Christmas Proclamation

Two thousand years ago, in the immense and powerful Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken. Somewhere in the border region of Palestine, a young, humble couple, Mary and Joseph, set out from the insignificant town of Nazareth and traveled to the town of Bethlehem in Judaea. There was no room for them in the inn, and so Mary gave birth to a son and had to put him in a manger. An angel said to poor shepherds: "That child lying in the manger is the Savior born to you and to the world: He is Christ the Lord." This same news is proclaimed to us: Your Savior is born to you. You are happy and you smile. But now you must proclaim in word and deed that Jesus is your Savior and Lord. Let your mercy and love proclaim him. Let your sense of justice and fairness proclaim him. Let your love and unity proclaim him. Let your concern for the poor and your welcome to the weak proclaim him. Then we can really sing with one voice tonight: "Glory to God in the highest and peace to the people he loves."

Greeting

The Lord is here with you.
R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

A. Flesh From Our Flesh

Yes, we are assured tonight that the Lord is really with us: He smiles on us through a little child lying newborn in a manger. God has come to us in his humble way. The star of his coming has come to rest on this church, on this community. Are we humble and little enough to accept him the way he comes to us?

B. Weak With Us to Make Us Strong

Tonight we remember fondly that God tells us: "See, I come in your night of loneliness and anxiety." My star rests above your community. To you I announce the Good News: I love you, my people. I bring you the forgiveness of your sins and life in abundance, for I visit you, my people, through my own Son, Jesus Christ. I come to you in all my poverty and brittleness in my beloved Son to make all of you my sons and daughters. Recognize that you are poor and fragile with my Son and you will find life and joy and strength in him.

Because of the Christmas proclamation, the Penitential Act could perhaps be omitted.
For those who prefer to keep it:

Penitential Act

We have lost our freshness and grown tired
because of our sins and failures.
Let us tell the Lord that we are sorry
and acclaim his coming among us.
(PAUSE)
People living in darkness,
here comes your light.
Let it enlighten and save you:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

People wounded and burdened,
here comes your Savior.
Let him heal you.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

People who keep hoping,
here comes God as a child
to make you adults in faith and love.
Let him bring you peace.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Lord, let the peace of your pardon
come over us and over our world.
Lead us to the joy of a new world
and of everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray to our loving God
for giving us Jesus
(PAUSE)
Glory to you, God in the highest,
for bringing peace on earth to your people
and for letting your Son Jesus smile on us
from the arms of Mary, his mother.
Let him be our hope and our joy,
our forgiveness and our life.
Create us anew in the image of Jesus,
for then we become more like him,
you may recognize us in him
and our love can become deep and faithful.
Help us to give him to the world,
that all may become fresh and new again
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction: A Light In Our Darkness
      A child born to us will bring us light and peace from God.

First Reading: Is 9:1-7

The people who walk in darkness
have seen a great light.
A light has dawned
on those who live in the land of the shadow of death.

You have enlarged the nation;
you have increased their joy.
They rejoice before you,
as people rejoice at harvest time
as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.

For the yoke of their burden,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressors,
you have broken it as on the day of Midian.

Every warrior's boot that tramped in war,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be thrown out for burning,
will serve as fuel for the fire.

For a child is born to us,
a son is given us;
the royal ornament is laid upon his shoulder,
and his name is proclaimed:
"Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

To the increase of his powerful rule
in peace, there will be no end.

Vast will be his dominion,
he will reign on David's throne
and over all his kingdom,
to establish and uphold it
with justice and righteousness
from this time onward and forever.
The zealous love of Yahweh Sabaoth will do this.
The Lord has sent a word against Jacob:
the sentence fell upon Israel.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 96:1-9-3, 11-13

R Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing the Lord, all you lands.
Sing to the Lord; bless his name.
R Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
The shall all the trees of the forest exult.
R Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

They shall exalt before the Lord, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the people with his constancy.
R Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Second Reading Introduction: Jesus, the Gift of God's Grace
       The coming of Jesus was God's gift of grace to all people. But he depends on our cooperation.

Second Reading: Tit 2:11-14

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,
teaching us to reject an irreligious way of life and worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, upright and serving God, while we await our blessed hope - the glorious manifestation of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus.
He gave himself for us, to redeem us from every evil and to purify a people he wanted to be his own and dedicated to what is good.

Gospel Introduction: Today A Savior Has Been Born To Us
       This is the Good News of today: a Savior has been born to us. Let us give glory to God.

Gospel Reading: Lk 2:1-14

At that time the emperor issued a decree for a census of the whole empire to be taken.
This first census was taken while Quirinus was governor of Syria.
Everyone had to be registered in his own town.
So everyone set out for his own city; Joseph too set out from Nazareth of Galilee. As he belonged to the family of David, being a descendant of his, he went to Judea to David's town of Bethlehem to be registered with Mary, his wife, who was with child.

They were in Bethlehem when the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the living room.

The shepherds and the angels

There were shepherds camping in the countryside, taking turns to watch over their flocks by night. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them, with the Glory of the Lord shining around them.
As they were terrified, the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid; I am here to give you good news, great joy for all the people.
Today a Savior has been born to you in David's town; he is the Messiah and the Lord.

Let this be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Suddenly the angel was surrounded by many more heavenly spirits, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth for God is blessing humankind."

Commentary

It is time to cry out, to announce glad tidings: Our God is King. Our God has come to bring us joy and to see the restoration of all our lives, to comfort and redeem us. Our God now belongs to all the nations and his bare arm is for all. This is the power of God, the power of a newborn who is the Son of God made flesh, through whom he created the universe. He is the reflection of the Father's glory and he is the sustaining power of life for all in the Spirit. We are called to worship the Trinity as we stand before the crèche and wonder at our God among us. But we must be careful not to get caught up in the piety of the child, for this child is the grown man, beloved of God, the Word since the beginning, the light, the truth, God of God. This child/man/God, when he came, was even rejected by his own. This child is the enduring love of God and we have been given a share in this fullness of God. This is the only God we have ever seen. This is Jesus revealing God. This is what it means to be human. God is incarnated as one of us-we now meet God in every human being, in the Word, and in God's enduring Love/Eucharist/the Body of Christ-all humanity. The way we love one another is the way we love God. God is born in us today.