Christmas is a special time of year, a time to celebrate the joy that was brought to the world by the birth of our Savior. For you as a church, Christmas also often means a spike in attendance numbers, putting together a special holiday program, making sure parking lot procedures are in place and your welcome team is prepared.
"Joy to the world! The Lord is come."
Christmas is a special time of year, a time to celebrate the joy that was brought to the world by the birth of our Savior. For you as a church, Christmas also often means a spike in attendance numbers, putting together a special program, making sure parking lot procedures are in place and your welcome team is prepared. It can mean having extra staff on hand for children's ministry, extra service times, extra chairs, extra coffee ... extra effort. And often, after the carols have been sung and the candles extinguished ... it can feel like all you have to show for it is wax on your floors and a whole lot of decorations to take down.
But, as always, We believe you and the work you do matter. So, we've asked some members of the Fishhook team to write out their favorite church related Christmas memories. Because, we truly believe that, even as attendance numbers settle back to normal and decorations go back in their boxes, the memories made at your church during Christmas time are lights that shine on for years to come.
Growing up, our church would always go door-to-door Christmas caroling.
We'd begin at the local nursing home (which was supremely uncomfortable for me as a child), then tour the rural neighborhood in a caravan of cars and pickup trucks, stopping every year to sing for the same elderly residents in our community. Many of our listeners would stay inside behind closed doors to stay warm from the cold, but we'd always hear a muffled, "God bless you!" after the last rousing rendition of 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.' We'd finish the evening by attending a midnight Christmas Eve service at a neighborhood Methodist church, then rushing home to guzzle hot chocolate and open stocking presents around the tree.
-Ben Goshow
I'll always remember singing in the children's programs growing up, feeling so special to be up on the stage performing.
Now when I see the kids sing each year at our church, it is so sweet and reminds me of those times. I will melt when our daughter is up there in a few years.
As a family, we go to a Christmas Eve service every year where we sing carols, hear a short message and end with our dark sanctuary glowing from the light of candles we each hold.
-Katie Bausman
As a kid, my family celebrated Christmas, but we did not recognize the deity of Christ.
He was not God. Just a man. A good teacher. However, in the midst of that thinking, I was fascinated by the creche - my Grandmother's manger scene atop our console stereo. It featured all the traditional pieces (including a king with a chunk missing from his backside where he had fallen once to the ground). In the stable, there was a nightlight-sized bulb held in place with florist's wire. The bulb put off a warm yellow glow. Late at night, I would sneak into the living room, and turn on the light by twisting the bulb with my fingers. Amazingly, that small bulb would cast a glow over the dark living room and I would kneel by the stereo, pondering the Christmas story. I wondered, was there more to Christmas than what my family saw. I would pray, Could Jesus be more? Could the story be true? It would be 20 years later when God's patient wooing would finally call me to Him. I sometimes wonder if those I love - friends, neighbors, family - will eventually recognize the Light and see how it fills a room - and our lives.
-Evan McBroom
