Blessed Christmas!
Christmas, a season of love, joy, peace and hope! Indeed, Christmas is the time of the year where people gather all around, smiling, laughing and waiting eagerly to unwrap their presents. But for us believers, we know that beneath the façade of this man-made happiness for this joyous occasion lies a deeper meaning. One that speaks about hope, life and love.
For us at GCC, we decided to celebrate Christmas 2009 at our very own land here at e-Gate. Thankfully, God showed us favour as the management of e-Gate allowed us to go around the area to sing Christmas carols. We were even more grateful to know that many of the shop owners were more than welcome to invite us to sing during the Christmas season! Praise the Lord for such opportunities! The main agenda was to simply share the message of love, joy, peace and hope within the premises of e-Gate through Christmas carols. Other than sharing the true message of Christmas, we saw this as an opportunity for us to be build relationships with the people around e-Gate as well.
Warming up our voices!
Having the opportunity to sing carols around e-Gate was another reassurance of God’s favour upon the church. As we sang carols in the shops and walked around meeting people, we were reminded of how Joshua led the people to march around the walls of Jericho. Similarly, we believe our presence at e-Gate during the Christmas season was also to tear down spiritual walls and barriers. There’s no better way to bring down these walls than to sing about the birth of Jesus Christ!
Bringing down the spiritual walls at e-Gate with Christmas carols!
Every evening from the 22nd-25th December, we had variations of Christmas carolling programmes planned out as we stationed ourselves at the centre court of e-Gate shop area. We began each carolling session at the centre court, performing a string of carols and also a few special performances such as dance and song items before proceeding into the the different shops located at e-Gate. We were gladly invited by people from Starbucks, El Mondo’s Pizza and Hongkie. It was really great to see that people enjoyed the carols that speak of the celebration of love, hope, joy and peace. It’s a small step to making Him famous but nonetheless, a crucial step!
Pastor Edward leading the carollers with his strumming.
Our carolling escapade culminated on the final day with an open house dinner at Pastor Edward’s place. After our last carolling session at e-Gate on 25 December, all of us headed over to Pastor Edward’s house for GCC’s Christmas dinner, a dinner to really just celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. A good number of visitors joined us for the dinner as well. The carollers made their final appearance for Christmas 2009 with a few carols along with a dance piece presented by Nat and Ash. We truly thank God for the opportunity given to us to share with the people about the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ even though it was only through the Christmas carols. From the little that we do, God can do great things!
Nat and Ash, performing a dance piece at the Christmas dinner!
As quickly as it came, Christmas soon passed us by. But as believers, we must be reminded that Christmas is not a ‘one-day’ event per se, but rather a day-to-day experience and celebration of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Christmas should be celebrated 365 days a year, 24 hours a day! So in line with that, we here at GCC would like to wish you a Blessed Christmas today! 