 |
|
|
Christmas Season Calendar Update from the Senior Pastor
 November 30, 2005
Dear Family and Friends,
Welcome to Christmas season 2005! I love Christmas…
As the church, ours is the annual joy and responsibility of helping ourselves (and even the culture around us) remember that Christmas is an invitation to enter with awe into the truth that God entered our world to save us. It is a time to reflect on how everything changed with the coming of Jesus; and to rest in the fact that if God would come as a vulnerable Baby to live and die for us, He will never forsake us.
Our challenge is to be unhurried, joyful and content amidst the gluttony of too much stuff, too much food, too much rush and too much debt that will pile up all around us, as people, pushed by endless assaults of advertising, try to satiate the God-shaped hole in their hearts with bigger piles of perishable goods and unhealthy over-indulgence.
Imagine it with me. What if Christians across America annually withstood the marketing frenzy and lived with simplicity, contentment, worship and joy as the culture plunged into yet another year of buying too many things for too many people who already have too much stuff, often using too much credit backed by the bondage of too high a percentage rate! Imagine if Christians reached December 25 looking restful, joyful and trustful, rather than frenzied and frustrated. What a witness. I invite you to pursue that vision.
Here is our Christmas calendar at Damascus Road :
- December 4: I begin a two-part series titled: What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? How would the world be different if Jesus had never come?
- December 11: Our annual controlled chaos called the Children’s Pageant! I love those little lambs who never disappoint. This service highlights the great value Jesus and Damascus Road places on our children.
- December 18: What if Jesus Had Never Been Born, Part 2—what would we have lost besides our souls?
- December 24: Two identical Christmas Eve Services ( 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. ) with refreshments in between!
- December 25: We’ll have one, exactly one hour Christmas Day service ( 11:00-12:00 ) for the whole family together! With Christmas on Sunday we are not sure what to expect—except that all our volunteers would love family time. So we are doing an unplugged, acoustic worship service consisting of Christmas carols and simple message (based on one verse: “In the days of King Herod’s reign, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea .” [Matthew 2:1]). Bring a blanket for your kids and we will all pack in, whether we are 200 or 600! That hour will bless you, I guarantee it.
- December 31: Annual “Holy Rain” Worship Event: 7:00-9:00. Brett and Roger are prayerfully planning an encounter with Jesus Christ as we step into the New Year. End 2005 soaking in worship and welcome 2006 as a gift from God.
- January 1: Like Christmas Sunday, there will be one New Year’s Sunday worship service, 11:00-12:15. My goal on this day is to use the most beloved but rarely lived Psalm—the 23 rd Psalm—to orient our hearts for a very exciting and significant year in the life of Damascus Road Community Church.
Connect the seven wonderful dates above with a God-oriented heart over the next month and you will honor your Savior and King, end the old year well and begin the new year with fresh faith and great memories of this season. Now that will be a great Christmas. Love ya, Richard
P.S. Stay tuned right away for Update #2: on the land/facility and mission challenge just ahead.
|
 |
