Its 11:30 on Christmas Eve. I really need to be wrapping presents. Really! But I can't go to bed tonight without getting these thoughts out. I have the opportunity to worship at a church that is so powerful it would make anyone fall to their knees. We've been there one week shy of 7 years. That's awesome to me because I know that means 7 years of spiritual growth like I've never experienced before. A couple of years ago the church knew we were outgrowing our current space so we were going to have to expand. (by the way, WOC is in the top 10% in the country of fastest growing churches) We all made financial commitments for the building of the new church so it has been something we have looked forward to. Tonight, our church had its first official service (for the exception of a baptism service which I was baptized at). How wonderful to be able to have Christmas Eve service in the new sanctuary.
On this day, I was exhausted. Stayed up late last night, been baking, cooking, shopping, cleaning, everything I was trying to avoid this late in the game. I told Rick at dinner that if it were not for having the service in the new sanctuary, it would have been very easy for me to be talked into skipping. So we go. This was the 3rd and last service for the night. I seriously thought not many would be there. I can't say it was packed, but not that many empty seats in the whole house.
The service opened up with the choir, an orchestra, these 3 drummers with these big drums where it took every muscle in their body to beat, our praise and worship team, and this awesome poem in the background. I found it on our church's website and you simply must go there now and read it. http://www.wochurch.org/PDF/WOC%20Christmas%20Poem.pdf
At this point, I was wide awake, full of tears, and realizing that this was so worth dragging my worn out self. Ten minutes into the service, I wondered why they didn't charge admission, it was that good. Please keep in mind at this point, we are so spoiled by the celebration arts team that we come to expect an awesome performance. Seriously people, they could have charged money to attend tonight. At one point in the praise and worship part, I felt sorry for Pastor Allen b/c I was thinking there's no way the sermon can be as good as this. Again, this man who is anointed by the Holy Spirit had an awesome message about how God knows how to bring his children home, whether it be to eternity, or like the prodigal son, just back to God.
On the way home, it hit me why I like Christmas Eve so much. Because by 8:30, the grocery store was closed, fast food restaurants, walgreens, even gas stations were closing. Its the only time of the year where everyone is forced to stop what they are doing and be at home with their family, unplugged from the world, getting still. I wish that our society encouraged that more like other countries do. In Spain, if you want ANYTHING during the hours of siesta, you have to wait until stores are back open. The whole country closes up just about. And then they really only reopen for a few hours. Its very typical for businesses to close at 4:00 for the day. They live in less fancier houses than we do and their cars are less fancy, but their quality of life and family time are much greater. I totally respect that and I learned a valuable lesson from that.
The older I get, the more I realize that Christmas really isn't about the gifts, and Santa, and the cookies, and the songs, and the decorations. Its about a girl who was such a humble servant of God that she said yes to something that was, well crazy to her. But she said yes anyway. Its about a God that wanted to be more intimately connected to His children, so he put himself in the flesh, in the form of a human being so he could experience what we experience. Who does that? God does. Its about a man, who modeled for us how we are to treat each other, who took the punishment for all the world, so that our sins would be forgiven. Its almost too much for me to wrap my brain around. But I'll spend the rest of my days here on this earth trying, learning what God wants me to do and to be willing to say yes.
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