia later,
is still changing our lives.

As we light our Christ candle tonight
and spread the flame to each person here,
let us hold the courage of Mary in our hearts.
Now, and throughout this year,
let her mother us all and renew our faith in Christ.

Lighting the Christ Candle for Christmas Eve A was written by Maria Mankin.