Last night was our carol service and as always, Mark came up with a range of games to keep the service interactive!

The first game involved ‘Passing the Pud’, instead of the parcel!

When the music stopped, the person unwrapping the pud had to do a forfeit, such as shaking everyone’s hands:

…or giving 5 people a Christmas kiss:

The next gave also involved a Christmas pudding, but this time it had to be eaten, without any form of cutlery!

On your marks!

Get set!

Go!

The winner!

Continuing the Christmas theme, we had a game with Christmas crackers:
Receiving instructions:

Racing for the crackers:

The girls were the winners, with the hats on first.

We also had a Treasure Hunt for silver coins in the community room and then got prizes according to the number on the coin:

Keeping the vision of God’s kingdom alive in our hearts and receiving the joy He gives can only be achieved by surrendering and saying ‘yes’ to God. The Christmas story shows us how Mary and Joseph responded to God’s amazing plan for their lives. Dave looked at the Christmas story again this week (Matt 1:18-25, Luke 1:38). Saying ‘yes’ for Mary involved risking being ostracised by her family and rejected by Joseph, but the risk was worth it, though she must have had to ponder long and hard over the mysteries that were beyond human understanding. The role of Joseph is often overlooked as lacking in importance, but he supported Mary, gave Jesus legitimacy, and nurtured and protected the gift of God’s love.

It can be hard to believe what God tells us. We are often limited by the pain we feel, having been hurt so many times in the past that we find ourselves unwilling to risk accepting love again for fear of further pain and rejection. We have to decide whether pain and suffering have meaning in God; they can either drag us down or draw us closer to God. When we say ‘yes’ to God’s love and to His will, our lives can be transformed.

Christmas time can be incredibly stressful for many people who are weighed down by other people’s expectations and the feeling that reality does not match the idealistic views we have of a time of peace and goodwill. Ultimately, though, we need to understand that all that really matters is saying ‘yes’ to God and making room in our lives for Him. Hope, peace, joy and love are gifts He gives to us, not demands placed upon us. When we surrender to God, He brings order out of chaos and life out of death. Let’s continually surrender to Him and let His will be done, on earth, in our lives, as in heaven.

During the community carol service, Chris Lee from the Salvation Army led a children’s choir:

Children were also involved in tableaux as the Christmas story was narrated and carols were sung:

We are grateful for the links that many churches have to local schools and for the work that they do with Sunday schools and children’s clubs throughout the year. Please pray for these ministries. The Evangelical Alliance has recently published the result of a nationwide survey (entitled ‘Confidently Sharing the Gospel?’, which can be read here), which reminds us of the startling fact that 72% of all evangelical Christians in the UK made a commitment to follow Christ before the age of 20. Even more startling, 32% of girls had made that commitment before the age of 11, with 24% of boys making that commitment before the age of 11. These statistics remind us of the vital importance of children’s and youth ministries in our churches and should be a great incentive (if we need one!) to pray.

Defeated somewhat by the weather (but thankfully still here to tell you all about it!), the community carol service was held in the parish church in Goldthorpe yesterday, rather than outdoors, as originally planned.

Setting up inside took a little time, moving the musical equipment from our church to the parish church:

We rigged a makeshift overhead projector in an unusual place:

Doing sound checks:

Everyone was given glow sticks to acts as lights:

Fr Carl Schaefer introduced the service:

Singing lustily (but not always wanting to be photographed!):

We had a variety of carols, along with participation from a children’s choir from local schools and the Goldthorpe Gospel Choir, ably led by Chris Lee from the Salvation Army. Children also acted in tableaux as the Nativity narratives were read.

Afterwards, there were refreshments in the Parish hall:

All in all, it was an excellent evening of fellowship and witness, and we are grateful to all the church leaders for working together so smoothly to make this a wonderful community Christmas celebration.

Don’t forget the joint churches’ carol service tonight (Friday 21st December) at 7 p.m. at the parish church on Lockwood Road in Goldthorpe. Children from the Sacred Heart RC School and members of local churches will be participating in a range of readings, carols and tableaux to celebrate Christmas. Refreshments will be served afterwards. Entry is free, but there will be an offering to support the work of the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal and the Maris School in Gambia.

Our own carol service is on Sunday 23rd December, starting at 6 p.m. The theme is ‘Christmas Unwrapped’, so come along to find more about the meaning of Christmas and maybe to claim your own early Christmas present! Refreshments will also be served here after the service.

If I had to sum up 2012 with the thought that has been most predominant for me, it would probably be with the word ‘surrender’.

I blogged about this (with the same title) back in January (‘Surrender’, January 2012), having just listened to Chris Tomlin’s song ‘White Flag’ at the Passion Conference in Atlanta. That conference certainly took that theme, with the Passion album released in March bearing that title and containing another song (‘Lay Me Down’) on a very similar theme. You can listen to the songs by clicking on the links below:
Chris Tomlin, ‘White Flag’
Chris Tomlin & Matt Redman, ‘Lay Me Down’

I returned to the topic in April (quoting ‘Lay Me Down’ in that blog post as well!) in a post entitled ‘Whose Am I?’, April 2012 By that time, I was already struck by another song I had recently heard called ‘All Yours’ by Kutless. If our lives belong to God already by virtue of the fact that He has paid the price for us, what right do we have to hold on to our life and try to live it our own way?

There is nothing new about this subject, of course. In the Bible studies we did on Romans, we looked at this topic for a long time, especially as we studied Romans 6-8. Part of the process of growing in the Christian life is learning to surrender to God, putting His will above our own: “It will be my joy to say ‘Your will, Your way, always.'” (‘Lay Me Down’) Lately, in our studies on James, we have been coming back to the same theme. We started in James 1 by reflecting on the fact that the trials and temptations we face in this life are to be welcomed as gifts because they shape in us Christ’s character. We have learned that taking the long view, having a heavenly perspective, is necessary if we are going to be able to wait on the Lord and hope in His unfailing love. Last night, as we looked at the verse ‘submit yourselves to God’ in detail, we realised afresh that surrender is absolutely key to our Christian walk.

Surrender is not an easy process. I have wrestled with the illness and death of a former colleague’s husband this year, struck down by cancer at the age of 47. Prayers for his healing were fervent and yet he died in October. I know of many other heartbreaking cases (families whose children struggle with life-threatening illnesses, a family where the mother is dying of cystic fibrosis unless she can receive a second lung transplant.) I do not have answers to many of the questions people ask me about God’s will, but this year I have learned to cherish above all the truth ‘Sometimes all we have to hold on to/ Is what we know is true of who You are’ (a line from ‘Even If’ by Kutless) more than ever. Surrendering to God means that we say ‘yes’ to Him, even when the heartache hits like a hurricane, even when we do not understand His ways or His will.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus showed us what that ‘Yes’ to God looks like, and the events that followed that show us the results of that submission. We owe our salvation and our very lives to the fact that Jesus surrendered to the Father’s will. As Paul wrote, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.” (2 Cor 1:20) The rest of that verse goes on to highlight our part in this process, however: “And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (2 Cor 1:20)

‘Amen’ – so be it – may it be so. No wonder we end our prayers with this short, but desperately meaningful, word! May we learn continually to submit ourselves to God and to surrender all that we have and are to Him.