23 Dec Keeping Christmas Well

“…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!”

-Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

I hope you’re having a great week, likely making your plans for the next two weeks of holidays and time with friends and family to “keep Christmas well.” I hope to see all of you who are in town with us this Saturday night for our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. We’ll be having two this year, at 4 and 5:30 pm.

These are great moments to invite your friends to—some of whom may never come to a church except at Christmas, so be bold in your invitations! I’ll be sharing a message that (I hope) graciously and honestly looks at Christmas from a skeptic’s perspective.

It’s also something great to bring your family to, especially if you have family in from out of town. I know sometimes it can be awkward with family in town to bring them to church on Christmas Eve if they are not from a faith background—but what is Christmas if not a reason to celebrate and worship our great God for what He has done for us in sending Jesus?

I know sometimes family in from out of town can be put off that you would “want to go to church instead of spending time with them”, but in my experience and from many comments over the years from our members, coming on Christmas Eve made their time together that much more meaningful! And, a number of years ago, the Christmas Eve service laid the groundwork for us to lead some of our family members to faith in Christ.

We’ll have some new and traditional Christmas music, candlelight, special videos, coffee and some treats in the lobby, and hopefully a moment where our hearts overflow in gratitude. I know for many of you, this is an annual highlight, and it is for me and the Stephens family as well.

A couple of details to note:

• Services are at 4 and 5:30 pm
• There will be child care for infant through Pre-K children only (Kinder and up will be with mom and dad in the main worship area. We’ll have some small coloring activities available for them if they desire. But, we have designed our time together with them in mind!)
• No Sunday morning services December 25

That’s it!

Let’s keep Christmas well!

Morgan

Also, here are some details regarding our holiday schedule:

• No prayer meeting December 30
• The church offices will be closed December 26, 30 and January 2.
• We will have our normal 2 services on January 1 to kick off the New Year
• There will be no mKids during our services on January 1. We will provide child care for infant through Pre-K children only (Kinder and up will be with mom and dad in the main worship area. We’ll have some small coloring activities available for them if they desire.)