A Story You Should Rent

During the Christmas season our creative staff tries to present the Christmas story along with all it's teachable principles as best we can and in a way that is fresh, practical and meaningful. Of Course, the Christmas story never changes and it needs to be shared every year.

As a kid growing up in church I remember cynically thinking...."Well it is December, time to hear about: Mary, Joseph, the donkey, the inn-keeper, the manger, the angels, the shepherds and of course the wise men. I had heard the same sermons and Sunday School lessons during the four weeks of December my whole life.

I have to be honest with you. As a kid and then teenager hearing the same story over and over and over and over at the same time of year....it was very boring. I loved Jesus and the fact that he came as a "babe in the manger" to be the Savior of the world. However, the presentations from my teachers and pastor were the same every year. (I later learned that he was like many pastors...they actually use the same sermons every year....yuck!) No practical application to current events. No creative way of telling the same story so that it may be applied differently this year as the listener is going through different things in his or her life. Nope...just telling the story as if it were "Dick & Jane going up the hill!"

Of course, at CSF, we always teach the story during this time of year. However, we focus on trying to present in a way that is creative, experiential, moving, practical and fun...all this while never losing the simple message of the greatest story ever told. Every year is a little different than the last, but all help us appreciate the story in a life-changing way.

The next two Sundays have been designed to touch those who have been Christ followers for a while and know the story very well AND for those who are novices to the story of Christ. Be praying about who it is that you can invite! It will change their life!

Now....what Story should you rent? I highly recommend you rent and watch with your family the movie "The Nativity Story" which came out last year. It is well done and will shed some light on what Mary and Joseph had to go through in a very personal way. Having heard the story my whole life and having taught if for 17 years....I was moved and "felt" the story in a whole new way!

You should also start reading the story...Here is a good place to start:

Luke 1: 1-2 "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the world. Therefore.....

Go ahead...grab your Bible and take time to read the story!