The Sunday after Christmas is traditionally set aside for a service of lessons and carols. Although not a door-busting service, those brave enough to venture out into the snowy conditions are rewarded by way of hymns. These hymns consist of the oldies but goodies that don’t always make their way into the lectionary and it is with this I find two hymns of particular interest. “O Come All Ye Faithful” (LBW 45) sets the stage nicely reminding the congregation why they braved the weather to come and worship. Immediately after the congregants behold the king, and are called to “Go Tell It on the Mountain” (LBW 70).

What the congregants are left with are two hymns that have movement, a movement of coming and going. As Christians we are called to come and worship our Lord with reverence and willingness. More than this, we are called to proclaim the Good News set forth in these hymns. How one does this, however, can be challenging.

A season or two ago, I was leading the lessons and carols with my father and to our luck our organ stopped working halfway through the service. Being a loving congregation, no one particularly cared, but something is admittedly lost when the congregation is not accompanied by some type of instrument. Our problem with this ‘break-down’ was that the congregation was not familiar with some of the hymns that were selected for this occasion. Scrambling for a solution, I remembered a music theory course I took in undergrad in which I was trained to convert intervals on the page in my head and produce them in syllabic form (do–re–mi, etc.) so that they could be sung. As such, I was able to lead those hymns that the congregation were not well versed in and helped the service continue on. To this day I give thanks to the Holy Spirit for working through my buried gifts.

In this time of eager expectation let us not forget the many individual gifts the Lord has given us and help us remain patient that the Spirit may use our gifts in the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. Whether our gift be music or time, knowledge or that which is unknown to us, help us use our gifts in our comings and goings so that we may worship the Lord our God and shout from the mountain tops that Jesus Christ is born.

Dear Lord, we give you thanks for the man y skills you have given us. Help us open our hearts and make use of our God given talents that the whole church may prepare the way of the Lord in this time of eager expectation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
 

Contributed by Westly
Monday December 26, 2011
Liturgical Year B: Week 5
Liturgical Color: White
Sunday Gospel reading: ChristmasIII