A Way in a Manger

Jed: "People don't come to church at Christmas anymore."

Zeb: "Nope."

Jed: "People don't even know what Christmas is about."

Zeb: "Sure don't."

Jed: "And if you try to tell them - whooee, does they get mad, they don't want to know."

Zeb: "Huh. They come to my house to find out."

Jed: "What, come to your house?"

Zeb: "Yep, drive right up and stop out the front."

Jed: "And they find out what Christmas is all about?"

Zeb: "Yep all of their own accord."

Jed: "And how do you manage that?"

Zeb: "I've got a nativity scene and a few Christmas lights."

I have had a nativity scene out the front for the last few years. I made cut outs from 8mm mdf with a jig saw. (using an overhead projector to trace the outlines) Painted them with a sealant (Bondcrete) and then painted the colours. These guys have poles to stand them up each year.

I build a rough shed which they go under, line the floor with straw and set a floodlight with a timer onto the whole stable.

Then I've got a few lights strung up on the house and fence, and most importantly a star hanging on the highest point of the house behind the stable.

A couple of things to note:

You want to keep the focus on the Christ so don't go overboard with the barnyard or the lights. I think you don't want to let it get tacky. (Remember - no pigs in a Jewish stable)

Think about where people will stop as they drive past and what obstacles you've got (trees etc) and put the stable in the best location to be viewed.

Enter in any local Christmas lights competition. Even though a tasteful and theologically correct entrant has no chance of winning, it might put you on any maps or directions.

Have fun with it, but don't let it take over.

You can just see some angels I put on the roof one year using an overhead projector and a cut out from a piece of paper. It was a pain because I had to take it down each day because the overhead projector is like a magnifying glass for the sunlight during the day.

Through all of December until Christmas cars are stopping out the front all the time (for a small town) I try to add something each year to encourage tem to come back. But I didn't add anything last year because I couldn't think of anything tasteful and relevant to the gospel.

God Bless,

Michael

reclaiming Christmas

Nobody has a clue what Christmas is about. Either that, or nobody cares.

That's the impression I was left with after touring the Christmas lights last night in Wagga Wagga. After walking up and down two street seeing at least 100 houses, there were only two with a nativity scene on display.

We saw the Simpsons, Bob the Builder,Humpty Dumpty, Tigger and Pooh Bear, Goldilocks and the three bears, Big Bird and the Sesame Street characters, a singing tree, Jimmy Neutron and hundreds of Santas (in various states of dress and sobriety).

Now I don't think everyone is deliberately taking the Christ out of Christmas. And I don't think Christians whining about it all the time is very helpful. But I do believe we are in a period of cultural change maybe even a culture war.

Think about it, why would your ordinary non-Christian citizen put up a display of something they are not really interested in, that doesn't affect their lives the other 364 days of the year. And if you do take the Christ out of Christmas, what do you display - whatever makes you happy, whatever the kids might like, whatever can be tackied up with tinsel and glitz. So I don't expect any different, really. But it's not what Christmas is about.

So I've set up this site hoping to find the time to challenge and equip Christians to reconnect with their community and to reclaim and proclaim the glorious significance of Christmas. It's up to us to put the Christ back into Christmas.

When those hundreds of families do their annual Christmas lights pilgrimage, I want them to see what Christmas is about, let's show and tell them in our front yards, in our dining rooms, in our workplace and in our conversations.

God Bless,
Michael