Danny ChaiThe Christmas Eve service was pretty good this year. Not as reverent as I would have liked but whatever, beggars can’t be choosers. No idea what that means.
Anyway, the EM led the service and it’s fascinating. I dunno, this is a bold claim but I’m going to say that the church here is the only place I’ve seen the Korean and English ministries both thrive. I still have my doubts as to whether it can work in general, but yeah, it’s going pretty well here and you can see that there are advantages to it. Like the symbiosis makes the youth group stronger. Stuff like that.
Anyway, the pastor was basically saying how Jesus is the reason for the season, the normal stuff. But he’s hard core about it. Like, he doesn’t get gifts for his three boys. Because it’s not about them, it’s about Jesus. I think he eschews cards also. I dunno, seems like a convenient philosophy but I think he actually gives gifts to family and friends during Thanksgiving instead. Kinda makes sense. One holiday to appreciate others, one to celebrate Jesus. I dunno, interesting at least.
Two things annoyed me though. One was that worship was way too loud. This is my new #1 pet peeve in worship. Just, I can still worship to bad music. It’s harder, but possible. But with loud music, it’s impossible. I just can’t concentrate. It’s like being pounded into worship submission. SN. I once visited this church in LA that was worse. Not only was it loud, but the EM service was separated from the high school service by a flimsy partition, so each of them were competing with the other to be louder. I think my ears were bleeding.
The other thing was, his whole message was basically Jesus alone, and then after the service, during fellowship time, the sound people play music about Santa Claus. I dunno, I just thought it was funny.