Lectionary Readings
(from the Revised Common Lectionary)
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Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Nativity of the Lord - Proper I Christmas Eve & Day—Christmas, Year C
Summary
The modern Christmas Eve service was once the midnight mass that began the three services (at midnight, dawn, and daytime) of the feast of Christmas. The preacher should pay special attention to the arc of these passages and may make use of the time of day to evoke the themes of the readings. The first reading: here at night as the world sleeps, the church witnesses light: the birth of a ruler who will bring an everlasting dominion of peace to the world which will end war and injustice forever. The second reading brings the moral dimension to the King’s salvation: setting aside sin for purity and replacing perennial human temptations with the desire for good works. The Gospel reading ends with the angel messenger bringing the “glory of the Lord” to shine around the shepherds. The theme of light casting out darkness should take center stage and provides the preacher with many real-world circumstances familiar to people: sin, oppression, fear, anxiousness. The Lord’s light breaks into all of these, casting them out as surely as light overwhelms darkness.
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Nativity of the Lord - Proper II Christmas Eve & Day—Christmas, Year C
Summary
This Gospel of this second service in the Christmas trilogy, extended to verse 20, may focus on the shepherds’ response to the message: “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” This can be used as a teaser for the final Christmas Day service: where the John 1 reading will give full meaning to those who have followed the angels’ news to witness for themselves the glorious birth of the savior. At this early hour, however, the first reading may be an encouragement to those who have managed to pull themselves out of bed and show up at this sparsely attended service: the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem who do not rest. These are often the poor, the lonely, and those without families to celebrate with. They may be honored here as the church’s stalwart sentinels, using the eyes of faith to look ahead with the shepherds to the true light of which the comforts and consolations of the holidays are but signs and shadows.
