It goes without saying that the Advent-Christmas season is a busy one for many ministers and preachers.
But it is also a wonderful opportunity to connect with people who don’t normally attend church and who might come to a service in this Christmas season. And connecting with this story is a wonderful way to hear the good news.
This resource pack is intended to help you plan worship services to tie in with Hush the Noise, the Methodist Church’s Christmas campaign for 2024. It’s based around the Christmas Carol It came upon the midnight clear (StF 205):
Christmas is loud isn’t it? So much expectation. So many voices. Telling us how to celebrate. What to wear. What to eat and drink. What to watch and what to buy.
Instead, this Christmas we’re inviting everyone to hush the noise. To listen for the love song that the angels bring, this and every year. They sang it for the first time more than 2,000 years ago, on the midnight clear. They’re just waiting for us to join in.
We aren’t suggesting that worship services need to be less loud or joyous. It’s a matter of trying to cut out the distracting noises, pressures and messages that surround us so we can all hear the voice of God in the midst of it.
You will find ideas for seven worship services, from Advent through to Epiphany. This year Advent starts on 1 December, and Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday. The ideas can be used as part of standalone services, but are even better if you use them all in order. There are also ideas for a carol service and ‘blue’ Christmas service, a service for people who struggle emotionally at this time, that can fit at any date.
If you wish to send out invitations for your services, postcards, along with posters for displaying outside your church, are available from methodistpublishing.org.uk
Each service contains lots of ideas as a menu to pick from to help you craft your own service that suits your context, whether that is in a chapel, a school assembly, chaplaincy hubs, a care home, or wherever you meet with others and God. Please don’t feel that you have to include everything.
Theme: a phrase from the carol.
Scripture passages: taken from the lectionary. Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.
Songs and hymns: some extra ideas to complement the usual carols. A number of these draw from the full range of Singing the Faith hymn book contents, as well as from the Resources Hub.
Opening liturgy: to accompany the lighting of candles throughout Advent, continuing into Christmas. Each week has a symbol that can be added to the collection as a visual reminder. Thanks to the Revd Elaine Halls. The full candle liturgy is also supplied in a separate pdf, if it’s helpful to print off for providing individual copies.
Background notes: short contextual information for each specific service, exploring how the theme connects to the highlighted Bible passages. As a development based on feedback from last year we’ve gone deeper with the exegesis in these notes, but use them as you need. Please note that these are not intended to be read out as a sermon!
Questions: these can be worked up into the main points of a sermon or used in a discussion; it’s good to give people in the congregation a chance to discuss their faith. These questions will also work in a small group,
Hands-on activities: fun, intergenerational activities to help make your services pop. With some adaptation these can be used with an online group. Some activities are simpler than others to prepare during this busy time.
Prayer ideas: some use a Christmas tree as a focus.
The good news to get across: the key idea to land, particularly for newcomers. Say it several times, make it sticky!
Ways people can respond: a simple, non-threatening way for people to respond personally to the good news.
Prayer of blessing
If you’re interested in ideas to use directly with children and young people, take a look at Advent with Children and Young People. This flexible resource contains three short session outlines designed to be used in midweek groups during the first three weeks of Advent. Some of the activities are repeated in this worship package, to make sure everyone across churches and youth groups are using the same material.
The liturgy suggestions for each service can be found at these links:
Advent 1: Hush the Noise (1 December 2024)
Advent 2: To Prophets Shown (8 December 2024)
Advent 3: Babel Sounds (15 December 2024)
Advent 4: The Love Song (22 December 2024)
Christmas Day: Hear the Angels Sing (25 December 2024)
Christmas 1: Hush the Hushing (29 December 2024)