Reflections From Sunday Evening (Christmas edition)

A very real God came to a very real world to very real people. That is the Christmas message. We dare to believe that God is much more than a human invention. God is! We dare to believe God steps to earth and gets involved with the whole of creation. We dare to believe that the characters in our story - Mary, Joseph, shepherds and many others - were very real people who experienced something divine that rocked their world. We dare to believe that our very real God continues to step into this very real world and into our lives. The continual appearing of God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit touches us and redeems us. We witness many signs of God's appearing in our world and in our lives. One sign. Over 2000 people joined for worship on Christmas Eve. Another sign. Over $33,000 was given to "feed Northland kids." Yet another sign. A teenager gave all his "Christmas money" to help others. (Generosity) Even yet another sign. People continued to gather on the weekend immediately following Christmas - worship. It has been yet another great Christmas at Platte Woods UMC. This caps off a very good year in the life of our church. I look forward to sharing details of our witness and ministry in the next few weeks. Now we prepare for the next step along God's path for us. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve