What makes Christmas Merry?
How would you answer it?
Another way to ask the question could be what brings you joy at Christmas? What makes you
happy?
I don’t know about you, but I am an old school fan of the Christmas ham – I just love it.
What about you? Are there any special parts of the Christmas season that put a smile on your face? Your list might be long. But for others, because of the pain and hardship of the season, it might be quite short or completely non-existent.
This Christmas at Southern Cross, with our dear friends from Quiz Worx, we are drilling into what makes Christmas so “Merry”. I still pinch myself to think we have Quiz Worx joining us on Christmas Eve! It is a real credit to the creativity of Quiz Worx, and our Staff Team’s future planning, to pull this Christmas Eve Family Service off!
I have been able to invite friends of our family who are doing a Lismore Christmas, and they are keen
to be part of the fun. Now, puppets aren’t for everybody. But, I have been part of camp for eleven and twelve years olds (on the cusp of adolescence) and the teaching for the weekend camp was by Quiz Worx. Leading into the camp I was thinking (from my SRE teaching days) that that age group can be a tough crowd. But Quiz Worx were great – there were a heap of smiling faces that weekend. I reckon this Christmas Eve you can expect that same response from young and old!
There’s no need to register for the event. We expect we can comfortably house a good crowd in the hall at Lismore High School. Remember, you are welcome to come from 4pm for light refreshments and face painting outside (we will try to find shade!). Alternatively, the service starts at 5pm and we’ll be all done by 6pm so you can race home to wrap presents, or you can hang around a little longer afterwards as we serve up some fruit and ice-blocks after 6pm.
As we are meeting Christmas Eve, there is no Christmas Day service the next morning. However, as you depart our Christmas Eve Service, you will be provided a short ‘Merry Menu’. This will have a small guide for a devotion to do sometime on Christmas Day, a guided reading which a little person from your home
may like to read and have you all respond, before all joining in together to a Christmas prayer spoken
aloud for everyone in your house on Christmas Day. Also, our 3-8 year olds will be offered the ingredients for a Christmas cooking activity if they would like to give that a try Christmas Day. So there you have it – your merry menu for Christmas Day!
Some of us find the Christmas season right down our alley – food, decorations, ugly Christmas shirts – you love it. For others it’s a painful season – you hate it.
Yet the news of the first Christmas is really meant to bring joy.
Because Christ is just the best.
He’s better than the Christmas ham.
He’s better than your new smart watch.
He brings more contentment that the most appropriately picked gift card.
He brings true and lasting joy.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for
all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the
Lord. Luke 2:10-11
SP
