Make Time to Make a Memory

One of the most important parental duties is making memories for our children that stick for a lifetime.   Those memories help to remind our children who they are and where they came from.  Kids remember the big important moments and things that are repeated.   Advent is one of the most important and powerful times for making spiritual memories.  It is both big, so it get’s their attention, and repeated every year so it becomes a Holy Habit. 

It all starts with the Hanging of the Greens.  We gather at the church, decorate the building, make Chrismons and hang them on the tree.  We also sing the first Christmas Carols of the year.  It is a great time of “Holy Party” as the body of Christ, and a super time to teach our children about the importance of the Christmas season.

This year we are going all out on Chrismon decorations.   We are asking all our families to make at least one Chrismon.   We will pass out patterns and instruction on the Sunday before Hanging of the Greens for you to take home.  If you have children at home get them actively involved in helping.   As you are working on the ornament talk with them about the symbol’s meaning and about Christmas.   We want to encourage spiritual conversations with our children and creating Chrismons as a family is a wonderful way to accomplish that.  Bring the Chrismon to the Hanging of the Greens and put it on our tree during the short service. 

We will close out the Christmas season with our Christmas Eve service.  This is one of the most powerful services of the year.  We will sing Christmas carols, hear the Christmas story and light the Christ candle.  We will turn out all the lights in the sanctuary leaving only the Christ candle as a single ray of hope in the darkness.  From that one candle we will light our candles and pass the light of Christ love to one another proclaiming Jesus is the light of the world! – You won’t want to miss it and don’t forget to invite your friends!

So this Christmas with all the hustle and hassle be sure and make time to make a memory with your children and grandchildren.  Remember…  

Secular Holidays and the Christian Church

We're Taking Over! 

You read that right.  No more Mr. Nice Guy.  We’re taken over and doing things our way,  … Halloween of course.  Why…, what did you think I was talking about?

From the very beginning of Christianity we have been confronted with all sorts of pagan holidays and celebrations.  Over the centuries there have been a lot of different responses to this problem.  Some have chosen the middle ground, ignore it and it will go away approach. 

On my tired days this seems best.  Others have chosen the adversarial, attack and destroy approach.  On my grouchy days I have been drawn to this plan.  However, the most effective and often used approach is the “take it over and turn it into what we want” method.   Did you know Christmas used to be a pagan holiday and Easter as well?   I propose we take over another pagan holiday, Halloween! 

This year we will again be offering “Trunk or Treat” on our parking lot on October 31^st.  We offer a safe place for families to dress up, laugh, eat too much candy and have a great time.  This is exactly the opposite of Halloween which was all about intimidating, scaring and generally causing mayhem.   Some wonder if we should participate but for me it is all about imposing a Christ like agenda on a pagan practice.  We invite people to come and see our costumes and decorations.  We give them candy, take their picture, let them play games and share conversation with them.  In short… we love them in real practical ways.  – yep, we are pushing our Christian agenda , loving  people. 

 So come on, join me in my conspiracy…. Dress up in a funny consume, dress your car up, open your trunk, give out candy to kids and let our community know we love them…. Come on… you know you want to…

-          Craig.