At the end of the service during the singing of Silent Night, I have the ushers turn the lights down except on the chancel. As the congregation sings, a couple with a little baby walks slowly forward, (they are in costume) and when they reach the front of the church, turn and face the congregation for a moment then walk out a side door. The lights come up, the final blessing is said, and Joy to the World, ends the service. You just have to get lucky with the timing if there are not a lot of babies in your congregation. (from Bob)
Another idea is to do "Silent Night" with guitar rather than organ - since it was originally written for guitar! I know of one minister who invited anyone who played guitar to bring their instrument to the service. When "Silent Night" was sung at the end with candlelight, the guitarists spread out around the congregation and played. It was really nice to be literally surrounded by the music as it was originally meant to be played. (from Nancy)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
More Ideas for Christmas Eve Worship
Here's what others have said about their Christmas Eve traditions:
At our church we walk the line between those who want a very quiet almost somber service and those with children who need something that engages the kids. A couple of things we have done include have live tableaus with lots of carols and the scriptures read as a choral type reading. I have also handed out different parts of the ceramic Nativity set out to children as they come in to the service and have the family bring that piece up and put it in the set at the time those scripture passages are read and carols and choir music are woven into all of that. Letting the kids put the the nativity scene throughout the service and including them in the communion service at the end seems to keep them engaged and also to address the need to have a quieter service. (from JoAnn)
Our service is late afternoon (5 pm) and the focus is on the kids. The content is a bit different each year. I keep the kids with me as much as possible through the service - use a call and response style reading of the gospel to keep them tuned in - and then the "sermon" is a story or activity with all the kids involved. Different years have had different story or activity - one year, paper cutouts of the characters so the kids could choose who they wished to be as we acted out the story together; one year Santa arrived with his bag full of Christmas items that have Christian explanations (from Sharon)
Christmas Eve will be mostly candle light, favourite hymns, and scripture. This year I intend to portray the arrival and birth of Jesus from the character of the Innkeeper. (from Jim)
I've done Christmas Eve services that have included different (short) readings interspersed with Christmas Hymns. My favourite was the last few lines of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, when he realizes "maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store, maybe Christmas means just a little bit more"...I've done a Birthday Party for Jesus as an early Christmas Eve service. (from Katharine)
At our church we walk the line between those who want a very quiet almost somber service and those with children who need something that engages the kids. A couple of things we have done include have live tableaus with lots of carols and the scriptures read as a choral type reading. I have also handed out different parts of the ceramic Nativity set out to children as they come in to the service and have the family bring that piece up and put it in the set at the time those scripture passages are read and carols and choir music are woven into all of that. Letting the kids put the the nativity scene throughout the service and including them in the communion service at the end seems to keep them engaged and also to address the need to have a quieter service. (from JoAnn)
Our service is late afternoon (5 pm) and the focus is on the kids. The content is a bit different each year. I keep the kids with me as much as possible through the service - use a call and response style reading of the gospel to keep them tuned in - and then the "sermon" is a story or activity with all the kids involved. Different years have had different story or activity - one year, paper cutouts of the characters so the kids could choose who they wished to be as we acted out the story together; one year Santa arrived with his bag full of Christmas items that have Christian explanations (from Sharon)
Christmas Eve will be mostly candle light, favourite hymns, and scripture. This year I intend to portray the arrival and birth of Jesus from the character of the Innkeeper. (from Jim)
I've done Christmas Eve services that have included different (short) readings interspersed with Christmas Hymns. My favourite was the last few lines of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, when he realizes "maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store, maybe Christmas means just a little bit more"...I've done a Birthday Party for Jesus as an early Christmas Eve service. (from Katharine)
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is such a wonderful time in all of our churches! As worship leaders, we have an opportunity to tell the ancient story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem in ways that might reflect the time-honored traditions of our congregations or in ways that present the timeless story in a new way.
We have two services in our church. One is a late afternoon service especially for families, and the other is a communion service at 11:00 P.M. Both services have a candlelight component.
I see my task at the early service as keeping the kids from exclusively watching out the sanctuary windows for Santa and his sleigh (inevitable, I think) and helping them to focus for just a little while on the birth of Jesus. Since there are a lot of families who don't generally come to church regularly, I usually have a small felt stocking with a little candy cane for the children when they arrive.
One year I arranged the front of the sanctuary like a living room with a rocking chair and lamp and read several Christmas stories, including "Santa's Favorite Story" (beautiful story and illustrations) to the children. I'd be glad to share any of those resources with anyone. In that service, one of the kids also added the baby Jesus to complete the creche.
I have also lit the Advent wreath throughout the service interspersed with reading "Why the Chimes Rang" - another wonderful children's Christmas story.
In recent years I have done a traditional pageant where the kids have created a nativity scene over the course of the service. There is always lots of candlelight, and several of the older youth have sung solos and duets. Two college aged kids home for the holiday are the prophets who tell the story. They are the only ones with lines to say.
This has worked out well. Last year a small child in the congregation came up to the manger after the service, wanting to see the baby Jesus - so I guess we did OK.
At the late service, I have done a traditional lessons and carols but prefer to do more contemporary readings and carols. I have used poetry by Ann Weems and readings from several Iona Community sources (!). I try to work in themes of social justice as much as possible while at the same time providing a quiet meditative experience for people.
I found a video that I'm thinking of using this year at the late service. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POm7_WBMJTI. It's called "Awaiting the Christ Child" and was done by Christine Sine.
I'd love to hear what others are doing!
We have two services in our church. One is a late afternoon service especially for families, and the other is a communion service at 11:00 P.M. Both services have a candlelight component.
I see my task at the early service as keeping the kids from exclusively watching out the sanctuary windows for Santa and his sleigh (inevitable, I think) and helping them to focus for just a little while on the birth of Jesus. Since there are a lot of families who don't generally come to church regularly, I usually have a small felt stocking with a little candy cane for the children when they arrive.
One year I arranged the front of the sanctuary like a living room with a rocking chair and lamp and read several Christmas stories, including "Santa's Favorite Story" (beautiful story and illustrations) to the children. I'd be glad to share any of those resources with anyone. In that service, one of the kids also added the baby Jesus to complete the creche.
I have also lit the Advent wreath throughout the service interspersed with reading "Why the Chimes Rang" - another wonderful children's Christmas story.
In recent years I have done a traditional pageant where the kids have created a nativity scene over the course of the service. There is always lots of candlelight, and several of the older youth have sung solos and duets. Two college aged kids home for the holiday are the prophets who tell the story. They are the only ones with lines to say.
This has worked out well. Last year a small child in the congregation came up to the manger after the service, wanting to see the baby Jesus - so I guess we did OK.
At the late service, I have done a traditional lessons and carols but prefer to do more contemporary readings and carols. I have used poetry by Ann Weems and readings from several Iona Community sources (!). I try to work in themes of social justice as much as possible while at the same time providing a quiet meditative experience for people.
I found a video that I'm thinking of using this year at the late service. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POm7_WBMJTI. It's called "Awaiting the Christ Child" and was done by Christine Sine.
I'd love to hear what others are doing!
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