Christmas at Fairlawn-West

For those of you not there, the Christmas Eve service was the most amazing service of that type I have ever been a part of. With Ed Upton playing King Herod, Al Ploenes as Caesar Augustus, John Gossett playing John the Baptist, and Karen Myers, Becky Gossett, & Patty Kerr playing the wisemen...and only one of those folks was even present for the service. We had all kinds of people playing different roles as we read the THREE Gospel versions of Jesus come to earth and used pictures of people around our church as the different roles were mentioned. We had kids chatting and laughing. We even had adults chatting and laughing. And music that went in all kinds of directions. We ended with communion/healing/prayer. And the place was packed. PLus, the Sun Morn Band hosted the wassail party before the service with umph from lead singer Helen Franks. That was a great lead into the evening.

Jim Davis, bass player in the Sun Morn Band, sang a song from over 30 years ago by "The Band." Here is a link to a page with the original and other versions of the song along with a link to a background page on it (thanks Rick Sonnecken) http://www.fairlawnwest.org/xmasmusic.htm and down below are the lyrics. A lot of us "swung" into Christmas with this song. - David Loar

Christmas Must Be Tonight

Come down to the manger, see the little stranger
Wrapped in swaddling clothes, the prince of peace
Wheels start turning, torches start burning
And the old wise men journey from the East

CHORUS:How a little baby boy bring the people so much joy
Son of a carpenter, Mary carried the light
This must be Christmas, must be tonight

A shepherd on a hillside, while over my flock I bide
Oh a cold winter night a band of angels sing
In a dream I heard a voice saying "fear not, come rejoice
It's the end of the beginning, praise the new born king"
CHORUS

I saw it with my own eyes, written up in the skies
But why a simple herdsmen such as I
And then it came to pass, he was born at last
Right below the star that shines on high