Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always a special time. As I sat in our Christmas Eve service I couldn't help but think about the wonderful church we have and how great it is to be surrounded by so many friends and to have such a tremendous family. In case you missed it, here were some of the highlights for me:

• My seventh grade son played the prelude on the piano. Sure, I've heard him practicing at home, but it is always a thrill to see one of your kids using their gifts to glorify God.
• Amy K. came up to me minutes before the service started saying that she was unable to copy the backup music for her solo onto a CD. We scratched it from the order of service, but then she decided to sing it without any accompaniment. Wow! Can Amy ever sing! The song even included a key change, which is hard enough to do with music playing, but she did it flawlessly without instrumentation!
• Little kids are always a blast during the children's sermon. I asked them "What's your favorite thing about Christmas?" and one shouted out "Dinosaurs!"
• As I sat and listened to the choir sing, I was amazed at how good they sounded. I also couldn't help but think about how special each person standing up there is to me.
• When I stood up to preach I noticed that we had to bring in extra chairs in the back of the Sanctuary...a good problem to have.
• For the ?th year in a row the slide for "The First Noel" was wrong. Several years ago I typed, "Born is the king of Bethlehem" rather than "Israel." Each Christmas Eve I think, "I've got to fix that." Every year I forget. Every Christmas Eve day when I put together the slides I double check them. Once again, I messed up. After the service I suggested to my wife that I change it to "Born is the king of Nashwauk." It was vetoed. I guess it will probably stay "Bethlehem." I probably won't remember to fix it this week.
• Seeing my sister was another highlight. She came up with her daughter and my mom and a bunch of other family members. I thought about "calling her out" during the sermon, but she has a much quicker wit than just about anyone I know. I decided that anything I might say would be quickly turned around and used against me.
• Closing the service with Silent Night always brings a tear to my eye.

All in all, it was a great Christmas Eve. I hope that you enjoyed the service as much as I did. I'm looking forward to the coming year. I think God has a lot of great things planned.