A Letter from Rev. Lisa Hood
Dear First Baptist Church:
One of the things that I love most about the Christmas Eve worship service each year is gathering in the sanctuary with lots of people, and seeing & hearing everyone participate in rehearsing the story of Jesus’ birth: with our words, with beautiful songs, and with our collective actions.
Because this year’s Christmas Eve service will be done virtually, we want to infuse that service with as much participation from the congregation as possible. Please consider this your invitation and your strong encouragement to participate in this year’s virtual service. We’ll be recording portions of our service ahead of time, and we want everyone to take part. Everyone, no matter their age or stage, no matter their level of tech-savviness.
There are three different things we would LOVE to have a video of you saying/singing:
- Sharing your answer to the question: “What are your dreams?” (ANY dreams you have-your dreams for the future, dreams for your families, dreams for our church, or dreams for the world. All dreams are worth sharing- both silly and serious.)
- Reading a provided paragraph. (See bottom of this post for script.)
- Singing “Silent Night.” (See further down this post for specific instructions.)
We know that everyone has different technology capacities, too, so we want to make it possible for anyone and everyone to participate. Pick your preferred way:
A. You can record yourself and upload it online to Google Drive by Friday, Dec. 18. (See end of letter for specific instructions.)
B. You can request a Zoom call with Pastor Lisa or Aurie, and they will record you by Friday, Dec. 18. (request by email. Pastor Lisa at pastor@firstbaptistlafayette.org . Aurie at aurie@firstbaptistlafayette.org. Or call the church office at 765-742-5223)
C. You can make an appointment to meet Aurie in the sanctuary to record your parts in person by Friday, Dec. 18. (email Aurie directly to make sanctuary appointment at aurie@firstbaptistlafayette.org or call the church office at 765-742-5223)
We are excited to include as many of you as possible in our very special Christmas Eve service. Thank you for being willing to be flexible with us as we dream new dreams of what it
looks like to celebrate the coming of Jesus in a digital way.
We are going to try something else new for the Christmas Eve service, too. We’ll email you a unique link for the service that will be live at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve night. We’ll be using something called You Tube Premiere, and that means we can all watch it at the same time, and we can even send virtually chat with each other during the service. (And, we’ll also make it available on our website for later that evening, too). Be watching your email for the link for the You Tube Premier of the Christmas Eve service- it will be sent to you that day. Alternatively, DVDs will be dropped off for those of you who need access in that way, too.
You may have questions- and we are here to answer them. Call us, email us, text us. We’ll do our best to make this as easy as possible.
Peace,
Pastor Lisa Hood
Tips for Those Recording Themselves:
- Use the camera app on your phone, tablet, or laptop to record
- If possible, try to prop your recording device on a tripod or another stable surface to prevent too much motion
- Please record in horizontal [==] mode rather than vertical mode
- Make a separate video for each component (answering the question, reading the paragraph, and singing “Silent Night”). Be sure to name the file so you’ll be able to find it!
- After you are done recording yourself, please upload it to our shared Google Drive by Friday, December 18, 2020. There is a separate folder for each kind of video (answering the question, reading the paragraph, and singing “Silent Night”).
- Check your email for an MP3 recording of the piano accompaniment to play as you sing. One track is piano only, and the second track is piano & one voice.
- If only one person in your household is singing, please wear headphones or earbuds to listen to the provided track while singing along. If two people are singing, try to share
earbuds (one earbud per person) if you have them. - If multiple people are singing, try to find a way to have the track play quietly in the background on a different device than you are using to record, keeping that separate device away from your recording device. The goal is to capture only your voice(s) and not the piano recording.
How to Get Your Videos to Us:
You can email your recordings to Aurie Swartz (aurie@firstbaptistlafayette.org), or upload them to our Google Drive folder (email Pastor Lisa or Aurie Swartz for the link and instructions)
“Silent Night”
by Joseph Mohr
(Verse 1) Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright
‘round yon virgin mother and child;
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
(Verse 2) Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake, at the sight.
Glory streams from heaven above, heavenly hosts sing “Alleluia!”
Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born.
(Verse 3) Silent night! holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light,
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.
Script to Read: An Affirmation of Faith*
Please read the entire script with feeling.
We believe in hope.
We believe that to hope is to dream with our eyes wide open.
We believe in peace.
We believe that peace is not found by accident. Prepare the way.
We believe in joy.
We believe that joy is angel choruses and gifts from the Magi.
As well as soul food, big tables, open doors, candle light, fireside,
Singing in the shower, and the body of Christ gathered as one.
We believe in love.
We believe that God loves us so much that God could not stay away.
So God showed up as a child. We believe that that love is real, and we know that it changes us.
Therefore, we believe in the power of dreams.
And we believe that nightmares, which are all too real here and now,
Will have no place in God’s promised day.
Until then, we believe in passing the light,
In showing up, in doing the work,
In listening for angel choruses, and in learning from the youngest among us.
We believe.
Help our unbelief.
Amen.
*Affirmation of Faith by Sarah Are/ A Sanctified Art LLC/ sanctifiedart.org
