"A New Day"

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We listened to beautiful flute and harp music as a prelude to worship.
We watched a video about what kids know about the Christmas story.
We sang favorite Christmas carols.
We heard Pastor Laura talk about a story that changed the way she experienced Christmas this year. It was as a story she shared in a sermon a few weeks ago about a rescue of girls in Cambodia. The girls were being trafficked to tourists, but a man named Gary Haugen led an effort to rescue some of them. Years later, these young women were healthy, happy and free.
We thought how meaningful it would be for the girls to celebrate Gary Haugen's birthday - the birthday of the man who came to save them from their darkness.
Pastor Laura shared about the darkness in her own life as a teenager. She felt like her life had only two options - both of them destructive. God intervened into her darkness and Jesus said to her, "There is a third way. It is me. It is love." The light of Jesus broke into her darkness.
Christmas is a celebration of the light breaking through the darkness of our lives. We read John 1:1-5,14.
We listened to the song, "Morning Has Broken" to remind us that Christmas is a new day.
We celebrated communion at the table of love, and passed the light of Christ around the room, singing Silent Night.