This was a very special day as we celebrated our 8th Annual "Home for Christmas" service in partnership with Hines, Norton, and Young & Young Funeral Homes. This year, the Life Care Hospice group also participated with us as we offered a service of hope and comfort to grieving families across our community.
The service is truly a partnership. I preached... our choir sang... Carl Days sang... Scott Norton read the names of those we were remembering... the funeral directors handed out the ornaments... and Wendell Davis prayed over the families. As the family members of the deceased stood in the aisles, our EBC family greeted each one with comfort, hugs, prayers, and words of encouragement. It was a great opportunity to show God's love to hurting people!
Just this week, I met a lady who does not attend EBC, but said she attended the "Home for Christmas" service in 2007. Her husband had passed and she had slipped into depression. She was not going to celebrate Christmas, until she received our letter. When she read the words, "remembering your loved ones who will be celebrating Jesus' birthday in His presence," she said her whole perspective changed. She called her children and they bought the biggest tree, decorated, and celebrated the fact that this man had been saved just a few years earlier.
This has now become a Hartsville tradition and one of my favorite services of the year. The best part is the joy we bring to those who are hurting. That peace they experience is only because of Jesus Christ... the Hope... the One Whose birth we celebrate. Oh, and the best part... 7 people chose to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior!
No comments:
Post a Comment