Jesus....the most important part.

This Christmas we are doing something very special. Our first EVER Christmas live nativity. The children in the neighborhood are the stars. Last month at the CCDA conference I was struck by something one of the speakers said. He said, "if you invite parents to church they might never come, but if you invite them to see their own kid dressed up and singing or acting, they might never leave."

So that is my goal for the Christmas program... it's a way to get parents to show up, that might otherwise never step foot in Cross & Crown. The night will be great, complete with a Christmas feast afterward free to the whole neighborhood that my church (Northchurch) will be providing. I'm excited.

Even though I'm excited about the program, I was dreading this last week when I assigned parts to all the children. I was so worried that some of the children would leave thinking their part wasn't important.. I didnt' want to hurt feelings. So, I had Luke read the Nativity story to all the children and then I marketed each part the best I could... The shepherds are the best because they get to carry big sticks, the wiseman are the most important because they get to dress in sparkly clothes and carry big presents, the angels are the GREATEST because they get to wear beautiful white robes and pretty wings, etc. And gratefully, it worked. Most every child got the exact part they wanted. As I got to the end of the assignments I realized that there weren't any parts left and one of our little boys didn't have one. He is the smallest kid in the elementary ministry. He is in 2nd grade and about the size of a 4 year old. Everyone calls him Junior. I noticed he was kind of sitting in the back and wasn't saying much... I was frantically searching my paper for any blank space I could plug his name in to give him a part when his hand shot up, "Can I be baby Jesus?" I was shocked... and I kind of stuttered and said, "Junior, Why do you want to be Baby Jesus?" and he answered, "Because He is the most important part." Reality check Chandy.... why was I marketing all the different parts as the best part? Jesus is it... I should have been preaching that to them all along. Thank God for little Junior and his sweet words.

She will give birth to a son, and His name will be Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. -Matthew 1:21-