Henry - so we mentioned about, just briefly, about doing some ceremonies.  Abby - So let's get into those details a little bit more exactly.  Henry - First of all, the power of Ceremony.  

Abby - Ceremony slows us down to remember and receive. It really brings  people together and offers that structure, meaning, beauty, stillness, hope, and it really creates these moments that there can be these sacred encounters.  

Henry - Now, what I love about ceremony is ceremony can have some aspects  of proclamation  

Abby - in it, right, worship and sharing the good news. And, yeah,  

Henry - and you can talk about why Christmas is this way and and you actually  have that opportunity in that way, there's a space for you  

Abby - to share, to actually be able to share words of God, to be able to share  insights as a Christian leader,  

Henry - it's just what a great opportunity and rituals create spiritual touch points, touch points in busy seasons, and you can actually create different kinds of  rituals appropriate. Just use your imagination. An intentional design fosters  emotional and spiritual receptivity, so the message, the environment, all of those things can be factored in and carefully considered.  

Abby - Yeah, candlelight service is something we've talked about quite a few  times, but this is such a great way you can have that visual gospel reputation, or representation of light spreading from Christ's candle that really guides people to reflect and have reverence. It also can, again, include that welcome scripture,  reading, blessing, prayer, and I think, just again people, when we do those acts  of you see the candles spreading, and you see, it can really, really help people if they are grieving again. We talked about candlelight stuff for Blue Christmas  services. But even in a general service, it can create that space for people to  just really connect with God and visually when you're seeing I mean, I've been  at many candlelight services, and I can just think about how powerful it felt to  me, yeah.  

Henry - And also, too, we can have little micro candlelight services, like we  don't, you know, a lot of times the candlelight service for, like, you know,  Christmas Eve, yeah, you know, I think the churches in general have, really, still 

are strong in some of those areas. But I could see, like at a marketplace, like a  little room, like in a in a airport, you'll have, like a little Chaplain room and and I  will even be traveling somewhere, internationally or somewhere, and they'll have Chaplain services in five minutes. And I've gone to some of them, and they're  very powerful, and I come in and it's a small little room, and there's a candle and there's a chaplain, you know, it's really, you know, why can't seasonal chaplains  have those kinds of spaces? It's just, it's that little creativity and then the ending. It doesn't even have to be where, you know someone is having a bunch of  singing, but there could be a YouTube video of silent night playing  

Abby - absolutely these symbolic acts, they reinforce the theological truth in this way that you can have people experience it. And the ceremonial leadership  really engaged the multiple senses of people for deeper impact. Again, God built us to have senses, to have these feelings of touch and sight and smells and all  of it. So it's such an opportunity again, engage the more whole person in these  moments to help them have a greater experience of theological truth.  

Henry - Wow. Caroling as public witness. We often don't think of a chaplain's  work is caroling, but this is a  

Abby - great opportunity. Yeah, in these songs, there's theological truths that  can be proclaimed through music. People are more open to just admiring the  songs, whether they, you know, feel that way or not, and so it becomes an  accessible evangelism in both public and private spaces.  

Henry - Chaplains frame moments with prayer, scripture and blessing. So now  the proclamation comes through a caroling moment.  

Abby - I really like this insight music can bypass resistance and can embed the  gospel in people's memory, because songs are catchy and people can  remember them.  

Henry - Public worship creates shared sacred experience in secular places.  And you could, I could see where. Or there's an acceptance of caroling, yeah,  oh yeah,  

Abby - public worship, yes, people and again, so many of the Carol songs that  are singing of you know, Joy to the world, Silent Night. I mean, these are  theological truths in them, and people will still sing them who don't feel that way,  but it still brings that again, embedding the gospel into their memory. So yeah,  great opportunity, public blessings, short spirit led words of peace in public  setting. And you know, these blessings become these opportunities of just 

planting little seeds in people's hearts that give them that connection that they  need to maybe take the next step in the future.  

Henry - So our condominium association in Florida, we have a Christmas  celebration party every year. And now that they know I'm a minister chaplain, I  get asked  

Abby - to do the blessing. Very nice. Yeah. And  

Henry - I tell you, I take that very seriously. So before I minister, hey, in 15  minutes, we're going to be having a prayer and blessing. If anyone at this time  wants a prayer, please come up and we can have a community prayer. So  anyway, 15 minutes later, the director of the condominium hospitality committee  walks up to me and says, it's time. So okay, so what I'll do is I'll say, You know  what? We live together in this condominium, us in this our association, and we  see life together all year. Here we are Christmas time. And then I'll mention who  is lost, because this is Florida, right? So, yeah, we Ethel went to be with the  Lord at this time, and John, you know, and then, you know what? And we have a candle. I point to a candle over there, that candle, you know, Sally, will you go  light that candle right now for those that we lost last year? So Sally walks over,  lights the candle. And at this point, there are literally people crying, okay, yeah,  there's then, you know, let's pray so we have a little prayer. I'll mention some of  those things, and we'll remember those families and remember our own grief.  And then there'll be then, that prayer will move to this like but at this Christmas  season, I'm a minister who proclaims to all of us in our hearts that there is a God who cares about you. So then it moves into a little public blessing. All that prayer might be four or five minutes, and it's so amazing, because at the end of the  prayer, people are crying. People walk up to me, thank you, Henry, those words. But all of this is a blessing. And then I have a little benediction after the prayer.  You know, I want all of us to receive in this Christmas season, may God bless us and keep us. May His face shine upon us and be gracious to us. God turn his  eyes toward us and grant us peace. Absolutely.  

Abby - Those verbal affirmations shape the atmosphere. They make it become  spiritual for those that need it, and those concise blessings carry lasting  emotional resonance. You know it really again resonates with people. Is really,  really powerful.  

Henry - You know? What I really feel is so amazing about being a Christmas  Chaplain is the possibilities what God is doing is just so incredible, and there are opportunities that you just can't imagine at Christmas, like there's even an  opportunity for a scripture services at Christmas, where they things happen, 

where you know, they're anchored seasons in God word, this is often a time  where somebody will actually ask for scripture to be read, right?  

Abby - Let's read the birth, yeah, the birth of Jesus. Yes, those prophecies, you  know. Let the word speak with its reverence and simplicity. And again, it's written God breathed. And we can share that and proclaim that. And that is a cord of  spiritual formation for many  

Henry - people, you know, and also to even at these, like, I asked to do a  blessing last year, I asked if I could read the Christmas story. And, of course,  yeah, you know, you sure? You know. So you even have those opportunities,  right? Like a blessing? Would you like a blessing on the Christmas story? Oh,  from Luke 2, how about in the King James Version, and, and, and She wrapped  him in swaddling clothes. You know, it's like, for many people, it's like, there's  even the King James. But what it does is it calls people back to that spiritual  identity in God and Absolutely. And who knows what can happen with that?  

Abby - Yeah, that reading aloud really invites the communal engagement with  God's story. So again, as a chaplain, when you can get the permission to do  things, it is such an opportunity to then, yes, yes, because people, again, are  more open, okay, yeah, let's say, you know,  

Henry - for those of us who celebrate Christmas, it would be a nice thing for  them to have, yes, but it's still a proclamation to the others who don't know  absolutely.  

Abby - So the final refresh reflection here is ceremonial leadership really  shepherds these amazing experiences with God that people can have. So it's  not about again, this performance or grander, but again, it's about creating this  space for God to move, for his spirit to work in people's lives. And so you're  leading with love scripture and the spirit.  

Henry - You know I love that ceremonial ceremonies integrate theology with  embodied action, leadership in sacred moments leaves eternal imprints. You  know, I think about your little community that you live in, and it'll be interesting  this year now that we've done this class right because you're an ordained  minister, and it'd be interesting to see Abby, if there's something  

Abby - now I am my wheels are spinning. So as we put this together, we just  are prayerful that your wheels are spinning too. And thinking about, where can  you really do some things in your community? So we'll have to really work on  that here in our little community, 

Henry - exactly, you know. And one thing about Christmas chaplaincy is you can start this year with maybe something small,  

Abby - yeah. And  

Henry - I know one thing, like at nursing homes, they're always welcoming, like,  will you do a little ceremony? Because, you know, just think about in many of the senior homes, they're in their room so much they get sick of TV. And if you will,  say, Hey, I'd love to do a little candlelight service. And what an opportunity. So in a senior home care facility, you know, a apartment complex where there's like a  recreation center, and you say to the manager, you know, I'm actually an  ordained chaplain. I'd love to do a candlelight service on Friday night before  Christmas, to anybody who in many times it's like the perfect thing. And if two  people, three people came, you never know why those people are there. So in a community, Lord, where, you know, there's like a work place has a sensitivity to  the things of God in the in the the owner of the company, or HR says, Yeah,  Chaplain Abigail here, who also works in the receiving department, is going to  do a little candlelight service for those. I mean, again, where does this go? Is  really up to where the imagination and the Holy Spirit can lead this absolutely.