Christmas Service in Los Calabazos

Spent the morning at one of the small church plants named Los Calabazos. It is December 26 and only 9 people there today, including my family. It's always a small group. We praised God, celebrated His birth. After a time of worship. I shared a message. At times, I feel discouraged and unsure of how to help such a small church. Today as we celebrated Christmas together, I was struck with the low level of fan fare when Christ was born. Yes, the angels sang and that had to be amazing...but it seems most others missed what was going on that first Christmas.

Spending Christmas in the Dominican Republic is a different experience that we are used to. We miss all the celebrations that our church in Minnesota has each year. Today, we enjoyed a small celebration with some simple mountain folk. Christmas for them isn't about giving presents. There are not any big programs. In fact, the service wasn't any different then any other Sunday.

Trying to make a little different, we requested that we sing some Christmas songs and they could only think of one song. They sang it and we sang Joy to the World to them (in English). Julito said he had heard that tune but didn't know the words. When we asked how they celebrated their Christmas Eve and Day...they said they fasted. Most Dominicans have a big meal and they decided to fast.

Once again, I feel I am learning more from Dominicans then I could ever teach. My message to them was to avoid distractions and focus on Jesus a Christmas and at all times. Fasting is a great application of that message. There is a beauty in stripping away distractions. It helps us focus on what is really important.

I got to see a little of that today. I am not saying that we all need to fast or that programs are bad...I love them. And I know that programs are meant to help us focus on Christ. It is just refreshing to see a different way to celebrate.