Nollaig Shona Feliz Navidad Merry Christmas

[winky]

This past Saturday we did a "Christmas Blessing," where we went to two or three of the elementary schools in low-income areas and set up a big holiday type meal (turkey, ham, dressing, potatoes, etc.) in the cafeteria and invited all the kids and their families. People from our church signed up for various shifts (set up, serving, waiting tables, clean up, etc.). It was a big success as usual. About 400 people came to eat.

Then we also put together gift baskets with holiday goodies for these same people.

In our small group, we'll be adopting 4 or 5 angels from the Angel Tree to buy for.

Our preacher is doing a series building up to the birth of Christ the Sunday before Christmas (I think). Had a great lesson yesterday on preparing our hearts for Christ, relating to how John the Baptist prepared himself and others for Christ.

The kids in grades 1-5 did a Christmas musical this past weekend also. Then, we have a ministry that works with kids in a nearby low-income apt. building and those kids are doing a Christmas pageant next weekend, and then we'll have a special reception for the kids and their families afterward.

Other than the parties and activities that each class or small group will do on their own, that's all that I know about.

I'm looking forward to all the services, festivities, family and such. I'm a sucker for this season. I look forward to it all year long.

Wendy

[Booty]

[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (pdwblw @ Dec. 09 2002,11:50)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Brojees,
You said, [!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]But they are without sin and have special dispensation from Christ. Then what sin could be involved by providing [/quote]  Que?  What doyou mean by that statement.  Feliz Navidad
Padraig :)[/quote]
Paddy,

I do not teach nor participate in infant baptism because I believe them, children, to be free of sin and that they have a special dispensation from Christ as He consistently welcomed the children to Him.

Thus how can they sin by poking and punching on a daft Irishman sweating in a red suit? Thankfully their childlike innocence, (Something I strive to acchieve my own self), does not allow them the finer distinctions of possibly following a Pagan Saint on the Winter Solstice. They know who Jesus is, Papa Noel always tells them of the Lord's love as e talks with them. The elves assisting Papa Noel talk withthe parents as well.

Paul once explained how he would change his demeanour to reach different groups. I strongly suspect he would not have a problem with donning a red suit his own self.

[susieface]

At our church we are having "The 12 Days of Christmas".  We have some special program or outreach each day.

We are having "Toy Store" this Tuesday evening.  this is an outreach program for the less fortunate in our inner-city.  We will bring in over 100 children (we have over 1000 presents to wrap) and their parents for a night of dinner, praise time and shopping in our "toy store".  The children will be in a room making a gift for their parents and snacking while the parents get to shop, then they will eat dinner together.  I like this idea of the "toy store" as opposed to just handing out gifts because the parents get to pick out(shop) for their children an assortment of gifts. It gives them more of a sense of giving themselves as opposed to just charity.

We are also having 2 nights of caroling to neighborhoods and hospitals.

We are also having a night of singing with the choir and a play(musical).

We have already had a childrens choir and musical play last night. Of which my own child was in(so precious).

We have also had Rebecca St. James for concert.  We are having Avalon this week.  Next week we will have a praise concert night with different groups(non-famous), local.  But should be great.

Many outreach ministries are also going on. (coats, christmas dinner, etc.)

And of course the normal small group(bible class) parties going on.

The whole month is dedicated to Christmas.

Susie

[marc]

Man, this board's been busy!  Only five days and this topic was five pages back.  :cool:

Anyway, something interesting happened tonight I thought I'd share.  For the past three years I've done the Salvation Army Angel Tree thing through work.  I've always thought I'd like to see whether the kids like the gifts they receive, but of course there is no direct contact.  This year I had the name of a six year old boy who seemed to wear really small sizes for his age.
One of the gifts I bought was a bright blue winter coat. These were distributed late last week.

I mentioned earlier that our church was going to help out a family whose kids have been coming some who have nothing. Tonight the youngest of these kids, a five-or-six-year old who is small for his age, showed up in a new blue coat that looked identical to the one I had purchased.  The other three kids were wearing old, lightweight jackets.

This could be a coincidence.  It seems a bit soon for the gifts to be distributed--they were taken from our office at noon Friday.  But even so, I wonder if this is God's way of showing me that these gifts are appreciated, even if I never see the direct results.  

Either way, Merry Christmas. :christmas:

[Booty]

Curious how each congregation will celebrate the blessed birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have a congregational dinner with prayer and singing, later a visit by an Irishman in a stifling hot red suit!!

Then the strangely attired Irishman and others go out into the streets to share the joy.

You?

[Booty]

[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (janine @ Dec. 08 2002,07:51)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Nah, no Santa Claus/Kris Kringle/Father Xmas for us.  We've been passing out food/clothing/appliances/shoes etc. for a couple months now, anyway, since the storms, so we must feel like we're filling our benevolent generosity quota...

So, it's not that there's no spirit of compassion and giving and festive together-ness... Just not when everyone else is doing it.  Wouldn't want the world to think we worship Santa Claus, oooh nooo.

The only "from-the-pulpit" observation of Christmas will be the various groups within the congregation meeting for parties.

None of them will be called "Christmas Parties".  There's the "Adult Holiday Get-Together" (a potluck gift exchange- hilarious); the Youth have a "Progressive Dinner" (tearing around the countryside, appetizers at one home, entree at another, desert somewhere else, with singing and prayer all over but mostly at the end).

We won't "celebrate" Christmas as a religious holiday... we know only too well that, as far as we can tell, Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25, and so on and so on...

But then, we won't "celebrate" it in the spring when He likely was born.  We're too busy not celebrating Mardi Gras and Easter then. [/quote]
:0 How sad Janine. How perfectly sad   :0

I have no worry that anyone will ever doubt that we worship Jesus Christ. Even if our wee bairns do enjoy a visit from Papa Noel, I know even they know who Jesus is and how He loves them. I am certain as well that the older ones know it is not really Papa Noel in that red suit, but the crazy Irishman. So there is no fear that they worship either the character played or the poor sweating actor assuming the role.

I also do not worry that we celebrate the Lord's birth on a convenient Roman holiday, the Lord I love and serve is well aware of the problem we have accurately dating His life and forgives us. Had dating accuracy been essential to Him, I am sure He would have marked up a calender and left it for us. What is important is that we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour with joy and love for our fellowman.  

When we discussed it, it was Jesuscito who provided the rational grace based answer which convinced us that Papa Noel does not in any way detract from Jesus Christ. As Jesuscito said, the smaller children are the ones who accept Papa Noel as a real person. But they are without sin and have special dispensation from Christ. Then what sin could be involved by providing them with Papa Noel? The sin of providing them with a loving church family which is sensitive to their young age and their fantasies? Going out in the street, we witness of the Lord Jesus Christ to the older "children" who come as well to see Papa Noel while the sweaty Irishman is punched and pulled on to determine his true nature.

Oh sorry Sister, I know you well enough to know where your heart is and I know that time and prayer is the only thing which will finally open the hearts of some elders, but do pass along to yours a hearty

Jo Jo Jo Jo Jo Jo y que Dios te Bendiga abundamente!! Feliz Navidad!!

Papa Noel  (AKA Brojees)

[janine]

Don't sound like a sucker to me... sound like a sweetheart.  How could all the love take advantage (i.e., 'sucker') you? :p

[pdwblw]

Brojees,
You said, [!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]But they are without sin and have special dispensation from Christ. Then what sin could be involved by providing [/quote]  Que?  What doyou mean by that statement.  Feliz Navidad
Padraig :)

[Eric]

How are we going to celebrate Christmas as a group?  We have a Church Christmas party coming up this week where we will gather around a potluck meal, do some gift exchange, sing songs and play games.  Then the following week we will have our Sunday School Program where the children from the different classes will perform in a play (of some kind) about Christmas (we will all have our cameras ready :D ).  Then on Dec 24 we will have an Christmas eve candle light service, where we sing, pray, hear God's word read, often have a short lesson, and share communion together.  We are often busy with events here around Christmas, but we are still keeping our commitments such as our monthly meal that we cook and serve at the local homeless shelter (Dec 24th).  

Eric

[seekr]

We have a big tree, every year, and I love decorating the entire house for my tiny congregation (immediate family, plus some visitors, at times). We try to invite someone we think may be alone or feeling rejected. I love the entire aspect of Christmas, including the shopping, as it creates joy in my teenagers and in me. There have been a few times when we did not have any money until the day before Christmas and God miraculously would provide--in the "Nick" of time. This year we are doing better financially, but that is never a concern anyway. I love to celebrate and I think we all as Christians celebrate His birth all year round and this just helps to share the love.

Maurine

[4kidsandadog]

We have already had an adult holiday gathering; the youth group has a party scheduled for the 21st of the month.  The 4th-6th graders voted to not have a party and will instead go ice skating next month (they have a teacher who is very generous with his pocketbook; he and his wife bear all costs for the shindigs he throws for them).

As a congregation, we have adopted a family to provide Christmas for. We were late in hearing from someone in the community regarding names of children we could give to, when former members of our congregation had a fire and lost everything. This family lives in the Chicago area right now, but are coming here for Christmas.  I am kind of excited that the recipients aren't faceless this year... it will be good to see the expressions on the children's faces.

Karen

We thought of inviting Ebenezer Scrooge over (after his conversion) and find out what the Dickens had changed him.

We had the sunday school/small group Christmas parties, and we paired the youth up with the children's ministry kids and went shopping for the local shelter children (we came back with the same number of kids we left with, so I consider it a success :) ).

We've got a Praise service coming up, with lots of choirs, bell ringers, etc.  And Santa usually drops by afterward, Booty.

But the best of all is the children's musical program.  I don't think I truly understood John 1 until I heard my children sing it.

And for some reason, I cry every time one of my children is on stage (church, school, dance recital, doesn't matter).

Kari

[Renee]

:clap: Marc...

I worked for the Salvation Army as Store Supervisor for the seven Thrift Stores here and I was blessed to participate in seeing that the gifts you spoke of were indeed distributed and gratefully appreciated :)

It was amazing to watch all the gifts be gathered together and names attached to gifts requested. It took many helping hands and much time for the inplementing but when you saw the families and the smile on their faces ...well NOTHING can compare to actually seeing their Joy!

God bless you brother. I hope this info will bring you gladness.
Happy Holidays!

Renee

[janine]

Nah, no Santa Claus/Kris Kringle/Father Xmas for us.  We've been passing out food/clothing/appliances/shoes etc. for a couple months now, anyway, since the storms, so we must feel like we're filling our benevolent generosity quota...

So, it's not that there's no spirit of compassion and giving and festive together-ness... Just not when everyone else is doing it.  Wouldn't want the world to think we worship Santa Claus, oooh nooo.

The only "from-the-pulpit" observation of Christmas will be the various groups within the congregation meeting for parties.

None of them will be called "Christmas Parties".  There's the "Adult Holiday Get-Together" (a potluck gift exchange- hilarious); the Youth have a "Progressive Dinner" (tearing around the countryside, appetizers at one home, entree at another, desert somewhere else, with singing and prayer all over but mostly at the end).

We won't "celebrate" Christmas as a religious holiday... we know only too well that, as far as we can tell, Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25, and so on and so on...

But then, we won't "celebrate" it in the spring when He likely was born.  We're too busy not celebrating Mardi Gras and Easter then.

[Booty]

Well Wendy you have Papa Noel's approval.


Funny but you reminded me of something that came to be about a month or so back. two wee lasses turned up just as our service was starting asking for money for food. We thought and prayed, there is a big problem here giving children money as quite often they go straight to the liquor store to buy beer for Papi sitting home as his children beg.

Why not? We invited them to a meal after services. We each went to our home, put something together and brought it back to the grounds to eat and share, (No buildings yet, but we now have columns!!) . The girls did not come back, but some other children stopped by and had their bellies filled. Now each Sunday we are eating together on the grounds. Passerbys are invited to share. Next Sunday I will be doing a colcannon and bacon haunch for my part, leave it hot and warm in the Igloo until services end  ach if I could only get my soda bread right!!.

Sadly, Jesuli tracked down the two lasses who started it. They were shopping for Papi. We have invited them over to eat and I called on Papi, too drunk to talk.

[marc]

Still working on things here.  Besides the external trappings (Christmas play, trip to see lights) we're looking around for needs.  A family whose four children have been coming to Bible Class seems to have next to nothing, and we're seeing what we can do to help them.  We also may go caroling at an area nursing home (a small thing, particularly when you consider our singing ability or lack thereof).  Mostly taking things as they come.

[spurly]

We are having a series of semons on gifts from God.  We are having a Christmas Eve Candlelight service.  We have decorated the church with lights and greenery.  

We will also be passing out gift boxes to underpriviledged children.

Kevin

[4kidsandadog]

Marc,

I know exactly what you mean about knowing whether your gift is appreciated/used.  Some time last year, my husband donated his OLD rustbucket car (a Chevy Cavalier station wagon) to one of the local charities here in town.  We always wondered what would happen to it.  A few weeks later as we were getting ready to enter a fast food restaurant, we saw the car!!  It was going through the drive-thru of that same restaurant.  My husband was really happy to see that someone was able to use it, and they didn't just chop it up and sell it for parts.

Karen

[marc]

Thanks.  Just to clarify, the child I saw wearing the coat was very much a candidate for the program, and this could have been the same coat, but I doubt it because the turnaround time seems awfully quick. Even if it wasn't, though, I think it provided a glimpse.