Journey of Worship

Once every 5-6 years (depending on how leap years fall) Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. This year (2011) was one of those years. Our church chose to focus on a Christmas morning service this year instead of a Christmas Eve service.

As we gathered, we not only celebrated the birth of our Savior, but wrapped up our Advent series where we have been focusing on some of the things that came because of Christ’s birth. The final element was the coming of light that shined into the darkness of the world. Jesus lived a life of light. In fact, if you stop and think about it, it seems that the light of Jesus was noticed much more when we was doing the things of God as opposed to not doing the things of the world. That concept has great implications for us.

The Light of the world was born so that we could see the way back to God and become lights ourselves.

Here’s how we took time to remember and celebrate that: Continue Reading…

Christmas is a time for remembering the coming of Emmanuel – God with us. When the Light of the world shone into the darkness with hope, love, joy, and peace. God gave to mankind the ultimate expression of love, His Son, in an act of mystery and wonder.

One of my favorite services to be a part of each year is the Christmas Eve service. To be able to gather, remember, and celebrate the light of hope coming into the world through Scripture, music, and the sharing of candlelight is a wonderful time.

My church chose to focus on doing a Christmas morning service, so I had the privilege this year of joining with our sister campus in the next town over for two services. Our focus was to capture a bit of a liturgical feel in the midst of the mystery and wonder. One of the services was at 11pm, and we wanted to combine elements of the midnight mass with our more contemporary style.

Here is what we did together on Christmas Eve: Continue Reading…

On a silent night some 2000 years ago, a proclamation was made. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah” (Luke 2:11). And with that proclamation came the celebration and rejoicing of the birth of Emmanuel. God was with us.

Because God the Son came and walked this earth, we have great reason to be joyful in this life. Joy is often misunderstood, and people often look for joy in the wrong places. But when we remember where true joy comes from (Jesus, the strength of the Lord, etc) and give our life fully to this truth, joy is ours.

This week, we looked at how joy came because of Christ, is found in Christ, and is fulfilled in all that Christ did.

Here’s how we worshiped together this week: Continue Reading…