Merry Christmas, Everyone!

One of the families of the PCO (Protestant Church in Oman) lighting the 4th candle of Advent season: the candle of LOVE.  There are a few church services going on over the next few days to celebrate Christmas here in Muscat.  Tonight at 6pm in Ghala (Family Christmas Eve service with communion) and also later at 11pm (Candle Christmas Eve service with communion).  There is also a Christmas morning service in Ruwi church tomorrow at 9am (Christmas Day Worship Service with communion.Let’s not forget that “Jesus is the reason for the season”!Last Friday was a nice celebration through music at the PCO.  We even had the Muscat Singers pay us a visit to sing a few carols, including “Angels We Have Heard on High” which I am adding here for your enjoyment:  One young girl, Christy Roy, did a fabulous job singing “Mary Did You Know?”

We hope you all have a safe and joyous Christmas!

Hugs……and kisses from Andy in Oman and family! 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected

This scene screamed out “UNEXPECTED” to me as I was shopping with the family in Carrefour Muscat City Centre this week.  I’m reminded of my 1st Christmas in Oman 6 years ago.  I think it’s safe to say that almost no one coming to Oman for the first time expects to see such Christmas decorations in a Muslim land!  The reason it was unexpected for me this year is that Christmas had not been on my mind at all and suddenly, boom, there’s santa and all the bells and whistles you would expect at a department store back home staring me in the face!  Surprisingly, there are only like 30 days left till Christmas!  Hope you enjoyed my entry for this week’s photo challenge from the folks at WordPress.  “Ho!ho!ho!” and all that jazz! 😉

10 Days Til Christmas…Feeling Festive or Depressed?

Hard to believe there are only 10 days left till Christmas! The tree is up and we are in our 3rd week of “Christmas Advent” at the PCO (Protestant Church in Oman)…yet it just doesn’t seem much like Christmas to me this year.  Of course there are tragedies occuring on a daily basic around the globe, but the brutal murdering of so many elementary students and others this past week in Connecticut still weighs on the mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think of the poor families who lost loved ones and how hard it would be to think of celebrating Christmas…but then…that is why Christ came – to bring hope in an otherwise dark and violent world.  If you are feeling a little less than festive (easy to do if you’re an expat here in Oman, so far away from family and friends), here are a few Christmas songs for YOU.  These are from the “Festival of Carols” from the 1st week of advent at the PCO.  The ladies performing here are a handful from the Muscat Singers and we were blessed to have them perform: It’s nice to see Gwen Wilson singing in this one as she’s normally directing the group or on the piano! 🙂 They say it’s better to light a candle in the darkness than to curse the darkness.  Here is one of our precious PCO families lighting the 1st Advent candle, the candle of hope:   Here is a lovely piece put together by Carina Krough and Vinoo Peppin titled “I Wonder / Mary Did You Know?”:

It is possible to keep hope even in what seem like hopeless times and situations.  Here is a video of one of the fathers who lost a child in the Conneticut shooting.  He has the right perspective in dealing with this tragedy: In response to the recent Connecticut shootings, Max Lucado (one of my favorite Christian writers) shared this prayer:

• Max Lucado’s Prayer in Response to the Shooting

  Dear Jesus,It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated.The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence.Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.Hopefully,
  Your Children

“A Winter Concert” – Muscat Singers – Dec. 7th

This concert planned by The Muscat Singers sounds like a great opportunity for those of us who love Christmas music! (Who doesn’t love Christmas music?!?!?!)  It’s nice that this concert is 2 and a half weeks before Christmas to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.  I hope we are able to make it to this performance as we’re dying to see The Donald and Eloise Bosch Center for the Performing Arts.  It boasts of “4,000 square metres of performance and audience space and can seat 522 spectators“. It was finished not that long ago and I read somewhere that it is the 2nd largest theatre in Oman; second only to the Royal Opera House Muscat!  I’m sure the acoustics are great! (Read more about the new Bosch Center here in this Muscat Daily article)

Here is a video of the Muscat Singer’s (and Muscat BrassWorks) performing John Rutter’s “Gloria” at their Spring Concert on June 1st of this year to give you an idea of what to expect: Get your tickets while you can, folks! 🙂

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas in Oman is so lovely.  Believe it or not (for those of you reading overseas), Christmas decorations are in most of the malls and giant Christmas trees adorn many of the 4 and 5-star hotels across Muscat.  Another local blogger, mumoftheanimals, wrote a great description in her post, Christmas in Oman, of how one might get the wrong idea about Christmas here in Oman. (I had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband at the Opera House this week at the opera, Carmen! 🙂 )  The Omanis are very comfortable and warm in their Christmas greetings to expats at this time of year.  To give you an idea of the tolerance here, here is part of an email I received from my boss:

“Dear colleagues,
Some of you might be celebrating Christmas Day (December 25). Merry Chrstmas to you. There are colleagues among us who would want to celerbrate this occasion. I just want to inform you that this is not an official holiday in Oman. If you are a practicing Christian and would like to attend Church services or other functions during the day you may take part of the day off after making arrangements with your students and informing your program/course coordinator. This comes as part of our understanding of one another’s religions and beliefs.”  Sweet, huh?!

Thanks to the flexibility of my workplace, we’ll be able to attend church services tomorrow.  FYI, there are 2 PCO church services on Christmas Day in Muscat this year.  Ghala Church service in the Bosch Hall at 9am (which we will be attending) and Ruwi Church service at 7:30pm.

Looking forward to celebrating Gershom’s 2nd Christmas and watching him open his gifts tomorrow morning!  🙂

A new church banner from the PCO banner ministry gives a sweet reminder not to forget the true significance of the season which can be lost in a sea of tinsel, trees, gifts and good food!  🙂

Merry Christmas, everyone, from Andy in Oman & family from the bottom of our heart! Wishing you all peace from the Prince of Peace who entered our world to bring us hope. Now THAT’s something to celebrate!

Here’s an interesting video I noticed from twitter from Greg Laurie about “Why Red is the Color or Christmas“.  Good stuff!