In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen.
Our Father and God, our gracious Lord, we gather before You now as a grateful people. We have been forgiven all our sins against You, and we have been given the gift of forgiving others their sins against us. We thank You for this, the central gift, the gift of Jesus Himself, the gift of forgiveness. We thank You for this gift, from which all other gifts that we may give or receive take their meaning.
We have been celebrating this holiday, yet again, and we have been doing so by giving one another gifts and presents, which we are delighted to do. We have been giving one another food, and wine, and carols, and plates of cookies and candy, and hot drinks, and time with one another, and stocking stuffers, and larger presents. All of these are wonderful miniatures of what You have done for us, Your people.
You have given us the gift of salvation, and we possess nothing that we have not received from You. Like little children at the dollar store buying a present for their father, with money given them by their mother, we are simply returning to You something that You have bestowed upon us in the first place. And yet we do it gladly, knowing that You receive it gladly.
And so, Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus, we offer this Christmas Eve worship service to You, and we ask that You would adorn what we offer in the glory of the Holy Spirit.
We pray with gratitude and delight, and we do it all in the kind name of Jesus, and amen.