A man stared at me from a distance. I thought I had met him before. I later found out I hadn’t. He was holding five shopping bags in his two muscular arms. His two boys were sitting on Santa’s lap for a memorable picture of the year. I stopped and asked the man if we had met before. He looked at me in the eyes and said, “Never mind young man; at this time of year I normally lose my mind. My wife has been in Victoria Secrets for more than three hours now. My kids are having their best of Santa; and I don’t know where my daughter has wondered off to. No body seems to care that I will be at work tomorrow morning. Well, I guess this is what holidays are all about.”
For anyone who has ever dreamed of being a star or becoming a part of the wonderful A Christmas Carol tradition, this could be your ticket! By entering the Silent Night Auction, you could win one of five opportunities to perform on-stage with the company of A Christmas Carol. This could be your chance to visit Charles Dickens’ London and meet Ebenezer Scrooge as well as support Meadow Brook Theatre. It will be a holiday experience you will remember for many years to come. If you are the high bid winner, you and a guest will join the cast of A Christmas Carol and participate in all the street scenes. You will also receive a Meadow Brook Theatre tote bag filled with a coffee mug, a special compact disc of the carols from the show and two tickets to your performance so that your friends and family can see your on-stage debut.
What about this email from a dear pastor to his parishioners:
Dear Church members,
The Christmas Fair is this week. That means that the final time to shop on line for the Silent Auction is 1:00 pm on Friday. Please visit our Church website to start shopping now. The Fair opens at 5 on Friday with good food available for your dinner in the kitchen as well as on the bake table. The auction closes at 2 pm on Saturday, one hour before the Fair closes. Come and bid for your favorite items. Many parishioners have been working hours to offer you their hand crafted items. We also have books, cds, white elephant offerings, electronics, a basket of gourmet treats and other items to be sold by chances on Grandmas table, lots of home baked goods, and a delicious meal to keep you shopping and visiting. It is a wonderful time to share. Join us and bring all of your friends.
In marketing there is something called brand equity and I have always wanted to measure how much equity “Brand Christmas” has. Without being too “busynessy,” brand equity can be defined as: The added value a brand name identity brings to a product or service beyond the functional benefits provided; a positive image established through name recognition; the financial value of a brand to the bottom line profit of a business; The value - both tangible and intangible that a brand adds to a product or service.
I know some of you are wondering where I am going with this, but I think it is important for me to start from Christmas as we develop our subject on Church marketing and “Brand Church.” Some of you expressed your concerns telling me that it is okay to market the Church as long as we stick to the essential product which is Christ. I find this an interesting paradigm and I am willing to explore this line of thought. But at this time I would like to start with Christmas and explore with you how Christmas is bound up or not bound up with Christ. May be later on we will talk about the Church’s sacred space and see how much we can do with it in relation to the mission of Christ. This will take us into Church schools, million dollar Church buildings, state of the art Church sound systems, Church gyms, Church auctions, Church coffee shops, Church boutiques, and a few others.
At this time though, I would like to end with a solicitation for ideas about your Christmas and your Christmas gifts, both received and given. How do these play into the message of Christmas and how central are they to the man of the season? Are you auctioning silent night under your spotted Christmas tree or is this another day just like any other day for families to have fun and fellowship? How do you go about this?
If you can’t post a comment on my blog, just email me at amonikas@yahoo.fr
Merry Christmas and happy shopping!
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3 comments:
Hi Amon,
This is a good topic. I have many thoughts and will post only a few, lol. First of all, now that I work at a Christian nonprofit that helps orphans, my view of what is and is not important has been changing a lot. Many people who support this ministry are actually giving sponsorships as presents to their friends and family. How awesome is that - they are giving food, water, shelter, and a chance to know Jesus -- they are giving life. What could be more important?
I generally do not ask for presents at Christmas. I have always been like that, though when i was younger, my parents asked me to make a list of what i wanted. It was always very hard for me, because i did not want anything. Nevertheless, they always generously showered me with gifts, and I don't regard that as a fault, but as a sign of their love for me. However, I have always thought that if I had children (don't hold your breath), I would encourage them to look outward -- not just at Christmas, but always. There are so many people who have so much less. We hear this drummed into our heads alot, but at the same time, i think we have become numbed to it. It is easy to forget that others do not have the basic essentials of life when you are not looking in one of these person's eyes. It is easy for these "people in need" to remain abstract. It is much easier to look at your own children and give them gifts. I'm not saying that's bad - to love and protect your own children -- but maybe we need a bit more outward perspective. Maybe for every gift we give our own children here in America, we also give that much to another child far away, who we may never see, never hold, never hear his or her laughter. Or maybe instead of spending Christmas with your own family and friends in a house, you sacrifice it by taking family and/or friends on a mission trip and bringing Christmas to children who have never known it before. The gifts we give do not always have to come in packages or signed by us. They can be our time, our energy, our gifts to make what we see as a small difference in someone's life, but which is really a huge gift to them --a gift that will last much longer than anything you can buy.
Another good one. Thanks. I live in Sun City, a community with a lot of single people with no relatives near by. Also, some folks don't have close friends. When I first moved here I asked a lady if she had had a nice Christmas and she said it was just like any other day -- nothing happened. From then on, my home has been open Christmas afternoon and early evening to anyone who wants to come and be with others on this beautiful day. I prepare food and people bring more. I play carols, have a manger scene, and although we don't talk about Jesus, everyone knows it's a Christian home. The most people I've had is 35 and that's a lot for my little house. This year I will have pictures on the table of goats and little adopted children.
Marty
The best part yes biasedly was the goat! Maybe I was more excited then them, but from (Pastor) Trevor's photos of the ladies who received the goats and those who didn't.. h ow lovely a present. My mom said, it was the best since it was helping others and really we had all we needed.
Funny enough the ones I took pride in wrapping (or the boxes/bags).. were either given back 'its too nice to keep' or dismantled... 'oh' was my response. Ha ha.
The prayer at Christmas dinner was 'From us to you Jesus, Happy Birthday' That was nice.
Can someone tell me why the church has strayed from traditional services (even in general!?) I myself although had relatives both grow up in tradional church, but when it finally came my 'turn'.. it never happened and instead friendship evangelism took place. Lovely too!
But I 'miss' a traditional (christmas) church service even though I never had one. I miss church being sacred... yes come as you are.. but this is the Lord of Lords.. the King of Kings.. the Heavenly Host.. His sanctuary, His worship place. When did we start to adapt to culture?
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