The families went to a Christmas Eve service last night. There were the usual hymns sung and Bible passages read. The congregation joined in reading some of the Scripture, including the familiar verses from Luke 2: "And there were shepherds in the fields, watching over their flocks by night; and the angel appeared before them, and the Glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified."* Dan and I simultaneously started snickering and looked at one another. You see, many years ago, the two of us were in a play together, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Dan played Ollie Herdman, and I played the little boy who said, "I don't want to be a shepherd, because Gladys Herdman hits too hard." The above-mentioned lines of scripture always bring up memories of Rachel Bryan yelling, "Shazam! Out of the black night, with horrible vengeance..."
Never a dull moment in church.
YOU KNOW you've been studying too much historical theology when you're singing "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing", and when you come to the lines "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity", you immediately begin thinking about the Cappadocian fathers, Nestorian and Monophysite heresies, and the various theories on how the incarnation actually works...
As a final note, you can make quite an amusing hobby of observing the bizarre punctuation utilized by those who make overhead slides for worship music in church. It usually makes no sense at all.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a lovely year!
*Deb's rough translation.
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