Christmas day is almost over here in Japan. It has been a great day! A completely unexpected day. Actually, a completely unexpected week!Sunday was an unexpected when I received a message that my coworker was not feeling well. By 1PM it was obvious that he was not going to be able to make it to church that afternoon. Thankfully, we had already planned the themes for advent Sundays, so planning a message in a couple of hours was not quite as difficult. Everyone at church was understanding and helpful. We had a good time studying about joy in the story of Jesus' birth.
Monday morning dawned with a snow squall and another not quite as unexpected message. Influenza had taken down two more of the members of my coworkers' family, putting the count at 3. I continued with my day off as usual which included tea time with a friend. God prepared both of our hearts and she offered as I asked her to play piano for our Christmas Eve service at church!
With that unexpected challenge cleared, I was ready to begin preparing for the service on Tuesday. I spent the day at church, reading, preparing, checking out the programs from the last couple of years, and enjoying delving into the Christmas story again. My friend came to get the music and help me check the Japanese on the power point. We had another good time of fellowship.
Unexpectedly, I had just enough cookies left at home to take to my morning exercise friends at the park on Christmas eve morning. It was fun to see their faces and hear the "Merry Christmas" responses.
Our Christmas eve service was beautiful and full of joy. I am so grateful for our church, the lovely people, and the wonderful celebration of our Savior's birth.
(Although, I missed hanging out with the Ewing family and look forward to our belated celebration!)
1 comment:
Sounds like a delightful way to celebrate! Merry Christmas!
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