Merry Christmas!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Christmas Eve reflections

I titled this Christmas Eve reflections but it just turned midnight and it is now Christmas morning! Merry Christmas!

I just finished wrapping some Christmas gifts and I've had some Christmas Eve services on the TV. One was a Methodist Church in New York and the program was called "A Christmas for Everyone". The emphasis was on God's love and his acceptance of everyone. The music was classical in nature. The pastor had long gray hair and the program began with several people from different faiths talking about how accepting God is of everyone. Lots of emphasis on God's love very little acknowledgement that we need forgiveness, that Jesus is Savior and that's why He came.

Now I've got "Christmas Eve at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome" on the tube. Lots of old guys in big hats and fancy robes. The music is classical. The service is in Latin. There is an interpreter speaking over the audio of the service. They just showed a congregation shot and the folks looked bored. I know I am!

I'm experiencing mixed emotions tonight. Following our Christmas Eve service, I felt I may have over-reached with the music selections. Each of the carols we sang tonight had a modern chorus added to them. The arrangements were for a praise band. Then we had several video elements in the service. I know for some the service was probably too contemporary. Yet I watch these traditional services and it feels so religious. I love creating an environment were people who are nothing like Jesus perhaps for the first time find that they like Jesus. A place where people realize that Jesus likes people who are nothing like Him. A place where no perfect people are allowed. A place where people who don't really like church may discover a church that they like. A place where people come as they are but don't stay that way.

So I try to create services that are engaging and relevant. I don't mean to offend those who prefer high church experiences. It's just not for me. I know for many it is what helps them move closer to Jesus. But I believe I am called to create a church that unchurched people love.

Well, I'm tried and this guy interpreting the Latin of the service for me is getting on my nerves. It all feels very holy but it feels so inaccessible to me. It is all very beautiful but so distant.

I've got nothing against traditional church services. There are several things I've appreciated in both of these services, one being how many people are involved in the service. Neither service has been a one man show as my services can sometimes become.

Give me a Christmas Eve service with some guitar chords, contemporary versions of carols, a brief message, and reading Luke 2 in English. "If you want to reach people that no one else is reaching, you've got to do things that no one else is doing."

Posted via email from Out in the Sticks

Sunday's Sermon Available

Sometimes it seems that God is not active in our lives or our world. Yet the Bible is full of promises he has made. So does God keep his promises? Will he do what he says he will do?

Christmas proclaims that God is the Promise Keeper.

Posted via email from Out in the Sticks

This Sunday at First Christian Church

This Sunday join us for part 2 of "When Hope Was Born."

Every Sunday at First Christian Church, you’ll hear and experience a message that connects the time-tested wisdom of God’s Word to your everyday life. You’ll be encouraged, you’ll be challenged, and you’ll learn something that has meaning for Monday morning, not just Sunday morning.

Posted via email from Out in the Sticks

Sunday's sermon available

When Hope Was Born - Strength for the Weak

When we feel like we can't go on, like following Jesus isn't the best way to live, what do we do? Where do we turn?

Posted via email from Out in the Sticks

Nothing Like Jesus

In my Bible reading today from Luke 19 the story of Zacchaeus reminds me of my childhood. I remember flannel graph stories about a really short man named and how Jesus saw him in a tree. I remember the emphasis of the story being on the fact that Zacchaeus was a short man. We even sang a song; "Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree to see what he could see."

But today reading the story, I didn't even notice the detail about this wee little man (perhaps because I know the story so well). What caught my attention today was this line from the crowd in Luke 19:7, "All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”"

I love verses like this one. As Andy Stanley says, "People who were nothing like Jesus, liked Jesus. And Jesus liked people who were nothing like him."

Funny how that was never pointed out in Sunday School growing up. So what about you and I? Do we like people that are nothing like Jesus? Are people who are nothing like Jesus attracted to us? And how about our churches? Do our churches attract people that are nothing like Jesus? Do they feel welcome, comfortable, safe?

Posted via email from steve wynkoop's posterous