Shanghai Huai'en Church or Grace Church held a Christmas praise&worship service on Wednesday.
As early as December 13th, the church issued a notice, saying that due to the COVID-19, believers should bring the appointment card to make on-site appointments on that day and they planned to admit 800 participants.
So the believers with the regular appointment card entered the sanctuary, while some without it lined up to register to get a seat number.
In the hall, flowers were in front of the altar, and above it hung the words “Celebrate the birth of our savior”. A prelude sounded: "Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright..."
After the scriptures’ reading, the choir presented three carols The Little Christ Child is Born for Us, King Is Born and Star of Bethlehem. Then based on Luke 2: 8-14, Elder Hu gave a sermon with the title of "A Good News for All the People." He told the congregation to think about the meaning of the birth of Jesus and the relationship between Him and each of them.
2020 is a special year, as people all over the world are in anxiety, fear, and panic. He asked what true peace was. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ brings us peace, so we have to welcome Jesus in our hearts.
Finally, the Christmas worship service ended with the song "Merry Christmas to You".
At the end of the service, the staff thoroughly disinfected the venue to prepare for the Christmas celebrations on December 24 and 25.
Translated by Abigail Wu
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
2020年12月23日，上海怀恩堂举办了圣诞崇拜音乐赞美会。
提前一个多小时，教堂门口就已站满了等候的信徒，在服侍人员的帮助引导下，扫码、测温……此外还有重要的一关——需要持有固定预约卡。
早在12月13日，怀恩堂就已发布了相关通知通知：特别提醒因受疫情影响，前来参加圣诞活动的信徒须持有主日崇拜的固定预约卡，凭此卡才可以现场预约。另因疫情影响，本场活动只开放了800个座位。
随着持卡信徒顺利进入，而没有卡的信徒也排起了长队，有的是因为卡忘记带了，有的因为不小心弄丢了，也有的因为一段时间没来参加礼拜还没来得及办理……但因为这一特殊时期，大家还是配合教堂的安排，在此安静等候，服侍同工也暖心为年老者拿来座椅。
很快距离崇拜开始只剩十几分钟，前来参加的信徒也基本入场完毕。因为今天是工作日，堂内还剩余一部分空座，最后我们这些因为各种原因没有带卡的人也前去登记领了座位号，顺利进入了堂内。
伴随着序乐的响起，在同工的帮助下找到了座位。堂内信徒都按着座位号间隔做好，讲台前方摆满了鲜花，正上方挂着“庆祝救主降生”六个大字，堂的周围装饰着圣诞树的花环，钢琴左前方也摆着一棵圣诞树。序乐在耳边响起，“平安夜，圣善夜，万暗中，光华射……”瞬间内心里涌出一股久违的平安，此时只想安静地沉浸在这崇拜中。
主礼人宣召后，诗班献诗三首《小小圣婴为我们诞生》《君王今降生》《伯利恒之星》。继而由胡长老围绕圣经路加福音2章8-14节，以《关乎万民的信息》为题，从“大喜的信息，两句荣耀颂的歌词，三个记号”三个方面，引导信徒再次去默想，耶稣基督的到来与我们每一个人有着怎样的关系。
特别是在2020这一年里，整个国家乃至世界都处在一个不安恐慌里，何谓真平安？圣经告诉我们只有在基督里才有真正的平安，因而我们要将耶稣迎接在心里。证道结束后，诗班再次为会众带来了圣乐献唱。最后圣诞崇拜在会众齐唱《祝你圣诞快乐》中结束。
礼拜结束，信徒有序离场，工作人员对场地进行全面消毒，为接下来24号和25号两天晚上的圣诞活动做准备。
http://www.gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/54729
上海怀恩堂举办周三圣诞音乐崇拜赞美会
Shanghai Huai'en Church or Grace Church held a Christmas praise&worship service on Wednesday.
As early as December 13th, the church issued a notice, saying that due to the COVID-19, believers should bring the appointment card to make on-site appointments on that day and they planned to admit 800 participants.
So the believers with the regular appointment card entered the sanctuary, while some without it lined up to register to get a seat number.
In the hall, flowers were in front of the altar, and above it hung the words “Celebrate the birth of our savior”. A prelude sounded: "Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright..."
After the scriptures’ reading, the choir presented three carols The Little Christ Child is Born for Us, King Is Born and Star of Bethlehem. Then based on Luke 2: 8-14, Elder Hu gave a sermon with the title of "A Good News for All the People." He told the congregation to think about the meaning of the birth of Jesus and the relationship between Him and each of them.
2020 is a special year, as people all over the world are in anxiety, fear, and panic. He asked what true peace was. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ brings us peace, so we have to welcome Jesus in our hearts.
Finally, the Christmas worship service ended with the song "Merry Christmas to You".
At the end of the service, the staff thoroughly disinfected the venue to prepare for the Christmas celebrations on December 24 and 25.
Translated by Abigail Wu
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
Shanghai Grace Church Hosts Christmas Music Service
