Hearing, not telling, the Christmas story
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2025 Blog #47
December 8, 2025
Hearing, not telling, the Christmas story
It is rare when a minister gets to hear the word read, especially during worship. We are the ones who are usually reading the word. In some congregations, lay readers do the reading. One might think that these are opportunities for clergy to listen, but too often they are not. When the minister will be preaching a few minutes after the reading, the clergy mind is working on the sermon. When one is thinking of a sermon, one is not paying attention to hearing the reading.
Vacations for ministers, of course, is a wonderful time to hear the word. On vacations, we are sitting in the pew and worshipping. We get to hear the word read and we get to hear the sermon of another minister. It is a blessing to sit and to listen.
Sitting and listening to the story brings me back to my childhood days at summer camp. An evening ritual at camp was the counselor reading stories to us. I assume that the intent was to get us campers to go to sleep. Even if it didn’t, listening to the story was still relaxing and enjoyable.
Perhaps I was a strange child, but I frequently enjoyed going to sleep listening to storytelling on the radio. The Gene Shepherd radio program at night on WOR radio in New York city was one of my favorite programs to listen to. Maybe it is because I grew up listening to him that I like the movie he wrote, “A Christmas Story.”
In later years, I always enjoyed the story telling of A Prairie Home Companion. I would laugh out loud as I listened to the stories of Lake Wobegon. The story tellers and story readers in my life may have changed but the principal is the same. I love hearing stories that are being read to me, that I don’t have to read.
This past Saturday, I was with my grandsons, to a Christmas party that was hosted by the Second Reformed Church of Hackensack. The party was rather simple: attract neighborhood children into the building with crafts, snacks and the chance to pose for a picture with Santa. While the children are relaxed and in a good mood, read to them the real Christmas story. The one with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and not Santa.
I don’t know how many of the children listening to the story were from the church and how many were from the neighborhood with no other affiliation with the church. I have no idea how many of these children had ever heard of the real Christmas story, but they did on Saturday. I stood just behind the circle of children and received the gift of listening to the Christmas story as told by Pastor Dwayne. I think that I was paying more attention to Dwayne that the children were. I don’t know how much of the story they absorbed but I celebrated the chance to be a child again, closing my eyes and listening to the story. Sitting and listening to the story, without any sermon to preach or any other responsibilities, was a wonderous gift.
I thank the congregation of Second Reformed Church of Hackensack for organizing this party. I am thankful to Pastors Anna and Dwayne, for their work on this celebration. Especially, I thank Pastor Dwayne, who read the Christmas story, and let me be a kid again, just listening to this sacred story. Thank you, Pastor Dwayne for this Christmas gift.
I hope that all of you who are reading this will take the opportunity during this Christmas season, to come to worship and, once more, sit and listen to the magnificent story. It will be a great gift to you.