An alternative ‘present’ this Christmas time

If that’s you, get yourself along to ‘Present’ – an alternative Carol service that’s happening at High Kirk on Saturday, December 22 at 7.30pm.

Explaining more, one of the organisers, Stephen McGall said: “Our vision was for a night that will engage us mind, body and soul, in the true meaning of Christmas - something that will stir our hearts and get us excited again. ‘Present’ is a contemporary carol service for all and is focused on that life changing message of Christmas: Jesus, God’s ‘present’ to us who is ‘present’ with us! It will have a lot of the same elements as a traditional carol service but with a bit of a difference.”

He added: “We will have bible readings, some of which will be filmed in town with explanations to help us engage with them. We will have a few musical solos by local musicians fitting in with the Bible passages and to help us reflect more on their content. There will be lots of praise with our band, some poetry, some multimedia stuff, and a chance to bless someone this Christmas with our ‘message of hope’ cards.”

“Along with that is the opportunity for prayer ministry because we are fully aware that Christmas is a tough time for many – maybe due to missing family members, financial trouble, job losses or many other worries. We want people to come and find a place where they can just be themselves, struggles and all, because they are not alone – at Christmas we remember Immanuel, God with us”, said Stephen.

According to Stephen, the beauty of this event is that people in this town are planning it for the people of this town and wider area.

He went on to say: “Those taking part are also local or have been involved in outreach and events here before. There is a small working group for it all, and through various events and projects in town we have had the privilege of getting to know many young local Christians from various churches.

“We have simply contacted people who we think could use their gifts at this service and asked them to get involved. So far the response has been so encouraging, and I believe much of that comes from people’s heart for this town.”

Stephen concluded: “This is very much a chance to come, take a step back from everything and just focus on God and the true meaning of Christmas. Our prayer is that we would all have a more meaningful Christmas because of it. There is also something special about the thought of people from all over the Ballymena area, and with different backgrounds, joining together to worship Jesus this Christmas.”