Invite Family and Friends to Our Christmas Services and Events
We have been telling you about our planned Christmas mailing. The card we will be mailing is pictured above. A supply of card is also available to you for inviting family and friends to our Christmas services and events. You can hand them to people or address one and drop it in the mail to them. Perhaps you can have an influence on a person or family experiencing Christ during this Christmas season.
Christmas Sermon Series
One of the most enjoyable things that I get to do every year in ministry is also one of the most challenging: preaching sermons around the theme of Christmas. It is challenging because it is the one theme that gets addressed every year in the church from only a few passages of Scripture, and the accounts of the first Christmas are so familiar to us. It is enjoyable because most of us enjoy Christmas and it is a great time to acquaint people with the story of the Gospel.
This year, I will preach five messages around the birth of Christ beginning on November 29. I will use the theme Christmas on Purpose: The Reasons We Celebrate. In these messages, we will explore why we celebrate Christmas and why we should make Christmas a Christ-honoring event when our culture keeps pushing a secular agenda that celebrates we are not sure what. Here are the themes for those messages:
· November 29 – Christmas: A Time For Salvation
· December 6 – Christmas: A Time For Grace
· December 13 – Christmas: A Time For Peace
· December 20 – Christmas: A Time For Celebration
· December 27 – Christmas: A Time for Purposeful Living
As I am sure is true for many of you reading this, I have been enthralled with the Christmas stories from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke for many years. For me, the fascination began as I grew up through the Christmas programs at church and with my Dad’s annual reading of the Christmas story from Luke 2 to my family on Christmas Eve. The last two years, as I will be again this year, I once again preached the Christmas stories. I had not done so for several years while I was involved in para-church ministries. Again, I have found their message to be refreshing and challenging.
Last year, in particular, as I studied those stories, I found how the people in them met Christ in fresh ways in the midst of difficult circumstances. I began to ponder what are the circumstances in which people can meet Christ today in our churches, particularly at Christmas. Can people encounter God in a fresh way like Zechariah and Elizabeth and Mary and Joseph?
I discovered that people will meet Christ in your church when they respond to the circumstances of life the way the characters in the Christmas stories did. Here is just a taste of the circumstances out of which they responded to Christ.
People Will Meet Christ In Your Church When They Are Surprised. Everyone likes good surprises, but sometimes life can surprise us in ways that will either bring us to God or take us away from him. That happened to Zechariah, the priest and father of John the Baptist, when he served in the temple one day. God surprised him there, but in the midst of that encounter with God, he let God use him to become the father of the Messiah’s forerunner. God will sometimes surprise people in your church. He will show up at the most unexpected times, and we need to help them let God use them at such times.
People Will Meet Christ In Your Church When They Are Afraid. When the angel came to Joseph to tell him Mary was pregnant, the angel told him to not be afraid. He had good reason to be afraid with the circumstances the angel put before him, but he trusted God’s plan, and Christ was born. People we work with may sometimes be afraid in life, but when we help them trust God’s plan, they can meet the one Joseph heard about that day, the “one who saves.” It could not have been easy for Mary and Joseph in the ensuing months and during the years they raised Jesus, but God does not always promise us an easy way. He does promise to remove our fears.
People Will Meet Christ In Your Church When They Are Amazed. When people meet Christ, God works beyond the ordinary in their lives. Such was the case with Elizabeth when she met Christ during the events of the first Christmas. When Mary comes to visit during their pregnancies, Elizabeth expresses amazement at what God is doing. Upon meeting Mary, Elizabeth exclaims, “Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” The phrase could literally be translated, “What am I in this that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” We should encourage people to look for what God is doing in their lives and to express amazement at how God can use them. When they do, they can respond to their amazement as Mary responded to Elizabeth’s amazement by offering high praise to God for what he is doing. God will do extraordinary things in people’s lives, and we should help them express praise to him instead of taking credit themselves.
People Will Meet Christ In Your Church When They Are Troubled. Perhaps the one person in the midst of the Nativity who had the richest encounter with God was Mary. The angel appeared to Mary and said, “You are highly favored. The Lord is with you.” “Highly favored” literally means “enriched with grace.” Mary was troubled with this greeting and with the events happening to her, but she pondered what God was doing and let him work out his plan in her life. God can do amazing things in troubling situations in people’s lives when we help them find ways for God to work in them.
There is much to consider in the great story that we learn from every Christmas. Use the encounters from that story to help people meet Christ in this season of the year.
Upcoming Dates This Fall at Westwood
November 22 – 2010 Budget Presentation at 11:00 am
November 22 – Harvest Dinner at 5:00 pm.
December 3,4 – Salvation Bell Ringing at Copps on Whitney Way
December 6 – Annual Meeting at 11:00 am
December 11 – Women’s Annual White Elephant Gift Exchange at 6:00 pm
December 13 -- “Deck the Halls and Trim the Tree” Kids’ Christmas Play at 9:30 am
December 12 –Christmas Open House at the Henes’ from 2:30 to 5:00 pm.
December 19 – Christmas for Kids at 9:00 am
December 24 – Christmas Eve Service at 5:00 pm
We Appreciate Your Appreciation
I stated this in a sermon on November 1, but let me put it in writing: Christine and I appreciate the various notes and gifts we received from Westwood people during Pastor Appreciation Month in October. We want you to know that we also appreciate you and enjoy ministering with you.
Kids Christmas Play Rehearsal Continues
Our children continue to rehearse for the Westwood Kids Christmas Play, “Deck the Halls and Trim the Tree,” which will be part of our worship service on December 13. Parents, be sure to have your children here to rehearse during the sermon time each week between now and December 13. Everyone, plan to attend the December 13 service. Sandy Polcyn is directing the play, along with help from other people. We appreciate the effort Sandy and those working with her are putting into the play.
Westwood Christmas Mailing
We will have cards available on November 22 for the congregation that you can use to invite friends and family to our Christmas services and activities. You could begin now to think about people you could invite. People are often more open at Christmas that at any other time of the year to attend church and to consider their relationship with God. Take advantage of this opportunity to try and reach people you know.
Next week in a Westwood Message, I will give you information about the Christmas sermons I am planning. I am already working on them and think they will be a help to our faith and growth in Christ and will also help others consider their relationship to Christ.
The cards we are preparing that you can use to invite people to our Christmas services will also be used in a mailing the week of November 22. We have had information about Westwood this year in the book Welcome Wagon mails to new homeowners in our part of Madison. We receive the names and addresses of everyone those books go to and will be mailing to all those people – 720 addresses in all. Please be praying that the Lord will use this mailing to prompt people to consider including Christ in their Christmas celebration.
National Missionary Convention
The National Missionary Convention meets in Peoria, IL, on November 19-22. Attending this convention for a day or more would provide you with an excellent opportunity to hear about missions works all over the world, including missions that Westwood supports. Our entire congregation is already registered, so your only cost for attending would be travel to and from Peoria and expenses while you are there. Christine and I will be going to Peoria for part of the day Friday and part of the day Saturday. If you are interested, you can find more information at www.nationalmissionaryconvention.org.
Harvest Dinner – 10 Days and Counting
Our 2010 Harvest Dinner is fast approaching. As I write it is only 10 days away, on November 22 at 5:00 PM. Be sure to sign up so we know how many people to prepare for. You can also sign up to help out in various ways – to bring pies (if you can make a good pie, sign up for that one J), to help with set up or tear down of tables and chairs, to help with clean up. If you read this after Sunday, November 15, call or email the church office as early in the week as possible.
