Christmas Season at Shiloh

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, Shiloh Church tried something new. If I am right, what Shiloh did this year may well become a tradition in the life of the congregation. I wanted to see what readers of The Shiloh Insider thought.

Shiloh held a single Christmas Eve service, at 7:30, preceded by a thirty-minute instrumental concert. The concert featured organ, violin, saxophone, flute and piano. Led by Shiloh's organist, Rev. Aaron Sheaffer, the concert was attended this year by many more than in years past. The service was a fairly traditional service of Word and Carols. It included selected verses from ten traditional Christmas Carols, a children's time, an operatic vocal solo, performed by an old friend, Bree Sprankle, our bell choir, a traditional Christmas message, prayers and a candlelight ceremony. Casey Robinson presented ASL interpretation throughout the service.

While we received a small handful of concerns about not holding the traditional 10:30 Christmas Eve service, the attendance and attitude of the single Christmas Eve service were tremendous. As usual, the candlelight ceremony was a highlight, the perfect way to usher in the celebration of Christ's birth.

Shiloh held a single service on Christmas day, at 10:30 a.m. Again, we held a service of word and carols. We sang selected verses of eight carols, celebrated with our sanctuary choir, heard from our children, and performed a message structure that was new for Shiloh Church. The message was interactive, meaning that members of the congregation told the stories. Despite some fear that members of Shiloh would remain quiet, the response was tremendous. We heard from families who were celebrating a Christmas together after decades of estrangement, gifts given that met the needs of those around us, service to neighbors and friends, and efforts made to make the lives of those around us a bit merrier.

The message format was a fabulous success. It fed off the energy of a congregation that had gathered to celebrate the birth of its Lord and Savior. Perhaps it helped that Shiloh had advertised the service as "pajama-friendly." Our outdoor sign related the times of the Christmas Eve and Day services, with the line "jammies welcome" underneath. Roughly half of the congregation came in their jammies, either as a reflection of how they typically are dressed on Christmas morning or as a way to embrace the whimsy of pj's in church. Either way, the atmosphere was joyous, almost electric. At the close of the service, worshipers were invited to gather in the chancel for picture, one that will serve as Shiloh's 2012 Christmas card.

Has Shiloh started a new tradition? Will the congregation offer a single Christmas Eve service each year and a mid-morning Christmas day service? From the experience of this Christmas season, I can testify that this Christmas celebration was warmer, more energetic, and more spiritual than any I have experienced anywhere else in the Church. If you were with us, join me in the testimony, or offer your own feedback. If you were not with us, let us know whether or not you might be invited to be with us in the future.

What if Shiloh were to offer a single Christmas Eve service and a single Christmas Day service, even if Christmas were to fall on a day other than Sunday? Would you take part? Would you appreciate the flexibility? Would you come in your jammies on Christmas day?

Your input will go a long way to determining what we do next year.

See You Sunday!   

Friend in Need

The holiday season is supposed to be a time of family celebrations and friendly get-togethers. For one friend of mine, the kind of cheery warmth that most of us experience this time of year is, this year, overshadowed. For him, a cloud hangs over his Christmas and New Year.

Why? Simply because he tried to help out a few people who were in need.

Dave had sold his home and was moving his mobile property to his new place, or to storage. In order to make the move easier, and to help out some needy folk, Dave decided to hire a few "homeless" people to assist him. The day went reasonably well. At day's end, however, he drove the last remaining assistant to the store, where Dave had to run in and pick up a few things. When he returned, his van was gone. The remaining items to be moved were gone with it. Worse, his dog had been in the back of the van. Gone. In a minute, Dave lost his means of transportation, the items that he had been moving, and his beloved 14 year old pet, Gypsy.

Dave's spirit is broken. His hope is crushed. His trust in humanity is damaged, perhaps beyond repair. I have always known Dave to be almost unreasonably optimistic, hopeful, positive, friendly and sharing. I wonder if this experience will change him. Will he become jaded, distrustful, protective, angry and negative? I think that most might. I am not convinced that I wouldn't.

There is a deeper lesson here from which we might learn. The lesson is two-fold. Firstly, I think that Dave's story is a call to greater caution, even while being generous with assistance. It is wonderful to help people, especially if we are giving persons the opportunity to earn some much-needed cash for the holidays. Such assistance has its limits in rationality, however. Do not leave those you hope to help alone in your car or home. Do not give them the opportunity to do you damage, or to harm you. Do not over-trust. Some people will take advantage, even if you are trying to help them. Secondly, call those whom you assist to greater responsibility. Get their names. Figure out how to find them, should something happen. Let them know that you expect a certain relationship from them, payed to you and to others, in return for the kindness that is being paid them.

Finally, keep the reason for the season at the core of the conversation. If Christ is the motivation for the generosity that we exercise, let those whom we serve know exactly why we are doing what we are doing. One does not need to be "preachy." The context of our service should be very clear, however. While that does not necessarily protect one from the selfishness or greed, it establishes a relationship that is more difficult to violate.

The bottom line is complicated by Dave's experience. I sincerely hope that we continue to assist people who are in need. I also hope that we are realistic about the temptations that we place before those whom we mat attempt to assist. Be careful. Be wise. Be faithful. Extend the season to those who are in need, but be careful about how you do it.

Have a Merry Christmas!  

"While You Were Sleeping"

Yesterday, December 10, 2011, the combined musical and drama ministries of Shiloh Church offered their annual Christmas Musical, "While You Were Sleeping." Our appreciation goes out to all who made the celebration possible. Special recognition is well deserved for members of Shiloh's staff: Director of Music, Mark Barnhill, Assistant Director, Martha Kirkland, Organist, Rev. Aaron Sheaffer, Drama Director, Linda Peterson and Director of Media Ministries, John Rabius.

Shiloh's appreciation also pours out for the members of our joint choirs, our volunteer orchestra, Voices in Bronze, our bell choir, volunteer ASL interpreters from Sinclair Community College, the media crew and the congregation's Hospitality Team. The Hospitality Team provided refreshment and fellowship for those who attended the musicals, held at both 10:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Thanks especially to Joanne Orihood, Glenna Higgins, Dawn McMillen, Linda DeCamp, and all those who prepared and served the refreshments.

Including all who sang and played and welcomed and spoke and greeted and ushered and directed and ran sound or camera, Shiloh included more than 150 people in the production. If one can believe the wealth of comment made after the musical, Shiloh shown with brilliant Christmas spirit. Our hope is that the spirit that we shared Sunday might be contagious, in order that each of us remembers to keep Christ at the core of our Christmas celebrations. 

So much went on behind the scenes, by so many others, that it is hard to know where to stop our thanks. With Ken Todd hospitalized, Jay McMillen rendered invaluable service in and around the facility. Randy Zuercher reprogrammed our electronic signs, others staffed the Holy Grounds Cafe, and still others cleaned the sanctuary.

Remember that Christmas Eve service will take place at 7:30 p.m. on the 24th, and that a special, casual Christmas Day service will be held on the 25th at 10:30 a.m. The Christmas Eve service will be family-oriented, with a candlelight ceremony, carol singing, and a wonderful celebration. The Christmas Day service will be a celebration in song and word, not around what we have received but around the joy that we have given. The congregation will be invited to tell stories about special gifts that were given this season, and the response to those gifts.

See You Sunday!   

Advent in Mark

As of November 27, the First Sunday of Advent, Shiloh has joined tens of thousands of congregations around the world in acknowledging a new liturgical church year. In Advent, the story is told again, from the beginning. The new year starts with expectation and anticipation. It moves through the fulfillment of Sacrament in the telling of the story of Jesus. It then moves through the sacramental work of the Church, relying on the power of God's own Spirit.

The structure of the liturgical church year allows the church to formulate its worship and organize its mission and ministry. Part of that structure is the organization of lectionary texts for each week, and each day, of the liturgical church year. Congregations and denominations that follow the structure refer to it as the "Common Lectionary." Since it has been revised from time to time, we now refer to it as "The Revised Common Lectionary."

The Revised Common Lectionary is a three-year cycle of Biblical readings. It is based upon the theme that is derived from Synoptic Gospel texts. Put differently, it is a three-year, coordinated series of readings, based on readings from Matthew, mark and Luke. (The fourth Gospel, John, is interspersed throughout the three year cycle.) Each of the Synoptic Gospels is designated a year: A. is Matthew. B. is Mark and C. if Luke. The cycle repeats every three years.

On November 27, we entered year B. of the Revised Common Lectionary. The Gospel concentration is from The Gospel According to Mark. A few interesting notes should be considered from the outset. One: Mark is, chronologically, the first of the canonical gospels. It was written sometime around 68 in the common era, after the outbreak of the Roman/Jewish War, in 66, but before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70. Two: The structure of the Gospel of Mark is based on a one-year cycle around the Jewish liturgical calendar. Three: Mark lacks both birth narrative and post-resurrection appearance.

It is this final note that makes the Gospel according to Mark so interesting in Advent. If the Gospel includes no birth narrative, then just how is the Church to prepare for the birth of Jesus?

Mark is written in the midst of war, when the outcome of that war was becoming certain. The Romans were going to defeat the Jews, and a second Diaspora was imminent. The historical circumstances of the recording of Mark necessitates an extremely important theological shift. Instead of thinking of God's kingdom as imminent, this second Diaspora leads to a developing "delayed parousia." The kingdom of God is coming at some point in the future, perhaps far into the future. In the Resurrection Communities of the Apostolic Age, c.33-66 b.c.e., the imminent parousia focused almost exclusively on the salvific work of Christ in the process of Crucifixion/Resurrection. No stories of Jesus were told. No account of his teachings, miracles or travels were thought to be central to the coming reign. In the Resurrection Communities, Jesus was simply a man who lived out the model of Crucifixion?Resurrection, performing the work of Christ.

Because Mark is writing to those Resurrection Communities, who concentrate on Christ instead of Jesus, it is not important to the author to include a miraculous birth narrative. It is not crucial that Mark demonstrate the divinity of Jesus. Instead, his Gospel does precisely the inverse. In Mark, Jesus is a human being, adopted by God as Christ at his Baptism. It is the power of the Spirit that makes the difference in Mark's portrait of Jesus.

Anticipation of the "Son of Man" in Mark is therefore not expectation of a baby's birth. Instead, it is the anticipation of apocalypse, when the world is turned upside down to reflect God's will. It is the death of the world-that-was, a world characterized by violence and unrighteousness, unfaithfulness and hatred, greed and selfishness, to the world-as-it-shall-be. In this coming world, justice and equality become the fabric that ties each person to every other, that defines the ways that persons live. Kindness and mercy reign. Generosity and compassion rule the day.

Therefore, in Mark's Advent, apocalyptic is the theme. In the coming of the Son of Man, the world is forever changed. Our lives are redefined. New rules apply. I think that Mark's approach is a fresh way for the Church to consider the power of Jesus' birth. What if it is less about the person of Jesus and more about what that person brings, what he represents and what he will do? Maybe the season could be more intentionally about Christ. Perhaps Mark's apocalyptic can elicit from the Church a more powerful witness to the new world that comes with Jesus.

See You Sunday!