What was going on when I was born?

The Giants lost a football game today that they could not have come closer to winning. With 25 seconds remaining, they appeared to have scored the winning touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Jeff Rutledge to Earnest Gray. But a holding penalty against John Tautolo wiped out the play, and the Seattle Seahawks escaped with a 17-12 victory that kept their playoff hopes alive. The Giants, who have played poorly so often this year, put together a strong game with one huge exception. They turned over the ball five times - on three fumbles and two interceptions - and the Seahawks turned two of those turnovers into touchdowns.

The Pope joined a Lutheran service in a Protestant church in Rome, the first time since the Reformation that a Pope had done so. The extradordinary ecumenical gesture, marking the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth, was brought about by a spontaneous invitation last year by a board member of the Evangelical-Lutheran Christ Church. The service was held at Christ Church, off the Via Vittorio Veneto. (Page A1, Col. 6.) Lech Walesa remains convinced that his country's problems can only be solved through a dialogue between the Polish Government and Poles. In his remarks, made in the Nobel Peace Prize address read for him in Oslo by an exile Solidarity official, Mr. Walesa also repeated indirectly his appeal for an end to United States sanctions against Poland. He said Poland faced a major economic crisis, with ''dramatic consequences for the very existence of Polish families,'' which could have serious repercussions in Europe. (A1:4.)

New York City's economy, which has been fairly robust in recent years, faces new and serious obstacles to its stability and growth in the next several years, according to Felix G. Rohatyn, the chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation. ''Some of the things that are threatening the country - the loss of jobs to technology, to foreign jobs, the cost of doing business, taxes,'' Mr. Rohatyn said, ''could hurt the city very badly over the next few years.'' Mr. Rohatyn's comments were made on a television program that was broadcast yesterday, after a five-hour meeting on Saturday of the State Council on Fiscal and Economic Priorities. The council is a 21-member panel of government officials, labor leaders and educators brought together by Governor Cuomo to look at the economic condition and future of the state and the city. Mr. Rohatyn said his comments were intended to inject some ''realism'' into the ''mood of euphoria'' that has accompanied recent reports of surpluses in the city's budget as well as an anticipated $1 billion in additional funds from the M.A.C. The Municipal Assistance Corporation was formed by the state in 1975 during the city's fiscal crisis to issue bonds for the city, which had been shut out of the credit markets because of a lack of investor confidence and a downgrading of city bonds to well below the investment-grade rating. Currently, the agency has nearly $8 billion in bonds outstanding.

An article in the special Personal Investing section on Nov. 20 about an investment newsletter, The Professional Tape Reader, misidentified its founder. He is Justin Mamis.

The chairman of Litton Industries has proposed that the company, a major military equipment contractor, attempt to resolve a series of escalating disputes with several employee unions in direct talks monitored by ''a neutral chairman.'' The surprisingly conciliatory announcement, made on Saturday by Fred W. O'Green during the company's annual meeting in Beverly Hills, came as four representatives of labor and religious groups were preparing to deride what they regard as Litton's concerted antilabor practices. ''As I hastily change gears, it seems to me that we would welcome that proposal,'' said Howard D. Samuel, president of the industrial union department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. ''Although I have not been able to consult with the other 12 unions, I will bring attention to it immediately.''

-year-old veteran who once played on winning hockey teams with the Philadelphia Flyers and now plays for the New Jersey Devils, a losing team. He has a reputation as a hard worker, but losses rubbed on him until even that virtue began to erode. ''If you forecheck as hard as you can,'' said Bridgman, ''if you go in and throw yourself into the boards as hard as you can four times in a row, and you still see the other team coming out of their end easily, well, maybe the fifth time you won't work quite as hard. It's just human nature.'' Pat Verbeek, one of Bridgman's teammates, is a 19-year-old rookie who says he has never played on a winning hockey team. Losing has gnawed at his normally feisty spirit, too.

The Reagan Administration's year-long effort to streamline the financial regulatory system is in jeopardy and now appears unlikely to lead to legislative recommendations in 1984. Talks with officials in several agencies show that the policy-planning exercise headed by Vice President Bush is months behind schedule and is virtually stalled, chiefly because of disagreement about the role of the Federal Reserve System as a supervisor of banks. A number of officials were willing to discuss the situation provided they were not identified. At first Paul A. Volcker, the Fed chairman, seemed isolated in opposing a proposal by the Bush staff to strip the 12 Federal Reserve banks of most of their bank-supervision functions and to consolidate such responsibilities, now shared with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in a unified agency.

Some of Hollywood's most important movies this Christmas may be playing on video cassette recorders. With video cassette players proliferating and cassette prices falling, the home video industry's outlook this season is brighter than expected. Now Hollywood is hoping that hundreds of thousands of video cassettes will materialize under Christmas trees this year. While consumers have not been overly resistant to the $29.95 price tag on video cassettes with music or children's programming, they have balked thus far at having to pay $60 or more for a recorded movie. As a result, the movie cassette business has largely evolved into a rental market, with dealers typically charging from $2.50 to $7.50 for an evening's entertainment.

The head of this nation's military Government proclaimed himself President today and dissolved his Cabinet. The move appeared to be an attempt to consolidate his power before the presidential election that he has called for next May. Lieut. Gen. Hussain Mohammed Ershad, 53 years old, who seized power in a nonviolent coup in 1982, less than a year after the slaying of President Ziaur Rahman, has made no secret of the fact that he intends to shed his army uniform and run for president in the May election. He has formed his own political party, largely army-based, in anticipation of doing so. Justice A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury, who had been the figurehead President in General Ershad's military regime, resigned today.

Night falls swiftly now, the early darkness a splendid backdrop for the city bejeweled for Christmas. Red and green lights glitter atop skyscrapers and in thousands of apartment windows. In the city of grand dreams and extravagant gestures, the holiday scene more than fulfills anyone's wildest expectations of what Christmas should be like in New York. An enormous red satin ribbon envelops the exterior of Cartier's, on Fifth Avenue. A 75-foot Norway spruce, a gift from a retired couple who said the tree was killing the grass at their home in the Rockland County hamlet of Valley Cottage, looms at Rockefeller Center, casting upon the ice skaters and enchanted crowds the glow of 17,022 lights.

''We long for unity, and we strive for this unity without letting ourselves be discouraged by the difficulties that may pile up along the way.'' - Pope John Paul II in the Evangelical-Lutheran Christ Church. (A1:6.)

Lech Walesa, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize in absentia here Saturday, said today that he remained convinced that his country's problems could only be solved through a dialogue between the Polish Government and the people. In his Nobel lecture, which was read for him by an exile Solidarity official, Mr. Walesa indirectly repeated his appeal of last week for an end to American sanctions against Poland. He said his country faced a major economic crisis, with ''dramatic consequences for the very existence of Polish families,'' which could have serious repercussions throughout Europe. For those reasons, he added, ''Poland ought to be helped and deserves help.''