September 2019

RW 133
Advent/Christmas
Reformed Worship Issue 133 cover

Articles in this issue:

  • Editorial

    Leaning into the Tension

    By

    We are a culture that fears the uncomfortable, looks for the easy option, and is quickly distracted by the latest shiny bauble. We are a culture that does whatever it can to avoid being confronted by the darkness and evil that surrounds us, to live in denial of the atrocities occurring even in our own communities. We are a culture that is quick to lay blame for the struggles of other humans at their feet rather than consider our own part in supporting systems that have created and maintained injustice. We don’t want to see or feel truth.

  • Worship Series

    Angels, Help Us to Adore Him

    An Advent Series from Revelation with Advent Candle Readings
    By

    This Advent series highlights the themes of promise, preparation, joy, and hope with a focus on how angels model worship in both the Nativity story and in Revelation.

    Each week’s Advent readings were read by two members of our youth group.

  • Christmas

    Stories By the Well: A Christmas Eve Drama

    No Memorizing Required
    By

    “Can we please do something different for Christmas Eve this year?”

    “Can we try something that will speak to those on the fringes of our community?”

    If you plan worship, questions like this might be vying for attention in your own church. While services with traditional structures and themes may appeal to some, others, depending on their age and background, could find such an approach difficult to relate to.

  • For Pastors

    Again

    By

    For about seven years in the 1960s, the Beatles recorded special Christmas songs and greetings for the members of its fan club (mailed to them on a 45 rpm—remember those?). One year the song was titled “Christmas Time (Is Here Again).” It has to count as one of the simplest of all Beatles songs as the five words of the title are sung over and over. And over. And over again.

  • Visual Arts

    All Is Calm, All Is Bright

    Visuals for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany
    By

    The theme for these Advent/Christmas/Epiphany visuals is “All Is Calm, All Is Bright.” It was inspired by the two hundredth anniversary (in 2018) of the composition of the well-loved Christmas carol “Silent Night! Holy Night” Mohr, LUYH 85, GtG 122, PsH 344. The visual elements incorporated into the sanctuary during the season carried great meaning and significance.

  • Opinion

    Favorite Songs of the Season

    Learning from the Reformed Worship Community

    For this Advent/Christmas issue of Reformed Worship, we asked our RW staff this question: “What congregational song related to the story of Christ’s birth do you find particularly meaningful and why?”

    “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth”

    from Handel’s Messiah.
    Words: Job 19:25–26; 1 Corinthians 15:20; adapt. by Charles Jennens