Advent has ended and Epiphany is on the horizon, but for at least this one Sunday, December 26th, we get to bask in the glory that is Christmastide! 

(No, Christmastide isn’t something you spilled on your purposefully-ugly sweater. It’s the official, churchy name of the Christmas season. You know, that thing that lasts for 12 days. Don’t worry, no collection of birds are involved in this worship service. Though there may be some leaping — forewarned is fair-warned, as they say.) 

In other words, this Sunday, December 29th, is a day for us to say: 

“We’re in church and we’re singing…we’re in church and we’re SIIINGIIING!!” 

Because that’s what we do during Christmas to celebrate Incarnation, God’s ultimate act of solidarity with humanity: we sing! 

Oh sure, we will pray, light candles, read scripture, and Pastor Dave will talk a very little bit (What? It’s not impossible for him to talk only a little. It’s Christmas; it’s a time of miracles!)…but,  our main focus this Sunday is on singing! 

We’ve picked a couple favorite Christmas songs and we’ll leave plenty of time for a hymn sing. That’s right, the congregation hymn sing is back, baby! What’s a hymn sing, you ask? A glorious time where you, the congregation, get to play hymnal DJ and pick what we sing! 

Christmas songs, like all our songs, are full of theological statements. We’ll let them do most of the talking in our annual tradition of “Homily and Hymns.” That accounts for the first half of Pastor Dave’s sermon title, “Sing We Now of Christmas, Vol. 6.” 

But we will also take a few moments to consider the alternate translation of the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew in Rev. Dr. Wilda Gafney’s, “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W” that has been our textual guide throughout Advent. This segment accounts for the second half of Pastor Dave’s sermon title, OR “Go Ask Your Mother!” 

All are welcome as we worship together Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. in person and online via our Woodridge UMC YouTube channel.