Go tell it on the mountain!

24th Dec 2010, Friday. It’s Christmas Eve! First time being so relax for my Christmas. 😛 Always been busy for the last few years when coming to Christmas. Finally, the first Christmas in US. In fact, Christmas Eve is an important day for US people. I believe this is the day they’ll choose to gather at home, have a great dinner, exchanging presents, and enjoy their family moments. Well, it seems like I ain’t gonna have a “White Christmas” here because it’s not even snowing. But I did enjoy myself in this peaceful silent night. 🙂

十二月二十四日，星期五。今天是平安夜。真難得，第一次那麼地輕鬆自在。以往的聖誕節前夕，通常都會為了很多的事物而忙碌，教會的節目一羅羅，忙完這裡忙那裡。終於，今年我就在這陌生的地方渡過我的平安夜。平安夜，對於這裡的人來說，應該算是很重要的日子吧。今天是假期，很多人都會從各地回來，和家人團聚，一起享受美好的晚餐，交換禮物，享受天倫之樂。儘管外面的天氣寒冷，和家人一起的溫馨愉快卻也暖和了每個人的心。不過看來我這次也沒有機會過所謂的“白色聖誕”了，這裡雖然有點冷，還是沒有下雪，真的有點失望，哈哈。不過無論如何，我也蠻享受這裡寂靜安恬的平安夜哦。我在下午四時就去了教會的平安夜崇拜。這也是我第一次看到那麼多人！今天共有三次的崇拜，我是去第一堂的，也可能因為這樣所以比較多人吧。崇拜是已一班的小朋友唱聖誕歌開始的。嗯，還算不錯啦，不過我覺得AIM教會的主日學唱得比他們好很多了，哈哈。然後，就是敬拜讚美，我學了一首的新歌（可能只有我啦，因為我沒聽過，嘻嘻）他們用爵士搖滾的曲風，還真的蠻特別，找到了以下的一首，有點像，大家可以聽聽看，哈哈。

I attended the church’s Christmas Eve service. This is the first time I saw sooooo many people in the service. There are 3 services in a row. I went for the first one at 4pm. It was crowded when I arrived. The service started with the caroling from the kids. Nice one but I thought AIM’s Joy Kids sang better than them. 😛 Then following by the P&W. I learned a “new” christmas song. (Maybe is new for me only since I never heard before) “Go tell it on the mountain”, a jazz rock style. Really like it. 🙂 Found the following one from YouTube, which is quite similar.

Then, we have “Little Drummer Boy”, “Silent Night”, “Hark the Herald Angels”, etc. All these songs made me missed the time in AIM. After the P&W, they performed a short sketch before the sermon. Really interesting and funny, yet inspiring. There were 3 girls presenting their presents to Jesus. All were in modern styles. One gave Jesus a T-shirt, printed with “WWID”, meaning “What Would I Do”, instead of WWJD. Then, second one gave him a Bible, just for in case he forgot his own words. Then, the third one gave him a bag of sands and a small cross. They all got angry and upset when they saw Jesus did not feel surprise and happy with the presents. Then they walked away angrily leaving Jesus mumbled the last sentence:”I don’t need any of these, except you…” Yea, Christmas might be too commercial that people start forgetting the real meaning of it. Pastor challenged the church, asking the parents to story their kids with the story of Jesus, and had a devotion time with them on Christmas morning. All of us were given a small booklet: “The coming Christmas & the birth of the long-awaited King”. Read it, it’s a nice story of Jesus. Really inspiring.

然後，就唱了一連串的聖誕歌，讓我懷念起在教會的日子，在那裡的你們還好嗎？過後，就是一個很搞笑很有趣的短劇。他們用比較摩登的方式來呈現，服裝和對白都是現代化的。話說有三個女孩，他們為耶穌準備了他們精心炮製的禮物。第一個給耶穌的是一件T桖，印著WWID，就是“我會如何做？”，因為是給耶穌的。第二個給耶穌的是一本聖經，她說萬一耶穌忘了自己的話時可以參考，而且上面還鑲著金字有耶穌的名字。第三個給了耶穌一包的沙和一個十字架。他們都各自有一大堆的原因為何給耶穌那些的禮物，而且還是他們花了很多的心機才想到的。結果他們都很生氣，因為耶穌並沒有因著那些的禮物而覺得驚喜和開心。他們很生氣的走開了，剩下耶穌一個人在那裡，說了最後的一句對白：“我想要的並不是什麼精心炮製的禮物，而是你們。。。” 的確，聖誕節的真正意義已經越來越少人曉得。所以，牧師也趁這個機會挑戰所有的父母親，要他們在聖誕節的早上，用一段的時間，和他們的孩子們一起靈修，告訴他們聖經裡面耶穌的故事，以及聖誕節的真正意義。而我們每個人也在會後得到一本的小冊子，裡面寫的是關於耶穌的故事。真的很好讀，很有意思。

Oh ya, there was one thing happened just before we end the service. The song leader was leading the last song:”Joy to the World”. But don’t know why he sang the wrong key. And, you know what? He smiled and said:”Would you all forgive me for this?” Then, the whole church clapped for him and he start over the song with the correct key. Ha ha, I was somehow amazed by what he did. Not everyone got the courage to apologized in public for the mistake and start all over again. If for me, I might just skip over it and pretended nothing happen at all. Good lesson for me. 😛

哦，對了，在散會前，唱最後的一首歌的時候，台上的那位主領，不懂為何好像是唱錯了調，結果他就笑著說：“對不起，你們可以原諒我的過失嗎？”。登時全部人都拍手給他鼓勵，他也重新再開始唱過。嘻嘻，我還真的蠻佩服他的勇氣。畢竟，在台上要承認自己的錯誤是一件很不容易的事。他的勇氣和坦然讓我學習到，認錯一點也不羞恥，反而是件讓人敬佩的事。

Some excerpt from the last chapter: “Two Kingdoms”
這些都是從那本小冊子中抄下來的：兩個國度

“Christmas is about a king and his kingdom. It’s about a manger becoming a throne.
The contrast between Herod and Jesus is startling. Herod was only out for himself, stopping at nothing to preserve his kingdom. Jesus, who was equal to God did not consider his status.
While Herod was sacrificing the world for himself, the true King of kings was sacrificing himself for the world.
…
…
Herod’s kingdom is the easy path, but it leads to death, fear and destruction. Jesus’ kingdom requires much more of us, but it leads to life, love and hope.
Just like Jesus, when we choose hope, we not only choose a difficult path, we choose a future life – a life in God’s renewed world.”

一面聽著聖誕歌，一面享受著我的熱巧克力飲料，讀著主耶穌的故事，這就是我在這裡渡過最特別的平安夜。