Beyond thankful for this Christmas at my church.
It was literal insanity. 6 services total. 2 on the 23rd and FOUR today.
But it was so fun. We finished with Phil Wickham’s “The King Is in the Room” (it was perfect thematically despite not being a Christmas song overtly), and the energy was so high and the whole worship team was basically just having a party to finish the service off.
In the last service, our worship leader actually went down to the floor at the front of the stage and walked around with a moving camera on him. Team members were hyping each other up and dancing and laughing and playing/singing their hearts out, singers were popping into the camera shot in funny ways… man. That was an absolute blast and I can confidently say this was my favorite Christmas season we’ve done, despite it being stressful at first.
The music was more simple than we usually do, and that was intentional. Christmas last year was very stressful and hurt-filled, and our worship leader quit only a few months later, which spiraled this team into grief and anger. But the simplicity I think allowed us to relax into joy and fun.
I think I’m finally at a point of healing. It came through talking to some people about how I was struggling and, I think, a word from God last night. I can’t be sure it was Him, but I had this thought of “That last worship leader was the previous chapter. We’re moving on to the next.” And for me, that was powerful, because it’s allowing me to finally move on I think from seeing this as a LOSS. It feels less like a loss now and more like the close of the chapter with that worship leader. I think I am finally experiencing peace with it, and the way that thought occurred to me makes me think it was from God to help me.
This was so fun. I’ve never been as close to this team as I am this year. For a long time I barely knew them and didn’t feel really part of the team. Now they’re family. We’ve been through so much this year and we have grieved, some of us heavily. But I think these Christmas services, especially tonight, were what we needed. Joy and fun to come and fill in the heaviness we’ve had for so long.