Non-rehearsed Children's Christmas Eve Pageant

We're doing it again this year. Trinity's 7:00pm Christmas Eve service will feature a non-rehearsed children's Christmas Eve pageant.

What, you ask, is a non-rehearsed children's Christmas Eve pageant?

I figure every church needs at least one time a year when the kids can dress up in costumes and the grandparents can take pictures. Christmas is a great time for that. Unfortunately, the traditional children's Christmas pageant requires several weeks of rehearsals to get ready, creating a lot of stress on everyone's schedules just at the time they don't need more stress.

The solution? A Christmas pageant with no rehearsals!

Every child who shows up at Trinity's Christmas Eve children's service will be invited to be a part of the pageant. We will provide the costumes, the script, the coaching, the music, and the microphones. The kids take it from there. The more the merrier! We especially enjoy and welcome new children and families.

We did the NRCCEP ("Non-rehearsed Children's Christmas Eve Pageant") last year for the first time, and it was ... it was ... well, it's kind of hard to describe what it was. Let's just say it wasn't a time of solemn reflection. It wasn't even "A Charlie Brown Christmas." But everyone had a wonderful time and everyone definitely wants to do it again. And I firmly believe all the children came away with a greater understanding of the Christmas story.

So we're doing it again this year.

I hope we'll see you there. And bring somebody with you!

Thanksgiving and Christmas

Just a quick thought -

What if everyone made a list of the things they were thankful for at Thanksgiving, and then for Christmas tried to find at least one person who didn't have one of those things and give it to them?

I don't mean things like a DVD or a box of candy. I mean the more meaningful ones.

For instance, at Thanksgiving I said I was thankful for my wonderful family. This Christmas, how can I bless someone who doesn't have a family?

At Thanksgiving, I was thankful for the bountiful food. This Christmas, how can I bless someone who doesn't have enough food?

You get the idea. What did you tell people you were thankful for this Thanksgiving. How can you give someone else the opportunity to be thankful for the same thing this Christmas?