For as
long as I can remember, my mother has made it SUPER clear that Christmas is not
about the material gifts, but about the greatest gift of all, THE SAVIOUR OF
THIS WORLD. As a little girl I can remember Mommy teaching us that God loved us
soooo much that he wanted to give us a present, and that present was His Son
Jesus, who then gave us the best gift ever, LIFE EVERLASTING. So why then Mommy
do we give gifts? We celebrate the greatest gift of all by sharing gifts with
those we love.
And then
of course Mommy made it very clear, that since God gave us this super gift, we
should go to HIS house on Christmas and go to say thank you to God for loving
us so much that he gave us the best gift ever.
Between
the ages of 5 and about 12 (I can’t remember much before 5); we NEVER went to
our own congregation for Christmas service. There were a number of contributing
factors, but mainly we overslept. Mummy en Daddy was seker te besig om Father
Christmas te speel die vorige aand. So Christmas morning was spent driving
around looking for a service to attend.
Then
when I was about 12, we starting attending the VGK Sarepta (then NGSK)
Christmas services. OOOOOOO this was so beautiful for me!! They had a brass
band that played in church and filled my heart with happiness. It all seemed so
posh and magical, just perfect for Christmas. And of course my best friend at
the time, Liezel Windvogel (aka Dude) attended here. I was in heaven. I was so
happy and loved Christmas even more. We eventually became members here in 1992
and we just couldn’t imagine ever attending another service on Christmas
morning. My favourite hymn always was Silent Night at the end of the service.
There is just something so enchanting about that hymn, I can’t but cry whenever
I sing that hymn.
Well I
said I could never imagine attending anywhere else on Christmas morning, until
Christmas morning in 2009 when my sister Ilse and I went to church at VGK Sarepta
but when we got there, the church was PACKED!!! We didn’t ‘smaak’ being
sardines on Christmas morning and decided to follow in my parents’ tradition
and roam around the Northern Suburbs looking for a church to attend. Then Ilse
remembered the Bellville Presbyterian Church (BPC) my dad had once taken us to.
So we took a chance, went there and just our luck, we were early for their service
From
the moment I stepped into the church, I felt that there was something special
here and then I got a box of Lindt chocolates because it was my first time
attending BPC. But besides the chocolates (which Ilse ate of course) this
service was just special. They had such friendly greeters at the door, people
in the pews were friendly and chatting to friends in a normal voice, not that
hush ‘church’ tone I was used to. And then the ‘dominee’ had on an open-necked
short sleeved shirt and his name was just Rod. Not pastor, not dominee, not
reverend, not minister, not even Mr., just Rod. Almost like someone else I knew…just
Jesus.
If I my
memory serves me correctly the sermon was about how we describe Jesus. So he
used some examples cos early on a Christmas morning the brain matter is not so
lekker wakker. If we hear Kit Kat, we immediately say: ‘Have a break’. When we
hear Smarties, its: ‘what a lot I got’. And for Bells…give that man a bells.
(now at this point I knew I was in the twilight zone version of churches cos
the dominee is talking and joking about whiskey on Christmas morning. LOL)
And
then he asked us what do we think of when we hear the name Jesus and Isaiah 9:6
tells us:
For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace.
It’s
been 4 years and I still remember this sermon so well. It reminded me of the
lesson my mom about Christmas as a little girl. That simple message is what is
all about. Who is Jesus? The greatest gift ever.
I have
attended BPC Christmas service every year since then and in July 2011, I became
a member and loving it.
I
think it really doesn’t matter where you attend church on Christmas morning,
just as long as we hear more of the good news of the gift that saved the world.
THE BEST GIFT EVER!!!!!
