Christmas Music Special

     It's the day before/The night before Christmas... I couldn't resist. It's a quote, from a song, from a Christmas musical...yeah. It's from the opening song in "The Mystery of the Manger", where a choir director preparing for a Christmas musical and the kids try to help a reporter understand the true meaning of the holiday. The Okmulgee homeschool group put it on about six years ago, I played Mr. Evans the choir director to Annette's Jane Blonde.
   
     Sunday night was GBC's Christmas-music special, it was a nice time. About a hundred people showed up, which is nearly half the church;  there were a bunch of visitors, too - friends and extended family and former members all coming to spend a night of music and snacks and visiting.

     It began with "O Come All Ye Faithful" as a congregation, then Mr. Boyd read through John 1:1-14, followed by the welcoming announcements and a prayer. Then it was time for a song called "Glory Be To God", written by Charles Wesley and rearranged by Sovereign Grace Music's Bob Kauflin. It's sort of new, we haven't learned it completely yet. Then the youth group sang another Sovereign Grace song, "Christ the Lord is Born Today", with Laura on piano, Bennett and Wesley DeSpain on guitars, and Garrett on bass. They did well; and as they all sat back down Amy calls out "Good job, Courtney!" Everyone cracks up.
     Then another pause for Scripture reading, from Matthew 1:18-25, and the congregation sang "The First Noel". Seth Ferguson then played "Carol of the Bells" and "What Child is This?" on piano, that was good.
     Next was Luke 2:1-20, and afterward the singing of "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" as a congregation. MattieGrace Ferguson then played "How Great Our Joy" on piano, which was good. Those Fergusons are fantastic pianists. Courtney and I played "Go Tell It On the Mountain", me fingerpicking on Abby Lee while she tabbed the melody on her mandolin. The congregation then sang "Angels We Have Heard on High", and it was time for another reading, this time from Matthew 2:1-12.
     The Fergusons then sang "Just a Closer Walk with Thee", it was Mrs. Ferguson, Kerra, Laura and MattieGrace, with Matt playing guitar. Mary Beth wouldn't stay with her Aunt Stefanie or Libby Buckmaster, so Mrs. Ferguson just carried her up there and they worked around her crying. Everyone giggles. Anyway, they did great. Paul Stefan played a medley of Christmas songs on his violin, Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 was read, the congregation sang "Joy To the World" and then it was time for the closing prayer.

     I kept Amy company most of the fellowship time, she needed somebody to talk to. Talked to Dylan for a bit, met a couple people I hadn't known the names of, said hello to the Wilsons and Kaitlin. Trevor ran around playing spies or something with his friends, Caleb was somewhere, and Courtney was hanging out with her pals.
     There's just something so wonderful about singing together, playing music, that makes those times so special. It felt like it was really Christmastime, not like it snuck up on us like it usually seems to. I'm not really sure how it sounded, I was kind of completely focused on only thinking about the note just ahead of my fingers, but I think it probably went all right. Didn't get any video or audio recording, though - left that stuff at home. Courtney said a lot of people stopped her and said they enjoyed it. It was good to play music, glad that I was able to share it with people.