# @hopewdm on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/B6nlBoSgDDw
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16338808-hopewdm-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/0258011f45.jpg
- **Posted:** 2019-12-28T13:51:01.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** HOPE (@HopeWDM) — https://gondola.cc/HopeWDM

## Caption

Joy showed up at Hope on Christmas Eve (and God’s joy is better than our perfect)...⁣
⁣
I had hoped the manger scene candle would light by itself. That was the “perfect” plan. A week before our first service, I asked our highly skilled Production Team, “Can we find a way to light a candle (with a flame) safely and efficiently from about 15 feet away?”⁣
⁣
They gave me that look practical people give dreamers. To their credit, however, they didn’t say “no” right away. A few days later, they had a Fire Marshall approved plan to rig a small spark, triggered by a concealed wire from the manger scene to the sound booth that would hopefully light the candle right on cue…⁣
⁣
My idea was to show the “joy” that God brings from heaven above to our world below symbolized by an angelic dancer (the amazing Lindsay Skinner) carrying a light that would arrive at the manger scene and activate the Christ candle just as Matt Baird or Mike Butterworth finished singing “Light Has Come!” Then, this beautiful and holy light would spread throughout the congregation for the singing of “Silent Night” by candlelight.⁣
⁣
Every step, note, moment and spark was prayerfully planned, practiced and synchronized.⁣
⁣
And it worked. Once. Maybe twice. And then it didn’t. Almost every other creative idea we tried for Christmas Eve was perfect, beautiful and went off without a hitch. But no matter how hard we tried, at 12 of 14 services the manger scene candle sparked but didn’t light, so we had to implement “plan B" where “Joseph” calmly pulls out a very modern lighter to save “Silent Night." Feel free to chuckle. I did.⁣
⁣
That’s when I realized it didn’t matter. It would have been cool. But God doesn’t need our perfect to bring his joy to the world. I had just preached about perfectionism as a thief of joy in my Christmas sermon, and now it was playing out in real time.⁣
⁣
In the end, the candle at the manger scene fell short of perfect, yet God’s joy and light from heaven still found its target at Hope on Christmas Eve…in the hearts of mature believers, wandering seekers, lost souls, suffering saints, and at least a few (now former) skeptical atheists. Joy is here!⁣
#PiecesFromHope⁣
⁣
mike.hous

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 478
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 5

## Tags

piecesfromhope

---
Copyright (c) Gondola