Christmas

Christmas is coming. In fact, what we consider the 'Advent Season' begins next Sunday, November 30th. This is the four Sundays before Christmas Eve. One of the things I am working on this week is how we will celebrate Christmas as a church this year. Harry is doing a great job of giving oversight to Christmas Eve, but what about Advent? So far I have a theme - 'Christmas in Babylon'. Not too festive? Well, that's because we live in a culture that is foreign to God's message to us at Christmas. Celebrating the hope we have in the coming of Christ is a minority holiday. It reminds me of the story of Daniel who worshipped the true God in the midst of a Babylonian culture that didn't believe what he did.

So if it's important that we worship and celebrate the advent of Christ this year, how should we do this? What is meaningful to you? Are there songs that you want to sing, things you want to share, verses you want read, candles you want to light? And beyond our Sunday mornings together, how can you take time feel the excitement and joy that comes when you really stop and think how wonderful it will be when Jesus comes, defeats sin and lives with us forever? For me, it is when I share the Christmas story with my kids, usually when we read and talk before bedtime. The truth seems to real and important when I share with them the most important story I will ever tell them.