On Sunday 14th December, the young people of St Luke’s ambushed the Vicar as he was introducing the morning service and led him away to return at the end of the service.
Thus began the Young People’s Takeover Service, entitled ‘Follow the Star’.
A talented band of young musicians and singers led us in worship, including a rap version of “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord”, based on Psalm 150.
In a reversal of tradition, the adults were invited to light three Advent candles after identifying each one correctly!
A quiz on stars had us guessing wildly.
As we reflected on the wrong things we had done, said sorry to God and asked for forgiveness, we were given a Mentos mint to illustrate that sin can be so strong like the taste of a mint that we can’t get rid of it but as we say sorry to God it will dissolve away like the mint in our mouth.
Following the Creed which was made with ChatGPT(!), we offered each other a ‘High Five’ as a joyful sign of Peace.
Through the service, the children read the Bible readings and prayers, each prayer ending with three amens which started quietly and ended loudly! Interspersed between the readings, prayers and praise, were three short talks from the youth based on Psalm 19:1-2, Matthew 2:9-10 and Philippians 2:14-16.
At the end of the service we were each given a star decoration to hang on our Christmas tree to remind us, as children of God, to shine like stars in our daily lives (Philippians 2:15), and there were star biscuits made by the young people to decorate over coffee after the service.
Yvonne Wilder