We’re janitors—my husband and I and our kids. There are times when I get tired of having to do it. But we need the money. And we do it together, our family.
I’ll admit that our being janitors makes me a bit hesitant to throw my lot in with those who’d love to stage Aida in our sanctuary, if you know what I mean. Extravaganzas—and Lattimore Park is good at extravaganzas—make janitors work overtime.
Q After many years of planning Advent and Christmas services, our worship planning committee wants to use Old Testament readings other than Isaiah 7, 9, 11 and 40. Do have any fresh ideas?
—Alberta
A Great question! Many congregations limit their search for Old Testament readings to texts from Handel’s Messiah (who would have ever guessed that a 17th-century oratorio librettist would have so much influence on worship today!).
Neal just e-mailed his topic for Sunday’s service. Texts are Genesis 1, John 1, and Ecclesiastes 3—“A Time to Be Silent.” Says there’s a rhythm between silence and speaking, a rhythm as old as creation, seen in the Incarnation. In the fullness of time, God finally speaks the Word into the world.
Makes sense to use silence in the service. The trick will be how to make the silence as lively and participatory as the singing.
Consider this scenario: All eyes are glued to the screen as the hero Indiana Jones attempts to save his dying father. This mission requires him to somehow cross what seems like an insurmountable chasm. He stands poised at the edge of the precipice overlooking the bottomless chasm. In his hands he clutches a scroll with instructions that suggest he simply “step out in faith.” That doesn’t make sense. As the audience waits in tense anticipation, the soundtrack builds to a crescendo and then falls quiet.
Increasing numbers of churches are celebrating World Communion Sunday on the first Sunday of October. It’s a service I look forward to more each year, especially as I get to know brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Early this year I met several in Geneva, Switzerland, when I had the privilege of attending an International Consultation on Reformed Worship.
The marriage of rock music and church music has often been, well, rocky. Just think of the Catholic priest in the 1960s who changed the lyrics of Beatles songs to reflect a Christian message. Unfortunately, songs like “I Want to Hold His Hand” did little more than show that the church was desperate to try anything to reach young people.
Throughout the Old Testament, God commands his people to observe special holidays. Chief among them are three fall and three spring festivals. The fall festivals were all celebrated in the same Jewish month of Tishri; the equivalent of our September/October:
The idea of planning our Advent and Christmas messages around Mary had its genesis at a worship conference at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario. Keynote speakers Richard Middleton and Sylvia Keesmaat of the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto unpacked Mary’s Song, also called the Magnificat. Ron VandenBurg, a member of our worship committee at Jubilee Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, returned to us full of excitement, suggesting this as our focus.
