All of us have celebrated Christmas all our lives. From before our earliest memories, as we grew up and raised our own children, no matter our age, or how long we have actually called Jesus our Lord, Christmas has been a significant part of our lives. Yes, the ways we honor Christ’s birth, the cultural expressions of this holy day, and when we (and the stores) start thinking about and preparing for Christmas, have changed and developed over the years, but still we celebrate Christmas!
    So why am I writing a Christmas article in October? I don’t need to tell you a week before Halloween that we here at Gladstone Christian Church will celebrate Christmas as usual. That we will decorate the building, there will be parties among the various children’s and youth groups, the December sermons will proclaim The Sounds of Christmas, we will honor our deceased loved ones at our Christmas Remembrance Service, and we will welcome the birth of the Savior through our Christmas Eve candlelight services. You don’t need a month’s lead to know we will celebrate! But I do need to tell you now that this year we will NOT do one tradition and replace it with what I hope will be a new tradition.
    Let me explain. As our culture subtly shifts to being more spiritual but less connected to the Bible and Christian faith, I am more convinced that we must realize that the average person doesn’t care what we do as a church, and our programs and special events are less likely to draw them to our building. To that end I agree with those who continue to call God’s Church to go out to their communities, to be bold and purposeful in obeying Christ’s message to “go and make disciples” (notice He didn’t say “plan and attract disciples”!). This is what our Church “Out’! was all about last August. We took a risk, did something bold, got out of the building (on a Sunday morning) and served our community. The success of that event was not measured in the number who participated, whether any were baptized or our attendance increased, but that we were obedient to our Lord’s command to GO! and have begun to intentionally plan for and participate in more service opportunities in the community.
    To continue that focus this year we will not have our traditional Christmas Program, but instead we encourage everyone at GCC to be involved in a CHRISTMAS “SERVICE”! Instead of expending money and hours of your time to practice and perform the Christmas story for those few who choose to come to our building, your pastors and elders propose that instead we go out to our friends, neighbors and even strangers, and use our resources and time to perform Christmas “service”. Since God didn’t send out invitations and invite us to a heavenly pageant about the Savior’s birth, but instead came to us, born among us, so too we must go out to our world with the “message” of Christmas.
On November 15, Bruce and I will explain this in a stewardship sermon from Jesus’ parable of the talents. If you choose to participate (and it is your choice), then each individual, family or whatever combination of servants you pick, will receive an envelope with a proposed assignment of service to be accomplished in December in any way you feel led by God’s Spirit. We believe that these assignments are doable, will stretch you, and will cost you something! But we also believe that doing a Christmas “service” will bless you as you bless someone with the love of Christ. All through December we hope to hear reports of how God was at work to bring hope and light to a hurting and dark world. Then on January 3 we will use the entire time of worship to celebrate what God did through our Christmas “Service”!
    Some of these assignments might have you helping a neighbor, going to a care center, being involved in a service organization, or providing a way for someone to see Christmas through new eyes. You may get a specific suggestion, or be left to your own imagination (or you may not feel you can do this task in which case you could return it for another or find some help to make it work). You may even be prodded by God to do something on your own! You will not be asked if you finished the task for that will be between you and God. The bottom line is to put yourself, and our whole church, in a place where we are uncomfortable and must rely on God to accomplish His work through us. Then we will be able to join with the Bethlehem shepherds in “glorifying and praising God for all the things [we have] seen and heard.”
    May we proclaim “good news of great joy for all the people” through our Christmas “service”!
 

Denis Whittet