After last year's highly appreciated Advent series about angels (RW 37), we have become much more aware of God's messengers and our guardians both in Scripture and in our lives. But that series also started us wondering about what other means God uses to communicate his message to people.
And God turned to his angel. And God said, "Gabriel."
And the angel answered, "Yes, Lord?"
And the Lord God said, "Go down. All of the people must know what I am doing. Tired and lonely and scattered and scared, all of the people must hear it. Go, good Gabriel. Go down again. Go tell a few to tell the others, till every child has heard it. Go!"
A few weeks ago, Bruce Klanderman, organist at the Rochester (N.Y.) Christian Reformed Church, sent me a chart of the number of Psalter Hymnal songs that have moved in his congregation from "red" to "green."
Now for the translation: Two other organists in western Michigan prepared a color-coded chart of the entire 1987 Psalter Hymnal when it first came out.
They marked every song either
Here are two small books that will delight children as well as adults. In both, the full-colorillustrations are not incidental but at least equal to the written text in concept as well as space.
Joy Patterson is one of several contemporary women hymn writers whose hymns are included in recent hymnals. In fact, no fewer than six women writers have had their works collected and published in the past few years (see box on p. 29). On the pages that follow Joy Patterson introduces her own work and that of three other living female hymn writers.
Brass Prelude
Opening Hymn: "O Come, All Ye Faithful" PsH 340, PH 41, 42, RL 195, TH 208
Opening Prayer
Hymn: "O Come, Let Us Adore Him"
God's Greeting
Hymn: "I Love to Tell the Story" stanza 1 PsH 530, TH 478
Prelude
Call to Worship: Psalm 103:1
Hymn: "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven" PSH 475, PH 478, RL 144,TH 76,77
God's Greeting
Responsive Reading: Psalm 103:2-5
Reflection: The Blessings of the Past Year
Roll Call of the Newborn, New Confessors, and New Members
In the past, all our Christmas banners and decorations just disappeared after Christmas. But this year we extended the season by planning a joint Epiphany hymn festival with the Ann Arbor Campus Chapel. It was a first for us but one I'm sure will become a tradition since it provided such an appropriate closure to the Christmas cycle.
This litany attempts to encourage and challenge us in the work of evangelism by voicing Scripture's call to witness, along with the words of those who have obeyed Christ's command. It also incorporates section 44 of the contemporary testimony Our World Belongs to God. It was usedfirstin a Refoimation Day service togivewitness to the Reformed heritage and legacy of reaching out for Christ. The litany would also be fitting to use during Epiphany, or in any service of worship that seeks to highlight or encourage evangelism.
