This is an incredible image from NASA showing the bright centre of a star cluster. I’m no astrophysicist but I can see that stars clustered together shine brighter than single stars. One of my favourite verses instructs us to shine like stars in the universe. This Christmas, let’s keep working together in our groups and our churches to shine even brighter than we could alone.
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.
Philippians 2:14-16
This series gives the opportunity to cluster all our sparkling seasonal activities, events, parties and community outreach opportunities together to inspire you with fresh ideas. Let’s make Christmas matter to as many people as we can this year.
Our first couple of ideas come from our president, Fiona Castle:
We have something called White Christmas, on Dec. 5th, which is especially for those who have lost loved ones over the year and beyond. It is a carol service with a difference, as we remember those we will miss so it is quite gentle and contemplative and then there is a tea party afterwards. It is always really popular as people are able to chat about loved ones or give testimonies during the service.
We also have lunches for widows. This is very much as an outreach, which welcomes non-Christians and we are doing a special Christmas one in December. Again it has brought in many people, literally “off the streets”!
We hope these ideas will inspire you to think about ways your church could provide compassionate and loving events for those who are grieving or going through a season of life alone. Does your church or group run anything similar? What kind of outreach opportunities do you get involved with over the next few weeks? We’d love to feature ideas for all ages, all budgets, last-minute planners, introverts, extroverts… whether it seems obvious or not, we want to hear from you! Please get in touch – your idea could add some real sparkle to someone’s Christmas hundreds of miles away from you!