Robert T. Young - "Why Celebrate Christmas?" (December 16, 1973)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(choir singing) | 0:53 | |
Pastor | Let us make a personal confession of our sins | 6:48 |
and offer repentance | 6:52 | |
for wasting our time and energy, | 6:55 | |
for lack of feeling or caring for the needs | 7:01 | |
and problems of others, of our students, our teachers, | 7:06 | |
our roommates, our families, | 7:13 | |
the oppressed, the hungry, | 7:19 | |
the lonely, the unemployed, | 7:23 | |
for an uncritical attitude to our own membership | 7:30 | |
and a society of affluence. | 7:35 | |
For a failure to think and pray and act deeply | 7:42 | |
for the mission and unity of the church. | 7:47 | |
Let us now join together in our advent response, | 7:54 | |
a prayer of supplication. | 7:58 | |
Oh, wisdom proceeding from the mouth of the highest | 8:03 | |
reaching from eternity to eternity | 8:07 | |
and disposing all things with strength and sweetness. | 8:10 | |
Oh Lord, and leader of Israel who did appear to Moses | 8:19 | |
in the burning bush and to deliver the law to him on Sinai. | 8:24 | |
Oh, root of Jesse who stood as an Ensign of the people | 8:33 | |
before whom Kings open not their mouths | 8:37 | |
to whom the nations shall pray. | 8:40 | |
(congregation affirming) | 8:44 | |
Oh, key of David and septor of Israel who openith | 8:48 | |
and none shut, who shut a none openith. | 8:51 | |
(congregation affirming) | 8:56 | |
- | Oh, Dayspring Splender of eternal light | 9:02 |
and sun of righteousness. | 9:05 | |
(congregation affirming) | 9:08 | |
- | Oh, king of nations. | 9:13 |
They are (indistinct) and the cornerstone that binds | 9:15 | |
them in one. | 9:18 | |
(congregation affirming) | 9:20 | |
Oh, Emmanuel our king and law-giver | 9:24 | |
the expectation and savior of the nations. | 9:27 | |
(congregation affirming) | 9:32 | |
Know that God has come, | 9:36 | |
that God does care that we can live as a new creation. | 9:39 | |
And now we can be bold to pray the prayer of our Lord, | 9:44 | |
our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, | 9:49 | |
thy kingdom come, | 9:56 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 9:58 | |
Give us this day, our daily bread | 10:03 | |
and forgive us our trespasses. | 10:06 | |
As we forgive those who trespass against us | 10:09 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 10:14 | |
but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom | 10:17 | |
and the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen. | 10:22 | |
(organ music) | 10:30 | |
(choir singing) | 11:18 | |
- | (Pastor 2) Isaiah 62, 10 through 12, | 15:02 |
go through, go through the gates, | 15:06 | |
prepare the way for the people. | 15:09 | |
Build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, | 15:12 | |
lift up and incent over the peoples, | 15:16 | |
behold the Lord has proclaimed the end of the earth, | 15:19 | |
say to the daughter of Zion, behold, | 15:23 | |
your salvation comes behold. | 15:26 | |
His reward is with him and his recompance before him. | 15:29 | |
And they shall say he called the holy people, | 15:33 | |
the redeemed of the Lord. | 15:37 | |
And you shall be called, sought out a city, not forsaken. | 15:39 | |
Luke three, two B through six. | 16:12 | |
The word of God came to John, | 16:19 | |
the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. | 16:21 | |
And he went into all the region about the Jordan, | 16:23 | |
preaching a baptism of repentance | 16:26 | |
for the forgiveness of sins. | 16:28 | |
As it is written in the book of the prophet of Isaiah, | 16:31 | |
the voice of one crying in the wilderness | 16:35 | |
prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. | 16:37 | |
Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill | 16:42 | |
shall be brought low and the crooked shall be made straight. | 16:45 | |
And the rough way shall be made smooth. | 16:49 | |
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. | 16:52 | |
This ends the lesson. | 16:56 | |
(organ music) | 16:59 | |
(choir singing) | 17:07 | |
♪ Amen Amen ♪ | 17:31 | |
Pastor 1 | Let us affirm our faith. | 17:39 |
We are not alone. | 17:43 | |
We believe in who has created and is creating, | 17:45 | |
who has come and the true man Jesus, | 17:51 | |
to reconcile and make me, | 17:54 | |
who works in us and others by his spirit. | 17:57 | |
We trust him. | 18:01 | |
He calls us to be his church, to celebrate his presence, | 18:03 | |
to love and serve others, | 18:09 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 18:12 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen. | 18:15 | |
Our judge and our hope | 18:19 | |
in life, in death, in life beyond death | 18:22 | |
God is with us. | 18:26 | |
We are not alone, thanks be to God. | 18:28 | |
The Lord be with you. | 18:33 | |
Congregation | And with your spirit. | 18:34 |
- | Let us pray. | 18:36 |
Oh Lord, our God, | 18:45 | |
you humbled yourself that we might be exalted. | 18:47 | |
You became poor that we might be enriched. | 18:52 | |
You came to us that we might come to you. | 18:59 | |
You became a person like us, | 19:05 | |
that we might share in a good life. | 19:08 | |
All this was done out of your love and our need. | 19:13 | |
We are gathered here and preparation for the celebration of | 19:20 | |
this great mystery | 19:23 | |
and this miracle. | 19:25 | |
To adore you, | 19:28 | |
to praise you, | 19:31 | |
to proclaim you | 19:33 | |
and to receive your word. | 19:36 | |
But we know that we are incapable of doing that. | 19:40 | |
Unless you come yourself to give wings | 19:45 | |
to our hearts and thoughts, | 19:49 | |
to enable them to be present to you | 19:53 | |
and us to recognize your presence. | 19:56 | |
We beseech you therefore to be in the midst of us, | 20:02 | |
show us and through the holy spirit, | 20:07 | |
prepare for us the way that leads to you, | 20:09 | |
that with our own eyes, which has come into the world, | 20:14 | |
we may see and may become your witnesses hereafter | 20:19 | |
throughout our own lives. | 20:24 | |
And now, oh God, | 20:28 | |
we lift for your love and care. | 20:31 | |
Those persons in our community who are sick, | 20:35 | |
who are grieved, | 20:39 | |
who are hopeless, | 20:43 | |
Comfort, support, | 20:48 | |
and care for them and help us | 20:51 | |
to be ministries of thy law. | 20:54 | |
We pray this in the spirit of our Lord | 20:58 | |
and savior Jesus Christ. | 21:01 | |
Amen. | 21:04 | |
(organ music) | 21:09 | |
(choir singing) | 21:46 | |
Pastor 3 | Why celebrate Christmas? | 23:24 |
The question may seem ridiculous. | 23:32 | |
It may seem unnecessary. | 23:37 | |
You may think it is a leading question | 23:42 | |
or a self answering question. | 23:44 | |
You probably think the question is superfluous | 23:49 | |
or out of order | 23:53 | |
or irrelevant or unnecessary. | 23:55 | |
Why celebrate Christmas? | 24:01 | |
Well how dare anyone even ask the question? | 24:04 | |
Now at this stage of the drama | 24:07 | |
at this point in the process, | 24:11 | |
why halfway through the advent season ask such a question? | 24:14 | |
When Santa Claus is everywhere, | 24:20 | |
when decorations of 10 Solon balls and lights are a glow in | 24:23 | |
star in stores and in homes. | 24:28 | |
When over $3 billion | 24:32 | |
are being spent | 24:36 | |
this Christmas for toys in this country alone. | 24:38 | |
When mail trucks are loaded with cards | 24:44 | |
and packages and letters. | 24:46 | |
Why ask such a question? | 24:47 | |
When young and old are getting all | 24:50 | |
worked up with excitement and enthusiasm | 24:53 | |
when even old Scrooge, | 24:56 | |
according to one radio commercial | 24:58 | |
is going out and doing his Christmas shopping. | 25:01 | |
Why celebrate Christmas? | 25:04 | |
Or some answers for celebrating Christmas come easy. | 25:08 | |
We celebrate Christmas to have family reunions. | 25:14 | |
Many families separated all year will be | 25:18 | |
reunited at this particular time of the year | 25:21 | |
for a day or two or even more. | 25:24 | |
Those families not together in one place will be together. | 25:27 | |
In one spirit. | 25:32 | |
We celebrate Christmas to help the economy. | 25:34 | |
Business is booming. | 25:38 | |
Clothes, toys, furniture, appliances, | 25:41 | |
beauty aids for men, as well as women. | 25:45 | |
Savings accounts, fruits and nuts and candies. | 25:49 | |
Christmas is a profitable time of the year | 25:54 | |
for almost all businesses. | 25:57 | |
Even now | 25:59 | |
we celebrate Christmas to have a good time. | 26:02 | |
All the open house gatherings, the games, the socials, | 26:05 | |
the dinners, the teas, | 26:10 | |
the Carol sings all very much a part of Christmas. | 26:11 | |
For most of us, a good time. | 26:15 | |
Ill feelings are forgotten. | 26:19 | |
Nostalgic memories creep up and add to | 26:23 | |
the goodness of this occasion. | 26:25 | |
We may be in debt, | 26:28 | |
angry with someone | 26:31 | |
frustrated or worried or anxious. | 26:33 | |
We may have problems galore, | 26:36 | |
but Christmas gives us a momentary respite because | 26:38 | |
a good time is available to most all of us. | 26:42 | |
We celebrate Christmas to give gifts, to receive gifts, | 26:47 | |
to have feasts and fun and food, | 26:52 | |
to get a break between classes and public schools | 26:55 | |
and here on campus to sing some good Christmas carols | 26:59 | |
and to hear some good music. | 27:03 | |
Why celebrate Christmas though? | 27:05 | |
Because if you really hurt deeply, | 27:08 | |
what is there that can touch you? | 27:11 | |
Or if you really are celebrating joyfully at this moment, | 27:14 | |
what more do you need? | 27:17 | |
How dare one ask? | 27:22 | |
Why that's about like asking why eat ice cream in the summer | 27:24 | |
or why I throw snowballs in the winter? | 27:27 | |
And I just talked with the radio station and they tell me | 27:29 | |
that snow is on the way here so, | 27:32 | |
why throw snowballs perhaps this afternoon? | 27:35 | |
Or that's about as ridiculous as asking why I get up in the | 27:39 | |
morning or why go to bed at night? | 27:42 | |
You just do it. | 27:45 | |
It is just presumed, | 27:48 | |
or assumed that we celebrate Christmas, just | 27:50 | |
one of those things that everybody | 27:56 | |
we think does, even when patriotic truck drivers | 28:00 | |
block our highways, | 28:06 | |
even when brown outs and energy shortages surround us, | 28:08 | |
even when a recession or decline or | 28:15 | |
depression is eminent, | 28:18 | |
even in foreign countries. | 28:21 | |
But why celebrate Christmas? | 28:24 | |
I think some individuals are asking at this moment, | 28:26 | |
for example, why celebrate Christmas? | 28:29 | |
Cries Alan MacDonald, | 28:31 | |
23 years old, massively burned 13 years ago | 28:35 | |
and just | 28:41 | |
finishing extensive plastic surgery | 28:42 | |
to restore his body to some semblance of good health. | 28:45 | |
When last week gunpowder exploded and he was burned severely | 28:48 | |
again, and he cried out, why does God hate me? | 28:52 | |
Or ask | 28:58 | |
young Teddy Kennedy | 29:01 | |
his tragedy seems to continue to stalk | 29:04 | |
that family. | 29:08 | |
Why celebrate Christmas, he may ask, | 29:13 | |
as he receives hundreds of letters | 29:17 | |
from across the country, | 29:20 | |
many from young boys | 29:21 | |
suffering from the same | 29:23 | |
malady that has affected him, | 29:27 | |
or why celebrate Christmas? | 29:30 | |
Perhaps John Cappelletti is asking this morning, | 29:31 | |
as he last Thursday evening carefully dedicated his Heisman | 29:35 | |
trophy to his young 11 year old brother | 29:39 | |
who for six years has fought the fatal | 29:42 | |
terminal illness of leukemia. | 29:45 | |
Why celebrate Christmas? | 29:49 | |
Well, you never question it. | 29:52 | |
You just do it, | 29:54 | |
but there's nothing in scripture that says, | 29:58 | |
remember now the birth of Jesus in this manner. | 30:00 | |
Or there's nothing in Chritton scripture that says, | 30:05 | |
celebrate Christmas in remembrance of me | 30:07 | |
or that this you must do every December 25 | 30:11 | |
every year. | 30:16 | |
For you see it has not always been the way we know it. | 30:18 | |
We have not always done it. | 30:22 | |
Liturgical writings tell us that the term Christ's mass | 30:25 | |
Christmas was first used in the 12th century. | 30:30 | |
By the seventh century Christmas was viewed | 30:35 | |
as the beginning of the Christian year. | 30:38 | |
And advent was the time of preparation for Christmas. | 30:40 | |
The observance of Christmas was so we were told | 30:44 | |
first begun about 300 AD. | 30:47 | |
So it has not always been this way when we consider | 30:51 | |
either the third or the seventh or the 12th century, | 30:54 | |
as the time when the church officially | 30:57 | |
began to observe Christmas. | 30:59 | |
And certainly it has not always been the way we observe it | 31:03 | |
here. | 31:09 | |
Why celebrate Christmas? | 31:10 | |
Now that the question is before us, let me try to respond. | 31:14 | |
Christmas tells us of the incarnation of God | 31:19 | |
in a person, in Jesus. | 31:25 | |
God who made earth and heaven, | 31:28 | |
the stars and the land, the seas, | 31:30 | |
and the planets galaxies upon galaxies. | 31:33 | |
QuTech with all its promise of splendor. | 31:36 | |
This God became one in a real live human being. | 31:39 | |
The word John's description became a human person and lived | 31:45 | |
among us for a while. | 31:50 | |
Christmas then is more than lights and balls and | 31:54 | |
Cowboy suits and Bing Crosby or Mahalia Jackson singing. | 31:57 | |
It's more than feed food and feasts and fun. | 32:00 | |
Christmas is the good news that God loved the world so much | 32:04 | |
that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him | 32:10 | |
shall have not destruction, but eternal life. | 32:14 | |
What then do dolls and bicycles and toy tanks and toy guns | 32:20 | |
and tinker toys and monopoly games and space helmets have to | 32:24 | |
do with Christmas. | 32:28 | |
Not very much, | 32:32 | |
if anything at all, | 32:35 | |
because beyond all this behind all this, before all this, | 32:40 | |
there is something more fundamental, more real, | 32:46 | |
and more lasting. | 32:48 | |
And this something is the reason that Christmas continues | 32:49 | |
with us today. | 32:53 | |
If toys and gifts and games had been all or took Christmas, | 32:55 | |
Christmas would have died long ago, | 32:58 | |
as good and enjoyable as these may be, | 33:01 | |
there is an emptiness about them. | 33:03 | |
They simply do not last as a matter of fact, | 33:05 | |
they're even made not to last, | 33:08 | |
but Christmas Christ's mass comes and goes and will go on | 33:11 | |
forever because it tells of God. | 33:16 | |
God's love and God's son. | 33:19 | |
And it tells of you and me and of our hope, | 33:23 | |
for now and for eternity. | 33:27 | |
His name shall be called Emmanuel, | 33:30 | |
which means God with us, | 33:32 | |
you shall call his name Jesus for, | 33:35 | |
he shall save his people. | 33:38 | |
Why celebrate Christmas? | 33:42 | |
Because behind the glitter and the glow | 33:44 | |
of the lights and the ornaments, | 33:46 | |
there is the good news that God has come | 33:48 | |
to be with you and me. | 33:51 | |
Why celebrate Christmas? | 33:56 | |
Because my friends, there's something there for me, | 33:58 | |
for each person on earth. | 34:03 | |
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in Christ the Center. | 34:07 | |
Christ is Christ, not as Christ in himself, | 34:11 | |
but in his relation to me, | 34:16 | |
his being Christ is his being Christ | 34:19 | |
pro may, for me. | 34:23 | |
Christ is not Christ in isolation, that is, | 34:28 | |
he is not Christ set apart from others, | 34:31 | |
but Christ is Christ because he is Christ for me | 34:34 | |
and fo you. | 34:38 | |
Luther says, | 34:42 | |
so it is this, | 34:44 | |
it is one thing. | 34:45 | |
If God is there | 34:47 | |
and another, | 34:51 | |
if he is there for you, | 34:53 | |
we celebrate Christmas because God is there. | 34:58 | |
God is here, God is present for each one of us. | 35:01 | |
As Edward B Lindemann writes in space, | 35:08 | |
a new direction for mankind. | 35:10 | |
The universe is not only stranger than we imagine. | 35:13 | |
The universe is stranger than we can possibly imagine. | 35:19 | |
So we celebrate Christmas because God's love is not only | 35:25 | |
stranger than we imagined. | 35:29 | |
God's love is stranger than we can possibly imagine | 35:31 | |
because it includes you and me. | 35:36 | |
It is that great. | 35:42 | |
We celebrate Christmas because God says in this moment, | 35:47 | |
words like those of Samuel H. Miller | 35:50 | |
bring forth the sound of music in you. | 35:54 | |
You've never heard before, | 35:57 | |
elicit from your heart and mind | 36:00 | |
the symphony of your life, | 36:02 | |
make something of yourself, | 36:05 | |
not only of yourself, but make something of the thousands | 36:08 | |
I, the tens of thousands of your life's possibilities. | 36:12 | |
Be salt to the earth. | 36:17 | |
Be light to the world, be yourself and join the man. | 36:19 | |
Jesus in fulfilling as Helen prayed, | 36:23 | |
God's love. | 36:28 | |
And man, the believer Miller continues. | 36:33 | |
I am we, | 36:35 | |
before I am I, | 36:39 | |
and if I cannot maintain the essential we, | 36:41 | |
the I does not last very long. | 36:45 | |
And each of us becomes an authentic we, | 36:51 | |
as we become one with the Christ of Christmas. | 36:57 | |
Why celebrate Christmas? | 37:04 | |
It reminds me that there is more than me | 37:09 | |
and this more, I call God | 37:16 | |
and him I worship, | 37:20 | |
Him, I celebrate at Christmas, | 37:23 | |
for you see, I need to worship. | 37:26 | |
Dr. Miller tells us and I quote | 37:32 | |
after the second world war a | 37:35 | |
nasty novel called The Tin Drum was written by Gunter Grass | 37:37 | |
and achieved best seller fame. | 37:42 | |
It was about a boy who decided at the age of three, | 37:45 | |
that he was never going to grow up. | 37:48 | |
Miller says there are many people in our world who have | 37:53 | |
decided at one time or another that they were not going to | 37:56 | |
grow up at least any further | 37:59 | |
than they were. | 38:03 | |
They had their little drum, their favorite tantrums. | 38:04 | |
And they made very well staying just as they were, | 38:10 | |
as someone has said in this kind of world, | 38:15 | |
we need only the fear, the small scale individual, | 38:19 | |
his very littleness, | 38:23 | |
his shriveled fears will bring the larger world | 38:25 | |
down around our heads. | 38:29 | |
He wants everything. | 38:33 | |
His own size. | 38:35 | |
There is something, | 38:40 | |
someone, if you will. | 38:43 | |
That reminds me that things are not my size. | 38:46 | |
There is something beyond me, | 38:52 | |
more than me, | 38:56 | |
greater than me, for you see affairs of ours | 38:58 | |
are now soul size, | 39:01 | |
which means they are limitless and as great or as high | 39:03 | |
or as broad or as deep as I can imagine. | 39:07 | |
And even more than I can imagine, | 39:10 | |
I celebrate Christmas because I need to worship. | 39:15 | |
Isaiah wrote and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. | 39:19 | |
And Luke wrote and the shepherds returned glorifying and | 39:25 | |
praising God for all they had seen and heard. | 39:28 | |
So I tell you this morning | 39:34 | |
that if you come through Christmas and your sense of all | 39:37 | |
and worship and wonder has not been touched, | 39:42 | |
then you have come through Christmas, | 39:45 | |
but you really have not experienced Christmas. | 39:47 | |
Oh, I need to worship | 39:52 | |
listen to the words of a sh of a shepherd | 39:57 | |
shepherd out on the Hills, somewhere in Palestine. | 40:01 | |
I have seen many strange things | 40:08 | |
out in these fields at night, | 40:12 | |
a star falling into the sea of salt, | 40:15 | |
clouds tracing dark omens in the sky. | 40:19 | |
Jackals pacing the rim of the hills, | 40:22 | |
legions marching to war by torch light, but never, | 40:26 | |
never such a sight as came tonight. | 40:31 | |
Once | 40:37 | |
he says at mid-morning | 40:39 | |
for a foolish wager, | 40:43 | |
I gazed at the sun for twice the time it takes a man to | 40:46 | |
count the fingers of his hand and I was blind | 40:49 | |
half the morning, | 40:52 | |
but that was nothing at all. | 40:57 | |
Compared to this, | 40:59 | |
it was of a sudden that the light shone | 41:03 | |
we fell screaming to the wet grass. | 41:07 | |
The end, the end judgment is come, | 41:11 | |
but a soft voice | 41:19 | |
that yet filled all the land spoke | 41:22 | |
and it's ringing put me in mind of all things | 41:26 | |
pure and why, | 41:29 | |
it was a such as God might use. | 41:32 | |
He is come at last it said. | 41:37 | |
Emmanuelle angels fill the sky | 41:42 | |
and sweet voices sang in the city of David, | 41:46 | |
they said go hallelujah. | 41:49 | |
At first we stood dumb with doubt, | 41:56 | |
angels of God, | 42:00 | |
come to us. | 42:02 | |
And again, the voice spoke as song filled the sky. | 42:04 | |
A savior is come, go worship. | 42:07 | |
God is come. | 42:13 | |
Stumbling, ragged beggars perhaps, | 42:17 | |
but sons of David too, we went, | 42:23 | |
filled with wonder. | 42:26 | |
I was there. | 42:30 | |
I saw the bay, | 42:32 | |
my Lord and my God. | 42:35 | |
It is he. | 42:39 | |
Why celebrate Christmas? | 42:42 | |
I need to worship | 42:47 | |
my Lord and my God, | 42:51 | |
the name of the father | 42:57 | |
and of the son | 42:59 | |
and of the holy spirit. | 43:01 | |
Amen. | 43:05 | |
(organ music) | 43:19 | |
♪ Angels we have heard on high ♪ | 44:12 | |
♪ Sweetly singing o'er the plains ♪ | 44:17 | |
♪ And the mountains in reply ♪ | 44:22 | |
♪ Echoing their joyous strains. ♪ | 44:27 | |
♪ Gloria, ♪ | 44:32 | |
♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ | 44:43 | |
♪ Gloria, ♪ | 44:48 | |
♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ | 44:58 | |
♪ Come to Bethlehem and see ♪ | 45:07 | |
♪ Christ Whose birth the angels sing ♪ | 45:12 | |
♪ Come, adore on bended knee ♪ | 45:17 | |
♪ Christ the Lord, the newborn King ♪ | 45:22 | |
♪ Gloria ♪ | 45:27 | |
♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ | 45:38 | |
♪ Gloria ♪ | 45:43 | |
♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ | 45:54 | |
(organ music) | 46:11 | |
(choir singing) | 50:03 | |
(organ music) | 50:12 | |
(choir singing) | 50:16 | |
Pastor | Oh Lord, | 51:27 |
from whom we receive all and upon whom | 51:29 | |
we are ever dependent, | 51:32 | |
except this offering of ourselves before you | 51:34 | |
unto the service of all your people | 51:39 | |
use our being and our doing | 51:43 | |
our gifts and our goods for your glory | 51:47 | |
and the wellbeing of your creation Amen. | 51:51 | |
(organ music) | 51:57 | |
♪ The first Noel ♪ | 52:48 | |
♪ Tthe angels did say ♪ | 52:52 | |
♪ Was to certain poor shepherds ♪ | 52:56 | |
♪ in fields as they lay ♪ | 52:59 | |
♪ In fields as they lay, they were keeping their sheep ♪ | 53:04 | |
♪ On a cold winter's night that was so deep ♪ | 53:12 | |
♪ Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel ♪ | 53:21 | |
♪ Born is the King of Israel ♪ | 53:31 | |
(organ music) | 53:41 | |
(indistinct) | 53:44 | |
May the blessing of God almighty our creator, | 57:28 | |
Redeemer and sustainer | 57:33 | |
rest upon us and all our work | 57:36 | |
and worship. | 57:39 | |
May God give us light to guide us, | 57:41 | |
courage to support us | 57:45 | |
and love to unite us now | 57:48 | |
and forever more, Amen. | 57:51 | |
♪ Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel ♪ | 57:56 | |
♪ Born is the King of Israel. ♪ | 58:10 | |
(church bell ringing) | 58:25 | |
(organ music) | 58:36 |
Item Info
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