Christmas Service

Church today was so awesome. It is every Sunday before Christmas. My sister-in-law (aka the Greatest Aunt Ever) puts together a Christmas program in which the whole congregation can be involved. No one knows what she has planned until that morning (Except maybe someone who does a special song, but they do not get that much warning either.) This year it started with some reading of prophetic verses about Christ. Like Isaiah 9:6, (This is the kids memory verse they were thrilled to giggles when it was read.) Then a Christmas carol about those verses and then all through the Christmas story mixing all the accounts from the gospels together so you can see the full picture. Intermixed were songs that went with what was just read. It was seamless and amazing. Last year we did Handel's Messiah - that was so much fun.
In a way, this has become a tradition in our family. I look forward every year to what we will do together as a church family. There is no performing only worshiping our Immanuel (God With Us) who came as a baby to live, die, and rise again that we may be reconciled with God and have life in Him. That is the absolute true meaning of Christmas.