IV

CHRISTMAS

A. INTRODUCTION

In this chapter we have provided for the twelve days from Christmas to the Epiphany. We have also made provision for those services in late Advent that have, to a great extent, left behind the Advent emphasis on the Kingly Coming, and are preparing people to celebrate once again the birth at Bethlehem that Christ may be born again in them at the Christmas festival.

The heart of the Christmas celebration of the Incarnation is the Eucharist of Christmas Day. The provision for that service allows for its use at different times of day and night, and much of the material provided can be used at every celebration, whether at midnight or at any stage in the day. In structure the service departs from the Rite A shape only in the position of the Prayers of Penitence. It envisages the dedication of the crib at the beginning of the principal liturgy of Christmas, (in most, but not all, churches this will probably be at the midnight celebration) and sees the penitence at the crib as response to the love of God revealed in the child in the manger. Thus the penitential material becomes part of the preparation while the president is still, so to speak, on his way to the celebration.

But before Christmas night and morning comes - in many churches - the Carol Service. Here we have not given one set form, but provided rich resources. A Carol Service can be built on the Light Service + Vigil pattern already described. There are several sets of lections provided, and a number of forms of Introduction and concluding Collects. One of the Solemn Blessings for Advent or Christmas would also appropriately be used. For those seeking a less formal service than the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols model, this material will enable them to devise something tailored to their needs and opportunities.

There are three forms of service that have been devised with families and children very much in mind.

The first is a Christingle Service for use at any time during the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany cycle, and the rationale of this service is described in its own introduction.

The second is a Crib Service. In the form we have provided it is a Christmas Eve Service, and responds to the need in many parishes to hold a late afternoon or early evening non-sacramental service. It can be a very simple child-oriented service or can be extended to be a longer or more adult service more in line with the other Vigil Services in the book. Material from it can, with sensitive editing, also be used for a Crib Service or Family Service on an earlier date, such as the Fourth Sunday in Advent, or on Christmas Day itself.

At the heart of it, however and whenever it is celebrated, is the building-up ofthe crib with the telling of the story. It is a teaching service, but one that naturally leads into prayer and praise.

The third is a form for Christmas morning. This is supplementary to the Eucharist. In many churches the Eucharist for Chistmas Night or Morning will provide all that is needed. In other churches this additional service will either provide for a separate service or allow for some variations in the morning eucharist from the one celebrated in the night. This latter form, for instance, provides a shorter form of Christmas Intercession.

The chapter ends with provision of prayer material for use at the crib and more generally, and with a eucharistic preface and post-Communion prayer for the holy days after Christmas. It is also intended that material provided for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day should be used at the eucharist through the days until Epiphany.

The Sundays after Christmas provide particular difficulties, and in the Lectionary we have given maximum freedom to those who minister to provide what is appropriate in their communities. We have provided Propers for the First Sunday after Christmas, which give a Holy Family theme, but have also allowed for the celebration of St Stephen, St John, The Holy Innocents or The Naming of Jesus, if one of these falls on the Sunday. We also allow the minister to continue a much more straightforwardly incarnational theme by using 'spare' lections from the provision for Christmas Day itself. Indeed, we also allow the Readings and Psalms for Christmas 1 (The Holy Family) to be transferred to Christmas 2 (when there is such a Sunday) if this is pastorally desirable. The aim is to give priority to the most important material at times when people will be present, and to provide flexibility so that suitable complementary material can be used at other times.