2015 National Gathering Keynote: Tiffany Jana and Matthew Freeman

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Tiffany Jana and Matthew Freeman co-owners of the TMI consulting firm based in Richmond, VA, present a keynote at the 2015 National Gathering in Chicago.

Resources:

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Podcasting Made Easy…Even for Small Churches

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Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. For January and February, MaryAnn McKibben Dana is curating a month of reflections on technology, faith, and church. Join the conversation here or on Facebook. This how-to post first appeared on MaryAnn’s blog The Blue Room.

By MaryAnn McKibben Dana

You, too, can podcast!

You, too, can podcast!

Some pastor friends and I got to talking recently about sermon podcasting. I’m always disappointed when gifted preachers I know, whose sermons I’d like to listen to, aren’t available as a podcast. Some congregations put their sermon audio on their church’s website, but that’s not the same as setting up a podcast that can be searched for and subscribed to via iTunes.

Many medium-sized and large congregations have folks to record the service and take care of this technical detail. But what about small congregations? Yes you can! We’ve been podcasting at Tiny Church for a few years now. (Search Idylwood Presbyterian on iTunes, or click here.)

In my experience with a small church, many decisions are inevitably weighed in terms of stewardship of time and resources. Or to put it crudely, a cost/benefit scale. Is it worth going through the effort of podcasting if only a couple of people will avail themselves of it?

It is absolutely worth the effort because it doesn’t take very much effort at all. It’s also an easy and important method of evangelism—a way of being in the world, exactly where people are searching for inspiration and ideas.

Thinking about setting up a sermon podcast but not sure where to start? Let me put on a very old hat of mine, that of technical writer.

There are three basic steps to podcasting: recording the sermon, converting the sound file, and uploading it to a podcast service. Here is how I handle those three steps in a small church without an A/V team.

  1. Recording. I use iRecorder Pro, which is a $2.99 app for my iPhone. I put the phone on the pulpit and hit record when I start preaching and stop when I’m done. (Protip: Write start/stop reminders into your manuscript or notes.) The phone’s microphone works fine whether I’m using a microphone or not.
  2. Converting to mp3. Most recorders I’m familiar with save the recording in some other format. Podcasts require mp3. I download the audio from my phone to my MacBook Air and use Switch to convert. It looks like there’s a paid version of Switch, but the version I use is/was free. There are a ton of audio converters out there.
  3. Uploading the mp3 file to your podcast service. I use SermonDrop, which I’ve been very happy with. The free version keeps the 10 most recent sermons. If you want more than that, you can pay. You upload the file to their site, and there are places to type in scripture text, name of preacher, whether it’s part of a series, etc. You can even upload PowerPoint slides or PDFs. Here is IPC’s SermonDrop page.

You do those three steps every time. There’s also an intermediate step that you need to do once, which is to register your podcast with iTunes so it shows up in their listing. Here are some instructions. Basically you’re telling iTunes “hey, my podcast exists, here it is.” So anyone who searches for your church name will find it.

As a pastor of a small church, you could certainly find someone to take care of this each week. But honestly? It takes me 10 minutes per week, and that’s mainly waiting for the computer to convert and to upload. There is no reason not to do it.

Does your congregation podcast? What tools or suggestions do you have?

wallsquareMaryAnn McKibben Dana is pastor of Idylwood Presbyterian Church, author of Sabbath in the Suburbs and a regular blogger at The Blue Room. She’s the co-chair of the NEXT Church Strategy Team.

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In Life and in Death We Belong to God: Are there Babysitters in Heaven?

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Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. This December, Anna Pinckney Straight is curating a month of reflections on pastoral care in the 21st century. Join the conversation here or on Facebook. Today’s post originally appeared at Ecclesio.com and is republished here with the author’s permission 

By Meg Peery McLaughlin

I got a phone call from a young mom a couple of weeks ago asking me how to talk to her elementary-aged daughter about death. It wasn’t because her child was acutely grieving the loss of a loved one, but rather a curiosity about what happens when someone dies. Honestly and humbly, this mother had patiently answered her daughter’s questions. They talked about how everybody dies. Sometimes it is older people whose bodies stop working. They talked about people who die suddenly from accidents or illnesses. They talked about how, yes, even babies sometimes die. Upon this realization, the little girl wondered aloud if there were babysitters in heaven. For if a baby can die and their mommy or daddy aren’t in heaven yet, then who will take care of them? It was at this point that the mom called me.

As a Pastor of Pastoral Care at a larger congregation, I’ve averaged a funeral every other week for the past six years. I’ve watched children climb around hospitals beds pointing out catheters and IV drips, as parents have explained how bodies weren’t working anymore. I’ve seen young siblings bring balloons to the memorial garden and tell me that their baby brother is with Jesus. I’ve released ashes over the side of the mountain and heard a grandchild ask, almost immediately, “can I go have some hot chocolate now.” This congregation has taught me some important lessons about death.

Talk straight. It’s best to be open with kids when the topic comes up and their questions arise. Be honest and as clear/concrete as possible. Kids don’t need to be shielded from the truth. If they are, their imaginations will fill in details where there are gaps. Avoid clichés: “God takes people” makes it seem like God is like the descending metal claw in a toy machine. “Grandma went to sleep and is now in heaven” makes me never want to put my own head on a pillow. “We go to a better place” makes me wonder what’s so bad about the world I’m living in – the one that everyone said God made. “I promise everything will be okay” sounds reassuring, but I’d rather hear that you promise to love me no matter what happens.

Magical thinking is an intergenerational activity. Joan Didion, after the death of her husband, wrote a great book called The Year of Magical Thinking. Her portrait of grief describes the way that she felt like she could control things with wishful thinking. Didion confessed she really did wonder if her husband would come back if she didn’t give away his shoes (he might come back and need them, afterall). Kids, especially kids six years old and younger, live in that kind of world, too. Young kids can think death is reversible. Kids can think that their thoughts/actions/words were the cause of death, or could bring their loved ones back.

State the obvious. . . again and again and again. Why do you think we come to worship week after week after week to hear gospel words, watch the waters of baptism slosh in the font, experience the table in the middle of room? We all need reminders of what is right and what is real. Kids do too. Tell them: Death is not their fault. It’s not the deceased person’s fault. Love doesn’t go away. You’re glad the person doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s not fair. God’s heart is sad too. When they ask again, answer.

Let kids see your love. Afterall, that’s the same thing as letting them see your grief. Love and grief are intertwined and never do we get rid of/get over/ have closure with either. It’s okay to bring kids with you when you visit the sick. It’s okay to bring kids with you to the funeral. It’s okay to let them bring balloons to the cemetery. It’s okay to let them see you cry. It’s okay to talk about those who are no longer in our reach. There is great danger in turning to your kids to have them be your therapist, but there is great wisdom in letting your kids see your process. Where else will they learn to grieve? To love? To honor father and mother? To be neighbor? To trust that in life and in death we belong to God? A worth while read about engendering faith to our kids can be found at: https://www.breadnotstones.com/2012/05/ten-things-i-want-to-tell-parents.html.

Get comfortable in deep water. Most of what I’m asked about by parents are deep water questions. Will there be babysitters in heaven? Will I recognize my loved one? Who will be married up there—grandmom and granddad or grandmom and stepgranddad? How does all this work? I find immeasurable comfort in the way the Apostle Paul treads water here. In 1 Corinthians 15, in his efforts to talk about the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, he says; “Listen, let me tell you a mystery!” I love that. “Listen Up! I’m about to talk to you about what NONE OF US really actually knows!” Here’s some permission giving here: tell your kids you don’t know the answer, tell your kids about mystery. But also dream about what’s beneath your toes. Imagine together about what heaven would be like—knowing what you do know about love, about God’s desire to bind us into community, about Easter morning and Christmas Eve, about your own experience of faith. Realizing that you’re in the midst of mystery doesn’t need to mean that you fall silent, but rather that you can stand in awe with your kid and practice the holy art of imagination.

bunnyParents ask me about good books to read with their kids about death. There are some good ones. Union Presbyterian Seminary has a blog that reviews Children’s Literature. (https://storypath.wordpress.com — search “death” within the site). But if you want to get to the core about my own theology of death, a go-to for me is Margaret Wise Brown’s A Runaway Bunny. Whether with young kids who can appreciate it immediately, or older kids who may remember it from their early childhood, that book speaks of an inescapable love—an inescapable love that is akin to the inescapable love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you read that book alongside Psalm 139: 1-12, you might think Brown was plagiarizing; plagiarizing in the most holy way possible. What better what to say that no matter where we go—in life or in death—we belong to God, like a bunny belongs to his mother? Who needs a babysitter then?
Meg Peery McLaughlin is co-pastor of Burke Presbyterian Church in Northern Virginia, along with her husband, Jarrett. At the time this article was written she was associate pastor for pastoral care at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS. Meg and Jarrett have three young girls.

Prayer Resources for Visits

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In her piece in December 2014, Anna Pinckney Straight mentioned that her pastoral care visits are always accompanied with a piece of card stock now….stacks of prayer cards and psalm cards that contain helpful/comforting/challenging words. “Good for that 2:00 A.M. blood pressure check that leaves them wondering (aka: not sleeping),” she writes. She shares those Prayer cards for pastoral visits with all of us. And a bonus: Hospital Scriptures, booklet. Thanks, Anna!  

Advent: Worship Planning and Sermon Themes

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Starting from scratch this Advent?

  • Mark Davis put together this presentation to help guide worship planners to develop themes for Advent.
    • Here’s a sneak peek of the process
      sneakpeek

Need some theme suggestions that are little more concrete?

  • LeAnn Hodges connected Advent to adaptive leadership for a sermon series:
    • “Living in a Time of Adaptive Challenges”
      • Pay Attention
      • Wilderness (We Can’t Support Ourselves…)
      • Joy in the midst of Uncertainty
      • Let it be with me…
  • Fairfax Presbyterian Church (of Fairfax, VA) presented Advent as an antidote to the exhaustive and escapist behaviors that so often accompany the Holidays:
    • During Advent and Christmas we often turn to exhausting, escapist behavior, however, the season offers us an invitation to wait, to prepare, to hope… At Christmas we remember the birth of Jesus only insofar as it reminds us that he implanted a new vision on our hearts and has promised to return. This promise to return is what we base our hope upon.
      • …ever watching for Christ to break in
        • Bonhoeffer said it is easy to look around and to see the ruins to which Christ must come again. Given a season of holidays in which the lonely are lonelier and the broken have wounds open again, we are tempted to ignore the season completely or to turn to exhausting, escapist behavior…to escape the depression of unfulfilled watching. Advent challenges us to keep watching and keep hoping because Jesus coming again is not a fantasy but a reality ever-available to our imaginations as we live in the already and not-yet.
      • Opening ourselves to the transforming moments of conversion
        • Turn around. Repent. Perceive a new way. These are the invitations of the second week of Advent. We need to be converted over and over again in our lives because we keep losing the vision of God’s kingdom and determination to live toward it. “Conversions proceed layer by layer, relationship by relationship, a little here and a little there, until the whole personality is re-created by God.
      • Letting Go
        • We are in the last week of pregnancy in the Advent season. Our desire and anticipation are at a high. The time for Christ is come feels urgent to us in our watching. But, as with all new parents, we have no idea how drastically this new life will change us. We have not concept of how little control we actually have in the human journey. If we did, we might not be as eager. But the journey of the pregnancy has given us new eyes to see, a new practice of conversion. Perhaps we are ready. The invitation of this week is to let go of control, to learn not to do all the things we think we must do to save ourselves (like the illustration of floating), but to trust that God is still coming to create, redeem and sustain our living.

No time? Here are some liturgies that are ready to go:

How about adding some music?

  • To accompany candle lighting, some congregations write a song based on the year’s theme; others add new verses to familiar seasonal songs. If the muse has abandoned your resident aspiring songwriter, try these hymns from the Glory to God hymnal:
    • #467: “Give Us Light”
    • #103: “Come Now, Prince of Peace”
    • #85: “Light One Candle to Watch for the Messiah”
  • If you are trying to looking to get away from the Christmas favorite that over-saturate the airways between October and New Year’s, incorporating jazz standards to express the moods of Advent can be an unexpected variation of your theme.
  • For alternative arrangements to carols, check out the You Call that Church Music? archives.
  • If you are struggling with arguments for and against singing Christmas Carols during Advent (“But the children will never learn these songs if we don’t take time to teach them!” and many others), check out this NEXT Blog post by MaryAnn McKibben Dana that works through some excellent points.

Advent Devotions

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Here are some devotionals recommended by our Church Leader’s Roundtable for personal and congregational use!

Multi-Media Resources for Advent

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Looking for media to complement your Advent worship services? Here are some resources for videos, pageant scripts, storytelling, and sanctuary decor!

VIDEO

PAGEANTS

STORYTELLING

DECOR

  • Create a star by drilling holes in a piece of plywood. Hand out glow sticks to congregants, and invite them to come forward to light the star.
  • Feature a Jesse tree: plant a dead branch in the middle of the sanctuary and decorate with ornaments representing the old testament stories leading up to Christ’s birth.
  • Make candle-light services safer for kids by offering battery-operate candles for little ones to hold.

ACTIVITY STATIONS

  • Try targeting experiential learners (millennials and toddlers alike!) with an interactive Advent experience. Create contemplative prayer stations that are sensory driven–textures (straw or hay from the manger, lamb’s wool, pine needles), tastes, smells (frankincense, myrrh, pine, cinnamon), and sounds that connect to the holiday season and the Christmas story.

Christ the King: Lessons and Carols Liturgy

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Thanks to LeAnn Hodges for sending us this liturgy for Christ the King Sunday that takes a Lessons and Carols approach to teaching the liturgical calendar!

WE GATHER AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD

FOR YOUR REFLECTION The liturgical year is an adventure in bringing the Christian life to fullness, the heart to alert, the soul to focus. ~ Joan Chittister

WELCOME

OPENING VOLUNTARY CALL TO WORSHIP

L:         Who are you?
C:         I am a child of God.
L:         Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.”
C:         Let us, God’s children, answer God’s call.
L:         Let us worship God, our Creator and Savior.

OPENING PRAYER
L:         Let us pray:
C:         God of majesty, you love us more than we can imagine. In Jesus Christ you reconciled the whole world to you and claim us as your own, so that we may live as Christ’s body on earth. We give you thanks for the lives we have been given. We pray in your holy name, great Trinity of Love. Amen.

* OPENING HYMN “We Gather Together” #336

WE LISTEN TO GOD’S WORD

Advent

Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of Christ: preparation to celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas, to receive faithfully the risen Christ who comes to us in Word and Spirit, and to await with hope Christ’s coming in final victory. The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means “coming.”

Dates of the Season: Advent is the four weeks, including the four Sundays, before Christmas Day.

Colors for the Season: The color is purple, which symbolizes both penitence and royalty.

Scripture: Luke 1:26-38

Hymn: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” #88 (Stanza 1) O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that morns in lonely exile here until the son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

Christmas Season

Christmas Season is the time of celebration, thanksgiving, and praise for God present with us in Jesus Christ. Christmas Day was first celebrated on December 25 in Rome sometime between 336 and 354 C.E. A pagan winter solstice festival, the birthday of the unconquered sun, was already celebrated on December 25. Christians adopted that date to celebrate the birth of the Son of God. Christians have often adapted and transformed the customs of the world around them.

Dates of the Season: Christmas Season begins with Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and continues through the Day of Epiphany, January 6.

Colors of the Season: White and gold

Scripture: Luke 2:1-7

Hymn: “Joy to the World” #134 (Stanza 1) Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king; let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

Epiphany

The word Epiphany is from the Greek word epiphaneia, which means “manifestation.” On the Day of Epiphany, January 6, we celebrate Jesus being revealed to the world and the visit of the wise men, the first gentiles to whom he was made known. Scripture doesn’t say how many wise men came to Bethlehem. At various times tradition has set the number from two to twelve. However, because three gifts are mentioned, we usually think of three wise men or Magi.

Celebration of Epiphany: When January 6 falls on a weekday, churches that do not have services on the 6th may celebrate Epiphany on the Sunday before or after.

Colors for Epiphany: White and gold

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

Hymn: “What Star is This, with Beams So Bright” #152 (Stanzas 1 & 2)

Lent

Lent is a season of preparation for the celebration of Easter. The word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon lencten, which means “spring,” the time of the lengthening of days. At first Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism on Easter Eve. Eventually, Lent became a time of reflection and self-examination for all Christians.

Days of Lent: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on the Saturday before Easter. Lent lasts forty days, not counting Sundays. Sundays aren’t counted because Sunday always celebrates Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

The Color for Lent: Purple, a royal color that also signifies penitence and preparation.

Scripture: Mark 8:34-37

Hymn: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” #223 (Stanza 1) When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count by loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

Good Friday

In Old English usage good meant “of God.” Good Friday is God’s Friday: Jesus’ death shows God’s salvation.

The Date of Good Friday: Good Friday is the Friday before Easter.

Colors for Good Friday: The worship space is either void of decoration and color, or black is used.

RECONCILIATION
L: With sincere and repentant hearts, let us name our sins against God and one another. Join me as we pray in silence.

SILENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL PRAYER AND MEDITATION L: Amen.   ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS
L:         This is the good news: God remembers!  Not our sins, not our foolish lives, not our rebellion. God remembers us –  and redeems us!
C:         God prepares the way for us – the way to grace, to hope, to new life.  Joyfully, we offer our thanks to God. Amen.

SINGING WITH THANKSGIVING “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” #223 (Stanza 4) Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small; love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

The Easter Season

The Easter Season, also known as the Great Fifty Days, begins at sunset on Easter Eve and continues through the Day of Pentecost. At this season we celebrate with joy Christ’s resurrection and ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit on the first Easter (John 20:22-23) and on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

Date of Easter: Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or next after March 21, the spring equinox. Easter can be any time from March 22 through April 25. The date may differ in Orthodox Churches.

Colors of the Easter Season: White and gold  

Scripture: Luke 24:1-9

Hymn: “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” #232 (Stanza 1 & 2)

Pentecost

Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter, comes from the Greek word for fiftieth, pentekoste. Greek-speaking Jews called the Jewish Feast of Weeks the Day of Pentecost. Acts tells how the anxious and fearful disciples, who had gathered on the Day of Pentecost, were filled with the Holy Spirit and thereafter preached boldly the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Date of Pentecost: The fiftieth day after Easter.

Colors for Pentecost: Red or red on white. Red, the color of fire, represents the Holy Spirit.

Scripture: Acts 2:1-4, 41-43

Hymn: “On Pentecost They Gathered” #289 (Stanza 1) On Pentecost they gathered quit early in the day, a band of Christ’s disciples, to worship, sing, and pray. A mighty wind came blowing, filled all the swirling air, and tongues of fire aglowing inspired each person there.

Season of Pentecost

The Season of Pentecost, called Ordinary Time, is a period of growth. Churches emphasize Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of God. They engage issues of daily life and concerns of the community, nation, and world. The Season comes after we have remembered Christ’s sacrifice on Good Friday and celebrated his resurrection on Easter and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Easter and Pentecost.

Dates of the Season: From the day after Pentecost through the Saturday before the first Sunday in Advent.

Colors for the Season: The basic color is green symbolizing growth in Christ. White is used on Trinity Sunday, All Saints Day, and Christ the King Sunday.

Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20

Hymn: “Now Thank We All Our God” #643

Christ the King

This last Sunday of the Christian Year celebrates the coming reign of Jesus Christ.

Date of the Season: The Sunday before the Season of Advent begins, and the last Sunday of the Season of Pentecost.

Colors for the Season: Gold and white  

Scripture: Psalm 100

Hymn: “Raise a Song of Gladness” #155 Raise a song of gladness, peoples of the earth. Christ has come, bringing peace, joy to every heart. Alleluia, alleluia, joy to every heart! Alleluia, alleluia, joy to every heart!

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

OFFERING The Call to Give
L:         Let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God, with gratitude and praise.

* SINGING WITH THANKSGIVING

Response        “Rejoice”

* PRAYER OF DEDICATION
L:         Let us pray:
C:         Holy God, use us, and these gifts, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and honor your presence in all people; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

NEWS OF THE COMMUNITY

* HYMN TO SEND US FORTH “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” #82

* CHARGE AND BLESSING

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Please be seated for silent reflection.

For a great reflection on the liturgical year (and another source of inspiration) check out Jerome W. Berryman’s The Complete Guide to Godly Play Vol. 2!

"No Practice" Christmas Pageant

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Thanks to LeAnn Hodges for sharing this Pageant with us at the Online Church Leaders’ Roundtable!

Overview: The following is written to serve as a come-one, come-all, “no practice” Christmas pageant. The participants move and respond to lines prompted by the Narrator. The script is adapted from Eugene Peterson’s interpretation of the gospel narrative in his book The Message.

Cast:

  • narrator
  • Mary, Joseph and Jesus 
  • Herod 
  • camel 
  • camel herder 
  • shepherds – congregation
  • angels – congregation
  • wise people 
  • star

Props:

  • star
  • halo each for angels (50)
  • head scarf for sheepherders (50)
  • crown for Herod
  • camel costume (for two)
  • chair for Mary
  • manger for baby
  • 3 crowns, 3 capes, 3 gifts for wise men
  • Reserved seats for worship leaders & cast

The Pageant

The Narrator speaks from __________________. Mary, Joseph and Jesus, the camel, the star, Herod, and the wise ones are in the narthex, ready to enter from the back.

Narrator’s Introduction

Following the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem we hear about visits from shepherds, angels and the wise. This morning we will re-tell the story involving everyone. Shepherds will be all of you with cloth headbands, and angels are all of you who have halos. In the pageant you will be directed to say short lines by saying: the angels said, or the shepherds said, then you are simply invited to respond by repeating your lines.

Gabriel’s Announcement, Luke 1:29-38

Narrator: In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph and the virgin’s name, Mary. (Mary enters and comes in and stands ______________________.) Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: “Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty. Beautiful inside and out!” And the angels said, “God be with you.”
Angels: God be with you.
Narrator: She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. “Mary, you have nothing to fear,” the angels said to her. “God has a surprise for you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call him Jesus.” As angels often do, the angels said, “Do not be afraid.”
Angels: Do not be afraid.
Narrator: After a short discussion with the angel, Mary knew it would be OK, saying “Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me, just as you say.” Then the angel left her. (Mary departs, returning to the narthex.)

Carol 16 (stanzas 1 &3)   The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came The angel Gabriel from heaven came, His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame; “All hail,” said he, “O lowly maiden Mary,” Most highly favored lady, Gloria! Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head, “To me be as it pleases God,” she said, “My soul shall laud and magnify God’s holy name.” Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

The Birth of Jesus, Luke 2:1-7

Narrator: About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancé, who was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

Away in a Manger #115 (After song, Mary, Joseph and Jesus enter, going to the chair located ___________________.)

The Shepherds and the Angels, Luke 2:8-18

Narrator: There were shepherds camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angels said, “Don’t be afraid.”
Angels: Don’t be afraid.
Narrator: Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger. At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praise. The angels said, “Glory to God!”
Angels: Glory to God!
Narrator: Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him. As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over. Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us. The sheepherders said, “Let’s go to Bethlehem.”
Shepherds: Let’s go to Bethlehem!
Narrator: The shepherds left and they found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. The sheepherders said, “Angels told us of the Christ child.”
Sheepherders: Angels told us of the Christ child.
Narrator: All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

“The First Nowell” #147 (Stanzas 1-4) (During the singing of stanzas 3 & 4, Herod walks up the center aisle, and stands in the middle of the aisle, half way down to the front. Star is carried in after him, and the camel and then the wise men down the center aisle to face Herod.)

The Gifts of the Wise – Matthew 2:1-11

Narrator: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory–this was during Herod’s kingship–a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. The wise asked, “Where can we find the newborn king of the Jews?”
The Wise: “Where can we find the newborn king of the Jews?”
Narrator: They had observed a star in the eastern sky (narrator points to the star held by ___________) that signaled his birth. When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified–and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religion scholars in the city together and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” They told him “Bethlehem.” Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars from the East. (Herod moves into the midst of the wise men and pretends to talk with them.) Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.” Instructed by the king, they set off. (The wise and star move down the aisle to the front of the congregation.)  

Anthem “We Three Kings of Orient Are”     Arr. Mark Hayes

Narrator: Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: they were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! They entered the house… (The star and the wise go to the holy family. The star stands behind Mary and the wise kneel then present his or her gift to Jesus; Mary and Joseph thank each of them.) …and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Narrator: As the wise of old gave their gifts to the Christ Child, we too have gifts to bring, the gifts of our lives, in service to the one who willingly comes to dwell among us.

O Little Town of Bethlehem (While we sing, congregation brings thanksgiving offering of food/money forward)

Narrator: The shepherds and wise ones returned to their homes and the angels returned to heaven, glorifying God and rejoicing in the mercy of God! Christ is born!

“Joy to the World” #134 – Standing