Seeker Cycle 2005 December
1st Sunday in December (Week 49) (Luke 1 and Acts 28:17-31)
Every year the anticipation of Christmas is moved forward a bit further, so by the beginning of December we are already immersed in advertising, shopping, and consumerism. The round of Christmas parties has begun. As a counterpoint to all the “me, me, me” of Christmas, the promotion for charitable giving is also accelerating. World AIDS Day will rightly jar us out of our contentment, and this year that will link to other worries about global pandemics. And we can probably expect an increase in violence. Whether we are motivated by guilt or generosity, we will be hammered by a steady chant: “Do good! Do good! Do good!”.
Is there a third option? Is there something between “me” and “good works”? Is the real essence of Christmas something else altogether? The point of Christmas is about receiving salvation as a free gift. Yet accepting such a gift is one of hardest things we can do. It means acknowledging our unworthiness to receive anything at all … and accepting an obligation to pass the same gift to others.
This is one of the great ironies … and tragedies … about the Gospel. Some receive it. Some refuse it. Some hear the good news. Some do not. Some “get it”. Some never seem to “get it”. Some find it too hard to confront their own unworthiness, and their pride keeps them from accepting the free gift of life. Some find it too hard to accept God’s call to mission, and their selfishness keeps them from sharing life with others. But to those that receive it, hear it, and “get it”, there is a joy ahead beyond imagination.
Team Meditation (Luke 1)
And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior ... He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." (Luke 1:46-47, 51-55 NIV)
There are now less than twenty-five shopping days left until Christmas. For most people, panic has not yet set in – that will come in about two-and-a-half weeks or so; however, some will be concerned because they’ve done the math and realize they will once again be paying for Christmas until next June or so.
Tom rightly reminds us that Christmas really is about gifts, or more specifically, about one gift. Mary’s Canticle, better known as the Magnificat, is a song about that very gift. The gift of salvation is better than power – the powerful are brought down. The gift of salvation is better than riches – the wealthy of the world are made empty. The gift of salvation is even better than an annual membership in the jelly of the month club (of the fruit, wine, cigar, chocolate, or whatever of-the-month club). The gift of salvation is truly the only gift that “keeps on giving” for all eternity.
But the really awesome characteristic of the gift is that it’s too much for any one of us to receive on our own. It’s as if the cork from a bottle of fizzy-lifting-drink is popped and the sparkling wine just kept flowing and flowing and flowing and.... A gift of this fizzy-lifting-drink is so good that it has to be shared with everyone because it lifts the humble, it fills the hungry (and satisfies the thirsty!), and it carries us to a presence we could reach with any other gift.
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (Acts 28:17-31)
It was as plain as the nose on their faces, or so it would seem: Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and the Omega, the Hope of Israel. That’s what brought Paul into the Imperial Courts. Paul had been preaching and “proving” through the scriptures that, although Jesus had to die, it was Jesus’ resurrection that bore witness to the truth of the salvation he brought to Israel and to the Gentiles. There were eyewitnesses, a mass of believers, and the scriptures themselves – the truth was as plain as the nose on their faces.
But they couldn’t see it. The wouldn’t hear it. The signs were there, but they were oblivious. Perhaps it was because they were so culturally indoctrinated by the Messianic hopes that enshrouded them in their Roman-occupied land. And so they, according to this account in Acts, took their leave – perhaps with their hands over their ears and blinders over their eyes.
It’s as plain as the nose on the North American’s face, or so it would seem. Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and the Omega, the Hope of the World is born this day in the city of David. And so we decorate in celebration of the birth. We exchange priceless gifts in honor of the event, as the Magi did. We sing Christmas carols as the angelic host did. And we gather as family like the family of the Christ-child did. Everywhere we go we can hardly miss the hoopla, but alas, part of the culture doesn’t see it, another part denies it, and for most of the rest of culture, well, it’s more of a holly-day than a holy-day.
What would it look like if someone “saw it” though? What would it be like if they recognized the signs of the season – if they accepted the gift of the most significant “decoration” hung on the tree, instead of being caught up by the packages under the tree? How would they celebrate the holy-day? How will we?
Bill T-B
Worship Design (Acts 28:17-31)
Whoever said that Christianity is counter-cultural was not a witness to the North American church. Virtually every church on the continent will have a Christmas tree, probably about half of them will have a family celebration where Santa Claus will show up with a goodie bag, and the most of the rest will tell apocryphal stories that Christianize the Christmas traditions and decorations such as the origins of the red-and-white stripped candy canes during the children’s moments. The average family is projected to spend over $700 for Christmas presents in 2005, up 5.1 percent from last year – and that’s Christian or non-Christian spending; there is no statistical significant difference between the two groups.
Getting the point that Christmas is about the gift on the tree, not the mountain of stuff under the tree has become more and more challenging with each passing year. Short of doing something outrageously shocking, the best we can do perhaps is to heighten awareness, provide a time and space for the Holy Spirit to quicken the conscience, and model appropriate Christmas behavior (you are modeling aren’t you?).
Begin the service with a Christmas carol or two (or Advent carols) – and throw in a chorus of the song O Christmas Tree. Then show a clip from the Christmas special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965). The whole show is only twenty-five minutes long in its entirety, so if you have an opportunity, show the whole thing. Otherwise, show the scene where Charlie Brown’s tree is juxtaposed against Snoopy’s decorated doghouse. Use the Christmas tree as the root metaphor for the service and elaborate not only on the commercialization of the season, but also on the “meaning” of the decorations, customs, etc. Note the real gift that’s available at Christmas and that the one decoration that is nearly always missing from the Christmas tree is the one decoration that gives the tree – any tree – its ultimate meaning.
To make a lasting impact, distribute crucifixes (an empty cross will be less moving) to each person and “decorate” a Christmas tree in the sanctuary with them. As the crucifixes are distributed, invite each person to prayerfully consider the cost of the gift that Jesus offers each of them through his birth, his life, and his death. Then have each one hang the image of their Lord on the tree (to extend the impact, give each family a crucifix to take home to “decorate” their tree with.
Bill T-B
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2nd Sunday in December (Week 50) (John 1; Luke 22:39-46 and 23:26-49)
Ancient people believed that there was a foundational principle behind all things. This principle was the origin of reason, nature, and everything that it means to be human. This principle was Beauty itself, beyond all our best attempts to create it; Goodness itself, beyond all of our feeble attempts for moral living; and Truth itself, beyond all of our dogmatisms and definitions. Philosophers over the centuries have believed this principle to be the source of our stability and the fuel for our future. We can “count on it” as we assume the sun will rise in the east and set in the west; we “rely on it” as the source of our creativity and hope.
The big change in Christianity is that we believe this principle to be a person. Jesus Christ is what makes the world stable and our future hopeful. You can “count on him”. You can “rely on him”. He is the source and the fullness of whatever is beautiful and good and true.
Best of all, this person is not just a principle. A principle doesn’t really care about us. A principle dispassionately keeps going, and going, and going, but it does not pause to help the poor, or rescue the lost, or release the captives, or give personal encouragement to you and me (minor parts in a greater drama of history). This person … this Christ … does care about us. Despite being the source behind all things, he is remarkably concerned about the little things and the little people. The Lord of the Universe took time out to come to my little cottage and bring me a cup of water … living water … because I was thirsty and near death. Hear that knock? He is at your door as we speak.
Team Meditation (Luke 22:39-46 and 23:26-49)
What kind of a person would allow themselves to be arrested and not demand a defense lawyer or a fair trial? What kind of a person appears before a judge and refuses to refute the charges or defend themselves? What kind of a person goes to the gallows without appeal or protest?
If those questions were asked in Time magazine or in USA Today we’d probably conclude the person was guilty-as-charged. How could they not be guilty?
If, however, we learned this person had been arrested, tried, judged, sentenced, and executed in the place of a loved one, we’d conclude the person was co-dependent.
But even a common criminal crucified on the cross recognized the innocence of Jesus who hung dying next to him. And the governor who allowed an unjust execution recognized the kingship of the victim.
What kind of a god would surrender themselves to the hands of mortal “justice”? What kind of an immortal god would surrender their omnipotence and immortality on behalf of unkind, ungrateful, disobedient miscreants? For that matter, what kind of a god would be compassionate enough for us that they would become “one of us” in order to reach us?
Search throughout all the religions of the world to find such a god and the serious seeker will find but One. Which leaves us with the question, what kind a people are we to turn our backs on a god like that?
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (John 1)
If you want to get a real headache, take a crack at understanding quantum physics. Discoveries such as one atom directly and instantly effecting another atom located miles or even light years away from the first has left scientists aghast at the implications. That anything exists only in terms of “probability” or “observability” is disturbing. That light changes its characteristics literally based on how you expect it to behave is maddening. Trying to understand it is, well, listen to the words of a couple of its founders:
“If you’re not shocked when you first come across quantum theory, you cannot possibly have understood it” (Niels Bohr on Quantum Physics).
“All my attempts to adapt the theoretical foundation of physics to this new type of knowledge [Quantum Theory] failed completely. It was as if the ground had been pulled out from under one, with no firm foundation to be seen anywhere, upon which one could have built” (Albert Einstein on Quantum Theory).
“I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it” (Erwin Schrodinger on Quantum Mechanics).
Light, according to physics, is both particle (matter, substance, something you can lay your hands on) and wave (traveling energy). But that fact raises a serious problem. According to Einstein’s Relativity Theory (E=MC2), the faster an object (particle) travels, the more energy it takes. Accordingly, it would take an infinite amount of energy for matter to reach the speed of light. But if light has the characteristics of a particle, then how can it travel without infinite energy? (And we’ve left out the part about matter becoming infinite in size if travels that speed.)
The fact is, we don’t understand light, we don’t understand quantum physics, and we certainly don’t understand the God who’s behind it all.
John wrote that Jesus is life and that he is our light. He also wrote that the darkness didn’t recognize the light. The light was there...the life was there...but like a blind man standing under a bank of fluorescent lights, they just couldn’t see any of it.
Don’t be fooled, though. The sighted may see the light, they may recognize it as light, but that doesn’t mean they understand it. Indeed, I suspect none of us really understands it any more than Schrodinger or even Einstein understood quantum physics. But understanding isn’t the point, is it? Receiving the life, walking in the light, and becoming children of God is what the gift of Christmas is all about.
Bill T-B
Worship Design (John 1)
What does it mean that “Jesus is the light of the world”? The church has played with that image to the point that it almost doesn’t mean anything at all. Vacation Bible School proudly proclaims the Jesus is the Sonshine. We light the Christ Candle during worship. We go around singing This Little Light of Mine and not letting Satan blow it out (as we blow on our index fingers). We may even have told our children that we decorate the Christmas tree with lights to symbolize the twinkling and dazzling light of Jesus in the world.
But light is complex and makes a good metaphor for Jesus. Light is particle and wave – two characteristics that are mutually exclusive. Jesus is God and Human – two characteristics that are mutually exclusive. Science is still struggling to understand light; the church is still struggling to understand Jesus.
Maybe we’re trying too hard. Perhaps unsolved mysteries don’t represent failure, but instead are there to keep us interested, to keep us moving forward, to revive a sense of hope within us, a confidence that we aren’t the end all, be all – that there really is a God who’s ways are not our ways and whose thoughts are not our thoughts.
The point of this week’s lesson is acceptance beyond understanding. Jesus was human and divine – both. But we don’t have to understand it; in fact, that’s the point: we can’t understand it all. We turn on a light switch, the light goes on. We wait for the sunrise, the light spreads across the land. We receive the life and the light and we become God’s children. We walk in the light and we do greater things than Jesus did (John 14:12). We don’t understand, but then, we don’t have to.
Introduce the theme by running a clip from the old Star Trek IV (1986) movie. Use the scene where the starship crew is discussing how to go back in time by “slingshotting” around the sun. End the clip with the success of Spock’s guess and their arrival in Earth’s orbit. Then open up a discussion about why this bit of sci-fi film is more a trip down fairy tale lane. During the discussion, ensure the theory of relativity is broached in order to introduce Einstein’s frustration in trying to make his theory “work” in the face of quantum physics.
If you have any sort of handle on quantum physics, a very short (less than two-minutes) introduction to this “new” science may be in order. Don’t get carried away, just offer enough information that Niels Bohr’s quote above is reinforced. From there, introduce the science of light and move into the religion of the Light.
To bring the lesson home, consider distributing light-sticks (chemical lights) at the end of the service, perhaps during an invitation to “receive” the Light and to take it out into the world – even when we don’t understand it. (If you’re really bold, invite everyone to take two lights – one for themselves and one to share with a friend, relative, acquaintance, neighbor, or coworker in order to create an opportunity for sharing their faith).
Bill T-B
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3rd Sunday in December (Week 51) (Luke 21:1-20 and Acts 14)
How do you tell the difference between a god and God? This was a difficult question to answer in the ancient world. People believed in many gods, and different people believed in different gods, and to elevate one God above all the gods was considered not only disrespectful but narrow minded.
The same is true today, and we feel it most at Christmas. A “god” is whatever has an absolute claim on your life. It is that which matters to you ultimately. People today believe in many gods, and different things matter “ultimately” to different people. What is Christmas all about? Listen to the top five answers in the media. Christmas is all about:
Family;
Children;
Good times;
Gifts and presents;
Memories of loved ones.
Is there any God above these gods? Is there a God that even this list of five excellent things might be sacrificed to know? Any claim that God is actually different from, and more important than, these things would be regarded as disrespectful and narrow minded.
Yet that is the real claim of Christmas. Christmas is really not about anything else except salvation … the victory of God above all the gods. What starts out as a lovely story of a child in a manger soon becomes a scandal, a challenge, and a life or death commitment.
Team Meditation (Acts 14)
It’s easy to love a baby – especially somebody else’s baby. Babies are so cute, so angelic (when they’re being held or when they’re asleep), and so, well, lovable. And according to the legends, Jesus was a particularly cute, cuddly, and quiet baby; remember, “the little Lord Jesus no crying he made.” The nativity scene, once the center of Christmas decorating, is once again beginning to take a prominent place in home and yard displays.
It’s easy to move the congregation with songs like Away in the Manger, especially if they are coupled with images of a snow-covered Bethlehem stable with shepherds and magi worshipping on bended knee. Throw in a kneeling jolly St. Nicolas and Christmas is very nearly complete. Hearts will be moved and tears may even flow when the congregation pensively sings Silent Night whilst holding Christmas candles in a darkened sanctuary, save for the glow of the Christ-child in a miniature crèche.
It’s easy to love a baby.
But it’s not nearly so easy to love your neighbors, especially when they don’t particularly care for the whole Christianity thing. It’s not nearly so easy to love the checker when their shift ends and you have to change check-out lanes – and the lines are filled with holiday shoppers. And it’s not nearly so easy to love you enemy when they’re exploding IEDs while your son, your daughter, or your neighbor is serving in the military and in harm’s way.
Paul was stoned nearly to death in Lystra after doing a particularly good deed for a crippled man. Left for dead, his friends gathered around what should have been a dead body only to watch him stand, shake himself off, and return to Lystra where he taught the disciples, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Yes, it’s easy to love a baby; but a cute and cuddly baby isn’t what Christmas is all about. It’s about a gift. An expensive gift. A gift of great price that will cost you many, many hardships.
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (Luke 2:1-20)
What would Christmas be like if, instead of decorations, tinseled trees, presents, Santa Claus, strings of multi-colored chasing mini-lights, blow-up snowmen, mulled wine, and candy canes, we put Jesus at the center of the holy-day? What would Christmas be like if we really believed Jesus was the reason for the season?
What would the New Year be like if, instead of making resolutions to quit overeating, fighting with the spouse, drinking, smoking, cussing, or picking our teeth in public, we made a commitment to follow the shepherd’s example of sharing the good news with everyone we met (instead of waiting until we “earned the right” to share by taking a year to build a relationship)?
What would our lives be like if, instead of bowing to the gods of leisure and consumerism, we began generously spending our time, talents, and treasure with ministries that were intentional in being in mission with Jesus – whether they were affiliated with our local church or not?
What would our churches be like if, instead of accommodating culture, we became counter-cultural and embraced kingdom-living and kingdom-values as exemplified in Acts 2-4?
As beautiful and wondrous as the nativity scene may have been, at least in the traditional mythology of what a working Bethlehem barn might look like, the birth of the Christ-child is not simply a cause for celebration. Yes, we all love parties – and it seems we especially enjoy Christmas parties since there are so many of them – but celebrations are focused on, well, celebrating. God-With-Us did not incarnate for the purpose of providing a new holy-day. Humanity didn’t need an excuse for a new celebration. Jesus was born to elicit a different kind of response.
The crèche on our mantles and in our sanctuaries are static; for all the world they look like a “worship celebration.” There’s Mary adoring the child; shepherds on bended knee; and magi with gifts outstretched. But the account in Luke is far from static. The shepherds came, saw, and left joyously and spread the news to anyone and everyone who would listen. There’s no record of the shepherds spending forty-five minutes to an hour-and-a-half in worship. An encounter with Jesus demands a missional response – a “Go tell it on the mountains” kind of response.
What would it be like if we encountered Jesus this Christmas and gave our energies into something besides celebrating?
Bill T-B
Worship Design (Luke 2:1-20)
It’s tough to be counter-cultural, especially during the Christmas season. Society’s focus is on celebrating, not on commitment; on the static nativity, not the response of the shepherds.
Consider Christmas with the Kranks (2004). Use the scene where the neighbors confront the Kranks (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) about skipping the traditional Christmas festivities. The point to make is that society puts so much pressure on us to conform that it’s difficult to be countercultural as disciples of Jesus. Of course, you could go in all sorts of directions from here, but remember the overarching theme is commitment over celebration, action over contemplation.
A second consideration would be to use A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) using the scene where Charlie Brown is overwhelmed with the commercialization of the Christmas celebrations and screams “Isn’t there anyone out there who can tell me what Christmas is all about?” Linus then steps up the microphone, calls for the lights, and reads Luke 2:1-20 (rather eloquently at that). Besides being a “novel” way of hearing the scriptures read, the scene itself lends itself to the countercultural theme.
Bill T-B
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
4th Sunday in December (Week 52) (Matthew 1:18-2:23 and Luke 9:18-36)
Luke 9:35 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
Christmas day is perhaps the quietest day of the entire year. Everything seems to stop. The world seems to shift to minimum emergency services only, but most people seem to be sleeping, praying, pondering, or playing with their families and friends. Televisions and radios are often turned off; traffic slows down; and people find it remarkable to stand outside their front door and hear … nothing! No cacophony of noises. And in that quiet time, for the first time, and perhaps for the only time in the entire year, they might just hear God’s voice.
And God says: “This is my Son. Listen to him!” Christmas is only the beginning of a dramatic story of salvation. And it should also be just the beginning of an entire year of focusing the Gospel message; discerning Jesus in the crowd; and listening to Jesus in the midst of the cacophony of life. Listening is a hard thing to do, and listening to Christ is the hardest thing of all.
Team Meditation (Luke 9:18-36)
Once upon a time it took up to three years or more to become a bona fide Christian. Early Christian wannabes would sit on the steps and listen to the worship within. When a wannabe professed that they wanted to become a Christian, they would be adopted by a sponsor/mentor and they (the wannabes) became a catechumen (one who studies). For the next two years or so, the mentor would teach their charge the Didache (teachings), which is a short training manual that emphasizes the appropriate behaviors of a Christian. Once the catechumen had completed their studies and was living a demonstrated Christian life, only then did they experience the “mysteries” (sacraments) of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist).
This three-step process echoes the scripture reading. Peter makes his profession. Jesus launches into a teaching of what it means to be one of the faithful (and the fate of those who aren’t), and only after this do the apostles experience the mystery of the transfiguration.
But there’s one more step – listening to Jesus. All too often we get caught up in steps one through three and then stop. But the writer of Hebrews would call the teachings and practices of the Didache “elementary teachings.” Paul would call them “milk.” There’s a presumption that Christian leaders have moved beyond the basics of Christian behavior and into “listening mode,” that is, hearing from Jesus. Call it revelation, God’s hidden or secret wisdom, or the Spirit’s truths, but whatever you call it, it comes with the power to change lives.
“This is my son, hear him.” In the holy-day season of never-resting twinkle lights, jingle bells, and ho ho ho’s, the ability to hear Jesus may seem daunting. But daunting isn’t much of an object in the lives of those who have outgrown bottle-feeding and are tuning in to Jesus’ voice. Go take a long, quiet walk outside all alone – just you and Jesus – and hear him. Go to your prayer closet and close the door and listen. Either make the time lest the cacophony of “Christmas noise” drowns out the most important words you may ever hear.
Bill T-B
Worship Theme: (Matthew 1:18-2:23)
Christmas Eve is over. No more children’s pageants, singing Christmas trees, or live nativities. Many will spend the day with family or friends. Some will visit a local lavish brunch buffet. A few will brave the winter to catch a new movie. But most will stay home and live in the relative quiet of the day.
The songs Silent Night, Holy Night and O, Holy Night both paint pictures in verse and melody of peaceful quiet, quite the contrast from the hubbub of the pre-Christmas season. As we read in our scripture reading, the days following the advent of Immanuel were also filled with activity. Magi bringing gifts presented themselves before the newborn king. The reigning king took exception and did what he could to put an end to the competition, so the holy family had to flee. Lots and lots went on following the day of the birth. But on that night of nights, at least in the lore of this holy day, peace and quiet reigned supreme – and Luke’s account adds that Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (2:19).
Who is this Jesus, this “YHWH Will Save”? The Magi recognized a king. Herod recognized a threat. The shepherds recognized a promise. But we tend to just see a baby lying is a bed of straw in the most rustic of settings and marvel at the innocence of a newborn child.
Who is this Immanuel? That’s the question that rings in the Christmas bells this morning. That’s the question you must address in the silent, holy night. Who do you say he is?
Bill T-B
Worship Design: (Matthew 1:18-2:23)
This year Christmas falls on a Sunday and most churches will experience one of two things. Either the nave will be filled to gunnels or the hold will be nearly empty. The reality is that most will churches will probably experience the latter rather than the former. Indeed, some churches will choose not to have services on Sunday, Christmas Day. However, if you’re going to be “open,” this is a great opportunity to eschew “business as usual” and do the Monty Python, “And now for something completely different.”
Silence is perhaps the most uncomfortable phenomena in the Western church. We want to fill the silent spaces with music, with words, with sound. But there’s something about Christmas that invites, yea demands, silent reflection. Even the cacophony of noise that accompanies nearly every corner of our neighborhood pauses on this day. Quietness fills the air.
But it is only in the silence that we have the opportunity to “hear” the voices of the angel’s chorus. Only in the silence can we hear the whisper of God’s voice. And only in the silence can we hear the musings of our own heart as it struggles to reconcile an “infant so tender and mild” with a real-life threat whose life must be extinguished or else.
Accentuate the silence by beginning the service without music, without introit, without a sound. Give each person a lit candle to tend as they enter the worship space – you probably have left-overs from the Christmas Eve candlelight service. Also, ensure each person gets journaling or drawing materials as they enter (let each person choose which they would prefer). If you use a bulletin, a program, an overhead, or a projector, convey the message of stillness (BTW, shushing people tends to make more noise than those who stir ... ban the shhhhhhhhh! as well). Project sacred images on the screen for meditating on (or zoom in on a single candle flame) during this time.
When the silence seems unbearable, run the Nooma video Noise (2003). (Make sure you’ve previewed the video – it has a section where it seems like the video has ended, but it hasn’t.) The video ends with some profound questions – print these on a PowerPoint slide or in the bulletin/program (you can find them in the DVD’s accompanying booklet). When the video ends, silently invite the congregation to reflect on the questions through journaling or drawing. Allow significant time for this. Some will be very uncomfortable – again, project peaceful, reflective images on screen for those who are visual.
Bring the service to a close by breaking the silence with the song Joy to the World; however, do not “announce” the song or say, “Now let us turn in our hymnals...” or even “Let us stand and sing.” Instead, if your sanctuary has one of the big old pipe organs – or uses a keyboard which can imitate the sound – begin with a long LOUD chord and begin the song. Do the John Wesley thing and sing all the verses – loudly and with gusto.
Bill T-B