Christmas 1C-"Celebrate Love" 12/27/09

"The Power Of The Word" "Celebrate Love"

Christmas 1C, 12/27/09

John 1:1-14

            Before I begin, I must make a note to the bulletin.  Due to having to run the bulletins early this week, I came up with a title for my yet-unwritten sermon.  After writing it, I realized it needed a different title.  This sermon is entitled, "Celebrate Love."  After all, the power of the Word is love, and it is that Love of God we celebrate today!

Yesterday I walked into a CVS, and watched as the lady was taking down the Christmas Cards from the display, and was replacing them with Valentine's Day cards.  The signage she put up said, "Celebrate Love."  It struck me as bothersome that Valentine's Day, according to the card company, is only when we are to celebrate love.  Everything in me wanted to yell out, "What about Christmas?"  I felt like Charlie in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" when he says, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"[1]  But where was Linus when I needed him?  The music on the radio has already changed back to the regular stations, and Christmas music, like the decorations in the store, has been packed away for another year.  I was struck standing there thinking, "If all of this has changed back to 'normal' so quickly, then what difference does Christmas make after all?  Why do we celebrate it and what does it mean?"  Maybe I'm somewhat cynical, or my tiredness from Christmas Eve was still clouding my mind.  But it did make me really stop and think--Isn't Christmas about Celebrating Love?--Celebrating the love of God found in a baby and that love found in the world all these years later--Celebrating a love that physically came down from the heavens and was there for everyone to see.

         Christmas Eve, in the Church's understanding, is the beginning of the celebration, not the culmination of the festivities.[2] Christmas lasts 12 days, and ends on January 6th when we mark the Epiphany.  We gather in celebration of the birth that starts the story --our story--over again.  Advent is preparation for the big event, and then it's here and the Christmas Eve Lovefeasts start the Birthday Party for our King--complete with food, drink, and candles!  I came across this quote that I thought was so fitting for this season.  The author said, "Remember also that for Christians, this is the birthday party of all birthday parties, one that should spin us into a different place, not simply into exhaustion: 'Christmas is a time for enormous celebration, but also a time for pondering, for reverence, for awe at our sheer good fortune that God sent his only child into our midst.'”^[3]

         If we look at Scripture, we get 4 different views of Christmas.  Luke, the one most commonly read for Christmas, presents Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem with nowhere to stay and thus they end up in a barn with the animal's manger for a crib for the new baby.  Shepherds and Angels appear and sing God's praise over the birth of this special child. We see how God's love came in the unlikely places and was presented to the poor, meek, and lowly. If we look at Matthew, we see no manger, no shepherds, no chorus of angels.  Instead we hear of an undocumented number of wise men and three gifts brought to a home where the holy family is now living.  God's love in Matthew is for everyone, even those from distant lands.  Mark, on the other hand, skips the event entirely, and instead rushing ahead to tell of the adult Jesus.  God's love is powerful and immediate.  And then we have today's reading from John that uses metaphors and philosophy to describe the incarnation of God.  God's love in the logos, the Word, has been present since the beginning.  Often we hear the story of Christmas with all of these stories lumped together into an indistinguishable tangle of shepherds and wise men arriving together at the manger.  In many ways there isn't real harm in combining the stories, as they do help us see a fuller picture of Jesus' birth from various viewpoints.  But I do find it interesting to look at them individually.  Today's Scripture reading let's us focus on John's version of Christmas, though it noticeably leaves out the birth all together.  John focuses more on the incarnation and how God has come into the world to bring love through life and light.  For John, it's ultimately about God's love for the world as we hear later in Chapter 3. "16For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17, NRSV) The Gospel of John calls us to look for the love of God in the world and to celebrate that love whenever and wherever we see it.

         Though love is the focus of Christmas, it's sometimes hard to focus on that love.  I ran across a list the other day about the Top 10 Things WRONG with Christmas.  With all of the craziness associated with the holiday and my frustration at CVS about the holiday already having come and gone, I could resonate with many of these. I have also heard many of you naming these things.  Here's the list.  Do any of these things sound familiar?
TOP 10 THINGS WRONG WITH CHRISTMAS [4]

10. A loss of the sense of the miraculous

9. Not enough peace and joy

8. Feeling like you have to give something or you’re a bad person

7. Credit card bills through next Christmas

6. Insane travel schedules

5. Conflicts with the family

4. Feeling alone or alienated

3. Having to decorate to keep up with the neighbors

2. Hours spent searching for the present for kids or grandkids (etc.)

1. Feeling disappointed—again—by the season

         During the Congregational Lovefeast last Sunday evening, I told a story about a man who, though tired from Christmas Eve's craziness, went to feed his neighbor's sheep.  He paused for a moment, during his actions, when he realized that he was in the manger where it all started. He was standing by the manger on Christmas Eve.  I invited everyone to pause sometime during the holiday to reflect on the meaning of Christmas.  So on Christmas day, I took a few minutes to pause and reflecte.  With nods to David Letterman and Rogers and Hammerstein, I've written my own "Top 10 Favorite Things About Christmas" to help me name where I celebrate love during Christmas.  Before I read my own, I invite you to pause for a minute, take out a pencil or pen, and jot down a few of your own Favorite Things where you Celebrate love this Christmas.  [I invite you to include your list in the comments section of this blog.  See "Comments" below!]
         There are no right or wrong answers here.  Each of our lists will look different.  Having said that, here's my own list.

My Top 10 Favorite Things About Christmas

10. Receiving Christmas Cards and photos from family and friends

9. Phone Calls to hear "Merry Christmas" from a distance, especially when you can't be together on Christmas Day

8. Hearing "Morning Star" and remembering back 20 years to when I was the soloist up front.

7. Spending time with loved ones laughing around the dinner table.

6. Watching the Dieners and Choirs' faces as the lovefeast is served

5. The sight of spam, squirty cheese, beef jerky, and other treats inside my Lovefeast bun.

4. Eating together as a church family during the Workers Potluck.

3. The smiles on the faces of the children when it was FINALLY time to put Baby Jesus in the Manger.

2. The smells of beeswax and coffee and the sight of the candles raised in the air at the end of Lovefeast.

1. The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. (John 1:14) [This is how The Message translates the verse, and it's my favorite translation.] 

         At Christmas we celebrate the Love of God that has now taken on human form in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Because God loves us, we can love one another.  And I believe that the more we look for examples of God's love, we find them, even in the unexpected places.  By now many of you know about the ongoing gift that the dieners bestow on the pastors in their Christmas Eve Lovefeast Buns.  If you haven't seen the pictures, I've posted them on my blog and they are worth checking out.[5]  This year at the 7:30pm Lovefeast, our Bun came complete with icing that said, "Love You" in the form of a heart and the letter "U".  Thought it was meant as a good-hearted joke, I laughed and then took it much more symbolically.  God loves me, and sent his son for me.  God sent Jesus for each and every person that was celebrating lovefeast that evening together.  God sent Jesus for each of us.  This bun spoke volumes to me about how God's love spread out from that first Christmas to share that love with each other.  God moved into our neighborhood here on Ridge Road, and we saw it tangibly in the celebration of love that took place.  As the candles spread the light and none were diminished by the sharing, so is God's love spread by the sharing and is not diminished.  It began tangibly in Christ's birth through the incarnation, and continues to spread.  May we continue to Celebrate Love throughout these 12 days of Christmas, and proclaim through buns and candles, through cards and hugs, through all the ways God can speak through us, that God's love has moved into the neighborhood.  Amen.

---

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZw06AbW6Vw

[2] Michael Bennett, "Pastoral Perspective of John 1:1-14" in Feasting on the Word, Volume 2, Number 1 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 140.

[3] [Bill McKibben, Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998) 68-69] quoted in Greg Garrett, Reclaiming Christmas: Seeking an Alternative from (www.thethoughtfulchristian.org, 2007) 2.

[4] Greg Garrett, Reclaiming Christmas: Seeking an Alternative from (www.thethoughtfulchristian.org, 2007) 2.

[5] livingonemmausave.blogspot.com (Post for "RMC Christmas 2009: Part 2" dated 12/26/09.)

Christmas Eve at RMC 2009--Part 2

Hi Everyone,
so I have finally had a chance to download my photos.  Unfortunately I don't have any during the service, since I was sitting up front.  I'm counting on David Chervany's photos and look forward to seeing them.  (Here's a link to David's Facebook photos!!  Check them out! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=47474&id=1257733985)

During the Children's Lovefeast at 2:30pm we did have a photographer from the Raleigh News & Observer come and take lots of photos.  They are included in the gallery on their web (photos 19-30).  Check them out here: http://www.newsobserver.com/galleries/gallery/256173.html

RMC's Moravian Youth Fellowship presented their live nativity again on Christmas Eve before the Children's Lovefeast.  It was great to see all of them living out the reason for the season! Check out the slideshow:

There is a (no-longer secret) ongoing joke at Raleigh Moravian where the Dieners (Servers) make special lovefeast buns for the pastors that include various and assorted fillings and decorations.  I posted last year's pictures in an earlier blog.  Well...here are the long-awated photos from this Christmas Eve!  Thank you for the great laughs, and the special additions to my Lovefeast experience! (And see my next post of the 12/27 sermon for more info too!)

During the 2:30pm Children's Lovefeast, the Dieners gave to me:
A squirty cheese and whipped cream-filled bun.  (It harkens back to last Saturday night's MYF Christmas Party and the fun that was had by many there with squirty cheese and whipped cream.)

For an insiders view:

I actually ate this one after the photos were taken.  It was surprisingly good--cheesey with a hint of sweetness!

For the 5pm Lovefeast, Craig and I both received this lovely creation:

I mistakenly looked at it from behind, and missed that smiling (Shrek-ogrey) face.  Instead I thought it looked like this:

Strange, indeed!

(Ingredients list: 1 slice of Spam, Marshmallow ears, gummy Life Saver candy nose, Vienna Sausage eyes, and Squirty Cheese mouth and eyebrows) [On a side note, I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not--now everytime I smell Spam, I think "Christmas Eve"!  Thanks for the gift 2 years in a row!]

Not to be outdone, the 7:30pm Lovefeast took the cake!  The dieners said it was "dessert" after our Worker's Potluck that was held between the 5 and 7:30 Lovefeasts for everyone that's there helping.

[The worker's potluck is my favorite part of Christmas Eve--I love the spirit of joy and merriment that is in the air.  I also believe it's much closer to the idea of the Agape Lovefeast, since we are all there worshiping and don't want to leave to go home to eat.  Instead we bring food in and eat together as the family of God!--just my $.02]

[Ingredients list: Hamburger Buns, Gummy Life Saver eyes, Beef Jerky hair, sweet tart teeth, marshmallow ears, whipped cream and red hots smile, and Icing eye brows and writing]

[The book says "Celebrating the Spirit of Christmas" which we certainly did, thanks to these lovely gifts of love from our dieners!]

Merry Christmas from Raleigh Moravian Church! ~Pastors Craig and Suzanne

Christmas Eve at RMC 2009

Yesterday was a whirlwind of cider, buns, coffee, candles, and true joy and merriment!  My second Christmas at RMC was even better than last year.  I'll write more soon, including the photos of my decorated buns from all 3 lovefeasts!
Check out the Raleigh News and Observer's photos from our 2:30pm Children's Lovefeast.  http://www.newsobserver.com/galleries/gallery/256173.html We made photos 19-30 in the list.

Thanks again to everyone who helped--diening, making coffee, making candles, ushering, making/folding bulletins, keeping the nursery, reading, playing firefighter (aka blanket holders), etc.  I can't begin to list all the people involved, but I appreciate all of your hard work!

May everyone have a wonderful Christmas and have a moment today to pause and reflect on the true meaning of today--God became flesh and moved into the neighborhood (John 1:14, MSG).

Christmas at RMC 2008

The post below is what I wrote last year for my other blog.  With Christmas Eve tomorrow, I thought it was fitting to relive my first Christmas at RMC!  Enjoy!

This was my first Christmas serving at Raleigh Moravian Church. So I thought a few images from Christmas Eve would be fun to include in our blog. We have a congregational Lovefeast the Sunday before Christmas that I presided over. Then we have 3 lovefeasts on Christmas Eve. 2:30 is for families and children and is geared to the children--they do a skit to tell the Christmas Story (Steve made his directing debut this year with the skit and it went very well), sing some kid friendly songs like "Jesus Loves Me" and "This Little Light of Mine." They even include stand up and wiggle breaks to help the kids maintain attention throughout the service. They still get buns and candles, and substitute cider for the coffee. We also added baby Jesus to the manger/putz/nativity/creche that we had been building each week. The other two lovefeasts are at 5pm and 7:30pm and are more traditional.

Here are some images from Christmas:The Latin reads: Our Lamb Has Conquered, Let Us Follow Him. This is one of the decorations on the narthex (Sanctuary entrance area) Christmas Tree.

Even the chandeliers get decked out for the holidays!

This is the Christmas tree in the narthex of the church. It is decorated with stars, candles, and Schierenschitte (German paper cutting).

The youth serve as dieners (servers) for the Children's lovefeast. The candle portion of the service is so beautiful!

During the singing of the last song, the congregation is invited to raise their candles in the air, which is the most beautiful part of the service in my opinion. It takes my breath away every time I see it!

This is the front of the sanctuary with the star, candles and Southern magnolia greenery.

This is our advent wreath signaling the 4th Sunday of Advent--Christmas is here!!



The dieners love giving the pastors a treat on Christmas Eve for the lovefeast. It's tradition. Here is my Lovefeast bun from the 5pm service--sliced and filled with peanut butter, then decorated with marshmallow eyes and smile. I commented afterwards that it was actually really good with peanut butter but the marshmallows made me long for hot chocolate...






So at the 7:30pm Lovefeast, the dieneres (cough--specifically Dee Ann--but I don't want to name names) thought that SPAM would be a good addition to the Lovefeast buns. So here is my eyes wide open, smiling at me SPAM bun. They took my suggestion of Hot Chocolate seriously, so I had Hot Chocolate instead of Coffee. I can't recommend the SPAM, but the Hot Chocolate was YUMMY! I can't wait to see what the next Lovefeast brings...

RMC's MYF Live Nativity

Congregational Lovefeast "Candle Talk" 2009

This is my short "Candle Talk" from the 2009 Congregational Christmas Eve Lovefeast at Raleigh Moravian Church.  It was held on Sunday, Dec. 20th at 7pm.  The Scripture text was: Luke 2:1-20.

So the story goes...The night was much like tonight--cold and dark--it was Christmas Eve.[1]  The children were in bed fast asleep from a long day of waiting for Christmas to finally come.  The father and mother were tired from all the preparations and work that had gone into getting ready for Christmas. The presents were finally wrapped and under the tree.  The dinner dishes were done, the lights and stockings were hung, and the dreaded words of parents-- "Some Assembly Required" --had been conquered.  Bedtime was finally here.

Just as he was taking off his slippers and getting ready for bed, the father remembered he had promised the neighbors on the farm next door he would feed their sheep tonight.  He'd almost forgotten with all the hustle and bustle of the day.  But it was cold and the animals needed to be fed.  So he put on coat and boots, and took off into the cold.  A small lantern lit his way as he trekked down to the sheep's pen.

The lantern reflected off the fresh coat of snow that had fallen that evening.  He arrived at the barn and found the sheep in the pen.  He found the switch and turned on the light.  Combined with the full moon and the lone bulb hanging from the ceiling, he could see despite the darkness.  As he entered the pen, the sheep stood in the corner watching the stranger's every move.  He got down the bales of hay and opened them up in the trough for the sheep to reach easily.  They stirred from their corner, eagerly welcoming the gift the father brought. 

Finally the father was done and it was time to return to the warmth of his home.  "He [reached] up to turn off the bulb, and suddenly [realized] where he was.  The winter darkness.  The glimmer of light.  The smell of hay and the sound of the animals eating.  Where he [was], of course, [was] the manger."[2]  He almost missed the significance.  So instead of rushing home, he paused for a moment to remember the humble beginnings of the Light of the World. Then he headed back home with the lantern lighting his way.  The light perhaps seemed just a bit brighter against the darkness.  The cold perhaps seemed a little less cold. 

"While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."[3] "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood."[4] 

As a reminder to us that we celebrate the Light of the World that has come and entered our world, we each receive a candle tonight. We invite you to raise your candles on the last verse of our last song ("Christ the Lord, the Lord most glorious") to signify that Christ does indeed shine brightly in our world.  We also invite you to take your candles home as a reminder of the Christ Child, the Light of the World, has moved into our neighborhood yet again this Christmas.  My prayer is that we may each have a few moments this Christmas to pause and notice where God is present in our world and how we can celebrate the light even in the mundane and ordinary places of our lives. And then whenever you see the candle throughout the year, it will remind you to pause, despite how tired you are, and give thanks for the Light of the World that shines in our lives, just as the father did in the manger.  May the light shine just a bit brighter for us this year as we remember anew the birth of the Light of the World.  Amen.

---

[1] Adapted from Frederick Buechner's story in "Christmas" from Whistling In The Dark: A Doubters Dictionary (NY: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988) 29-30.

[2] Frederick Buechner, "Christmas" from Whistling In The Dark: A Doubters Dictionary (NY: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988) 30.

[3] Luke 2:6-7.  NRSV.

[4] John 1:14.  The Message.

"What Then Should We Do?" (Advent 3C, December 13, 2009)

Advent 3C: "What Then Should We Do?"

December 13, 2009

Sermon for Mountain Laurel Moravian Fellowship, Laurel Springs, NC

Luke 3:7-18; Isaiah 12:2-6

         Welcome to the 3rd Sunday in Advent.  Advent is the time of preparation and waiting that proceeds Christmas. It's true, this is a beautiful time of year, and preparations are important.  We are getting ready for God to become flesh and blood in a little baby. But is that all there is to prepare for?  Advent is also a time to be aware of the already-not yet living that we find ourselves in.  Christ has come once as a baby, and left us with the promise to return again. He's already come, and has not yet arrived.  So we wait...

         Advent is a time when many of us want to focus on the good that is among us: lovely lights, gifts galore, decorations, caroling, and cocoa by the fireside.    And then we come to worship today and hear John the Baptizer's words to us.  Ouch.  Probably not the comforting, ohhing and cooing, "a beautiful newborn baby is almost here" message of good news we were expecting to hear.  This is a section of Luke's Gospel that recounts John's preaching just before Jesus is baptized and enters the scene.  It's not a passage that we likely think of when we think about Advent.  But John's words are instructions for living for the coming of the Messiah onto the scene.  They help us to know what life is to look like as we prepare, so these words are part of our Lectionary readings for Advent.   John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus.  John doesn't mince words.  He gets straight to the point and makes sure that everyone hears it--Brood of Vipers and all.  It's a tough passage to hear and a tough passage to preach, but the Lectionary includes it, so in our Advent waiting, we tackle John's words today.

         John's words come as a warning and at the same time a proclamation of Good News, as it says in the last verse of today's section. "So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people." (verse 18).  It so clearly says it's good news, but who finds this to be good?   How could calling folks a "Brood of Vipers" (verse 7) constitute good news?  One commentator I read compared the phrase Brood of Vipers to calling someone in your own family a name--you can do it because you love them.[1]  John loved the people he was baptizing, so he was able to preach words of tough love to them.  He was filled with God's love and the good news is that everyone can be apart of that love too.

         As I read through the passage, one question stuck out to me because it is repeated.  If three different groups asked the same question, it must be important.  The question is, "What then should we do?"  First the crowd asks, then the tax collectors, and third the soldiers.  They hear John's words calling for repentance and actions that demonstrate belief, and they want to know how they should respond. Repentance for John is a 180-degree turn from old ways to new life that puts God first in their life and refocuses their lives on love.  Each time John answers the question in a way that relates to their lives and gives them actions that are to be undertaken. “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”  “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”  “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” (verses 11, 13, 14  NRSV)  John is not just interested in beliefs that should be professed.  John is teaching ethical living as a sign of the change in their lives that is associated with repentance and baptism. At the most basic level, I believe John is telling the folks gathered around him to love each other.  This love is a love that doesn't end with baptism, and doesn't end once Christmas day passes by.  This is a practical, ethical love that lasts throughout the year.  It's a love that repairs homes, feeds the hungry, and visits the lonely.  It's a love that passes out clothing and helps support a camp for children who are ill.

         "What then should we do?"  As I've thought about this question all week, I have been reminded over and over of what is being done in this community.  This faith community is a testament to work that is happening in Ashe and Alleghany counties because the Moravian Church loves people here.  We are willing to put our hands and feet to work and live the ethical, loving life that John calls us to.  I noticed in your bulletin that Mountain Laurel collects food to distribute in the area.  I have heard about the work you all are doing with Camp New Hope for sick children, not to mention all the relationships that are being fostered through Laurel Ridge and Mission Camp.  There are so many examples!  We are all part of God's love that is being manifest in this community.  God loves us all, and we are living out God's call to share that love. 

         I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes that fits well with what John is preaching in the passage.  Mother Teresa said, "We can do no great things, just small things with great love.  It is not how much you do,

but how much love you put into doing it."[2]  The things John is preaching may seem radical, but really they are just every-day actions that make a lasting impact on those who are involved.  Sometimes it means just being open to where we can lend a hand.  Last Sunday I went with the youth from Raleigh Moravian to visit the Men's Homeless Shelter in downtown Raleigh.  We go most First Sundays of the Month to deliver clothing, sing with the residents, and share God's love through our presence.  In December the tradition is to take lovefeast buns and hot cider to have an informal lovefeast with the men gathered there.  After they received the gifts of clothing, the youth passed out the lovefeast.  Once we were heading home, we walked outside and one gentleman who hadn't been inside stopped and asked me a question.  He said, "Do you have a Christmas present for me?"  I don't know why he wasn't in the receiving line for clothing, but he hadn't gotten anything from our group and we had passed out everything we had. All I had were the extra buns, so I handed him a bun.  It wasn't a full meal; it wasn't a warm blanket; it was a small, leftover bun.  But afterward as I've thought about the love that went into it, it was a small thing done with great love.  What then should we do?  Pass out Christmas presents of love to everyone we meet, and thus share God's Good News of love.

         What then should we do?  Share God's love. John makes it plain and simple.  The Good News of God's love is shown through the simple gifts of coats and food.  Sharing what we have, not taking more than we need, being content and thankful with the gifts God has provided. This is truly Good News that all of us can hear--not just during Advent, but throughout the year.  The Advent preparations we make are for Christmas for sure, but they also help us throughout the year to life lives prepared to share God's love and Good News with everyone we encounter.   May the preparations we make this Advent season help us to share God's love this Christmas and throughout the year!

 
Benediction: May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in LOVE this day and always.  In the Name of the Triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

---

[1] Frederick Buechner, "Love" in Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC, rev. and expanded (NY: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) 65.

[2] Various sources

RMC's Putzing Advent-ure Thursday Night

Thank you to everyone who came out to Raleigh Moravian's Putzing Advent-ure on Thursday!  We had a wonderful visit at Keith and Chancy Kapp's house and also in the church Fellowship Hall.  Here is another slideshow of photos from the event on Thursday!  Thanks again to Gay Sharon Brothers for the idea and help, Chancy Kapp for planning and help, and Carole Martin!  Thanks also to Kristina Leighton for coordinating, setting up and cleaning up the food.  Thanks to the many families who contributed to the Putz (Nativity/Manger/Creche) display--we ended up receiving 47 displays for our event!  If you have ideas for next year, please contact me (Pastor Suzanne)!  I greatly welcome feedback and ideas!!

RMC's Putzing Advent-ure

RMC hosted our first annual Putzing Advent-ure on Wednesday, December 9th (and it continues Thursday, December 10th too!) in our Fellowship Hall.  This event is a chance for our church community to pause for a few minutes and focus on the waiting and preparations of Advent.  We have many folks in our community who collect putz displays (nativities/manger/creche) from different places or have one that is special to their family.  We invited everyone to bring one (or more) that they wanted to share with everyone else as part of this event.  Since this was our first time, we hoped to receive 20-25 sets--well, we were shocked and very excited to receive 46 different sets from ALL OVER THE WORLD!!  We have many from the US, Central and South America, Asia, and Europe.  We also have a number of them that were handmade by people in our community.  It's truly a blessing and joy to be able to share these with each other as we journey through Advent during our Putzing Advent-ure! 

We began the journey at Walt and Gay Sharon Brothers' house to see their elaborate display. Today we are invited to visit with Chancy and Keith Kapp in their home to see their putzen as well!  Join us from 3-6pm at the Kapp's house.  Call the church office for more info 919-787-4034.

If you wern't able to come on Wednesday, please plan to stop by tonight from 6-8pm in the Raleigh Moravian Fellowship Hall to view these putzen, pause for a breath during Advent, and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ as we all prepare our hearts for the coming of the Christ Child.

Check out some photos from Wednesday's event!

http://www.slide.com/r/9otCP4Tj1j8Rte4Rk1F3-NkWk8IVXlNW?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Silent Monks "Singing"

If you like Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" or if you need a good laugh this holiday season, check out this Silent Monk Choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFCeJTEzNU