Seventh-day Adventist congregations have few opportunities to be directly involved in the various components of the Sabbath morning worship service. Traditionally the two (occasionally three) congregational hymns have provided for some public response. However, in certain circles there is a growing tendency to limit this form of expression by abandoning the closing hymn and having the preacher move directly from his message into a benediction prayer.

In some churches the responsive reading of the Scriptures has played a prominent part in providing for congregational interaction. Unfortunately, the proliferation of modern-English translations and paraphrases of the Bible tends to make it difficult to invite members to participate directly by reading alternate verses in unison out of one's own Bible. (One solution to the wide-variety-of-versions problem was found by the Takoma Park, Maryland, Seventh-day Adventist church. It installed special separate bookracks under the seat of each pew, with a copy of the Revised Standard Version placed in each.)

Then, too, our present Church Hymnal in North America has such a limited selection of responsive readings in the back of the book that many pastors have simply discarded recourse to that worship aid almost entirely. Perhaps the General Conference-appointed committee now at work to provide the church with a new hymnal will rectify this singular omission; our Methodist and Baptist brethren in particular are far ahead of us in publishing in their hymnals a diverse collection of responsive readings covering a wide spectrum of topical and thematic material. Some enterprising pastors have stepped into the breach by creating their own custom-made litanies, weaving together passages of Scripture particularly appropriate to the occasion and/or to the sermon. Such are printed either in the order of worship in the church bulletin itself or as an insert in the bulletin. (The example of a succession of pastors at the Kettering, Ohio, Seventh-day Adventist church during the past seven or eight years is especially praiseworthy, and many of their "tapestries of the Word" would truly grace our new hymnal!)

Last Christmas, when the holiday itself fell on Sabbath, I was invited to preach at the Triadelphia Seventh-day Adventist church in Clarksville, Mary land, north of Washington, D.C. Wanting to make this service different because of the season, and at the same time wanting to create more interaction within the congregation and between members and the leader of worship, I attempted to do so in two ways.

First, the music for both Sabbath school and the worship service was to be provided by a soprano soloist. We therefore chose three simple Christmas carols, all from the Church Hymnal, and the soloist agreed to sing the odd-numbered stanzas alone and to lead the congregation in singing the even-numbered stanzas.

For the Sabbath school I selected "O Little Town of Bethlehem," primarily because I would later make mention of several experiences in the life of the composer, Phillips Brooks, in my sermon. In the worship service we sang "Angels From the Realms of Glory," chosen because it seemed to provide an especially praiseworthy introit to the litany it preceded (see "A Christmas Litany for the People," this page). This litany, in turn, provided the introduction to the sermon. Then, in the place of the usual closing hymn, the soloist and congregation alternated singing stanzas of "Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne," selected partly to acquaint the congregation with the beauty of a comparatively unknown carol and partly because it seemed most appropriate to the sermon conclusion.

Second, since my sermon dealt with the meaning of Christmas as developed by our Lord's parable of the householder who rented his vineyard to tenant farmers (Matt. 21:33-46; Mark 12:1- 12), I used Matthew's account as the compositional base for the litany, weaving in other passages of Scripture to highlight and amplify the development of the narrative theme.

I also (admittedly with some hesitation) incorporated one especially apt passage from Ellen White's Desire of Ages toward the close of the litany, not only because of its rhetorical beauty but also because it seemed to epitomize what the various writers of Scripture were saying from different perspectives. I was conscious of the potential risk in mixing the words of Scripture with the words of a modern writer—the risk of theological misunderstanding in the area of inspiration/revelation, and the potential risk of divisive controversy. In this instance I decided to go ahead; in other possible settings I might well decide to stick solely with Scripture.

The trialogue that was created, with its interaction among leader, men, and women, proved to be a blessing to some in the congregation that Christmas Day. It is offered here in the hope that perhaps you may be able to glean ideas from it that will bless your congregation. The litany alone illuminates enough of my homiletical use of the Matthew 21 parable to enable you to construct your own Christmas sermon on the passage.