merry christmas! i hope and trust that the jesus born on christmas eve will be born within you each and every day to come!our men's groups provided gift packages for a house in the neighborhood this christmas. so this is what christmas looks like at our church...being of service and in mission to others. twenty holiday bags filled with socks and boxers! various sizes. do you remember getting socks and underwear for christmas when you were growing up? i always did! and honestly, it wasn't very exciting. but now i have a different appreciation for the difference between needs and wants!
our men's groups, two of them, meet on thursdays. the longstanding group meets for breakfast and bible study at 7 am! all retired men, except for me; they cook, and i set the table; what a deal! we get into some very interesting bible study conversations after breakfast...check us out some time! if nothing else, at that time of the day, the coffee is hot, the food is yummy, and the conversations will take you from here to the holy land and everywhere else!
the evening group, or the men's bbbs...baby boomer bible study...has been meeting at starbucks. very awesome to be able to meet in public. but we are starting a new study on january 12th at 6:30 in our church library. undoubtedly, the conversation will also be stimulating. now, we haven't discussed coffee, but with this group, certainly there will be some!
after signing the cards and packing the bags, the gifts were transported to the 'gift house', and it is my hope that everyone had a very merry christmas! awesome men's groups, don't you think?!
like many other churches, we celebrated christmas eve on saturday night, with a traditional service of carols and the story, and candles! and then on sunday morning, a surprisingly large crowd gathered for christmas service; we even had coffee fellowship time, and a more contemporary worship service. included in the message for christmas eve was an invitation to decide which nativity character you most identify with, and the suggestion to keep your nativity set out throughout the entire year to remind you to share the light and spread the love.
during the christmas morning service, we had the opportunity to view a little youtube expression of christmas. a number of people asked to view it again, and so i am including it here:
at the united methodist church of merced, we hope that the coming year will be filled with peace and good will; we hope that you will deepen your spiritual relationship with God by offering the light and love of jesus in everything you do. and above all, we hope that we can be the instruments of peace that will empower the world to come to its senses! we'll start by sharing that peace with our neighbors and families and strangers in our midst. we hope that peace will expand throughout the world by people like you who will feel the spiritual warmth and beauty of welcome. you, too, can share the love. what a great gift to share in 2012!
i will be on vacation next week; i'm taking a break from my typical week, including blogging! so instead of taking time to read my blog next tuesday, spread a little love in the new year. thank you for your faithful support, and i'll return on january 10th. blessings be to you and yours in the days ahead. . . .
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