Lessons and Carols

The music of Christmas fades quickly.  But this year I quickly learned how everything we do at church can be used to spread the Good News.  Someone asked me if we had a "pageant" at church,  I said, "No, we didn’t have a pageant, as such, but we were doing Lessons and Carols."  

"Oh, what’s that,"  she asked.

I launched into a technical explanation explaining that there were readings and music.  That still brought a blank look with another question…"Like what?"

So I tried to explain further that there was a reading and then a carol sung either by the congregation and then another reading and another carol, etc.  This person then asked, "What are the readings"  To which I replied, "Oh, the Christmas story."  The response was, "Which Christmas story?"

At that point I finally realized why I had been getting blank looks.  And I said, "The birth of Jesus."  She said, "Oh…well, the Christmas story could have been ‘Twas the night before Christmas’…that’s a Christmas story."

And I said, "Oh yes, that’s A Christmas story.  The birth of Jesus is THE Christmas story."  And we both laughed and this person said she guessed she had been away from church too long.

I was only sad that I hadn’t thought to answer that the Christmas story we told was about the birth of Jesus who came to save us all from sin and welcome us to eternal life in the Kingdom.

Once again, I am reminded of how everything we do in the church is tied together and integrates to a whole. So my prayer for myself for the new year is that I will be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit to better use the opportunities that are placed in front of me to spread the Good News whether through music or another avenue.

Karla Porter
Music Director

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