Operation Christmas Child 2009

Operation Christmas Child Night 2009
Youth Director Adam R. Quine
November 15th, 2009
Upper Youth Room of FPC Owensboro
“Love Waiting in a Box”

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

It is that time of year again, isn’t it?
All the stores are playing holiday music.
Starbucks is using the red holiday cups to serve their warm beverages.
Frosty, reindeer, the elves, and Santa Claus are starting to make their ways into the stores, too.
It seems to be here again, the Holiday season.

With the return of these holiday seasons, comes the opportunity for us to begin to spread good news, the same good news that came to us 2000 years ago. What good news am I talking about?
(Jesus. Yea, Jesus.)

We have the opportunity again guys and gals to put together a box of hope and love for some children all across the world. This year we are doing the shoebox ministry again, and this is why we have gathered here tonight with you all. We have gathered together up here in our upper youth room to sing, worship, pray, and then put the good news we know of and put it into action.

This morning in worship you guys heard some pretty amazing stories from some of the older kids, didn’t you, about their experiences with mission work. They talked about their experiences with poverty, they mentioned how they could not believe some of the things they saw, and then they talked about what they did about it. Tonight friends, we have the same opportunity as they, to take a stand against poverty and send God’s love to the world in a shoebox!

Activity:
450,000,000,000Have 2 kids make the numbers 4 & 5.

Every year we find ourselves this time of year getting excited for many different things. If you are your parent’s age, they perhaps, get excited about spending time with you guys, making dinners and what not. If you are your grandparent’s age, they are excited they get to spend time with you guys, their grandchildren, great grandchildren, and that they have another year with their children. If you were my age, you get excited because it means a time of year when I get to go home to Peoria to spend time with all my family and friends. We are all excited about our families, friends, food, and the spirit of being together.

Now if we are you guys, we are excited for a few different things as well, huh? What are some things we are excited about?
Late nights and sleepovers!
No school!
Food!
Cold weather!
Christmas trees and decorations!
Presents!

Presents are fun, huh? I always got excited seeing the presents build up and trying to guess what was wrapped up and what not. I also, now that I am older, enjoy giving presents to Teresa, my family, and to my new nieces and nephews. Christmas can be lots and lots of fun and is, but sometimes we miss the point about it, huh?

All around us if we look we see lots and lots and lots and lots of Christmas stuff, huh? We hear Christmas stuff? We smell Christmas stuff? Christmas stuff has come and Christmas is still a whole month away. How many of you before school starts, start pretending as if you are in school? You know, getting up early, sitting at a desk, reading, writing, doing your homework, and studying? Not too many of you do or would do it.

We spend money, lots and lots of money on Christmas. Guess how much?
(This then is when we line the kids up to explain we spend $450 billion on Christmas.)

How incredible is that? We spend $450,000,000,000 on Christmas in America alone!

Now how would you guys like to do something about that? How would you all like to get back to what Christmas was all about?

(Show Advent Conspiracy Video)

Give more presence.
Love like Jesus.
How would Jesus spend Christmas?
Worship fully. Spend Less. Give More. Love All.

Tonight we enter the story. We enter the advent story by worshiping fully, spending less on us, giving more to others and loving all of God’s children. Tonight we have gathered here to send God’s love, our love, and Christ’s love to Children all across the globe in the form of a shoebox. Usually though, we have our worship time. We sing. We pray. We laugh a bit. We have a good time. Then we make our way down to the shoe box stations and we fill our boxes and we do it again and this all take about 5 minutes. Then we are done, until next year. When we gather and do the same thing over and over and over!

What can we do then to make this more personal, a little more incarnational, and a little more real for us and for the children who may receive our boxes? We are going to take some time, sit down, pray, and write cards to put in these boxes. We are going to write them messages of love, hope, peace, and joy. After all, this is what Jesus came for. We will send them the message of love by saying, we give you this gift because we love you. We will send the message of peace by sending them a box which will give them time to play, to worry less for only a moment, and to give them an opportunity to be a kid, like you all. We are sending a box of hope by letting them know somewhere all around the world there are people who care for them and wanted to let them know so. Our messages in a box will bring a smile and laughter to their faces, and let’s be honest; there is nothing as joyful as those things!

We may not have many toys this year to stuff in the boxes. In fact, many of these toys may not have cost nearly as much as the stuff we will get. Our boxes may be filled with things we don’t appreciate such as toothbrushes, pencils, and toys in general. Yet what this box means to these children goes beyond our understanding. Imagine if what you put in these boxes is all you got for the whole year. All of 2010 and all you got was a box full of these toys. This is what they get, this is what they hope for, this is what they wait for.

You see, these children wait for this little box of toys to come to them, they wait for a long time. Much like the people in the bible did. These children wait for the good news which comes in the form of some small toys and miscellaneous items in a small, cardboard box. Much like the people did when they were waiting for someone to come, rescue them, and in doing so, bring them good news of a new way of life! God’s love comes to these children through a box full of joys. Much like how God’s love came in a feeding trough in the form of a small child some 2000 years ago.

This year, it isn’t going to be like the other years is it? We’re going to slow down this year. We are going to be pray more and prepare more. Together, we’ll intentionally put our boxes together, thinking carefully about what we are doing, and being thoughtful of those who will receive our gifts. Together, we will take a stand against poverty by using our resources to provide for others. Together we will show people that there is still good in the world.

Together, in a shoebox, we will proclaim good news that will impact a child’s life. We will be sending over God’s love to a place where love is needed.

Together we will bring heaven to earth for a bunch of children like you! You will make a difference; much like that infant did so many years ago, in the life of the world.

You ready?

Let us pray.
God of life and the giver of the best gift, our lives, we give you thanks a praise for your love and the way this love comes to us. Tonight as we continue in our worship, we pray you will give us eyes to see you, ears to hear you, and a readiness to receive you, so that we may continue in the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet, especially to those who may receive our shoe boxes full of toys.

We pray for them now, wherever they may be and whoever they are. Hold them in your parental love and guidance, pouring your compassion and mercy out upon them the way you do for us here. Provide peace for them where peace is not present. Provide hope for them where hope no longer seems to reside. We pray for the children who may have no families or homes and we pray you will give them courage to endure their days. Come to them and shine light onto their paths and let them not walk aimlessly but with a confidence and courage which can only come from you.

We are grateful for your love O God and how you have met us where we are. Be with us wherever we go and remind us to look for you in all we meet and see. Help us to love one another and to care for one another the way you call us to, God of community, Holy in One. Let us never neglect any of your children or turn our eyes from those being hurt or close our ears off to the cries of those who need our help. Never let us older people be so set in our ways that we refuse to hear the voices of our young brothers and sisters or prevent them from contributing. For all your children O God, keep them dreaming dreams you approve and living in the spirit of the young man Jesus, for it is through Jesus we pray and pray the prayer he taught us to pray saying together: