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Music - Hark how the bells (Leontovych arr Wilhousky, Ukraine) performed by the Choir of Bath Abbey. Director of Music Huw Williams.

Welcome from the Reverend Stephen GirlingÌýÌýÌýÌý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

Welcome to Bath – as our choir has just sung - Christmas is here, Bringing good cheer! Happy Christmas to one and all from me, Revd Stephen Girling, Abbey Missioner and everyone here.Ìý This World Heritage Site is at the heart of a busy city and a popular destination for visitors from around the world. The Abbey is a house of prayer for all nations – so it’s our joy and delight to welcome you all to our Christmas day worship. Christ was acclaimed as the prince of peace – as we celebrate his birth, we’ll hear about the hope that he brings to all nations as we live and tell the good news of Jesus.

Carol - O come all ye faithful, sung by the Bath Abbey Choir and congregation

Prayers:

Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, your birth at Bethlehem

draws us to kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth:

accept our heartfelt praise as we worship you,

our Saviour and our eternal God. Amen

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The Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold that the child to be born would be a saviour for the nations. He described him as a Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,ÌýÌýÌýEverlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ÌýIt’s no wonder his birth is still celebrated today, 2000 years later.

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Reading: Isaiah 9: 6-7

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Rev'd Stephen Girling: In his poem, Christmas Bells, the American poet Henry Longfellow describes how church bells herald the good news of peace on earth and good-will to all humanity! Celia Imrie read it for us, introduced by the Abbey’s ring of bells:

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Poetry reading Christmas Bells by Henry Longfellow, read by Celia Imrie

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Reverend Stephen Girling

As a house of prayer for all nations (and with the good-will of which Longfellow spoke), many many people visit here over the Advent and Christmas season – to pray with us for peace on earth. The Bath Christmas market brings tens of thousands of people to the city, and the Abbey and precincts are at its heart. On three Saturdays we hold shoppers carol services – they are hugely popular. Ellie is a new member of our hospitality team and experienced it for the first time. Ellie - what was it like?

Ellie - Hectic but wonderful – we just opened the great west doors and people pour in with their shopping bags, really grateful for the warm welcome. After the pandemic lockdowns it was joyous to see so many people coming together to sing some carols and share a moment of peace in the middle of the busy Christmas Market. We were unsure what the turnout might be, but across the 3 Saturdays we welcomed over 5000 visitors – so all in all a big success!

Stephen Girling What did you most enjoy?

SG - I love that people come from diverse places and so enjoy the service. Ellie, why are these services so important to the Abbey?

EB – Yes, visitors from all over attend. It’s a chance for the church to say to people ‘you might be here for a bit of shopping – but come in, we’re interested in you’. Because Everyone is important to God whoever they are.

Music -Ìý Suo gan (Welsh lullaby arr Guest) sung by the Choir of Bath Abbey

Rebecca is a one of the younger members of the Abbey church family, she will read the story of Jesus’ birth as told by Luke, after which we’ll sing the carol: Joy to the World.

Reading: Luke 2v1-14

Music: Joy to the World – sung by the Bath Abbey Choir and congregation

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I’m Cath Candish a trainee Vicar at the Abbey. It's my great pleasure to introduce three members of our extraordinary girls’ choir: Maddie, Amelia and Emma.

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Welcome. I know you are currently very busy juggling A level revision along with all your choir commitments. This year you've celebrated the 25th anniversary of the girls’ choir, and you brought out a beautiful new album called Caritas. Amelia, what do you enjoy about being part of the Abbey choir?

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Amelia : It's not just the singing, it's also the trips, the adventures we have together, the way we are friends with all different age groups and look out for one another, and I also love Anchor, the group where we have pizza and games after choir, and a chance to explore our own Christian faith. Ìý

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I know a very poignant moment for you all this year was the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Since the crowning here of Edgar as the first King of all England, the Abbey has had an association with royalty. I was there when you sang so beautifully at her commemoration service. It is well known how important her Majesty's own Christian faith was to her, isn't it?

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Amelia: Yes, I admire her for loving service…

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Maddie, what do you love about Christmas day?ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Ìý

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Maddie: (replies with her favourite things about Christmas)

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Emma, tell us, what’s the musical highlight of your Christmas?

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Emma, Maddie, Amelia, thank you so much - now you and the rest of the choir are going to sing something really quite special aren’t you?

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Emma: yes, in 2015 our musical director Huw Williams composed this lovely setting of Away in a Manger for the Queen’s Christmas broadcast.

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Music Away in a manger (arr Huw Williams) Bath Abbey Choir

Rev'd Stephen Girling: Thanks be to God. The Abbey is part of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Last month we were delighted to welcome Bishop Michael as the 80th Bishop of the Diocese and he’s kindly made his way from Wells to Bath to speak to us. First we hear how the gospel writer John described the coming of Jesus as hope for the whole world. Naomi is a member of the Abbey family, thank you:

Reading: John 1v1-5, 10-14ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Naomi Hendricks

Sermon by Bishop Michael Beasley

Having a baby! There can be few phrases, in the English or any other language, more pregnant with implication.

The given figures vary, but For first babies, labour tends to last between 12 and 19 hours. In the UK, the average weight of a full term baby is around 7lb 8oz for boys, 7lb 4oz for girls. The average length of a newborn is 51cm. The overwhelming majority of UK babies are born in hospitals. Only around 2% of births happen at home.

Since human beings have been giving birth for millennia, we’d think perhaps, that having a baby is something that we should just be able to take in our stride. Yet of course, having a baby changes everything – our priorities, our responsibilities, our possibilities. Having a baby changes the ways in which we spend our days. It introduces into our lives a whole range of factors and complications that we’d never previously contemplated. And that’s before we begin to consider the reality of those who fall pregnant and don’t want to be. Or of the sadness and grief of those who have lost their child or who long to receive news of having a baby but for whom it is not possible.

The baby whose birth we celebrate at Christmas certainly didn’t arrive without complications. A contested paternity in a conservative society. For his young, final trimesterÌý mother, a 70 mile trek demanded by an occupying power just before his birth. Delivery facilities that were hardly hygienic. All followed by immediate threats to this baby’s existence that forced the family to flee the birth scene and adopt refugee status in a neighbouring territory. Not exactly the fairy tale beginning that anyone would hope for on saying the words ‘I’m having a baby’.

Yet whatever the circumstances of their arrival, to hold a baby in our arms is to experience hope. To encounter in such vulnerability and fragility so much possibility, wonder, potential and promise. When we hold a baby we feel and know that a new thing is happening. In Jesus, such a gift is given for all people, a hope for all nations.

But what is the hope that Jesus brings? For some people, hope means little more than wishful thinking, a sentimental notion that somehow everything’s going to turn out just as we’d like it to. Sometimes we can even think this about babies. That experiencing a newborn is going to be only about sweetness and light. (And if you don’t believe me take a look at the line in the carol ‘Away in a Manger’ which tells of a ‘Little Lord Jesus’ who ‘no crying he makes’). Lovely poetry perhaps but hardly realistic as anyone who’s had the care of a new baby for more than an hour will tell you. As a 100% human baby Jesus smiled, cried, gurgled, howled, slept and got colic just like any other.

The hope Jesus offers is not for a world where everything’s perfect and where our every wish gets granted. Rather what we’re offered in Jesus is an engagement with the full reality of our human lives – which include not only all that we’d want, but also all that we’d rather avoid but must contend with. This baby doesn’t come to tell us that from now on everything’s going to be simple, plain sailing. Jesus is a baby born into our complicated geopolitical world. He is a child caught up into the kind of contested family relationships that at some level most of us experience. He is an infant vulnerable and fragile, like any other and probably more than most. As liable to both set backs and successes as any of us. The hope Jesus offers isn’t one that mouths easy words that say ‘It’s all going to be fine from now on’. Let’s face it, this is the baby who grows up later in life to call those who will follow him to ‘Take up your cross and follow me.’ What Jesus does promise is that he will be with us always, even to the end of time.

For ultimately the hope Jesus offers is one that’s based on a relationship that lives, breathes, has growing pains, even teething troubles. That’s as real and wonderful, at times as frustrating and challenging as that to be experienced in being part of the life and development of any baby. This child is not just for Christmas. His invitation is to a journey that’s life long, a growing relationship that’s capable of walking with us through both the ups and the downs, the good days and bad, the times of joy but also of sorrow and suffering. And coming to us in the fulness of his humanity, Jesus reaches out to meet us in ours. In all our beauty and our strength. In all our weaknesses and foibles.

It's to announce this life-long, life-full, whole life hope that the angel who announces the arrival of this baby says ‘I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: to you is born this day in the City of David a saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.’

Whoever we are, where ever we are, Jesus is hope for us. Hope because this baby comes to us today not in great power and strength, but in gentleness and weakness. Hope because this baby comes not to overwhelm or overpower us, but to touch our hearts with tenderness. Hope because this baby comes to make his home with us and to invite our welcome and response. Hope because as any of us are changed by the arrival of a new born, he asks us to open our hearts to him and to his love.

The choir are just about to sing the anthem ‘Mary had a baby’. Having a baby – this one’s for all of us! Amen.

Music Mary Had a baby (Sargent) sung by the Bath Abbey Choir

Rev'd Stephen Girling

Bethlehem was the birthplace of Jesus. 100’s of years before his birth the town was under siege and the prophet Micah gave the people hope with the promise of a saviour. In a moment we’re going to hear how the Abbey has been a place of hope during the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, first let us sing together O little town of Bethlehem

Music : O little town of Bethlehem sung by the Bath Abbey Choir and congregation

Greetings, my name is Revd Chantal Mason, I’m the Abbey pastor. The outbreak of war in Ukraine in February was a huge shock to us all. Over the spring and summer, 10’s of thousands of our visitors from all over the world wrote prayers for peace - and for refugees of the conflict. These prayers have been offered to God with those of the Abbey community. We’ve also hosted concerts and other events to raise money to support the relief effort. And to show solidarity, as a city, with the people of Ukraine - we lit the Abbey tower in the colours of the Ukraine flag. Most recently we’ve been working with the local Charity, Bath Welcomes Refugees, to host language classes for Ukrainian refugees.

Vira, welcome. You came to the UK from Ukraine in May, with your daughter, how important has it been for her and for other Ukrainian children, to find a home here?

Vira – ourÌýchildren feel safe / the world is not all terrifying / not all strangers are bad people, there are kind people / they can look forward with optimism / Daughter loves the Abbey & the importance of a sense of history / Children have made new friends in their schools / become more open minded / believe in themselves / St Nicholas day party for Ukrainian and English children.

Chantal – what are your hopes for the future of your country?

Vira - We are strong, we will win / husband, son and family in Ukraine, hopeful / have good support / thankful for all the help we’ve received / gives us hope.

Chantal – Alice you’re the deputy chair of Bath Welcomes Refugees, what would you say to all of us at this Christmas time - about our support for refugees?

ÌýAlice – BWR works with refugees from different countries / Christmas hope - Jesus was a refugee / kindness and care for others / the heart of the Christian faith …. Etc.

ÌýChantal – Vira and Alice, thank you for sharing. To reflect that example of Christ who cared for all people without discrimination, the choir will now sing Carl Rutti’s traditional carol ….

Music - I wonder as I wander, sung by the Choir of Bath Abbey

Prayers – The Perry family

To the invitation ‘Jesus, saviour’, please respond, ‘Hear our prayer’. Let us pray.

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Lord God, we remember today that at Jesus’s birth, there was no room in the inn.Ìý We pray for all who are homeless or seeking refuge.Ìý We bring before you those without shelter and those who are hungry.ÌýÌý

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We think particularly of children who have no homes and no food, and no presents or joy for Christmas.ÌýÌý Lord God, please comfort these children.

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Jesus, Saviour:

Hear our prayer.

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God of peace, we pray for the peoples of Ukraine and also of Russia.

We pray for all those with power over war and peace, for justice which enables the laying down of weapons,

And for wisdom and compassion to guide their decisions.

Above all Jesus, Prince of Peace, we pray for all your precious children, at risk and in fear for tomorrow, that your light would overcome their darkness.

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Jesus, Saviour:

Hear our prayer.

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Lord God, we pray for His Majesty Charles the Third and Her Majesty The Queen Consort, for their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales and for all the Royal Family.ÌýÌý May they be guided by your word and by the example of service seen in the life of your Son Jesus, the Servant King.Ìý We pray for all leaders of the world; to fashion their lives by Godly faith and service for the good of all your children.

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Jesus, Saviour:

Hear our prayer.

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Lord God, we ask for your blessing upon our communities and neighbourhoods today, wherever in the world we live. As you share your love with us through Jesus, inspire us to care for and share our resources with all those who are in need.ÌýÌý

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As we celebrate the birth of your Son in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago, please bless every celebration held in your name today.Ìý We especially bring before you everyone who is alone – may they know your love and peace.

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Jesus, Saviour:

Hear our prayer.

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Jesus, Saviour, child of Mary, you know us and love us,

You share our lives and hear our prayer.

Glory to you for ever. Amen

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Please join with us in praying the prayer that Jesus taught us, using whatever language you feel most comfortable with.

The Lord's Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

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The Blessing: Bishop Michael

May the joy of the angels,

the excitement of the shepherds,

the devotion of the wise men,

the obedience of Joseph and Mary,

and the peace of the Christ-child

be yours and your loved ones this Christmas.

and the blessing …

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Music Hark the Herald Angels Sing – Bath Abbey choir and congregation

Organ Voluntary - Claude-Bénigne Balbastre’s Quand Jésus naquit à Noël – When Jesus was born at Christmas, Ìýfrom his Première Suite de Noëls