We did something a bit different at Journey last night. We celebrated Christmas early…well, kinda. Christmas falls on a Thursday this year, and since our community worships on Sunday nights and we exist within a large congregation that has several worship services during the week of Christmas (eight of them), this was our only opportunity to celebrate Christmas at Journey.
Same story. Different perspectives.
Although we considered pretending it was actually Christmas on Sunday, we realized that we wouldn’t trick anyone, so we decided to take a very honest approach. Last night was December 21st, a few days before Christmas, and most of the people at Journey would be celebrating Christmas (again/for real) later in the week. So rather than do all the traditional things they’d be doing again in a few days, we decided to tilt Christmas on it’s side…to take the story and message of Christmas and look at it from a few different perspectives. The songs we sang were not the typical Christmas hymns people would be singing at their parent’s church on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, in fact, many of the songs weren’t even “Christmas songs,” but through a mix of music and mini messages, we think we were able to create a very worshipful evening that pointed people toward a baby about to be born in Bethlehem…and the reality that the world will never be the same because of what happened on that silent night two thousand years ago.
If you’re interested in the specifics of what we did, or if you want to experience it for yourself (either for the first time or again), the outline of the service order is below: including titles and artists of the songs (download songs via iTunes), audio of messages (press the play/right-arrow to listen), and a video we used during worship. We hope this helps get you ready for Christmas in “anew” way this year.
Christmas at Journey — December 21, 2008
Calvary Lutheran Church (Golden Valley, MN)
Song: “Everything” by Lifehouse
Message: “It’s not quite Christmas” (Andy Jolivete)
Song: “We Are Hungry” by Shane Everett
Message: “The Christmas Story” (Kevin Johnson)
Song: “Glory of It All” by David Crowder Band
Message: “Joseph’s Lullaby” (Andy Jolivette)
Video: “Joseph’s Lullaby” (song by MercyMe)
Message: “The Shepherd’s Journey” (Kevin Johnson)
Song: “O Come Let us Adore Him” by Shane & Shane
Message: “Emmanuel: God is with us” (Andy Jolivette)
Song: “Great Light of the World” by Bebo Norman
Song: “Silent Night” by Jewel
How will this effect anewdoxology.com? I’m not sure yet, but hopefully not much. I still have an interest and excitement in sharing my “reflections of faith in an MTV world,” but I also consider it a great honor to have this new opportunity to help the seminary — where I discovered this calling — to recruit the next generation of leaders for the church. I don’t know exactly how my life will change, but there are three things about me that I’m confident will stay the same: 1) I will see life through the perspective of my faith. 2) I will have an interest in popular culture. 3) I will bring my macbook with me.
