Christmas Eve Candlelight Service 2025

December 24, 2025

✧

Lighting of the Advent Wreath 

We light the first candle, igniting our hope. 
We light the second candle, calling us to peace.
We light the third candle, kindling our joy. 
We light the fourth candle, calling us to love.
In the lighting of this wreath, we give thanks for these gifts
ALL: and we acknowledge that our longing for them  
is answered when we allow God to be born in us.

Please remain seated

Now Thank We All Our God

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,
the Son, and him who reigns with them in highest heaven;
the one eternal God, whom earth and heaven adore;
for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

~~ The Journey to Joy ~~

Our Plight

The First Reading

The field is ruined,
The land mourns,
For the grain is ruined,
Fresh oil fails.
The vine dries up
All the trees of the field dry up 
Indeed, rejoicing dries up
From the children of humankind. Joel 1:10,12

First Reflection

Advent is the holding of a thread of hope.
Christmas is the unfolding of its unlikely answer.

The hope is that something or someone will introduce 
something new, something needed, something healing
to answer the misery beset upon the world.

It’s filled with feverish hungers; aching and empty,

populated by people who are riddled with fear and exhaustion:
exhausted either by hanging on to too much, or by having too little.

By Gracious Powers

Now is this world by its old foe tormented, 
as evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
O give our frightened souls the sure salvation
for which, O God, you taught us to prepare.

Robert Lowry, 1874, Up from the Grave He Arose
to tune

 Our Hope

The Second Reading

For the day of the Lord is coming; Surely it is near.
Return to Me with all your heart, Now return to the Lord your God,
For God is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness,
Who knows whether God will not turn and relent and leave a blessing? Joel 2:1,13,14

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall 
grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:1-2

Second Reflection
This invitation to heed and return to God, paired with a promise
so compelling, however unlikely, lights hope in the hearts of the faithful.

Lift Up Your Heads

Fling wide the portals of your heart; make it a temple, set apart
from earthly use for heaven’s employ, adorned with payer and love and joy.

Redeemer come, with us abide; our hearts to thee we open wide; 
let us thy inner presence feel; thy grace and love in us reveal

The Arrival

The Third Reading

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for God has visited us and accomplished redemption for God’s people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David. Luke 2:68

The Third Reflection
So comes the unlikely answer. 
Break forth God did,

not in a clap of thunder or searing light
but in a newborn’s first breath.

The world longed for his coming.
But the world did not see his coming.

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus?

Come, thou long expected Savior, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.

The Fourth Reading

And it came about that while Mary and Joseph were in the City of 
David, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave 
birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped him in cloths, and laid 
Him in a manger. Luke 2:6,7

The Fourth Reflection
The world did not see.
The world did not hear.

The Answer to our longing, our need, our redemption. Messiah has come!

The Wonderful Counselor
The Mighty God
The Prince of Peace

in a stable, lying in a manger, God’s great gift is here, wrapped in swaddling.

But one good man and a faith-filled woman saw it
then a handful of peasant shepherds heard of it

Away in a Manger

Away in a Manger no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head,
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes;
I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay, 
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven to live with thee there.

The Announcement

The Fifth Reading
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. Luke 2:8-9,11-12

The Fifth Reflection
Upon entering the stable sanctuary,
the shepherds see an ordinary baby.
Yet feeling a very unordinary awe-some-ness,
the shepherds bowed and wept, then ran to sing the tidings of the Wonder.

Who Is He In Yonder Stall

Who is he in yonder stall wrap’d with love by Mary’s faith?
Who is he in yonder stall at whose fee the shepherds fall?

The Sixth Reading

And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all 
that they had heard and seen. Luke 2:20

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
Do you know what I know, do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know, do you know what I know?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold
Let us bring Him silver and gold; Let us bring Him silver and gold.

Said the king to the people everywhere,
List to what I say, listen to what I say,
Pray for peace, people everywhere!
Listen to what I say, listen to what I say,
The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night,
He will bring us goodness and light; He will bring us goodness and light.

Our Right Response

The Seventh Reading,

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save; 
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun.
“A Redeemer will come to Zion
“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Isaiah 59:1,16,19,20a; 60:1

The Seventh Reflection

God, the Voice of creation
The I AM THAT I AM of the burning bush
The One who parts the seas
lies cooing in a manger, wrapped in swaddling;

all that is humble
all that is gentle
all that is peace
all that is pure love

to undo pride and power, arrogance and might;
to expel fear with a smile,
forgive sin with a word.

Who else would have wrapped such grace in so unlikely a bundle?

And that Light, that Word

pulsing through the eons,
beckons us to lift our eyes
and breaks forth into our dark night

Silent Night

Silent Night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar, heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born!

Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love’s pure light; 
Radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace, 
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

Silent night, holy night, wondrous star, lend thy light; 
With the angels let us sing, Alleluia to our King;
Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born!

Lighting of the Christ Candle

In lighting the Christ Candle, 
we proclaim that God does indeed answer 
our longing; and comes to be born in us,
gifting us with Christ’s light and salvation.

We gather tonight to celebrate both the birth of the Jesus-Who-Is-the-Christ 
and the birth of the Christ-Who-is-God-In-Us. 
Thanks be to God

Jesus, The Light of the World

The Eighth Reading,
“My eyes have seen your salvation, [O God] which you have prepared in the presence 
of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:30-32

The Eighth Reflection
And because into the night of our lives
and the deep darkness of our world shines this unlikely answer, and
because we have seen our strand of hope threaded into a tapestry of glory;
because we have recognized an unlikely answer of dark-sundering, life-giving, 
soul-saving grace, we can come and bow and weep in wonder.

O Come, All Ye Faithful

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him, born the King of angels;
O come let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

Yea Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning,
Jesus, to thee be all glory given.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing:
O come let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

Joy to the World

Joy to the world, the Lord is 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.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns! 
Let all their songs employ;
while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
he comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found, 
far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness,
and wonders of his love, 
and wonders of his love,
and wonders, wonders of his love.

Benediction
Let us believe this if only with the thinnest of thread. 
For we have been blessed with God’s great answer to our hope and longing,
When we recognize the unexpected power of love, the unlikely generosity of grace,
we can carry this song and sing this refrain and we too can weave hope and 
live into God’s unlikely but glorious answer of redemption for us all.
May it be so. Go in Peace and with joy! Amen.

Reflection texts & Benediction: Linda Quanstrom © copyright pending, 2008