The Grace of God Has Appeared!
Service Prayers for Christmas Eve/Day
December 25, 2021

Call to Worship
Enlightened one! Burden-sharing one!
Helpless-as-us one! Given-for-us one!
Counseling one! Peace-bringing one!
Forever-and-ever one! Knit-us-together one!
The heavens are glad, fields exult, and trees sing out! 
The earth rejoices at your coming, Holy Child of Bethlehem!

Invocation
Holy One, Holy Three,
Parent, Christ, and Spirit,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
We stand in awe of your greatest mystery once again:
that you would come to us as one of us,
full of smiles and tears, strengths and weaknesses,
growing pains and griefs. 
A child is given indeed!
A child is given that we know that heaven and earth are forever joined,
that no matter what we do,
no matter who we are,
no matter what we feel,
we are never alone.
Praise be to you, Holy One, Holy Three. Amen.

Christmas Litany
Every life in its particularity is precious to God, 
who came to us in a particular body, in a particular time.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

	Black lives, queer lives, Indigenous lives – these are precious to God.
	For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

	Trans lives, Palestinian lives, neurodivergent lives – these are precious to God.
	For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

	Undocumented lives, disabled lives, migrant lives – these are precious to God.
	For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

	All who face oppression, discrimination, war, and tumult are precious.
	For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

All who are burdened by mental unhealth 
and/or by the stigma attached to it are precious. 
	For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

All who find themselves outside of the inns of our society, 
lonely and outcast are precious.
	For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

All those who, like the shepherds, labor 
and especially those who labor during this day of celebration are precious.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

Salvation is here! Taste and see!
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!
	
Call to Offering
Glory to God in the highest heaven! 
God brings peace,
good news,
and great joy!
What do you have to offer back?

Prayer of Dedication
God of peace and joy, you bind us together 
as if in swaddling bands of our own cloth.
We are meant to be together,
meant to be active participants in your great story,
the story of humanity’s redemption.
We give these gifts with open eyes
that can see, if for but a moment,
strands of linen gently guiding us all
toward one another. Amen.

Benediction
Given-for-us one! Peace-bringing one!
Forever-and-ever one! Knit-us-together one!
The heavens are glad, fields exult, and trees sing out! 
The earth rejoices at your coming, Holy Child of Bethlehem!
Send us out with joy to announce your presence:
Glory to God in the Highest, and to all people, Peace. 

The Grace Of God Has Appeared!: Service Prayers for Christmas Eve/Day was written by Stephanie Dorsey, chaplain resident at York Hospital in York, PA

Copyright 2021 Faith INFO Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved.