Watch this video- it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I am still cracking up about it...it's just a little "Merry Christmas" from Corey, Kole, and me! Enjoy!
Today was one of the best Sundays I've had so far at Memorial! Both services had this amazing song that went along with the sermon/story that the senior pastor told. The interesting part was that I got to sing it as part of the choir AND the praise band...and since the one other woman that sings with us got sick, I had to sing the female part all by myself in the 2nd service! It turned out ok, but talk about feeling the pressure! Anyway, both services were very moving and got us thinking about the true meaning of Christmas. The message was, "Will We Know Him When He Comes?" and the story was about a man who got off of a city bus who had greasy hair, tattered clothing, dirty, etc. He started off in the bus station where the police told him to move along and then he went to a department store where he was surrounded by people shopping and saying to one another, "Merry Christmas" and he was told to move along and to have a "Merry Christmas." His next stop is an office building where a party is going on- people singing, clinking glasses, and having a good time. He is approached and told to leave, and to "Have a Merry Christmas." He then goes to a suburb and tries to find shelter from the cold in someone's house, but no such luck. Then he finds himself at a church where a Christmas Eve service is about to take place and people are greeting one another. He is told that he should come to the service, but that maybe he should go home and "clean up and change" and then come back. As he leaves, his eyes fill with tears. He finally ends up back at the bus station where the policeman decides to arrest him. At the police station, he is asked what his name is, and he replies, "Jesus." The police officers decide he is just another lunatic and put him in a cell where he cries himself to sleep while hearing people sing down the street: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come- let earth receive her king- let every heart prepare him room..." The next morning his lifeless body is found in the cell. The police officer on duty that night said that he had been heard heard saying, "Father, forgive them...for they do not know what they are doing."
While this was a depressing story, it was quite an accurate picture of what our Christmas has become. Will we know Jesus when he comes? What are we looking for? Who are we looking for? Have we turned away Christ himself without even knowing it? Advent conspiracy came back into my mind again: worship fully, spend less, give more, love all...
But the uplifting part of today came in the worship itself- that everything came together really well, especially in the 2nd service. We were able to sing and play the sermon song beautifully, and we also sang new song that we pulled together at our practice on Thursday. Everyone was really supportive of one another and it felt like for the first time in a long time, we were a team. I really felt like God was at work in our service today, more so than some other Sundays. Pastors, do you ever have these days? And we got a lot of good comments about the service, which certainly doesn't hurt. Oh, and we have a name for our 2nd service: Prayz! "A Casual Worship Service." We still have many things to do as far as this service goes. But at least I can stop referring to it as simply "the 2nd service" or "the casual worship service."
It has been a good and fulfilling weekend. I am happy...and cold...it's 10 degrees here....and it just started snowing! Kole and I are watching it from our big window in the front of our house, and being grateful that we are warm, happy, and satisfied, and I pray for those who are not.
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