Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve here in Tokyo as I write this.  I have just come back from being at church.  I signed up to help usher for the 4 pm service, which focuses mostly on children, telling the Christmas story for them.

Spotlight is on the readers. 

There were a quite a few people there for the 4 pm service.  I was in charge of taking care of balcony.  At first I thought it wouldn't be very busy, but it filled up.  It was a nice service.
I had about an hour and a half before I had to get ready to usher for the 7 pm service.  Many people are still working during the 4 pm and 7 pm services, so I thought since I'm not working, I could volunteer.
I had been wanting to try out this burger place not far from church on Sundays but there is usually quite a line up and I'm not that patient to wait that long.  Tonight I thought I'd walk by and see if there was a line up.  It turns out, no line and I could get a seat right away.  I ordered the double cheeseburger with wedges.

The big triangular paper is used to put your burger in when you eat it.  

Interesting decor 

Entrance

The burger was okay, but I was kind of disappointed.  I found the hamburger was spiced up and I'm not a huge fan of strong spices in the hamburger.  It's fine though.
The 7 pm and the 9 pm services have a little different feel than the 4 pm service, with the sanctuary choir singing, organ playing and the pastors wearing their robes.  During all three services we light the candles.  It looks pretty and sounds pretty great also.  Enjoy the sound.  There is a green screen for a few seconds at the beginning, but the sound comes through well.

 I am blessed to be able to worship with a diverse congregation.  They were good Christmas eve services.  I hope you are able to take time to worship Christ's birth and what his birth means for us today.  

Merry Christmas!