Leader: Ask your group: "In one word, what would your life be like without Jesus?" Give everyone a chance to share their one word.And then ask, "In what ways has Jesus changed your life?"
Take a moment and read these "Christmas" passages as a way of worship.
Luke 1:26-33
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, [27] to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. [28] The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
[29] Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. [30] But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. [31] You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. [32] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
Luke 2:26-32
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. [27] Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, [28] Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: [29] "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. [30] For my eyes have seen your salvation, [31] which you have prepared in the sight of all people, [32] a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Sing: Our God is an Awesome God
READ: One Solitary Life
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another village where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty.
Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home.
He never wrote a book.
He never had a family of his own.
He never held an office.
He never went to college
He never visited a big city.
He never traveled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
He did none of the things that are usually associated with greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.
He was only thirty three, when the tide of popular opinion turned against him
His friends ran away; one of them denied him.
He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While he was dying, his executioners gambled for the only property he had on earth—his coat.
When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone.
Today Jesus is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress.
All the armies that have ever marched,
all the navies that have ever sailed,
all the parliaments that have ever sat,
all the kings that ever reigned put together,
have not affected the life of mankind on earth
as powerfully as that one solitary life
Leader: Take a few minutes for your group to pray praise for the beauty and awesomeness of that One Solitary Life.
