This past holiday weekend was such a huge gift to me. After lots of travel, I enjoyed some refreshing downtime with family and friends. We celebrated Thanksgiving at my sister's home, and the next three days were extremely low-key. I especially appreciated the time because I am serving as Executive Producer of our church's Christmas services this year, and December will be very full and intense.
For all the church staff and volunteers at churches everywhere who give the gift of meaningful Christmas services to their community, December is a month of sacrifice. On top of the potential busyness everyone else experiences, we add rehearsals and, in some churches, multiple services. I so appreciate the volunteers from our church who willingly give time to make 12 services happen. This year we're including one service on December 22 entirely in Spanish. I heartily endorse this idea, but it makes for many challenges for the arts and production team! We have two different "casts" and extra rehearsal to make that all work.
I love our theme this year - "God With Us", which is, of course, the name Emmanuel for Jesus. We are going to explore the myriad of ways in which God has been with us as individuals and as a community in the past year. I am so looking forward to the live stories that will serve as a witness of God's powerful presence. He has truly been "with us" even when we fail to recognize Him, even when we can go for hours or even days at a time without being aware of His grace and breathtaking goodness. In times of great pain as well as times of unspeakable joy, God makes HImself known to those who look for Him. In the next few weeks that look so very full on my calendar, I intend to practice awareness of God's presence as best I can. I don't want to miss out on the wonder of this season - so I must keep my eyes and ears and heart wide open. May you, my brothers and sisters, do the same...
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