Christmas Eve

I published this post last year on Christmas Eve, and it still holds just as true today!

Christmas Eve Service

One of the traditions I have at Christmas is one that I have gained within the last 10 years, that is the tradition of a Christmas Eve service. In the church I am currently in, and the one I previously served in, the Christmas Eve service was a family service. As a Children’s Pastor I absolutely believe in age specific classes for children on a regular basis, but there is something so special about families worshipping together on Christmas Eve. Just tonight I attended the Christmas Eve service at Liberty and I was reminded again how wonderful it is to have multiple generations of families celebrating the miracle of Christmas together. At first sight you would see a dimly lit, packed sanctuary. You would hear the rustling of people and the cries and talking of children. These things may seem like a distraction or even seem to take away from the “atmosphere” of the holiday. But to me it just makes it even more Christmas Eve. You see we know from the account in Luke 2 that Bethlehem was very crowded. In fact it was so crowded that Mary and Joseph could not find any room in an inn. The light wasn’t good and so the young couple was trying to find their way around the stable to the best that they could. I can imagine Joseph trying to make it seem more like a room for his young bride who was soon to deliver her son. 

Because Joseph and Mary were in a stable, in a crowded town, we can be pretty sure that things were far from quiet. There were probably babies crying out, overheard conversations, and even the animals making noise. It was far from a silent night, and definitely not as put together as a pretty nativity scene that we all observe each year. So hearing babies crying out or squeezing in a little closer than normal in a pew just reminds me of that miracle that happened so many years ago. The miracle of God coming to earth as a helpless baby in a less than perfect situation in a world with "no room" for Him. May these Christmas Eve services always remind me of the simple beginnings of Christmas and not allow me to get caught up in the elaborate celebrations.

It is because of this that Christmas Eve services are one of my favorite traditions at Christmas time. If you have never experienced this type of worship I would encourage you to find a church that does it. I have been blessed to serve in two churches that believe in worshipping as a family on Christmas Eve and it is something that has become very important to me.

Thankfully Growing at the Grove!

Miss Megan

Celebrating Christmas With the Family

First of all let me apologize for not keeping up with my blog posts. I guess you could say that I fell off the edge of the earth for a while. But don't worry I am back and quickly catching up.

Most of you probably know this about me but I love the Christmas season. I call it a season because I celebrate Christmas for at least the entire month of December if not longer.  There is so much to be done that I simply cannot fit it into just one day or even one week.

One of the big things about Christmas for me is celebrating with my family or families as it may be from year to year. I think this is so important because we are celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. And it is through his birth and eventual death that we get to truly have a family relationship with God. Jesus came to take away our sins once and for all and to reconnect us with God the Father in a real way. We can now have the Father/child relationship that God always wanted with us. And that is definitely something to celebrate.

 I hope that each of you take the time to enjoy celebrating Christmas with your family, whoever that may be.


Continually Growing at The Grove

Miss Megan

Why I Celebrate Advent

I love Christmas, and there are many traditions that I have when it comes to the Christmas season. Celebrating Advent is one of those traditions. I love the counting down to Christmas, and doing it in a way that celebrates the birth of our Savior.

The Israelite people were waiting and looking for the promised Messiah for many years, there were descriptions given to them of what this Messiah was going to be like. And with great anticipation they waited. I believe that we too should have a sense of anticipation when it comes to celebrating Christmas.
Counting down the Sundays leading to Christmas and taking time out to focus on Jesus is a great way to get you and your family into the spirit of the true meaning of Christmas. There are some more traditional ways to celebrate advent that have to do with the lighting of the candles, and then there are devotionals that help us to focus and celebrate in the same way.

Each year I try to supply some type of advent devotional for the families in my ministries so that together they can spend time celebrating and anticipating the birth of our Savior. There was so much that went into the foretelling, conception,  announcements, and birth of Jesus that it is hard to sum it up all at once. Taking the whole month to truly appreciate the whole of these events is a great way to celebrate, in my opinion.

I hope that each of you take the time this month to celebrate the greatest gift of Christmas, our Savior sent as a baby to earth.


Continually Growing at The Grove!

Miss Megan

Lessons Learned

I am continually reminded that valuable lessons are being taught each week to the children in our churches. These lessons are not only for kids, they are also ones that we as adults need to be reminded of.

Today I had the privilege of teaching preschool chapel at Lakeview today. This month they are learning about being thankful. This is a topic that always gets plenty of coverage during the month of November. However, thankfulness is something that should be observed every day.

I am reminded of a song found on the Veggie Tales Madame Blueberry episode.

I thank God for this day,
For the sun in the sky,
For my mom and my dad,
For my piece of apple pie!
For our home on the ground,
For His love that's all around,
That's why I say thanks every day!
Because a thankful heart is a happy heart
I'm glad for what I have,
That's an easy way to start!
For the love that He shares,
'Cause He listens to my prayers,
That's why I say thanks every day!

This is a habit that we all should add to our lives. A lesson from childhood that is not to be forgotten, taking time to thank God every day.

Thankfully Growing at The Grove!

Miss Megan

Following God...

We all go through times were it feels as if we are in the dark, we are lost and have little or no clue where our life is going. As Christians we have 

the promise that we do not have to go through life alone. In Psalm 23 we see that God is our Shepherd leading us everywhere we are to go.

Psalm 23 (with emphasis)

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

All we need to do is to trust and follow God. There will be times when he seems silent, but remember he is always right beside us, holding our hand and leading the way. 

Continually Growing at The Grove!

Miss Megan

The Value of Prayer

A lot of times you hear stories of how people were blessed by someone praying for them, and how they felt those prayers in a time they needed it most. And I too can share stories of how I have had those times myself. But lately God has been reminding me of the joy and blessing that comes from praying for someone. 

I have a notebook in which I keep a list of people that I pray for daily, and on subsequent pages I list out specific prayer needs that come up. Each day I pray through these pages and I love this time spent talking to the God of the universe about the little and big things going on in our lives. 

Recently I have begun the prayer campaign with the church and I have found myself looking forward to that portion of my prayer time. In fact there have been times when I read the page for that day first and then after praying the scripture over my teens I went back and prayed it for my entire list as well. I know that I have no power in my prayers. They are just words issuing from my mouth. But my God has more power than is imaginable and he has promised that his word will not return void. He has promised that when we call out to him he will answer. And I am banking on those promises as I pray. 

Prayer is a blessing for both sides, the ones praying and the ones being prayed for. I hope that every Christian gets to experience this blessing from both sides in a real way.

Gratefully Growing at The Grove

Miss Megan

Taking Time

I missed posting here last week because I was on vacation. It was very enjoyable and I was sad to see it end. But one thing that being on vacation reminded me of is that all of us need to take time every now and then to just get away from our day to day grind. You do not have to go far away, in fact you do not have to go anywhere at all if you don't want to. But what we all need is to have some time a day, or two every now and again to stop checking our phones and email, leave the housework, and job behind, and just rest and rejuvenate. This looks different for everyone. For some it may be reading a book, for others it might be exploring somewhere new, it could be going shopping with friends, for others it might be getting a full nights rest and maybe even a nap. Whatever you need to do to take time for yourself, make sure that you make the time to do that. This is the example we were given by God during creation. He took time to rest, and so why should we feel the need to work harder than God?

Gracefully Growing at The Grove!

Miss Megan