Preparing for Christ

Rahab was a scandalous woman of the Bible, but she also put herself in danger to shelter Israelite spies (Josh. 2) and was ultimately mentioned in Matthew 1 as an ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth.

“As we get ready to celebrate Christmas, as we are getting ready for the coming of Jesus as a baby, we are looking at how God used Rahab, this woman who was a prostitute, to carry out his genealogy,” said Rev. Brian Kuyper during his sermon last Sunday at First CRC in Taber, Alta.

“We are looking at how God uses different people of different shapes and backgrounds for his different purposes,” Kuyper said, standing at the pulpit beside a lighted Christmas tree.

“God often uses people you least suspect. . . . He even uses scandalous people—people we might want to skip over. He uses them for his greater purposes.”

Like churches across the CRC, the congregation in Taber has been preparing for Advent and Christmas for several weeks. This is an important liturgical season that, across the denomination, features special music, special presentations, special decorations and, at First CRC in Taber, a sermon series featuring women with controversial backgrounds who were forebears of Christ.

Besides Rahab, they have looked at Tamar, who disguised herself as a prostitute and had twins by her father-in-law, Judah, in order to bear an heir in Judah’s family (Gen. 38).

The church will also be looking at Ruth, a Moabite widow who committed herself to the God of Israel and married her deceased husband’s relative, the landowner Boaz (Ruth 4), and Bathsheba, who became pregnant by King David and later married him after he made sure her husband, Uriah the Hittite, was killed in battle (2 Sam. 11).

“We are seeing how God uses outsiders to bring about his story. These are women who were not part of the community,” said Kuyper, who is sharing the preaching duties with associate pastor Ken Vanderploeg.

During Advent in Taber,  the members of First CRC also light a candle at weekly worship services, various groups present readings, and young people dress up for the season and sing Christmas music—and on Dec. 18 they will have a candlelight service.

A Range of Resources

One source for worship material for this time of year — one that many churches use — is Reformed Worship, the CRC’s quarterly journal featuring a range of worship resources, said Joyce Borger, editor of the publication.

“Whether or not you are a subscriber, you will find many worship resources, from readings for lighting the Advent candle, Christmas liturgies, worship series that take you through the entire season, visual ideas, and pageants, to thoughtful articles on being pastorally sensitive to the reality that Christmas is a painful time for some congregants,” she said.

There are other sources for material as well, such as those produced by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (worship.calvin.edu).

Christ Church of Davis

Philip Majorins, director of liturgical arts at Christ Church of Davis, Calif., said this year the church has placed emphasis on the waiting period of Advent, the time leading up to Christmas.

“The children of Christ Church presented a special Advent program [on Dec. 6] that took place in lieu of the sermon,” he said. “They also led the congregation in all of the Scripture readings and liturgical responses. They entitled their special program ‘We Are Waiting’.”

The Christmas Eve "Lessons and Carols" service at Christ Church will function as an extended meditation on the theme of waiting in the Old Testament leading up to the birth of Christ.

And “the Christmas morning service will be celebratory in nature after the quiet waiting expressed in the readings and songs of the night before,” said Majorins.

Immanuel CRC

At Immanuel CRC in Caledon, Ont., planning for Advent started right after the celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving in October, although the church’s Christmas drama director had been busy preparing even before then.

“We try to plan a ‘family-friendly’ Christmas Eve service, as we have lots of young families and are growing,” said Ruth Ann Shuringa, Immanuel’s music director.

The Advent celebration at Immanuel includes artists creating special works to display in the church, questions for families to discuss at home, and a sermon series by Rev. Erick Shuringa focusing on “when Jesus comes again,” since people often have questions about end times and heaven.

Ridgewood CRC

Rev. Mary Stegink, pastor of Ridgewood CRC in Ridgewood, N.J., said she is focusing on the themes of hope, justice, and mercy in her Advent sermons.

On the first Sunday of Advent, she spoke about God breaking into the mundane events of everyday life and how, in turn, we can break into our own ordinary lives and, by opening up, show others the love and hope that Christ brings us.

Last Sunday, she said, she spoke about Mary being overshadowed by an angel bringing the news that she would be the mother of Jesus.

This week Stegink will speak about Mary’s song in Luke 1, which says God “has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”

A highlight of the Advent celebration will come on Dec. 18 with a service of lessons and carols that will start as the Ridgewood choir processes into the church carrying the flags of many nations.

“The trajectory for us is the same every week,” said Stegink. “It is about hope. Despite how mixed up things can look to be, God has us in his hands. And we have the responsibility to be people of hope—at home, at work, at the gas station, at the grocery store.”