Christmas is definitely a time for old school. There are things that I feel perfectly justified doing at Christmas that might push the “hokey meter” at any other time of year. Northview is a very contemporary church, but on Christmas Eve the traditions come out. One of our traditions is to have “O Holy Night” sung by a big-voice soloist. We actually use a Sandi Patty arrangement. No offense to Sandi (she is a great vocalist and entertainer), but we would normally never consider a song arranged for her. Christmas is different, however. It’s full of memories, and it’s perfectly fine to be less than hip and trendy. In fact, it seems like the more hip and trendy we’ve tried to be at Christmas, the less people have responded – people of ALL ages, not just the “seasoned.”
Everybody is OK with reliving the past at Christmas. The older folks have decades of Christmas Eves gone by to reminisce about. The younger parents are remembering their childhood days and seeking to establish traditions of their own. So we do “O Holy Night.” We sing “Silent Night” at the end with everybody holding hands. And we make it snow (it will be hard for you to rent a snow machine in Central Indiana at Christmas because I think we have them all). So try a little old school at Christmas (btw, that Sandi Patty song had people on their feet)!
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Published by creativeworshipideas
Hmmm - well, let's see...
I'm a Christian, a husband, a dad, a son, a pastor, a consultant, a musician, a writer, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things. My work life has followed three main phases - business to teaching to church. I was the Weekend Services Pastor for nine years at Northview Church, an awesome church in the Indianapolis suburbs. I used to work for Willow Creek, another awesome church in the Chicago area. Plus I've written for various magazines and websites, and other freelancy sorts of things... My life mission is to help the church be as excellent as it can be.
Oh yeah - the name's Greg. Greg Wallace. But not the race car driver or the major league pitcher or the British celebrity chef. Just the creative worship guy. Hi.
It's my hope that these ideas, musings, rants, raves, etc... will inspire you. They're just my opinions - but again, I hope that they'll help to inspire you. Because the church really, really needs inspired creative types. If you're a creative type (and most people are, deep-down), ask God for help. Then take any ideas that are useful to you - borrow them, nab them, use them, adapt them - and make them into something greater...
You can head over to my Instagram site for an abundance of shorter posts: creativeworshipideas. If you're looking for consulting - especially on weekend services, team leadership or multi-site strategies - I'd love to help. Just message me here, and I'll be in touch - Greg
View all posts by creativeworshipideas
creativeworshipideas 