My friend Jacqueline tells the story of how UNICEF spent a fortune creating posters to promote the idea of child vaccination to the mothers of Rwanda. "The posters were gorgeous—photographs with women and children with simple messages written in Kinyarwandan (the local language), about the importance of vaccinating every child. They were perfect, except for the fact with a female illiteracy rate exceeding 70 percent, words written in perfect Kinyarwandan made little difference."

Jacqueline noticed that the way messages spread in Rwanda was by song. One group of women would sing a song for other women, both as a way of spreading ideas and as a gift. No song, no message. Your tribe communicates. They probably don't do it the way you would; they don't do it as efficiently as you might like, but they communicate. The challenge for the leader is to help your tribe sing, whatever form that song takes.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Relationships—Your "tribe" could be your church family, a child, a spouse, your workplace, your students, your clients, and so on. The question to ask is, "How do I use the right words to communicate with this tribe's heart? (2) Jesus Christ, the Word; Christmas—God has communicated to his "tribe" (the human race) in a way that we can understand. Christmas is God's "song" to us.