This past weekend over 100 volunteers from Lord of Life brought over 500 dozen cookies into the Illinois Youth Center as part of our annual Christmas visit. The problem was that our congregation had responded so generously with baking 800 dozen cookies that we had 300 dozen cookies left over. What were we going to do with the extra cookies?
We solved it! This morning about a dozen volunteers took the remainder of the cookies to the train stations in LaFox and Elburn and gave them away to the people who were getting on the trains. It was a lot of fun to watch the people walk up the steps to the train barely awake and then to hear someone say Merry Christmas and hand them a bag of cookies. It put a smile on their face. Most would respond back with a hearty Merry Christmas. One man asked, "What is this all about?" expecting there to be some catch that nothing is free. We just said that we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from our church and invite people to come to worship on Christmas Eve.
It is hard to believe that it is just over a week to Christmas. Not much time left for those of you who are procrastinators. My encouragement for you this week in the midst of all the hustle and the bustle of the holiday is to stop and take some time to be generous and to do the unexpected. It might be taking a plate of cookies to the neighbors house with an invitation to come to worship on Christmas. It might be taking part in the Christmas Brunch at Lord of Life this weekend to help some of our Lord of Life families during the holiday season. It might be something as simple as holding a door for another person and wish them a Merry Christmas while everyone is rushing to get in and out of the store to get their shopping done. It is the small things and the simple things that are often big things. And it brings such joy to put a smile on someone's face.
Christmas Eve Worship this year at Lord of Life is at 5, 7, and 11pm. Christmas Day worship is at 10am. The best gift we can give this year is the gift of Jesus. Consider taking a chance and inviting another person to come to church with you this Christmas. If you would like and invitation postcard we have plenty available at Lord of Life and will be handing more out on Sunday for you to give away.
We also want to welcome our many guests who will come this Christmas and so it is important that we have people to serve. The Christmas Choir will be rehearsing Wednesday night at 7pm and again on Sunday evening at 6pm. We are not a professional choir and anyone is welcome to come and lift up their voice in praise to God. If singing is not really your thing, we can still use help for greeters, nursery workers, ushers, and more. Feel free to contact if you would like to help out in bringing Christmas joy to many people.
So Merry Christmas! Glory to God in the highest!
Readings for next week:
| 21 | Zechariah 1:1-21 Revelation 12:1-17 Psalm 140:1-13 Proverbs 30:17 | 22 | Zechariah 2:1-3:10 Revelation 13:1-18 Psalm 141:1-10 Proverbs 30:18-20 | |
| 23 | Zechariah 4:1-5:11 Revelation 14:1-20 Psalm 142:1-7 Proverbs 30:21-23 | 24 | Zechariah 6:1-7:14 Revelation 15:1-8 Psalm 143:1-12 Proverbs 30:24-28 | |
| 25 | Zechariah 8:1-23 Revelation 16:1-21 Psalm 144:1-15 Proverbs 30:29-31 | 26 | Zechariah 9:1-17 Revelation 17:1-18 Psalm 145:1-21 Proverbs 30:32 | |
| 27 | Zechariah 10:1-11:17 Revelation 18:1-24 Psalm 146:1-10 Proverbs 30:33 |
No comments:
Post a Comment