Question: what do you think a Christmas Eve worship service should include… look like… feel like?
I’m looking for as many answers to this question as possible so speak up!
Question: what do you think a Christmas Eve worship service should include… look like… feel like?
I’m looking for as many answers to this question as possible so speak up!
Candles.
Quiet.
Intimate.
Hushed.
Meditative.
Carols
Scripture Reading
Candles
Family
low lighting
candles
a time to be meditative
but also a time to celebrate (this is a birth celebration. everyone celebrates a birth)
hand out candy canes. (seriously)
Okay…this even sounds kinda weird to me, yet I you love to see it.
A musical that shows various snippets of pre-Jesus life and shows how nobody had really figured out God’s plan but plenty sure thought they knew it perfectly. Final scene would be Mary & Joseph making their way to Jerusalem, singing a contemplative duet of each of them realizing that everything they thought they knew about the messiah is now in question and uncertain, and both of them wondering just what the future holds…both of them eager, scared, uncertain, hopeful, confused, trusting…
edit: “yet I would love to see it.” (corrected ending to first sentence of my post)
Singing (not listening to) Christmas carols
Family
Trans-Siberian Orchestra + Mannheim Steamroller + Stomp (their style, not the actual performers)
Laser pointers instead of candles
Ushers distributing candy bars to the adults (sorry kids, you got yours at the Christmas Program on the 5th and 6th)
mandy, janaki, tam.. thank you so much for commenting. I think I’d love to attend a service like what you’ve each described.
doug… this is an interesting vision. not sure I can pull it off by THIS December 24, but it’s a great perspective on the story.
Henneberg’s: the combination of your answers makes me laugh. music by ‘Trans-Siberian Mannheim Stomp-roller’ that people can sing along with. I’ll get to work on that right away.
I would do fine with out the candles…since our greatest Christmas Eve church memory is the year Kellie’s hair caught on fire b/c of holding the candle to close! :)
Though I love some of the Christmas Eve traditions….I love newness in worship…keeps us on our toes and thinking!
So…something b/tw Stomp and our worship band! :)
I, too, have memories of smelling burnt hairspray during a Christmas Eve Service! Yet, now that my church doesn’t do candles…I miss them.
Participatory — singable, yet musically interesting.
Scripture.
Something for the kiddos — either within the service or a separate kids’ service designed just for them (which is what our church is trying this year…wheeeeee!)
I personally love integrating worship tunes and Christmas carols, but have found that my neighbors, for example, end up feeling lost and uncomfortable with the worship tunes. This particular service has an interesting dynamic — who is it for? Do we plan with twice-a-year attenders in mind? What, besides authentic worship, do we try to accomplish? Nevermind. This is really an August conversation….not mid-December! You have a great band and an unbelievable creative mind-heart thing happening — go for it!
Oooh! Love the new banner and snowflakes…and the little :) at the bottom of your page.
Your snowflakes are making my keyboard wet.
(Love it.)
great picture. and you did it without kitties.
i’m a little ‘late’ – sorry.
would be nice if it included a real live honest-to-God baby and/or pregnant about-to-be Mom. :-)
a Reminder that, in Giving Gifts to our fellow man we imitate the Gift He was given to us, First.
Starry sky – real, if possible, and you can arrange for the clouds to clear off for an hour or so ;-)
and if you could have a ‘word’ in the right place… having a shining star rise in the West would be a most welcome ‘touch’ – and overdue! ;-)
Seriously – have a Merry Christmas and a Happy 40th too.
They’re not all that bad – trust me on that ;-)
love
<B