Monday, December 24, 2007

Advent worship idea for next year

I am often more inspired with Christmas/Advent ideas after the season rather than when I really need it! But this afternoon as I sang hymns and got ready for Christmas Eve dinner, I was singing about Christ as the light (oh yeah, and trying to come up with a third sermon!) and was reminded that at a friend's church on the first day of Advent the kids choir wanted to sing "We are Marching in the Light of God." There was some hullabaloo about how advent is somber and pensive and how that simply wouldn't be a good song. But the children's choir was already prep'd and ready to sing, so sing they did. As I talked with my friend about the hullabaloo I sugggested they could sing "We are waiting on the light of God" instead of walking in and then use "walking in" for epiphany once the light of God has officially arrived.

So for next year, my suggestion is to use "We are marching in the light of God" and do "waiting on" instead. And as I thought about it, I figured you could even do different versions each week in line with the advent candles. I.e., "we are waiting on the hope of God..." "we are waiting on the joy of God" "we are waiting on the peace of God" and "we are waiting on the love of God". And then once the Christ child (a.k.a., light, hope, peace, joy, love...) arrives you could do "We are marching in..." Just an idea.

For the record, I have no idea how to translate the swahili. None whatsoever. But I do know the Spanish:

We are waiting on the light of God = Esperamos por la luz de Dios
The advent candle versions are harder with spanish b/c the words aren't mono-syllabic. But, if you want them:

hope: esperanza
love: amor
joy: gozo
peace: paz

As Christmas day nears, may your wait be short and your celebration and walking be full of joy! March on!

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