Planning the Musical Element of Your Christmas Worship Events
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” While this popular lyric puts me in the Christmas spirit and (almost) makes me want to brave the crowds for shopping and holiday errands, I’m not sure how much I agree with the sentiment when it comes to worship planning. More specifically, perhaps it’s just the prospect of getting started that I dread more than the actual doing of the thing. I always get excited once the services and special events begin to take shape. There’s more than one way to approach the process, but I’ll simply share some of what has helped me.
Getting started
The first thing I do is pull up the calendar and list the events our church is planning. This year will include an evening of Christmas music for an adult special needs group of around 75 people that meets weekly at our church, a candlelight communion service on the Sunday before Christmas, and two identical services on Christmas Eve. In addition, we will have Sunday morning worship services each week, and a new weekday service we call Worship on Wednesdays for folks who are free during the day or prefer not to drive at night. Wednesday evening for us consists of youth and kids’ gatherings, various discipleship groups, board and committee meetings, and worship ministry rehearsals, so no worship planning is necessary.
Choose music for the big events first
I’ll start with our season’s highlights—Candlelight Communion and Christmas Eve. The first question to ask is “Will there be choir involved?” Obviously if one of your big events is a choir musical, you probably selected that music in August and started rehearsing it September. Our ministry hopes to resume choir in the new year, so that’s not a factor for me right now. The music for our highlight services will consist of congregation, praise team, ensembles, and/or solos.
Pairing music with service themes
The next step for me is working with my lead pastor to find out if he knows the specific scripture passages or themes he will share from the Word for these events. While he is an expository preacher and usually knows what passage he’ll be preaching on a given Sunday a few weeks in advance, these events may dictate a different approach. Often, he’ll trust me to plan musical, dramatic, and scriptural elements that are seasonally appropriate and structure his message in conjunction with what we expect to be a poignant moment.
If this is the case, I can now begin to choose “impact songs” that I’ve heard from any number of sources: Christian radio, choir musical premieres from publishing companies, YouTube, top songs from CCLI or praisecharts.com, etc. My goal is to choose a “big moment” song for each event. For candlelight communion, that will most likely be a “cradle to the cross” type of song, and for Christmas Eve I want something that evokes the mystery and awe of the incarnation. Then I’ll choose something meaningful I can teach as a “theme song” to be woven into each Sunday morning and Christmas Eve. I’ll Look for a song that underscores the gospel message of Christmas and won’t grow monotonous as we sing it throughout the season.
I also want to choose some upbeat songs to be used as service openers. These might be newer songs that have become familiar to most during the last few years, or fresh arrangements of carols and Christmas hymns everyone knows. Some can even have an element of fun!
Rounding out the musical selections
Now I’m ready to complete the services. I’ll still want a few more impactful songs that will offer poignant, worshipful moments and opportunities for solos or groups (without upstaging what I’ve selected for the “big moments”). I’ll want some fresh arrangements of songs everyone knows and some straight up carols that evoke meaningful Christmas tradition. Don’t underestimate the impact of the familiar, and at the same time realize how a new song used in conjunction with these other selectioins can make the Christmas message come alive.
Planning the services
Now that I’ve chosen the songs I want to use, I double check for other elements our church will be highlighting on specific Sundays and strive to schedule the songs that will fit best for those particular days. I put together preliminary service orders with songs and other main elements and fine tune them with about a two-week lead time.
Gathering resources
Once I’ve settled on what songs will be used when, I’ll need sheet music, chord charts, demos, click tracks, stem files, videos, vocal rehearsal tracks and any other material specific to each song. I don’t wait until the week before the service to acquire it, but immediately get it all gathered in whatever system is used (planningcenter.com for me). Everything is easily accessible at a moment’s notice as I continue planning, rehearsing, and fine-tuning week-to-week.
Scheduling people
A huge piece of the planning puzzle is scheduling musicians and vocalists. I need to find out who is available when and schedule them accordingly with an eye toward which people fit best with the “big moment” song in a particular event. Once they are scheduled, I give them immediate access to the resources I’ve gathered so that they can begin to learn, rehearse, and prepare on their own. Rehearsals are scheduled and they are made aware so they can plan their busy holiday calendar as well. I make sure everyone knows about any special wardrobe considerations or dress codes for each event.
Other planning concerns
We’ve focused here on the musical element, but we all know there are many other aspects to making your holiday services special. Decorations, candles, giveaways, refreshments, and the list goes on. Delegate! Focusing on the musical element and engaging others for the rest will help all of it to be done with excellence.
Guarding your heart
Finally, I want to guard against growing spiritually exhausted or calloused during what is often the busiest season of the year. The pressure to be available and truly “present” in our homes and family gatherings while “harnessing the wind” for church Christmas season can cause us to resent the holidays and lose the sense of awe and wonder of Immanuel, God with us. Unplugging and guarding our “down time” for a few hours a week, staying faithful to read the Word for a few minutes a day, and abiding in Christ’s presence through prayer is crucial. Attending other Christmas concerts or worship events (while resisting the urge to critique or analyze how we could incorporate what we experience) can help. Choosing music I’m passionate about and feel will help our congregation and community have a fresh encounter with Christ keeps me engaged in the wondrous mystery of Christmas.