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Easter Vigil Nerves

Saturday Night. Easter Vigil Night. The Night before Easter Sunday and my whole family is in bed (well except for me). We are all nervous or curiously awaiting Easter Day in our own ways.

I don’t know whether Jesus’ disciples were nervous or scared or anxious or curious after Jesus died by crucifixion. We know they didn’t anticipate his resurrection the next-day, as Christians now do in the telling and remembering the story of Jesus’ life death and resurrection a reminder that God our creator has not forgotten us, God is with Us, and God shows us through Jesus that the power of Love is stronger than death or evil. No, the disciples didn’t know this quite yet. They were likely fearing for their lives, wondering if they were next to be crucified as a follower of Jesus. They had celebrated the Passover meal (Lord’s supper) one last time with Jesus and now he was gone. They would need to come up with new traditions and rituals as followers of Christ, and yet it takes awhile to figure out what to do next. When Jesus appeared to them and before he ascended he reminded them of the instructions he gave them prior to his death, he reminded them he would send an advocate, a guide after he was gone, he reminded them of what to “do in remembrance of me”.

I left my ministry position on Dec 31st and our family decided to no longer attend the church I had worked at for just a few days short of 10 years. That took some serious strength and courage and humility for all of us. We then have been wandering through a season of grieving the loss of our participation in that worshiping community (knowing they still love us and welcome us should we choose to return). We lost the ritual and time marker of Sunday mornings that we’ve known for all of our daughter’s lives and liver for Doug and I. We gave ourselves a month of sleeping in on Sunday morning’s. Then Girl Scout cookie season landed and Katie sold cookies and before and after those three weekends, were days we were ill or otherwise committed. Suddenly, three months later (interesting to note Jesus’ resurrection came three days after his death) we are going back to church for the first time as a family on Easter Sunday.

While we’ve been pondering which churches to attend in our community this particular Sunday wasn’t difficult to decide. We’re attending the church Doug’s dad plays and has played trumpet for on Easter Sunday for many years. It is the first Easter without Doug’s mother accompanying his dad to worship. It is the first Easter since Janine’s death. Doug’s brother & family is in the area celebrating the Jewish holiday of Passover with his wife’s family and the word is we may get to see him as well.

This is the first Easter Sunday in 17 years that I have not been a part of leading children’s egg hunt or a youth Easter breakfast or giving a Children’s sermon (of which I think my favorite all time was last year’s!). It is weird not to be anxious and excited and prepping something up to or past midnight only to set my alarm to arrive at the church for more prep at 5am Easter morning. We’ll simply be participants in a worship service with a community where we know very few people and whose traditions we are unfamiliar. I kind of don’t know what to do with myself.

Also, this is the first year without the Eater Bunny visiting our home. Katie revealed to me recently she no longer believes in the Easter Bunny. Doug isn’t really “feeling” like doing any celebrations because similar to Christmas he can’t help but think about his mother not being around to celebrate. So in a sense it is good we don’t have to do an Eater bunny performance, however, I’m convinced we need something with so much of our past “normal” no longer being normal. So Katie and I played Easter bunny and purchased simple Easter candies for each family member and we’ll have breakfast together in the morning before going to worship. We’ve NEVER done this as a family of Four. I don’t think Doug and I even ever did that pre-kiddos – maybe one time before I was hired to my first professional ministry position.

As we keep vigil for the hope and promise of a new life – on earth as it is in Heaven – in the resurrection of Jesus we have unknowns, uncertainties, anxieties, and realities we are not necessarily wanting to face tomorrow. But we will do it and we’ll be OK. We have each other and God is with us.

What anxieties and unknowns and real sadness, hurt , or anger do you bring from Easter Vigil to the celebration of Easter Resurrection Day? What ever they may be – know that God is still with you always and has not left, forgotten or abandoned you.

A photo from my Facebook memories from March 30th,2013. Katie (now 10) set up my mother-in-law’s guide dog to be the Easter Bunny. So sweet. In memory of Janine Prindle. ❤️

Tanzania Trip Teazer

I didn’t get to blog about Tanzania. I’ll update here at some point. It was a great trip with much less connection to wifi than promised or assumed. Also as I returned my first week with jet lag involved two family birthdays, the next week I co-led Vacation Bible school for 85 children, the following week we spent time preparing for and going through with a memorial service for my mother-in-law who tragically passed from heart complications, and then a week or two to end summer and get kiddos started back up at school. that it was an incredible 3 weeks that has much to process and there is more to come about studying with professors of and at the University of Dar es Salaam, politics, history, philosophy, religious beliefs of the people of Tanzania; learning about the original spot where East African Slave trade began, visiting villages of the Gogo people, eating their foods, experiencing amazing hospitality and wondering if it is of genuine hospitality or out of a sense of duty and notion to please white people stemming back to days of colonization. Also we experience amazing choral, instrumental, and dance performances from the village group participating int the Chamwino Music Festival. We visited schools for children, teenagers, and graduate seminary students. We worshiped ina few different settings, We went on a day long safari and saw many animals participating in the circle of life.

More to come …

Help Leena Learn in Tanzania This Summer

I’m taking a risk and have partially paid for a study abroad adventure in Tanzania this summer! This class is  one more check off the graduation requirements list for my Master of Divinity Program at Seattle Pacific Seminary. Students in cohorts from my seminary entry year and earlier have a cross-cultural Immersion study abroad class option to fulfill a particular requirement. If you want the travel option you kind of have to jump onboard as they are offered and if it is of interest to you or you need to graduate because our program doesn’t offer trips every summer. 

I technically could wait another year or two and wasn’t sure how I’d afford this trip, but my husband convinced to take a risk (or leap in faith) and apply for the trip because:

 (1) because as mom and congregational child/youth/Christian Education minister when will this kind of opportunity so blatantly present itself? 

And (2) because, he reminded me – Africa in general and Tanzania specifically, was the place that I always said I wanted to travel to learn about and experience the culture. as a child, teen, and before I became a mother. I was shocked I actually forgot how much I desired this opportunity in the past and apparently life has taken me other directions in the past 20 years. 

This Tanzanian travel dream is dusted off and making a comeback now that I’ve turned 40. Our trip is coming up quickly  – July 8-27, 2017 – Would you like to join me and be on my “Leena Learns in Tanzania Support Team“? 

You’re invited to support me through prayer, encouragement and learning with me as I learn in Tanzania via following my blog (you’re reading  it) and/or joining a little Facebook group for trip tidbits and updates that I just created. 

If you’d like to help support me financially with a few dollars or several you can donate via my FundMyTravel.com page or contact me directly for offline donation options. 

I hope you’ll choose to join me on this adventure one way or another!

A Tired Daughter’s Rant About Health Care and an Ailing Registered Nurse

My family is fully immersed in realizing the medical/dental bill implications piling up for husband and daughters from a simply amazingly medically chaotic month – wondering can we afford some mental health care for myself as caregiver in all this? 

Daughter strep throat, then a what we were told was sprained but now is broken ankle healing in a cast for 6 weeks. 

Junior high age Daughter who fell accidentally, bit through her lip, and broke/chipped the bottom parts of her two front teeth. 

Husband who had surgery for and recovery from removal of gallbladder filled with nasty gall stones. 

And also this week we’ve been waiting days (almost a week!) for Medicare insurance to decide whether or not they’ll help pay for a transfer for my upper-60s father to move from the hospital to a skilled care center for recovery – because it would be a dignified safe option for him rather than releasing him home mostly alone to potentially have another fall as he is still feeling physically weak. 

Here is my rant of a tired caregiving daughter of a Registered Nurse (two actually!):

I’m wondering why my dad who was a military medic and registered nurse for many many years and whose body has essentially degraded because he spent those years caregiving for so many others in physical, emotional, and spiritual ways – why must he be treated as a pawn in a $$ game between medical facilities and insurance companies? His disabilities and ailments come because he put some serious time in helping others and sacrificing time with family to do so – don’t tell me he needed to work harder. There really is something we owe to those who care for us in such a way. It seriously upsets me. 

I wish I had the energy to put into polictical lobbying for the health care votes our law makers are placing – for now my family is potentially merely a casualty and we (at least my immediate family) aren’t even the ones who will be the worse off for it, it will be hard but we’ll hopefully have access to resources and figure it out – I really pray we are able anyways. 
Someone told me the other day in a devotedly Christian manner – and not knowing my full situation – society is not responsible for cleaning up the mistakes of others by providing Medicare and Medicaid – it is the responsibility of the person to figure it out and help themselves or end themselves. (I humbly disagreed on many levels). Also my internal reaction: Come on now – my dad killed his back lifting people like you when you were in your most vulnerable moments medically and held tight images of people like you that he tried his damnest to help heal – and now you’re telling me that his pain taken on to help you is considered cleaning up after people’s mistakes and choices? Too bad his choice was a career helping heal people’s bodies – too bad for him he didn’t choose something that would treat his body and maybe health care insurance wallet better – it definitely would not have been healthy to his dignity to not use the gifts he was given in care for others in their medically vulnerable moments. 

Oh man, I guess I have some feelings about this. Time to go maybe attempt a nap.

Grief – Resurrection – Mission: Life as Mom in Grad School

It is my Spring Break – alas, I have a bit of energy to blast a blog post.

I just read an article from the Presbyterian Outlook magazine regarding the first words Jesus spoke to his grieving  disciples in the first moments they meet him after resurrection. The author emphasized Jesus’ first words to be words of peace and then encouragement to send them back into action with the good news that he is alive, has conquered death, and is God incarnate (God/human) whose mission is to point people back to a genuine life of loving God and loving one another. Having just come out of a very emotionally and physically intense seminary quarter of study this past Tuesday (I was granted an extension on a final paper) and getting ready to start back into studies on Wednesday my soul somehow resonates at a perhaps lesser level in experiencing this cycle of working hard, falling into grief, surprise at resurrection, peace and then having to get myself back on task. Actually I feel this almost every quarter.

It doesn’t seem to be a very healthy cycle, but I’m almost certain it is normal for most graduate school students to have a similar experience we have ten weeks on the quarter system to open ourselves up to a fire hose of information with a requirement to filter what we can to produce deep theological and even new and surprising work. At the start, this doesn’t seem too daunting, but by the end it feels like one of those survivor type reality shows where you’re exhausted trying to get to the end and yet working as a team to hold one another up to accomplish the task together. We all have some type of obstacles trying to take us out through the quarter – finances, family, friendships, negative interactions with professors or struggles to complete the workload, work outside of school, health concerns, and more.

My obstacles this past Winter quarter have been a combination of timing of events:

• Working through the beginnings of a major transition with our church that began the same week as winter quarter and added hours and emotional strain on church members and myself;
• My husband’s structural engineering workload going overtime because the weather is getting warmer and people can build;
• Deadlines or major events occurring at the same time for our daughter’s activities – normally it isn’t an issue to take them to a band/orchestra rehearsal, or an every other week girl scout troop meeting, or a sports practice. The difficulty was that all the concerts, cookie sales, basketball games, softball startup events, gearing up for martial arts testing and things requiring extra effort happened throughout the same three weekend/two week stretch of time – including my school finals week(s).
• Also, ADHD – predominantly inattentive, is something I’m still learning to identify how my life is affected by this and trying out new strategies of which are and some are not effective and from there working to create new habits. However, it is not an easy feat to re-work forty years of very ingrained coping mechanisms to help my habits become a bit more healthy not only for myself, but my family, those I work with and serve, and those with whom I study.

All of this throws me into a frenzy at the end of each quarter and a type of exhausted grief and panic wondering if I will pass, am I worthy of continuing on for a Master of Divinity, and am I an imposter just thinking I can do this? Then by grace and with encouragement of God, professors, co-workers, family, and others I get the work done and anxiously await my grades and sleep – or stare at a wall – a lot. My grades come through and I pass – sometimes with ‘As’ sometimes with a C – but in my mind, a pass is a pass. I am overwhelmed with relief and peace. A few days later I begin receiving emails from Spring quarter professors with a list of books to quickly acquire and assignments to begin working on and have completed for the first day of class. Break and vacation are flexible terms in the life of a graduate student – we are quickly back on mission an ready to start the cycle all over again. Somehow we make it through. I am a part-time student (approx. 8 credits/quarter towards 120 credits total), in my third year, and still have two or three years of this mission left to go — Wheeeee!

Lenten and Easter Retreat for Suicide Survivors

I have never attempted suicide – and I’m sure I know a few folks who are survivors (of whom I am aware and who I may not be aware) – this could be a great online Lenten retreat/practice if you are a survivor of Suicide. I am re-blogging this pastor’s intro to the online-retreat and you can find her first retreat post for Ash Wednesday here: https://maryrobincraig.com/2017/03/01/ash-wednesday-retreat-for-suicide-survivors/

Blessings.

How to Redirect Pent Up Anxiety and Overwhelm for Good – One Time Each Week

I am NOT a certified professional of psychology, counseling, or therapy in any way.However, I AM a professional at allowing anxiety and overwhelm to take me over and eat me up inside. I am also a professional patient for those who are professional therapists and counselors. I just watched a video on Facebook of Cory Booker US senator sharing words to those who are anxious and overwhelmed by the actions of President Donald Trump and his administration. I really needed his words to calm anxiety that has set on my heart and mind. 

I observe anxiousness and overwhelmed emotions others are also experiencing through their social media posts as well as the face-to-face real-time conversations that happen with my family , with my friends , in the church I work at, and the classrooms of my seminary program. The basic question is: “Is there anything we can do? Is there really anything anyone can do?”. These questions come from people who oppose Trump because it creates legitimate worries and anxieties for the every day happenings in their life. These questions also come from people who are avid supporters of Trump in a manner that dismisses those who have concerns to tell them “The decision has been made, deal with it.” 
Here is the video I watched: 

First Days of a Trump Administration: We Must Resist

My takeaway response after watching this video is:

For all experiencing anxiety and overwhelm in our political climate hear words of encouragement, from U.S. Senator Cory Booker, that give you something to do with that anxiety. 

>> Do ONE THING A WEEK to support fighting for a cause or to show kindness and care towards others. 

>It doesn’t have to be money – but maybe that is what you are able to share right now – pick a different organization or cause each week. (Girl Scouts are selling cookies – support leadership of our future women! #hint #hint)

>It doesn’t have to be time -but maybe that is what you have (support causes and share kindness online or face to face, volunteer somewhere politically, in schools, in churches, in senior centers, after school programs, sports clubs or an organization promoting full bellies for all, etc, write emails/make calls to senators and representatives, etc, march to show your support and solidarity for a particular cause or people group, PRAY, etc)

> it doesn’t have to be talents – but maybe you have gifts, talents, and skills to share with others in your neighborhood or community, use them for good. If you need help brainstorming post here and I’ll help you out. 

>It doesn’t have to be stuff -but what if what you have that is just sitting around collecting dust can give life to another? (Buy Nothing and Giving communities online exist in a lot of places and you can start one up if your community doesn’t have such a thing. Support a school PTA or church rummage sale or “Fill a Truck” fundraiser – even if you aren’t a member or have any children in school. )

We have to refocus the energies of our anxieties and release the pressure of overwhelm in to loving and building up one another rather than tearing each other down. It can be your ONE thing a WEEK combined with the one thing a week of others that makes all the difference in healing divisions. 

Adult ADHD & Me Part 1: Discovery

Have not blogged here in a while. The last three posts have been products from the past brought to light or shared thoughts from others.

I think I’ve been quiet because there is one topic I’ve so badly wanted to blog about but either needed more time, experience, research information, processing, courage, understanding, etc. And as I type that sentence I realize my topic is what causes me to need all of that before I blog – or do most anything in life.

Let’s just say that – as most all of us are – I’m continually on a self-discovery journey and ever since my last years of undergrad college over 15 years ago I’ve been trying to figure out what is ‘wrong’ with me. At first depression combined with co-dependency, then no it is actually anxiety and that causes the depression, then the therapist that told me to pray for my husband more and I would be cured, then Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (hormonal/chemical imbalance – PMS for 2.5 weeks a month), and then ‘busy mom’ syndrome.

My newest diagnosis came when I stepped out of my personal bounds of respecting the diagnosis of the  doctor I met with telling me I have “busy mom syndrome” – to whom I had been sent by a therapist (who worked with me on the PMDD but also life coaches women with ADHD) to be evaluated by since my health insurance would cover the visit. I returned to my therapist and said I normally respect the diagnosis of doctors but I just couldn’t take this diagnosis that felt like a slap in the face after a 10-15 minute ‘interview’ with only a list of the DSM-V criteria and questions about my present but not my past to be screened for hyperactivity that I already knew I didn’t have. So I went in debt to be evaluated by a psychologist who specializes in testing for and diagnosing and four hours of a battery of testing over two month’s time (because he broke his leg and needed surgery mid-evaluations!). I honestly was not searching until someone told me I had it but I needed real testing words and numbers to help explain somethings about me that couldn’t be explained by other conditions/mental illnesses. The funny part was I was giving a choice at the very end to decide whether or not I thought my brain functioned as a brain with ADHD.

The psychologist said that in every test except for one, and except for the evaluations by two persons close to me, I have a non-hyperactive version of ADHD. The trouble was he was supposed to make his diagnosis based on the results of a certain number of questions from one test and personal evaluations and they were not helpful. He concluded that the reason I did score for ADHD on these is because in the past 39 years of my life (just turned 40 in December!) I have managed to be able to somewhat function and get through life by developing many coping mechanisms and habits to help get around. However, there are ways life would be so much simpler without having to make sure I had all these coping mechanisms in place every morning before getting out of bed. Without any pressure, he said often medication can be helpful and if I wanted to try it he would writing a letter of diagnosis for me to bring to my doctor. Having already discussed medication options with my therapist I was OK to give it a try.

Ironically – I ended up taking this letter back to my PCP who referred me to her ADHD diagnosis doctor who was the one who diagnosed me with “Busy Mom syndrome”. So a few months later I was back in her office with this letter and she was floored. She took it well and I discovered she is a younger doctor who is still learning a lot about the world of ADHD, all the ways to assess it and all the ways it can be manifest in  person – for instance it will be different in a 40 year old woman compared to an 8 year old boy. I’m grateful she took this well without showing offense and I think I’m sort of a new lab rat for her. I started on a low dose of a stimulant medication to treat Inattentive/Non-Hyperactive ADHD. This type of ADHD means I physically may not be all over the place – but my mind on the inside is a computer with several windows and an internet browser with many tabs open, pretty much all the time. Sometimes the windows and tabs are revisited and closed and many times they are not.

This diagnosis explains so many things about my life and I will blog about that next.

I also want to blog about what I observe regarding my PMDD, Depression, and Anxiety diagnoses with a new ADHD diagnosis in the mix.

Additionally I want to discuss what has been difficult now that I am armed with this information about myself – because it isn’t all fun and 100% life improvement now that I know.

So there you go. My ADHD revealed to the world right here on my blog. If you need someone to share your story post it here or connect with me through About.me

Here goes nothing as I hit the submit button!

Intergenerational family friendly Christmas Eve Worship Service

It is 2014 and in 2009 I posted a note on Kidology.org forums regarding an intergenerational Christmas Eve service we had put together for our smaller congregation. Every year since then I have received requests to access a copy of the service order and this year I’ve received three requests! I know I am one who is always on the search for resources and I realized the link on my post at Kidology is no longer accessible (from dropbox way back when!) so I’m simply going to post the service here for folks to freely borrow and edit to adapt to your congregational settings – if you think it is something you’d like to use. Here is the message I left in the forums in 2009:

I have a family friendly worship service we put together for 2008 involving telling the story of Jesus’ Birth using Christmas hymns/carol with some call and response and interactive.  I’ll testify that it is very user friendly and can be done with minimal staffing because it ended up being a really bad snow & ice year in Seattle where we almost cancelled Christmas Eve worship and we had 15 or so folks show up. I had no idea who was even going to be able to make it so I could barely assign parts and we just went with the flow. The Charlie Brown clip didn’t happen due to technical difficulties but it all went along smoothly and it was a wonderfully intimate Christmas Eve service for children and adults alike!

I’d like to add that the ideas of telling the nativity story through hymns and history of hymns came from a wonderful LCPC congregation member, Jackie Brotnov. I loved that she approached me with her idea, wondering whether it had any value… and of course it did! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

———————————-

Christmas Eve Family Worship
Written for Lake City Presbyterian Church
by Jackie Brotnov and Leena Prindle, December 2008

Welcome Greeting

Lighting of the Advent Candles

One: We are a people of hope. Our hearts are full of anticipation for the coming of our beloved Christ Child. For God is to be among us and we will see a great light in the midst of our night. Let us light the Candle of Hope. (Light the first purple/blue candle)

Two: We are a people who seek peace. We know that God has told us to turn our weapons of war into instruments that benefit all humanity. In the name of that Child who was born long ago to become the Prince of Peace, we now light the Candle of Peace. (Light the second purple/blue candle)

Three: We are a people who seek to be brought together by the love of Christ. Our faith teaches us that God gives us unconditional love and forgiveness. Acknowledging God’s free gift of grace, we light the Candle of Love. (Light the third pink candle)

Four: Joy to the world! Our God is now coming to bring us “good news.” May we sing songs of praise and gladness. We know that our Savior reigns. Let us light the Candle of Joy. (Light the fourth purple/blue candle)

Call to worship:

Leader: Come all who are faithful and all who seek join in your lives.

People: It is the season to sing praises to God for the Christ Child is near.

Leader: The symbols of hope, peace, love, and joy shine brightly in our hearts.

People: May they remain with us through the year.

Leader: We now share a promise that was fulfilled by God:

All: Than our beloved Child is born and will call us to new lives of love, joy, and faith in action. Amen.

 “Peanuts- A Charlie Brown Christmas” Clip (approx. 2 mins)

Voice: Long ago, in a far away land, a baby boy was born. We celebrate his birthday on Christmas Day. Because he was such an exceptional baby, many stories have been written about his life, death, and resurrection. The stories are important because they tell us how much God loves us and why we need to follow Jesus.We can find all this written in the holy Bible and even in cartoon Christmas specials on television.

Voice: Another way to learn about this baby, Jesus, is through songs telling us about him. Almost all of Jesus’ birth can be told through music, by musicians and composers who took the stories from the Bible. They had read their Bibles and wanted people to have another way of learning about Jesus.

Voice: But if you didn’t have a Bible to read, you would still know through songs where Jesus was born, and who he was. In the Old Testment, prophets spoke about the coming of a Messiah – they were talking about Jesus.This song was written in anticipation of a Messiah, a Savior, who would come and help the people. Let’s listen:

Hymn: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”

Voice: We also know what happened when Jesus was born. Do you remember reading in your Bible where he was born? Who was there? What was the name of the town? What happened whe the shepherds saw the star? All of these answers are found in the Bible and in music and poems people have written.They are also found in music, like in the hymn “Once in Royal David’s City” and “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”. Royal David refers to King David.

Once in Royal David’s City stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his head. Mary was that mother mild. Jesus Christ her little child.

Hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

The holy family enters. Mary, carrying the baby, and Joseph, come behind the lectern and go to the large pulpit and just sit down, quietly, peacefully, as Mary cradles the baby.

Voice: So what have we learned through these songs? People were looking for a Savior. Jesus was born – in Bethlehem. We learn the name of his mother, Mary,and the baby king’s name – Jesus.

Voice: Let’s continue traveling through familiar songs and see what else we can discover. “Away in a Manger” is a favorite of children and grownups alike, and it was written by Martin Luther for his own children. This used to be called “Luther’s Cradle Song” and sometimes children would make a ‘cradle for Jesus’ with their arms when singing. Some folks sing it very softly, so they don’t wake the baby. Can we sing it together?

Hymn: “Away in the Manger “

Voice: We have learned the shepherds were frightened that night, and the angels calmed their fears. They wanted to see for themselves, and so came to the manger, which also had animals keeping warm.

Hymn: “The First Noel”

Voice: Later, some people brought gifts to Jesus. Do you know what they were? Gold, frankincense and Myrrh – gifts for a king. If you could bring a gift to Jesus what would you bring? Write it down in words or draw a picture on the gift wrap card you received. You can bring it forward during our offering time and give your gift to baby Jesus.

Leader: Our offering tonight is for……fill in the blanks but not your own church – someone else instead. After our Prayer of Dedication of the offering, please come forward and place your offering in the bowl provided and take a taper. If you have not brought anything with you, don’t worry, just come and take a taper. Form a large circle around the church instead of returning to your seat.

Prayer of Dedication of Offering

L    It was cold and Mary and Joseph were fearful.

P    But that did not stop the birth.

L    They were poor and had no place fitting for their child.

P    But that did not stop the birth.

L    They were uncertain about what God wanted from them.

P    But that did not stop the birth.

L    Today we are still sometimes cold and fearful, certainly poor in many ways.

P    We often feel we have no place and are unclear about what God wants of us.

L    But these things did not stop the birth of Jesus then, nor will they now.

P    Lord Jesus be born in us today.

L    Like Mary and Joseph, who trusted in your grace, we offer ourselves and our gifts to you.  Bless our offering and our every thought and our every action, that Christ may be revealed through them to the world that is yet in darkness. Amen.

Offering (Adults and children come forward to offer their gifts, take a taper and join in circle around sanctuary)

Offertory/offering Hymn “O Come All Ye Faithful”

Lighting the Christ Candle and Prayer.

Leader: “Tonight is the night we have all been waiting for. Our Advent wreath will now be completed by the lighting of our Christ candle. “For unto us a child is given, unto us a Savior is born and the order of the world will be upon his shoulders.” With the birth of Jesus, our lives will be forever changed. We will be transformed by his model and message. We light this candle to represent that Christ is truly the center of our lives.”

(Light the Christ candle, leader lights taper off the Christ candle and light the tapers of the people on each side of them. Encourage those persons to light the taper of the person next to them and so on).

Leader:  As Jesus’ light travels around the circle, we pray that God’s love and songs of the birth of Jesus will be in everyone’s hearts tonight and always.

Voice: Our story told through music and song continues, with many more Christmas hymns that take us all the way, from Advent to Christmas to Epiphany. It’s a wonderful journey we can take together and use to bring the light of Jesus to our friends, family, and the rest of the world. There is one more song for us to sing, and everyone can sing together: “Silent Night”. Let’s just stay here while the candles are lit, be very, very careful and sing “Silent night”.

Hymn: Silent Night

Benediction

May you be filled with the wonder of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, the determination of the magi, and the peace of the Christ child. Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you now and forever.