Readings - in the order they appear in the service:
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My soul magnifies you, O God, and my spirit rejoices in you, my savior,
For you have looked with favor on the lowliness of your servant.
Surely, from now on, all generations will call me blessed,
For you have done great things for me, and holy is your name.
Your mercy is for those who love you from generation to generation.
You have shown strength in your arm and have
scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
You have brought down the powerful from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.
You have helped your servant, Israel, in remembrance of your mercy,
According to the promise you made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou
Thunder rumbles
in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eves of
our houses.
Flood waters await us in our
avenues.
Snow falls upon snow, falls upon
snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and
threatening.
Into this climate of fear and
apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing
bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness
high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away
from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.
Hope is born again in the faces of
our children.
It rides on the shoulders of our
aged.
Hope spreads around the earth,
brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches in dark
corridors.
In our joy, we think we hear a
whisper.
At first it is too soft.
We listen carefully as it gathers
strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is peace.
It is loud now. Louder than the explosion of bombs.
We
tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.
We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.
It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
to translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
to celebrate the promise of Peace.
We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.
Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.
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Then he shook. What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Who down in Who-ville, the small and the tall,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming! It Came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling, How could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags,
It came without packages, boxes, or bags.
And he puzzled three hours, til his puzzler was sore,
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
And what happened then? Well, in Who-ville they say,
That the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.
“And the people stayed home,” by Kitty O’Meara
And the people stayed home. And read
books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games,
and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated,
some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think
differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant,
dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved
their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new
ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
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For Christmas, may you receive the gift of time,
To enjoy and reflect in the moment, and
To savor the future—yours, your children’s, and your grandchildren’s.
The time that in our moments together
Transcends the time of clocks and calendars.
For Christmas, may you receive the gift of memory,
That does not dwell in the past, but rather
Adds flavor and sentiment to the present
And meaning and purpose to the future.
For Christmas, may you receive the gift of perspective,
That enables you to tell what is in front and what is behind,
That enables you to distinguish that which requires your attention
From that which will sort itself out on its own.
For Christmas, may you receive the gift of vision,
That is focused on seeing beauty that it finds everywhere.
For Christmas, may you receive the gift of God,
Who is Love, already delivered to the door of your heart,
Ready to pour in when you open it.
Beautiful service of contemporary lessons and carols for this time. Blessings to all and thank you for this wonderful gift!
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