Christmas in Nazareth — Stepping out in Faith!
What a wonderful week this is! Christmas is just a few days away and already Nazareth has turned into a spectacular sight full of Christmas lights and decorations. The children are overjoyed as their parents take them shopping for Christmas gifts, and families are planning their Christmas festivities and menus. Nazareth is proclaiming the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and thousands of Israelis will be visiting Nazareth to experience the Christmas atmosphere.
On the 24th of December we will be participating in the annual Christmas parade that will pass through Nazareth’s downtown area. It forms part of a big Christmas festival with many markets, events, and celebrations taking place in Nazareth. Many organizations and churches will be participating in the parade to express their love for the Lord and for the people of Nazareth.
My team and I will be handing out special Christmas gift packets to the children of Nazareth during the parade. It has been a wonderful success over the past few years, and many families have been impacted by this gesture of generosity and love. These gifts packs contain coloring books that tell the story of Christmas, a chocolate hamper, as well as a toy. There’s also a fridge magnet included that proclaims that Jesus is the Reason for the Season.
This week we will also be distributing food boxes to poverty-stricken families in celebration of Christmas and to remind them that Jesus is the Reason for the Season. We will be handing out 400 food boxes containing non-perishable food items and other daily essentials. This is 120 boxes more than what we budgeted for, but we felt we had to step out in faith, as we were contacted by many more people than we had previously anticipated. These boxes will go to needy families, Jews, Arabs, and Druze, in Nazareth and the surrounding villages during this week.
We would like to invite you consider blessing one or more families with a $35 food box for Christmas. Not only will you enable many to have food on the table during Christmas, but you’ll also be sending a message that the Christians of the world love them, and are standing with them this Christmas.
Thank you and Merry Christmas!
