ADVENT EXPECTATIONS
send an email to your congregation reminding them that as the Body of Christ Advent has special significance for us. Ask them to take a few minutes in this busy Advent season to pause and ask:
What new thing might God desire to birth in the congregation in the year ahead?
Christ’s birth affected the whole world. Ask them to consider how the new thing they would like to see birthed in the congregation might affect the community around them?
Another way to ask that is what one new impression we would like to have our neighbors have of our church?
As a gift to the Body of Christ, what is one action they would be willing to take in order for that impression to find birth?
Tell them that if they are willing to share some of their reflections to the above questions with you, you would try to offer a composite of their thinking as a congregation on Christmas Eve as together you celebrate the birth of Christ.
ADVENT CELEBRATION
What you have done is to build in a sense of expectation to your Christmas
Eve worship experience. Now Christmas Eve is not just a retelling of the Old Story, important as that is, but also telling the New Story in your part of the Body of Christ.
You might even want to build a liturgy that incorporates some of their hopes and allow the congregation to hear them voiced as a prayer.
