CHRISTMAS

MUSIC & WORSHIP RESOURCES

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Michelle Riley Jones, Lectionary Team Liturgist

Worship Planning Notes

The key scripture for this year for Christmas is John 1:1-14, and it focuses on John’s preparing the way for the coming of the Savior. In worship planning, we sometimes struggle with this [preparation] because we want to get right to creating the big Christmas “event.”

Dr. Valerie Bridgeman Davis gave this perspective in The Africana Worship Book Year C:

John Won’t Be in the Christmas Pageant

Just when we think we’ve gotten it right, just when we’re patting ourselves on the back, some weird prophet dressed in strange clothes challenges us. He doesn’t fit our Christmas of Santa Clause and mistletoe, of Christmas carols and baby Jesus. This prophet ruins the mood with words like “viper” and “wrath to come.” He wants to cut his own trees and call us to repentance. Isn’t that Lent? This is Christmas; we don’t want John ruining our mood. That’s why he won’t be in the Christmas pageant with our runny-nosed shepherds, our plastic-doll Jesus, or our crooked-winged angels. He’s too loud, too insistent, with way too many demands. Just when we’re patting ourselves on the back, John makes us squirm, and we find ourselves asking, under our breath, “What then should we do?” Maybe, though, John should be in the pageant; after all, what he said really was good news.

So instead of the goal being an expensive and ostentatious Christmas program, how can we prepare our families, our congregation, our communities for the birth of Christ? We can only experience the joy of Christmas, and help others experience this joy too, when we have personally met Jesus Christ. This season, to prepare yourselves and others for the Lord’s coming, consider these ideas:

1. The setting of the story of Christ’s birth, as told in Matthew, can be told through the preparation spoken of in John. Incorporate these basic “preparation” principles in your planning for worship:

1. Prepare yourselves and others to receive Christ by building on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Matthew 2:1-2 reads, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” As musicians and worship planners, we may be wise in the teaching, playing, and singing of music, and leading of worship. John 1:4 admonishes us that “In him was life, and that life was the light of all humanity.”
   
   
2. Prepare yourselves and others to receive Christ by believing in the truths of Jesus. The wise men said “We have seen his star” (Matthew 2:1). The star which the Lord will use to lead men to Jesus must be Christ’s own star—not ours. The faithful music minister, like this star, belongs to Christ. Before we can expect to be made a blessing, we must ourselves be blessed of the Lord. If we would cause others to belong to Jesus, we must belong wholly to Jesus ourselves. God will not lead men to Christ through us unless we are Christ’s heartily, wholly, and unreservedly. John 1:9 says, “A TRUE LIGHT that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” May people never dwell upon our gifts and talents, but may they always observe this one thing, that we are men/women of God, that we are ambassadors of Christ, that we are Christ’s servants.
   
   
3. Prepare yourselves and others to receive Christ by bearing testimony of Jesus Christ. Only when we know what we believe can we share it well. The star in the east led wise men to Christ because the star pointed in that direction. In Matthew’s account, the wise men, upon seeing and following the star, said, “we have come to worship him.” John 1:8 tells us: “He himself was not the light, he came only as a witness to the light.” John 1:23 expounds further: “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” People are drawn by example more than they are driven by exhortation. It is a small thing to shine, but it is a great thing to draw.

2. Involve youth by designing an evening for a “Progressive Nativity.” Your community outreach team could identify neighborhood families and assign each youth and his or her family to visit one family in the community to share with them the Christmas story. The roster of visitation can also include nursing homes, senior homes, hospitals, shelters, etc. (with appropriate permissions). To make it fun, the children can dress in historic costume. Maybe their costume could designate the perspective from which they tell the story. The parents, or other designees, could work with the children on their stories in advance, or select an age-appropriate book from which the children can read the Christmas story to others. The progressive nativity could be structured as follows:

3. Use social media to share a devotional thought each day from Advent leading up to Christmas. One source is http://www.d365.org/todaysdevotion/FTS2009.html?CFID=1148148&CFTOKEN=54470697 which has a daily online devotional series, “Following the Star,” beginning with the Advent season through Epiphany, which features scripture, prayers, and meditative thoughts, accompanied by music. This can be linked to your church’s web page and shared in your daily Facebook and Twitter messages. An e-newsletter can also be great avenue for sharing the devotionals. You can also seek out other sources or write your own material.

1. Call to Worship, Litany, or Congregational Reading

Call to Worship
(a) Joy! By Sherie Dobbs Johnson

Joy!

Music for The Call to Worship
(b) Holy Are You Lord. By Gary D. Hines and Andrea Tribitt

(c) Worship Christ, the Newborn King. By Lloyd Larsen. This selection is a rousing Christmas medley for SATB choir, organ, and optional brass and timpani.

(d) The Promise. By Michael W. Smith. Arr. by Bradley Knight. This beautiful song can be used as a sung call to worship and then reprised at benediction. “We’re singing Hallelujah! Emmanuel, our God is with us.”

2. Hymns and Congregational Songs
(a) What Child Is This? By William C. Dix. Tune, (GREENSLEEVES), by John Stainer

(b) Joy to the World. By Isaac Watts. Tune, (ANTIOCH), by George F. Handel and Lowell Mason

(c) Silent Night. By Joseph Mohr. Tune, (STILLE NACHT), by Franz Gruber

3. Spirituals or Traditional Songs
(a) Behold the Star. Spiritual

(b) Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child. Traditional

(c) Mary Had a Baby. Spiritual

(d) Children, Go Where I Send Thee. Traditional

(e) Amen. Traditional Spiritual

(f) Roun’ De Glory Manger. Traditional Spiritual. Arr. by Willis Laurence James. A capella

(g) Ring De Christmas Bells. Spiritual. By Jester Hairston. Arr. by William Ryden

4. Gospel Songs for Choirs or Praise Teams
(a) Tell Me a Story. By John P. Kee

(b) Call Him Jesus. By Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell, and W. Campbell

(c) Away in a Manager. By John T. McFarland. Tune, (MUELLER), by James R. Murray

(d) Come Let Us Adore Him. Text and Tune, (ADESTE FIDELES), by John F. Wade

(e) Jesus, the Light of the World. Text and Tune, (WALK IN THE LIGHT), by George D. Elderkin

5. Liturgical Dance Music
(a) Still the Lamb. By Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell, and Warren Campbell. This selection is a great piece to combine liturgical dance with spoken word.

(b) Mary Did You Know? By Buddy Green and Mark Lowry

(c) What Child Is This? By William C. Dix. Tune, (GREENSLEEVES), by John Stainer

(d) Away in a Manger. By John McFarland. Tune, (MUELLER), by James R. Murray

6. Anthems
(a) No One Had Seen. Arr. by Bradley Knight

(b) Baloo Lammy. By Don Gillespie. For SATB
Audio Sample: http://www.beckenhorstpress.com/audio/1373.mp3

(c) Come to Where Shepherds Kneel. By David Lantz III. For SATB
Audio Sample: http://www.beckenhorstpress.com/audio/1790.mp3

(d) Good News, the Savior is Born! By Glenn Jones

(e) Worship Christ, the Newborn King. By Lloyd Larsen. This selection is a rousing Christmas medley for SATB choir, organ, and optional brass and timpani.

7. Modern Songs
(a) O Come. By Luther “Mano” Hanes and Israel Houghton

(b) Alleluia. By Randall Thompson

(c) What Child Is This? By William C. Dix. Tune, (GREENSLEEVES), by John Stainer

8. Offertory Song or Instrumental
(a) Silent Night. By Joseph Mohr. Tune, (STILLE NACHT), by Franz Gruber

(b) Love from a Star. By John Stoddart

(c) A Not So Silent Night. By John Stoddart

(d) Alleluia Alleluia (Peace on Earth). By Tim Hayden and Patrice Villines

(e) Celebration. By Asaph A. Ward

9. Songs for Children
(a) He Came Down. Cameroon Traditional

(b) The Gift Goes On. By Sandi Patty. This selection is a good song to combine your adult and children’s choir.

(c) Children, Go Where I Send Thee. Traditional

(d) Silent Night. By John F. Young. Tune, (STILLE NACHT), by Franz X. Gruber

(e) Happy Birthday Jesus. By Carol Cymbala

(f) Into My Heart. By Harry D. Clark

(g) I’ll Give Him My Heart (What Can I Give Him?). By Carol Cymbala, Emelyne Francois, and Christina Rossetti

(h) ‘Twas on a Night (A Children’s Christmas Hymn). By Analise Stoddart. This Christmas hymn was composed in 2010 (lyrics and tune) by a then-8-year-old child.

(i) Child of God (The Little Cradle Rocks Tonight in Glory). Spiritual from Georgia
Audio Sample: http://www.christmas-songs.org/midis/the_little_cradle_rocks_tonight_in_glory.mid

10. Song or Instrumental for the Period of Prayer
(a) Holy. By Donald Lawrence

(b) Bow Dow and Worship Him. By David Baroni and Tony Sutherland

(c) Let Us Worship Him. By Armirris Palmore

11. Sermonic Selection
(a) His Love Is All I See. By Carol Cymbala and Jason Michael Webb

(b) O Holy Night. By John S. Dwight. Tune, (CANTIQUE DE NOEL), by Adolphe Adam

(c) For Unto Us (A Child Is Born). By George Frideric Handel

12. Invitational Song or Instrumental
(a) Is There Any Room in Your Heart for Jesus? By Wyatt Tee Walker

(b) God Speaking. By Ronnie Freeman

(c) With God. By Yolanda Adams and Gregory G. Curtis

(d) We Are Christmas. By Kevin Johnson and Sarah Stephens

13. Benediction/Sending Song or Instrumental
(a) Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. By Charles Wesley. Tune, (MENDELSSOHN), by Felix Mendelssohn. The video features a wonderful transposition of this hymn from Introit to Sending Song.

(b) The Promise. By Michael W. Smith. Arr. by Bradley Knight. This beautiful song can be used as a sung call to worship and then reprised at benediction. “We’re singing Hallelujah! Emmanuel, our God is with us.”

(c) Hallelujah Chorus. By George F. Handel

(d) Go Tell It on the Mountain. Spiritual

(e) Rise Up Shepherd and Follow. Spiritual

Cites and Additional Information for Music and Material Listed

Worship Planning Notes

• John Won’t Be in the Christmas Pageant. By Valerie Bridgeman Davis
  Location:
  
  Bridgeman Davis, Valerie and Safiyah Fosua, eds. The Africana Worship Book: Year C. Nashville, TN: GBOD Discipleship Resources, 2008, p. 26.

• Ideas based on sermon “Preparing for Christ’s Coming,” accessed at http://www.c-we.com/adelumc/071216.htm, and sermon “The Star and the Wise Men,” accessed at http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1698.htm on 29 March 2012.

1. Call to Worship, Litany, or Congregational Reading