Christmas joy abounded at church yesterday! People were obviously abuzz with the excitement of the Season. Lots were going around handing out Christmas cards and gifts. I'm munching right now on my bag of macadamia nuts Roxanne gives me every year.
More folks were checking into two new courses set to begin in January - Divorce Care and Focusing on Christian Womanhood. There should be a video promo for the latter next Sunday.
I don't know of a church around with the quality of music God has blessed us with. And what's so great about being able to say that is some of us old timers can remember when this church had no musical talent. Nada. The Christmas carols yesterday were fantastic, including "Gloria (Angels We Have Heard on High)" and "O Holy Night". My dad, who with Mom is visiting for Christmas, said (about Thanisha), "That girl can SING!". And the choir was sooo goood. Their best yet. The MP13 Band also intro'd The David Crowder Band's "O Praise Him". Perfect for Christmas.
(I'm waiting for Crowder's version of "I Saw the Light". I'll dust off my banjo.)
My message title, "Mythbusters: Jolly Old St. Nick", was a bit intriguing for many ("Where's he going with this?"). It should be up on the podcast shortly. Sorry (to any zealots out there), but I didn't attack Santa! What I did was talk about the real St. Nicholas and the role he played in the Council of Nicaea, giving Christianity the Nicene Creed, which stated the orthodox (definition 1a) view of Christ. Before he died and all kinds of myths and legends were spread about him he was a defender of the biblical Christ. Then we turned to John 1 to get the Bible's take on who Jesus is.
After the message I had some great interaction. One attender approached me saying, "For 50 years I've recited the Nicene Creed and never knew what I learned today". A couple more had great questions about the Trinity. Best of all one young lady came up to me after and said, "Thanks for helping me to believe". She had unwrapped God's Gift (John 3:16) to her.
It's so awesome to be in a church where so many grasp the purposes God has for us and live it out. Sunday's are always a celebration. Yesterday I shared some of what the church has been doing in the past few weeks to reach out to our community and world.
Welcome home Emily Benson from her time as a missionary in Honduras!
Welcome home Dale Hamilton from Iraq! (He returns January 3).
Congrats to Jay S. for graduating from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary!
Wednesday night is our Christmas Eve Worship Gathering at 6PM. Please join us!
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1 comment:
I enjoyed Sundays worship gatherings. If I were an elf I would want to be Black Peter, especially when I see the behavior of some kids at Wal Mart who aren't getting their way. Sometimes the parents need a visit from Black Peter more than the kids.
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