Christmas Cafe 5

By Pastor Joe

We are 6 days away from our Christmas Café. As I write my article on the Thursday, one week prior to the weekend event, there are many individuals in the church getting things (decorated) accomplished. I'm very excited about the transformation which has taken place over the last few days and weeks. I am hoping and praying we have visitors who have never attended a previous Christmas Café event. The sanctuary/fellowship hall/entrance/whole church is going to look beautiful, and so many people are working very hard to give it an Advent season special sparkle! There is still time for many of you to help. The half dozen individuals who are here often would appreciate any time you can offer up for this Christmas outreach.

People are worth all the effort we go through, to present Jesus with excellence, and so our Christmas Café is one of those key outreaches where we do our very best to show people the love of our Savior.

We could have decided to just have special worship services, and spent less time on this big event, it would be much easier and take less involvement by those in the congregation. However, I don’t think God wants us to do “just enough.” I think the extra effort we make says something to our visitors, and it says something to our brothers and sisters who call Hawthorne Assembly their church home. This will be my last article about the Christmas Café, but the message of Christmas and the Wonder of Christmas will continue on. Our theme Winter Wonderland is so appropriate for Northwest Wisconsin, although this might be the first Christmas Café without snow! The music, the message, and the mouth-watering treats surrounded by the scenery, is all focused on the biblical message of God coming to us as one of us! Jesus is the ultimate Wonder of Christmas. The story never gets old. God Himself took on the form of a man and lived among us for 33 years as Emmanuel.

My goal is…your involvement in these types of outreaches will motivate you to be even more committed to reaching out to your world. Hopefully your thoughts, like mine, are often thinking about someone’s eternal condition. Yes, it’s part of my calling, but it is also my calling to make disciples who think more about the eternal than the temporal. During Christmas, most of us are so busy getting things ready for our own Christmas celebration with family and friends, the world around us can be seen as just another person filling up the streets or the checkout line. As mentioned in a previous article, all of us should be just as focused on the LOST as we are on our LIST! So, thanks again for your efforts in making this Christmas Café very impactful.