If you are in harmony with my 3 best practices for presenting Christmas carols in PowerPoint, you are quite likely to enjoy the following two links:
1. Traditional Song Lyrics - This page at the Nevada System of Higher Education provides you with a wealth of lyrics to traditional Christmas carols -- these wonderful oldies are lovely for inputting directly into your Christmas PowerPoint presentations.
2. Silent Night PowerPoint - I took the lyrics from 4 stanzas of a popular Christmas Carol (Silent Night) and entered them into a very simple PowerPoint presentation. The background is mostly purple (for Advent) with large white letters (for easy Senior reading). The graphic is an abstract of the advent wreath: three purple candles, a rose candle, and a white Christ candle in the center.
Why abstract instead of literal? For purposes of meditation, I like looking at simple abstract images, because they allow me to enjoy a more thoughtful, contemplative, and present state of awareness. For example, if I see the above Advent candles as shaped like chalices or grails, I might reflect on the sacrificial aspects of the story of Christ.
Or if I shift my focus and see a representation of the Star of David, it might serve as a reminder to reflect on the life of Jesus as a liberal Jewish man. I might then see the candles not as 5 grails, but as 9 Hanukkah candles...
Imagery abounds in a holiday season. But without thoughtful reflection, many of our deeply symbolic religious images and icons have become clichéd.
What kinds of images do you prefer to see this December, and why? And which formerly beloved icons have lost their meaning for you as 2006 draws to a close?
¶ 12/04/2006 05:29:00 PM
