Christmas Convention 2015

I have much time to reflect on how best to maximise the spiritual impact of Christmas. Perhaps we can think of a Christmas Convention and Christmas 2015 seems ideal as it falls on a Friday. We could hold the convention from 24th to 26th December, Thursday night, Christmas Eve to Saturday night, altogether 7 services/sessions with two sessions in the morning and three night services. We could pick a short Pauline letter and expound on it over 7 sessions. As much as I was happy to see the biggest crowds in my homechurch on Christmas Day, it was anti-climax yesterday during the Sunday morning service. Where has the crowd gone? Only about 200 people showed up yesterday. Although it is customary for church members to return to their villages during the Christmas season, yet the Sunday after Christmas is always the most difficult for those who are ministering to keep the spirits up after the high of Christmas. What about the 400 or more visitors who came on Christmas Day? Do they all have other churches to go on an ordinary Sunday? Or are they mostly Christmas Christians who attend church once or twice a year for the sake of tradition like I used to do before being born again?
In my Christmas sermon on 20th Dec, I testified that after 33 years I am still excited about going to church every Sunday even when or more so when I am not preaching. Yesterday I got up at 4am, enjoyed God's presence for 2 hours before going for my dawn bike ride and arrived at church 8am sharp. The music was loud, too loud and I could hear only the song leader's voice, not even my own voice despite trying my best to sing. One immediate consequence of loud music or song leader's monopoly of worship is that the whole congregation loses its voice. Church members just mumble or whisper. They can't sing for how can they even in a 800 strong crowd compete with loud speakers that can be heard 1,000 ft away? God's glory is diminished when worship is done without much thought, for my people perish for the lack of knowledge.