A New Twist on Some Old Songs.

Evergreen Presbyterian Church has two Christmas Eve services. We have the “usual” candle light service at 7 pm. This is the service where the choir will sing two songs. It is so great to have the “individual” candles lit for the singing of Silent Night. For our second service we gather at the church (at 10:45 pm) and then travel about a quarter of a mile to a near-by barn. At the barn we have the service we call Christmas Eve at the Stable. At this service people sit on bails of hay, it is cold and dark, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper and we sing a mixture of Christmas carols and other worship songs. There are people who attend this service who do not attend anything else at Evergreen throughout the year.

For the past several years we have been singing “newer” arrangements of the Christmas carols at our Saturday night services. The “melodies” are the same—just slightly different chord progressions or timings. (Note: my wife hates it when people change Christmas carols—or hymns for that matter—and she does not mind what we do with the Christmas carols.) At last year’s candle light service we did our newer versions of the songs—most people loved them. This year, we will only be doing the newer versions of about half of the songs.

If everything goes right we will be recording each of the “newer” versions and putting them on this blog—along with the chord sheets of the music (sorry—there are no piano scores, our pianist plays from the chord sheets).

The songs we have updated are:

• Joy to the World
• O Holy Night
• Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
• Silent Night
• O Come All Ye Faithful

I’m Back!

In the words of the crazy pilot from the movie Independence Day… I’m back!

Updates:

1. My step-mother is doing much better. She had severe pneumonia and MRSA in her lungs and blood stream. She has been transferred from the hospital to a rehab center. She still has tubes going into her lungs so she cannot speak. She does recognize people and remembers events from the past.
2. My dad is doing some what better. He has major problems with his legs. Dad’s circulation is horrible due to his diabetes and being 100+ pounds over weight. His legs weep fluid because his bloodstream is unable to remove it from his legs. He also has MRSA on one leg and on his rear. He is a stubborn old guy and has refused to go into assisted living to get his legs healed. Still, he is doing somewhat better.
3. The wife and I had a great trip to New York City for our 25^th anniversary. It is a great place to visit but you couldn’t pay me enough to live there! We saw the play Curtains—it was fabulous.

I finally feel that I can begin to prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I have been finalizing the four distinctly different worship experiences that Evergreen Presbyterian Church will have this weekend. Working on these worship services has done wonders for my heart.

I hope that each of you is having the opportunity to prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ.