Christmas Cantata

As Christmas comes closer, we begin to prepare for our Christmas celebrations. Our choir is performing Candles & Carols.

This is such a beautiful arrangement, I can't wait to perform it. It is made even more beautiful by the fact that the choir is joined by anyone in the congregation that would like to join us. If you want to hear small sections of this piece performed by a much more professional group than ours, check out this site and listen to the segments. Perhaps you may be inspired to sing it with your choir next Christmas.

Advent - Preparing for the Coming

Growing up Advent was not a part of our family’s Christmas celebration. But in my family, we have found Advent to be the cornerstone to our Christmas celebration. This decision has helped us to keep Jesus as the focus of the holiday and not the commercial secular holiday that many people complain about.

Advent, if you are not familiar with it, is literally “the coming”. It begins four weeks prior to Christmas. Each week in advent is focused around one ideal: Faith, hope, love, peace, and culminates with the birth of Christ.

Our church makes Advent the focus of each Sundays’ service. One family shares their holiday traditions with the congregation and then lights the Advent candle as we all sing the Advent Song. This tradition has helped our family keep Jesus as the center of our celebration. All of our energies are spent thinking about the coming.

Actually, our Advent starts in early November when we participate in Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child teaches us to focus on other’s needs as opposed to our own. But the traditional Advent begins this year on Sunday, November 30th and is the beginning of the church calendar.

If you are interested in celebrating advent with your family, you may want to get advent candles, plan readings, or use an advent calendar. Advent candles can be as simple as votive candles and calendars can be as unique as the Advent calendar sold by Lego.





Advent can be an interesting and unique as you wish to make it as long as you keep the focus on Jesus’ birth. One family I know adds hay straws in their cresh for each good deed that their children do with the anticipation of making a comfortable bed for Jesus while at the same time doing his work on earth.

All Church Activity - Kick Off Operation Christmas Child

I have to do an all Sunday School activity next Sunday as we kick off our Operation Christmas Child Collection. I am thinking of trying to do a rotational system. The OCC facilitator’s package comes with a great DVD full of videos about the program, but we have watched the video every year. Usually I have all the kids come together, watch a section of the video and then do some sort of note making that we include in the boxes. Last year, we also took a picture of all the kids to include in the boxes too. The problem is that there are so many kids, I’m not sure that they all stay focused. This year I’m thinking of breaking them into four groups maybe pre-k –k, 1- 2, 3-5, 6-8 and then having four stations.

STATION ONE can watch the DVD – there are plenty of different levels so we can choose to watch sections appropriate to their age instead of boring the older children or being too advanced for the younger ones.

STATION TWO can create wrapping paper. Instead of buying wrapping paper, it might be a great idea to have the kids create the paper. I will have to check on prices of butcher paper. We can supply stamps, markers, and stickers to decorate the paper. Note to self: I will need a lot of extra hands in this station.

STATION THREE can create the note cards. The OCC site has a PDF note card that some of the younger kids can do, but I’ll have to think about what the older kids can do.

STATION FOUR - HMMM? Here I may need some assistance – Maybe we can do a verse memorization or a group prayer. Maybe a relay. Perhaps they could decorate some Christmas cookies to serve at coffee hour. I am really open to ideas.

I have a week and a half to get it all pulled together. If anyone else does Operation Christmas Child and does related activities with their Sunday school, I would love to hear about it. We aren’t doing the Children’s Sermon related to OCC until Dedication Sunday in November, so I have barely even begun to think about that.

Mission Mondays - Operation Christmas Child

Ok, I realize it is not Monday today but Tuesday, but I have decided to add a new weekly entry: Mission Mondays. If you have any mission ideas that you would like me to add, please let me know.

Let me introduce you to a mission project that I have been involved with for the past couple of years – Operation Christmas Child. Our church has collected boxes for several years, but it wasn’t until about three years ago when I took over facilitating the program at our church did I fully understand the focus of the program. OCC had always been promoted in our church as a collection of toys for those at need during the Christmas season. And while this is indeed the action of what you are doing, it is not the purpose.


"Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.” " Matthew 19: 13-15

But how can the children know of Jesus, if they are never introduced. This is the true mission of operation Christmas Child. Although giving to those in need is worthy, this additional insight for me made this program even more worthwhile. Now in our church, we have included a children’s sermon about OCC, we pray over the boxes that we send, and have whole church activities to emphasize the sending of God’s message.

OCC was founded by Samaritan’s Purse and is run by Rev. Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham. I encourage you to checkout their website and if your church is not already involved in a collection for this program to start. There are plenty of materials on the website and that can be ordered to help you along the way. Collection week this year is November 17-24. Our plan will be to kick off the collection on October 5th, announce that collection will end on November 9th (we’ve learned that you get a lot of “oh, I left it at home by mistake” and this gives them an extra week to get it in), and plan a packing party on November 16th. The completed boxes are then delivered to a local coordination office (there is more information on this on the website. As collecting time comes closer they will post collection sites in each state). If you are lucky enough to live near one of their regional offices you may want to sign up to volunteer there.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28: 19-20

Being A Living Witness

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”- Matthew 5:14,16

Have you noticed that Christmas is being de-Christianed. I realize that it is a little early to think about Christmas, but it is very pertinent to this scripture. First, Santa and presents replaced the real gift of Jesus Christ. Now, people are even afraid to say, “Merry Christmas”. We say, “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings”. We don’t want to offend anyone, but I think we are offending someone. We are denying our belief in Jesus Christ. We are denying our own personal beliefs. We are denying God. We should shout “Merry Christmas” from the mountain tops.

This scripture calls us to show the world the power of God though our life. If we are afraid to attribute our life to God’s glory then how are people going to see the connection. This doesn’t mean that you have to wear a t-shirt saying, “I work for God” and it doesn’t mean that you really have to shout your beliefs to others. It just means being proud, sharing your beliefs, voicing your calling. If you are growing in God, then He is a natural part of your life. So let people know. If you are going to Bible Study, mention it. You don’t know who may be inspired to join. If the sermon was particularly moving, talk about it. Perhaps others will be moved as well as you. If you are planning to pray for someone, tell them. They may appreciate it and maybe they do the same for someone else.

When people realize through your conversation that you are a Christian, they will look deeper into your life to see how else you proclaim your beliefs. Unfortunately, as humans, we have a terrible habit of stereotyping people and assuming when we know 1 person, we know an entire group. In this case, you can use this idea with positive results. You can demonstrate love, patience, kindness, self-control, faithfulness. In you, non-believers can begin to see the light and those that do believe can be inspired to grow.

So I encourage you to start looking for your Christmas cards now and let them proclaim you love and belief in God and the birth of His son, Jesus Christ.


All this day, O Lord,
Let me touch as many lives as possible for thee;
And every life I touch, do thou by thy spirit quicken,
Whether through the word I speak,
The prayer I breathe, or the life I live.
-Mary Summer

FYI – Do not fall into the group who faults those who use “Merry X-mas”. Some people claim that this is taking the Christ out of Christmas, but actually there is historical significance to the X. Unfortunately, there was a time when proclaiming your Christianity was dangerous and so many believer used the “X” as a secret symbol to let others know that they were believers too. Check out Wikipedia for more information and background on this idea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas