I’m very thankful for all those who let the light of the Lord Jesus Christ shine forth through your actions this past weekend at NDC. I was very blessed by the Angel Tree ministry that occurred on Sunday afternoon, followed by the Christmas hymn sing on Sunday evening. It was a very full day at church and yet we shared the love of Christ with a lot of different people. The response to the Angel Tree ministry was very positive and one young mom that Debbie and I were sitting next to, stayed for the hymn sing and told Deb she’d like to come back and visit NDC sometime. I was greatly encouraged by the response of our church family and the love that was shared.
We’ve been talking about the characteristics of God revealed in Christmas and one of the things as followers of Christ we’re encouraged to do is to let our light shine. Remember the words of the angels to the shepherds, that the message they were sharing with the shepherds was “good news to all people”, (Luke 2:10). The message of great joy for all people has been entrusted to us and when we reach out with the love of Christ to people that are hurting, I believe Jesus shows up in a powerful and meaningful way. I think that’s what happened this past Sunday at NDC and as your pastor, my heart is delighted in the love that was shared. I’ve attached some pictures of the gifts, the cake, and some of the activities that were taking place with Angel Tree on Sunday afternoon. So many of the guardians expressed their deep appreciation to me for our church’s involvement in this ministry, as many churches have discontinued their Angel Tree ministry.
I was also blessed by the Christmas hymn sing that followed and how it was managed. I especially loved the children’s handbell choir that was outstanding and hopefully something we can follow up with in the future. It was such a delightful time, and all the classic Christmas hymns remind us of this great legacy of song that we have as part of our celebration of the kindness and goodness of God on our behalf at Christmas time.
I must also give a shout-out to all the men who worked so diligently Sunday night all the way into Tuesday cleaning up our once again flooded basement. We are thankful to the Lord for keeping the rain away until all the activities were done on Sunday evening, but once the waters came, they came in like a flood. There was a group of guys that were at the church until 3 AM on Monday morning and then a group that was back with us at 8 AM on Monday morning and worked throughout the day to see that the water didn’t back up. There was a group back on Tuesday to continue the cleanup process. Steps are being taken to alleviate this problem, but I’m thankful to God for those who worked so diligently to keep the waters in check.
Finally, I want to wish all of you, my blog readers, a very Merry Christmas and I hope and pray that you’ll take some time this Christmas season to reflect on how awesome the characteristics of God are in our Christmas celebrations. God is the initiator of the party in sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to be born as a little baby, to merge divinity with humanity for the ultimate purpose of the redemption and salvation of humanity. Please use the opportunity to share with loved ones how meaningful it is to experience God’s love through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Joy in Jesus, Pastor Rich Sivo
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