We go to church for a saint

Seattle Finnish Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington (Crown Hill)
“Would you like to be in the procession?” A woman asked a girl as she entered the church with her family. It was the church's annual Santa Lucia celebration, and there was no limit on how many young people could participate.

Last minute recruitment has been part of my life many times in churches. We also overheard someone being recruited for a reading. I’m not sure if it was part of a recruitment process, but I heard a man tell someone, “I am quite familiar with this song. In a different language, of course.” In general, it says something about a church that's comfortable doing last minute recruiting. It says that this is a small church with a family setting, where people feel comfortable asking each other to pitch in.

Anyway, you may be wondering what this “Santa Lucia” thing is all about. For one thing, it is part of why we decided to go to the Finnish Lutheran Church last Sunday. When our kids were young, we often celebrated Santa Lucia (or Saint Lucy) Day, December 13th. It wasn’t an ethnic heritage thing for us, but we thought the celebration was fun -- in homes, the oldest daughter traditionally wakes the family with candles, coffee, and sweet rolls. Mindy would make our daughters a wreath with candles to wear as a crown, convince one of them to wear a white robe (probably formerly used as a Princess Leia costume or an angel costume from a church Christmas play), and they would wake the household for breakfast. We were happy to see the procession this Sunday (December 16th) with children carrying candles (battery operated for small children and a real flame for the older girl portraying Lucia).

Though I mentioned this isn’t a part of our cultural heritage, Lucia is part of the Finnish Lutheran tradition. It is interesting that though the girl martyr was Italian, she is especially celebrated in Norway, Sweden, and Finland (particularly in the Swedish speaking portions of the country). Finnish culture was central to this worship service, particularly in the music. Three of the five hymns we sang were in Finnish. (Finnish is a rather exotic language; the largest of the Uralic languages. We heard someone mention a theory that the language is most closely related to Korean.) The one word I could confidently pick out was “Hoosianna,” which I believe would be translated as “Hosanna” (though it might be “Hallelujah”).

Another major portion of the musical menu of the morning wasn’t Finnish at all. The prelude for the service was “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth” from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, and all the special music of the morning (two solos and a duet) came from that same classic choral work. We also sang a hymn by a German and an Englishman, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”.

The sermon was from guest pastor Kristy Daniels, and I got the impression that she visits often. She said that Maria, the pianist and organist, choose the music for the day and that “Hark! The Herald” was sermon enough for the day. (But she still spoke. Pastors always say something or another was sermon enough, but they always preach anyway. That’s what pastors do. I’ve only been in one service where the pastor followed through on that. Kudos David Jordan-Irwin.) Pastor Kristy spoke on the Gospel reading, Luke 3, about John the Baptist, who was quite the Advent kind of guy, preparing the way for the Messiah.

I found the announcements after the sermon especially interesting: in the afternoon, Swedish Lutherans were going to use the building for a Swedish language service with a guest Swedish pastor from San Francisco. The Finnish congregation wouldn't be meeting the next Sunday, we heard, because the congregation would be gathering on Christmas Day.

After the worship service, everyone was invited downstairs for coffee and snacks (if you know anything about Scandinavian culture, you know they love their coffee). We chatted with many people around the table, some about our project of visiting churches and bars. I asked John, who was sitting across from us, what he appreciated about this church.

He talked about how the church celebrated Finnish culture. Along with the worship services, there are classes for Finnish language and music. He said that the church faced challenges (“We’ve been having more funerals than weddings”). He said the tech companies are bringing in many workers from Finland, but they don’t seem to be seeking out churches here. For now, the people of Seattle’s Finnish Lutheran Church obviously enjoy being able to celebrate their culture and their Lord Jesus Christ together.

We go to church for s'more

Living Hope Free Methodist Church, Bothell, Washington

There's an online game called Whamageddon. The object of the game is to make it through the Christmas season without hearing “Last Christmas” by that ‘80’s pop sensation, Wham!

It’s a worthy goal. The song about a singer who gave away his/her heart the previous yuletide but this year is saving it for “someone special” is beyond inane. Mindy and I lost the game the other day. The car radio was tuned to a station that plays oldies during the week and Christmas songs on the weekend, and there it was: “Now I know what a fool I’ve been, but if you kissed me now, I know you’d fool me again.” I felt like a fool for listening to this tripe.

It could have been worse, though. The game could have been about “The Christmas Shoes.”

This is a long way to say that though Christmas songs are on the radio, in almost every store, maybe even playing at work, good Christmas music needs to be sought out.

We sought it out at a Living Hope Free Methodist Church in Bothell on Sunday night. The church was hosting a special event, “Carol S’more.”

It was a dark, cold, rainy night, and entering the bright, warm church was especially pleasant. A smiling woman handed me a program and said, “The words are the same as the ones we’ll be singing. Unless it’s a joke.” (The song sheets in the program were accurate. So that wasn’t a joke. But saying it might be a joke, was, in fact, a joke.)

We seated ourselves in the middle of the sanctuary, near small children and a service dog -- which made the service even more pleasant. (Pro tip: dogs and small children make everything in life a little more pleasant -- especially when they're not your responsibility.) The pianist’s prelude included “Christmas Time is Here” from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Pastor Kyle welcomed people to the service (“I’m sure I greeted many of you by saying “Good morning”) and introduced "The Pilgrims" men’s chorus, representatives of New Horizons Ministry. The service format alternated between “Everybody Sings” and The Pilgrims singing. Some of the songs might be heard on your local Christmas music station (“The First Noel,” “O Come All Ye Faithful”) but there are songs I love (“Angels from the Realms of Glory,” “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night”) that you have to go to church to hear.

There was a break in the singing when Kristina, the pianist, gave an introduction to the work of New Horizons, an outreach to homeless youth in the Seattle area. The estimated 1,500 homeless young people in the area (70% of whom recently exited the foster care system) are in need of assistance. New Horizons provides meals, housing, legal counsel, job training, and other necessary services, all with the bedrock goal of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (People seemed eager to contribute to the offering, all of which would go directly to the ministry.)

The service concluded with a couple of my favorite carols: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” (a theologically profound song with lyrics like “veiled in flesh the Godhead see”) and “Joy to the World” (which probably could, and should, be sung all year long).

After the singing ended, everyone was invited to enjoy indoor s’mores. In a nearby room, sterno cans were lit down the center of four tables. At other tables, a selection of elements for making classic or gourmet s'mores was available along with skewers for toasting the marshmallows over the flames.  Graham crackers, brownie bites, Hershey’s milk and cookies and cream chocolates, and strawberries (!?!) were available.

Pastor Kyle had said it was a night to celebrate our God and King Jesus Christ, and the evening did just that. And not once did we have to debate the morality of “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”

We go to church for an ancient tradition

Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle, Washington
The O Antiphons Service of Advent Lessons and Carols

I have to confess my ignorance (and laziness). I had no idea what the “O Antiphons" were when I told Dean about the evening Advent service at Saint Mark’s. I mostly suggested we should attend because it was in the evening and I thought there'd be carol singing. I always like to sing carols. Researching -- even a little -- didn’t occur to me.

Turns out, the O Antiphons are ancient invocations (the earliest mention of them that I'm aware of -- I eventually researched a little -- was in the 6th century. Usually, one of these prayers beginning with the word "O" was sung or chanted during evening worship on each of the last seven nights before Christmas Eve. They were part of preparing to celebrate Jesus' coming into the world.

At Saint Mark's, they sang all of them in Latin and in English, interspersed with readings from the Bible, a couple of modern poems, prayers, and a hymn or two. Three choirs, handbells, incense, candles, and banners illustrated and accompanied the great O's.

The program had a request for no unauthorized video or photography during the liturgy (meaning the entire worship service); we honored that request. I noticed the authorized photographer, though. He, like others assisting with the service, wore a white robe with a rope tied around the waist. Members of the choirs wore fancier robes, while those reading scripture or poems wore regular clothes. The officiant, The Very Reverend Steven L. Thomason (the dean and rector of the cathedral), wore a green embroidered cape over a white robe. 

Finally, at the end of the service, we sang "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," which contains, in one hymn, all seven of the O Antiphons. It's my favorite pre-Christmas carol, though I hadn't known the background of the verses. 

Here's the text of the song; I've linked each title with the Bible verses that were used during the service with that portion:

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Wisdom from on high, who orderest all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, O come, thou Lord of might, who to thy tribes on Sinai's height in ancient times didst give the law, in cloud and majesty, and awe. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Branch of Jesse's tree, free them from Satan's tyranny that trust thy mighty power to save, and give them victory o'er the grave. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home; make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Dayspring from on high, and cheer us by thy drawing nigh; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind; bid thou our sad divisions cease, and be thyself our King of Peace. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

We Go to Bethlehem on Foot

Memorial United Methodist Church, Clovis, California
Last Saturday and Sunday night, Merced, California, was the City of David. At least that’s how the guide at the Living Nativity explained Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem -- he compared the distance they traveled to the distance between Clovis to Merced.

So we managed to walk all the way to Merced, er, Bethlehem on Sunday night. (Or we walked around the church and into the sanctuary. Still, it was a journey.)

Confession time: we’ve been to this church building before. We visited a Hmong service a few months ago (it took two tries), and Mindy’s been to their thrift store several times. That’s where she heard about the church’s live nativity, and we decided it wouldn’t really count as a repeat.

A centurion greeted each group of new arrivals, announcing that Caesar Augustus had commanded everyone to go to their ancestral home for a census. (More quietly, he directed us to the table where we were to register for our tour. Everyone was assigned a letter for a “census” group, along with a number. We were in group D) As we waited for our tour, we stood by the fire, which felt quite nice. The fire doubled in the program as a couple men from the church cooked hot dogs over the blazing logs.

With our guide, we followed a sidewalk lined with luminaria to the first scene: Mary being visited by an angel, Gabriel. (The Scripture called the angel a “he,” but the angels we saw during our walk all looked female. Scripture also indicates that gender might not even be a thing with angels.) We found Mary cooking matzo bread when the angel brought the news that she would be the mother of the world’s Savior. There was then taped music of “Love was Born at Christmas”.

We next visited Joseph who seemed to have fallen asleep while snacking on the same bread Mary had been baking. After the angel’s announcement about the coming Messiah, we had live singers lead us in singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” (They said we were all welcome to join the church choir.)

Off we went to see another angelic announcement when the shepherds were given the good news of the baby in the manger. Our guide (in standard church Biblical costume/bathrobe) told us that Scripture said that a “multitude” of angels appeared to the shepherds, which could have been millions… or two. For budgetary reasons, I assume, we had two. Our guide also mentioned that the sheep these particular shepherds of Bethlehem were tending could well have been sold to the temple to be used as sacrifices for sin. The lively group of shepherds of different ages and shoe types (dress to tennis) reacted in a variety of ways to the angel’s announcement, and we all joined in singing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” One of the shepherds seemed to be dancing her excitement about the newborn king.

Next stop was the Magi. Our guide noted that although there were three men in the scene and we sang “We Three Kings,” the Bible never says how many men came from the East, but that tradition has named three, probably came from the fact that three gifts were mentioned (gold, frankincense, and myrrh). The guide also pointed out that their wise men were obviously genuine wise men because they all had glasses.

The final stop was in the scene at the manger with Mary, Joseph and the Baby, joined by angels, shepherds, and their dog. (The dog never did make it into the manger, but it did make me think of that phrase, “dog in a manger,” which I never understood. So I looked it up when I got home. If you’re curious, follow this link.)

People were encouraged to stay as long as they wished at the nativity scene as Scripture was read and "Silent Night" was sung. It is a wonderful thing at Christmas to have time to stop and consider what it means that God Himself entered this world as a human baby.

After awhile, we left the sanctuary and went outside, where we could pick up one of those hot dogs we’d seen cooking. We brought our plates inside the fellowship hall where there were also drinks and cookies and flyers listing upcoming Christmas services. “Angels Among Us” is the church’s seasonal theme, and there was a photo op off to one side. You could get a picture of yourself with angel wings and a slogan of your choosing.

It was a nice night to hear again the Christmas story, sing carols, and eat warm snacks. The walk was nice too. We were glad we could make it to Bethlehem (if not Merced).