A Christmas Offering  
by Paul Baloche

Over the past fifteen years as Worship Pastor in my local church, I have found it a challenge to include worship songs that will integrate well into the Christmas season set list. I love pulling out the standard Christmas carols that we only seem to sing once a year, but I’ve found that very few of them are sung "to" The Lord. I believe it is so important in our congregational worship times to get our hearts going "vertical." So during the month of December, I will sometimes add a simple tag at the end of a familiar carol that gets us singing "to" the Lord instead of just "about" The Lord.

For example, at the end of "O Come Let Us Adore Him," try adding a chorus of "O Jesus we adore You, O Jesus we adore You" over the same chord progression. Another idea is taking a song like "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and at the end, where we sing "glory to the newborn King," add a simple tag by staying on the ending chord but keep the drums going. As we keep the rhythm going a bit, we'll start singing out a simple melody that the congregation can pick up easily while repeating the words...."we give You glory Lord, we give You glory." Practice a few different approaches in your rehearsal until you find a melody and chord progression that really helps the Christmas Carol turn into more of a vertical song. Similar to inhaling and exhaling, the carol is like inhaling all this wonderful content and the exhale is a simple worship response back to God. Remember to keep it simple.

Finally, another approach is to take a familiar worship chorus and add a "Christmas verse" to it. I recently took the chorus of the song "Offering" and added verses surrounding the birth of Christ that are found in the Gospels. Keeping the melody the same, the new verse reads:

Over the skies of Bethlehem appeared a star
While angels sang to lowly shepherds
Three wise men seeking truth traveled from afar
Hoping to find the child from heaven
Falling on their knees
They bowed before the humble Prince of Peace
I bring an offering of worship to my King.......

Take a listen to the free download included in this article and hear how it turned out. Feel free to download the lead sheet and chord chart as well and give it a try in your church this month. May you and your family experience His peace and encouragement as you worship Him this Christmas season.