Last Sunday the children in our church put on a delightful Christmas Program. I took photos but I did not get permission from parents to put the cute faces of their offspring online so I will just tell you about it. There were cute little angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and all the others. We had child musicians on drums, clarinet and even a soloist singing "Let There Be Peace on Earth". It was just adorable. I love it when little people get a hold of a microphone!
After the program we had a birthday party for Jesus. The children had games, treats and crafts. My personal favorite of the games was Pin the Hay on the Manger!
After the party, of course, was the clean-up. I was helping put away the costumes. Since moving into our new church building a few years ago we have a wonderful storage area. Putting away the costumes used to involve packing too many storage containers into too small of a storage shed. Now, we have ample storage places and we can even hang up all the costumes so that next year no one has to iron them. We are grateful for this!
It was up in that storage area that I found the best lesson of the day.
We have bare crosses up through Lent and then the white flowers beautifully decorating this one for Easter Day. Right now, they are just stored out of sight. It isn't time to put the emphasis on the cross; it's time to put the emphasis on the joy of the manger. In the midst of that joy, though, I can't help but think of what was waiting for that cute baby in the manger. The birth story is lovely and miraculous, but we already know that the baby lying there has a rough road ahead. While we are celebrating Christmas, maybe it is ok to keep that in the back of our minds.
He was sent for a very specific purpose.
He was sent as a sacrifice.
He was sent out of love for us.
After the program we had a birthday party for Jesus. The children had games, treats and crafts. My personal favorite of the games was Pin the Hay on the Manger!
After the party, of course, was the clean-up. I was helping put away the costumes. Since moving into our new church building a few years ago we have a wonderful storage area. Putting away the costumes used to involve packing too many storage containers into too small of a storage shed. Now, we have ample storage places and we can even hang up all the costumes so that next year no one has to iron them. We are grateful for this!
We have bare crosses up through Lent and then the white flowers beautifully decorating this one for Easter Day. Right now, they are just stored out of sight. It isn't time to put the emphasis on the cross; it's time to put the emphasis on the joy of the manger. In the midst of that joy, though, I can't help but think of what was waiting for that cute baby in the manger. The birth story is lovely and miraculous, but we already know that the baby lying there has a rough road ahead. While we are celebrating Christmas, maybe it is ok to keep that in the back of our minds.
He was sent for a very specific purpose.
He was sent as a sacrifice.
He was sent out of love for us.
