My missus and I visited her old congregation for Christmas Eve services. This was the congregation that she attended for years before she followed me to the Haut South many, many moons ago. As is the case every time we return to Texas, we join her family on the eve of our celebration of the birth of Jesus.
After a performance by a pretty decent bell choir and soloists we sang O Little Town Of Bethlehem for the opening hymn. Then we began what was called a confessional dialogue. I’d never heard of a confessional dialogue before and thought I’d share this with y’all;
Confessional Dialogue from Psalm 18
L How I love you, Lord! You are my defender.
C (softly) O Lord, you are my Light. My God dispels my darkness.
L the Lord is my Savior; he is my strong Fortress. My God is my Protection; I am safe with him.
C (louder) O Lord, you are my Light. My God dispels my darkness.
L He protects me like a shield; he defends me and keeps me safe.
C (louder) O Lord, you are my Light. My God dispels my darkness.
L I call to the Lord, who is worthy to be praised and he saves me from my enemies.
C (louder) O Lord, you are my Light. My God dispels my darkness.
L Death pulled its ropes tight around me; and the grave set its trap for me.
C (whisper) O Lord, you are my Light. My God dispels my darkness.
L In my trouble I called to the Lord, I called to my God for help.
C (louder) O Lord, you are my Light. My God dispels my darkness.
L In his temple he heard my voice, my cry for help reached his ears.
C (shout) O Lord, you are my Light. My God dispels my darkness.
L The people who walked in darkness have seen a great Light; those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them the Light has shined.
C For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The softly, louder, whisper, shout directions were in the bulletin and also explained by the pastor. He made it very clear that we were supposed to shout that last line as it was to appear to be “building to a crescendo.”
After that we continued with following:
L this is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you: That God is Light and in him there is no darkness at all.
C If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth.
L But if we walk in the Light, as he is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another,
C and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
I just thought I would share…
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