Merry Christmas! What a great month of preparation it has been here at Epiphany Lutheran Church as we anxiously await the coming of the Christ Child once again into our lives, our homes, our community. I am amazed at the time and talents that have been given to this season by so many members and friends of the church. We have had concerts, incredible worship services, dramas, decorations and more. Our calendar at the church has been packed the past four weeks with more activities than I could ever imagine. All of these things, I hope and pray, have been helpful in your preparation for Christmas.We will gather on Christmas Eve for five worship services, and will sing the songs, hear the story and give thanks to God for this incredible gift of God’s only Son, the savior of the world!
But on Christmas Day, the church is closed. After all the preparations and activities and worship services, there is NOTHING on the calendar at Epiphany Lutheran Church on December 25th. I believe this is the way it should be, because the gift of God, the Son of God and Son of Mary is born not to come to church, but to come to you and me. Remember where he showed up? Nowhere close to the Temple or synagogues. He came to the ones outside, and invited them all to come and see.
My hope and prayer is that you are able to take this gift home with you for Christmas. From the hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem we sing these words –
“O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
Oh, come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Immanuel.”
Welcome the child, Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior. What an incredible gift!
I share with you some Christmas joy – these are some songs and videos that have helped me get into the Christmas spirit, and focus on the peace, hope and joy of the season.
The first is a video I put together a couple of years ago of all the Nativity sets we had on display here. The images and songs offer a variety of perspectives of this beautiful scene.
This song is a different perspective on the Nutcracker, from one of my favorite groups, Straight No Chaser.
This video I have shared before. It comes from a church in New Zealand. It is the Christmas story from the view from heaven. I love this video and think it would be a great sermon any Christmas.
If you have issues with the accent, here is an American version of the story: AN UNEXPECTED CHRISTMAS – American
I found this song on YouTube – I have been looking for it for years. An acapella musical group came to my in-laws’ church some 25 years ago, and my in-laws bought one of their cassette tapes for us for Christmas (you can ask your parents what cassette tapes are). I remember listening to this song as a I drove to church on Christmas Day over 20 years ago. A lovely song.
And finally, a video you may have seen recently by a solo artist who uses several tracks to sing with himself. A neat video and a beautiful song.
Merry Christmas to you all, and a blessed and joyous New Year!
Peace,
Pastor Charlie
We really enjoyed your u tube entries. Could you send us your u tube of the nut cracker? U tube doesn’t display it.
Thanks for the humor!
Rose and Ray
Pastor Charlie,
Great videos, we really enjoyed them.