Sabbath Sunday...Behind the Scenes of Christmas and sacred rest

This Christmas Sabbath Sunday episode of the Neighborhood Church Podcast feels less like a hosted show and more like sitting around the living room with friends after Christmas Eve worship. Pastor Joe Liles is joined by Pastor Tom Helmich (Care and Education) and lead worship coordinator Andrea Lickfelt for a behind‑the‑scenes conversation about Christmas at The Neighborhood Church, the chaos and beauty of candlelight services, and why Sabbath rest after a full season of ministry isn’t a luxury—it’s a gift from God.

You’ll hear stories of hair literally catching on fire during Silent Night, acolyte disasters under 16‑foot Christmas trees, hay all over the worship space, and the quiet ways God still shows up through volunteers, bells, choirs, and family traditions.

Anchored in Psalm 127:2 (“…for He gives sleep to His beloved”), this episode explores how rest is not something we earn after working hard enough—but something God gives because we are loved. If you’ve ever felt like Christmas is more to‑do than good news, this conversation is for you.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Studio Upgrade
• 1:15 Meet Pastor Tom
• 5:11 Meet Andrea Lickfelt: Lead Worship Coordinator
• 6:42 Christmas Experiences: Storefront Days & Las Fajitas
• 17:41 Volunteers, Christmas at the Movies, and Set Changes
• 23:06 Preparing for Christmas Eve: “Is This Going to Get Done?”
• 31:59 Why We Keep Christmas Up Through January
• 33:40 Introducing Family Christmas Traditions
• 42:27 Sabbath Rest and Theology & Psalm 127
• 51:10 Looking Ahead: January 4 Service & New Year

Transcript

Pastor Joe Liles: 0:05

Welcome to the neighborhood church podcast. We're recorded live in go broke studio. I get, you know what? I've always said this, I love the joy on your face when you do that. We're in a studio, like I've said for years, like, as we record a podcast in the church, we always do it in the worship center. And I've said it so many times that, like, in studio, in studio, in studio, like we're really just in the church on our stage, right, recording, because that's where all the mics are set up. And so I've always like, man, one day, one day we'll be in it, like, one day we'll graduate and be in a big studio, right? And so here we are. It's our Christmas Sabbath, Sunday podcast. We are recorded live in studio at go rogue studio, which is a hop skip and a jump from the church, which is fantastic. And so they've set us up. Lucas is here with us, doing awesome. So we really appreciate you, Lucas and and we're gonna get into a Sabbath Sunday podcast, which is really incredible. And we've had many people do our podcast over all the different years that we've done it. And so we've started this tradition, and I always love to welcome the people who are here on the podcast right away. And so I'd love for you to share who you are. So Tom, let's start with you. Who are you? What is your role in the church? How long have you been serving in the church? How many years did you go to seminary? More than you thought like this. Give us the full rundown.

Tom Helmich: 1:15

Okay, I still remember all those. Yeah. So Tom, hellmuch, my family and I have been a member at the neighborhood church. We went back in Facebook memories. And so I think it's been since 2012 so about 13 years. Yeah, this started the church. Started the church. Yeah, the very beginning, I got a picture of us with the door. We signed that we sent to the Senate or our constitution for so hot, you know, Hot Minute, there and then. And I still remember the conversation with you driving to Senate Assembly, starting to talk about, you know, questions, and then you give me the big elbow when Bishop Mike talked about the new program at Wartburg where you could do seminary at distance. Yep, that's right. One retired from the PD, so, yeah, I went through seminary for seven years.

Pastor Joe Liles: 1:51

Yeah, that was a long time. Tom, it's a very, very excited to have a pastor join the team and then it the next year. I was excited to have the following year was excited.

Tom Helmich: 1:59

It fits since, you know, the last season with advent, it's like that, waiting. We had to wait, hopeful, waiting, yeah, and it was a good long number, right? Seven years. So seminary for seven years, and now I'm a pastor of care and education at the neighborhood church that's beautiful. And so I'm learning a lot trying to figure out technology stuff, but doing some pastoral care and Bible studies and stuff like that

Pastor Joe Liles: 2:19

have come so far in learning technology, and I just want to say publicly on this podcast, I'm proud of you. You, I feel like a sense of endearment to how far you've come, because you are a core team president at one point, and we're on Google Docs, and we, y'all, were on Google Docs. Yeah, well, that's a very true statement Tom, and I remember that year, and like, the grind, I was like, he's just not like getting into the tech and we had slack and you're like, I'm not doing that. Like, you're like, you literally were like, I'm not doing you would pull out

Tom Helmich: 2:47

your paper. I had a special notebook. Yes, I still use paper, don't doubt that, but I I am just proficient enough to get by. So I'm getting there, though that's that's been the challenge for Pastor Joe, is him trying to teach me how to use how to use tech.

Pastor Joe Liles: 3:01

Now, part of your role is, Karen, education, right? And so you're part time at the church, right? 30 hours of the church, and part of that is dedicated to the neighborhood, and then we contract out right to have you help other churches. And right now, which church you help? When can you give us a little background

Tom Helmich: 3:14

on that? Yes, I'm at St Luke Lutheran in Fort Smith, which is neat, because that was one of your internship sites.

Pastor Joe Liles: 3:18

It was, yes, I was back 2009 Yeah, wait, it's 2010 sorry, 16 years.

Tom Helmich: 3:23

Oh, and they still remember you, yeah. And then, and then I did my internship, split between the neighborhood and St Luke, yeah. And now serving there as an interim on contract from the neighborhood, sending me to St Luke, yeah. And they actually have two churches in that building. Central Presbyterian is actually using that building also, so I've got two churches in that building, and so it's a it's a lot of fun, but we're mixing traditions and, oh yeah, different styles of worship,

Pastor Joe Liles: 3:47

that style of worship, like the neighborhood style of worship, I mean, so we're kind of worship,

Tom Helmich: 3:51

so very nice, so very nice.

Pastor Joe Liles: 3:52

Yeah, just give us a small taste of what is.

Tom Helmich: 3:57

So it's, it's more modern than I grew up with, and that we don't wear the Alps in the stoles every Sunday, okay, but it is. There's a pipe organ played every Sunday. I love it beautiful. Which is, I love the pipe organ, yeah. And then we have, you know, the regular altar, dead center, you know, the more formal style of worship. We still use the Evangelical Lutheran worship hymnal. That's great, and the old school hymns from the 15th, 16th, 17th Century side of the wall where you put your hymns on for each Sunday, we don't use that. Oh, it is there. Okay, it is it is there, but we don't use it. Well, it's usually just a mighty fortress. Yeah, right, because, yeah, it's an older church. Yeah. And even the hymnal type font, and that is small for me, at 50. And so we print paper bulletins. Oh, nice. So we can expand the, you know, the print size, so we don't really use those anymore. So for them, it's very contemporary. It's great on our scale. It's very like old school, traditional Lutheran. It's a good mix.

Pastor Joe Liles: 4:52

It's a good mix and a good, great mix for you. Oh, a great mix for me, because

Tom Helmich: 4:55

I have a very traditional heart and a lot of stuff, but I love seeing the juice. Joy and people that are not as used to different style of worship, being able to come in and feel welcome exactly how it is, without that questioning and not knowing what's going on and feeling like they fit just how they are.

Pastor Joe Liles: 5:10

Yeah, that's great. That's great. And then also joining us today, Andrea, can you share who you are, how long you've been at the church and what is your role at the church right now?

Unknown: 5:17

Andrea lickfeld, I've been at the church since, my family and I have been at the church since, I think 2015 because I think we decided it was the door. The signed door was already in a couple of locations.

Pastor Joe Liles: 5:28

Door is a symbol like, right? I think we need to bring it back. New members sign a door. That's a benchmark, yes, when I came in and my original, oh, man, it would be great now. But my original plan was to have a door for every year. But what I ran into is, where do you put them? Like, at some point, like, a whole wall is just doors, right? You know, people like, oh, I signed 2018 you know, I'm like, but people, when I say, when you come to, like, ah, post, door, pre, door, that door is a symbol. And so it's wonderful. We have both of those doors, which are really wonderful. And so you came, 2015 2015 Yep.

Unknown: 6:00

My role now is, what is my lead? My role? Lead worship, lead, worship coordinators.

Pastor Joe Liles: 6:06

Yep, and you have a bank of worship coordinators underneath you every single Sunday, yes, but primarily, would you say volunteers? Oh, yeah, there's, it's all volunteers, right? All Sunday volunteers. And I think last time we had a list of like 80 that we text this past week saying that if you volunteer, we'll give you a free shirt, like we're incentivizing volunteers right now, like we'll get free shirt we might go to like Starbucks gift cards, like we're gonna do anything to celebrate our volunteers, to make sure they're loved on. And so 2015 that would be when we were in the storefront, correct? All right, so we're in a tiny storefront next to lost fajitas.

Tom Helmich: 6:37

Fantastic, man. That was great. Get a service walk the parking lot over good, yeah, you have

Pastor Joe Liles: 6:42

communion and the rising beans. It was fantastic. It was so good. So it's really wonderful. Okay, so got volunteers, Tom's, Karen, education, and now, Andrew, this is your first Christmas kind of being over volunteers and a Christmas season it is. We've had a lot of different Christmases over the years. And so Tom and I were talking about, like, what are the Christmases we remember at the neighborhood church, and like, how those Christmases impacted us and other people and and so I was just going back and forth. But Tom, I'd love you to share, do you have a memory, like a key memory from one of the Christmases at the church? Like, what is that memory? And share it with us. Because I think families get a lot of memories from Christmas church and in family and in tradition. And so I would love to talk like, what's your church memory?

Tom Helmich: 7:21

So, you know, it always stresses us out when you got with with the candles. But there's something different. It doesn't count, like, what's a light bulb, right? It's hard off getting all your kids to church, clean with their shoes and put together for, you know, for Christmas beauty, yeah, it's great. And then when you have boys with ADD who are just kind of their heads swimming everywhere, looking everything, and they're holding a candle, and they're holding a candle.

Pastor Joe Liles: 7:43

And I remember at one point you're talking about Silent Night by candlelight, yes, when they're holding actual and all the lights are paper, this little paper disc, right? Yes, about 300 of them right now they're coming in for this. And then we light the candles, and we spread them out, and everyone gets one who parents approve, so your kids can have one of their three. That's fine, like, but you have to watch them right now.

Tom Helmich: 8:02

I feel judged as a parent. Yeah, he's just trying to release the Lambert church from all liability. Yeah, well, and so all three of my kids, I'm thinking they're old enough, you know, and they've got candles, and just be careful. Hold it still. Just hold it, right? You know? Yeah, and, yeah, how it happened, I don't know, but my daughter's hair did get lit on fire with the candle. Oh, because, my gosh, because you remember, in the storefront there was, we took over that other suite, and so you went up the steps a little higher up Tom,

Pastor Joe Liles: 8:30

that was a balcony. We called the balcony balcony. Remember, we opened the wall and we didn't realize it was three and a half foot higher, right? Because obviously there was, we looked outside. I'm like, Oh, of course it makes sense, because there was a ramp outside. We just didn't even think about it. So we called it a balcony. Called it our balcony. It made a great balcony. It made a great balcony. It was pretty sea worship. We had to put a TV back there. It was 15 feet from worship, and you couldn't see it. So we had to put a TV with imag on it so you could see the people that were going, yeah, it was a moment. But we made it work. We made it so we're it was great for parties. It was great.

Tom Helmich: 8:59

So we're sitting up there, and then, yeah, her was a wispy or what, and the candle caught it, and so I think it was my dad. It was, you know, slap her head, or maybe Amy, I can't remember which. And I'm like, oh, then there's the smell of burnt hair,

Pastor Joe Liles: 9:13

yeah, oh yeah. Like, I don't know what that smell is, but oh yeah. Just by the look on your face, I never want to know what the smell Yeah, long story.

Tom Helmich: 9:19

But yeah, so that happened. And I remember Jess. She's like, was her hair just on fire? That's great. And I'm like, Yes. And that look of terror, yeah, all the kids and little girls with the hair all done up and all these candles, like, oh yeah. Like, what happened

Pastor Joe Liles: 9:33

to the people around you? Because I'm just thinking, like people in the vicinity had to, like, be moving and shifting and saying something. Luckily, most

Tom Helmich: 9:38

everybody was in front of us. Oh, okay, great. And so they had no idea unless they smelled it. Yeah, that's true, but the people on either side and behind us, yeah, I'm sure it looked kind of kind of thing, but it never

Pastor Joe Liles: 9:48

happened again. She usually wears, she'd wear hair. There's possibility that it would have but it was only once, yeah, she started

Tom Helmich: 9:54

wearing her hair pulled back a little bit, you know, her hair shorter now. So we made it. Nobody got hurt. Nothing was damn. Judged, yeah, but it was a little moment of excitement where we didn't expect it.

Pastor Joe Liles: 10:03

That's great. That's great. So two stories from that. One, when I grew up, I was an acolyte, so an acolyte, full robed acolyte, when I was a youth, right? So High School, in my dad's Street, large church, you know, 2500 members, big, big sanctuary, you know, and so in big chancel area where, like, the altars had and everything else up front, and they had just, like we do the two big trees up front, and they're decorated beautiful. And these are, like, 16 foot trees, I mean, just massive, and the Acolytes would all sit next to the trees. And so when we walked up, we had to have our acolyte stick, and that's fine. And we go up and everything else like that, and then we light all the candles, and the goal is just to get to the front before your wick went out. Like, that's what that was the goal. Because it was so shaming when your wick went out and everyone just went, ah, because that meant you didn't start service yet. So you had to go back, and then you had, they made you try again. Like, at some point it's like, just put a wick up there that I can light up. I would have done something different, a lighter, I think. Yeah. So now they look back, I'm like, Why did my dad put me in

Tom Helmich: 10:58

that situation? We do keep a lighter up front, Luke, that's good.

Unknown: 11:02

Just, I was gonna say as as acolytes. We just came, just like, from the side door. So, so it was only a five steps,

Tom Helmich: 11:11

and I was like, Oh, I had to do the same. I followed the pastor, yeah, or, I think I went in front of him, and he went from one room to another, and the air pressure shifts, you know? And I'm

Pastor Joe Liles: 11:20

like, Yeah, and you get to see it, oh, man. So I get all the way to the front, and there was one step into like a pre chancel area. Then there was two steps onto the main area where I had to light the wicks, right? And then our seats were up beyond that, and got up past the first step. Fine. I'm walking across this little platform right? Big, big open area in front of church. It's just me up there light and wicks. Everyone's waiting, right? And here we go. Big trees are up. It's the moment, right? It's Christmas. It's not Christmas Eve service, but it's like one of the Sundays leading up to it. And I take a step onto the two steps, and I step on my robe, which, when I go to move, locks my robe down, so I shift, and it pulls me down, and I can't move. So I try to recover, but I get my other foot caught on the other side of the road, so not even pretty, I face plant right on to the chancellor because, like, there's I couldn't recover, like I was stuck.

Tom Helmich: 12:10

Pretend like Virginia flexing.

Pastor Joe Liles: 12:14

So I fall, but when I fall, I hit the ground and I slide my acolyte stick, and it goes right under the tree. Oh, so mind you, everyone's like, Oh, right. And then from across the place, my dad, who has two other pastors on his team that didn't go through seven years of seminary, they're over there sitting, and they immediately get up and rush, it's, it's, it is drama. It is Christmas drama because it's still lit. It's on the floor the trees above it, like the place is about to light on fire, right? And so my dad runs right past me, like I'm on the ground, face planted into the gym. He runs literally, like, over me to get to the wick, and picks that up first. And I just remember thinking, like, what? And I was like, at this moment, like, pick up your son gently, like, this is a good Samaritan moment, like, don't pass by, right? And he did, and the church didn't burn down. So it never happened again, though, because I don't act like on Christmas anymore. Yeah, my memory from our Christmases at the church would be, we're again, we're in the storefront, we're working, and we've done crazy things in Christmas. We're like, wonderful. We've done Grinch miss with, like a two story tower, right? We've had, like a wonderful, like, whole back LED wall, right? We've had these, these candles everywhere, which we do again. Now it's kind of candle at Christmas, everywhere and but this Christmas, I walked in and we had logs in place of chairs, because we wanted, like, a campfire Christmas. We were doing, like, rent collective campfire stuff. So we wanted to campfire. Wanted to campfire Christmas, and we had these logs out, and we were doing like, palette Christmas trees.

Tom Helmich: 13:46

And it was wonderful, like, bales of straw and burlap bags over, yeah, okay, so this

Pastor Joe Liles: 13:50

is what happened. So we had this straw and these burlap and it was great. It was very, like, woodsy Christmas, right? Nothing I would ever do again, like looking at it. I was like, Oh, this is a great idea. Now I'm like, what? And so I walked in Christmas Eve morning, and it Christmas Eve is happening at night. Then we did night services, like, 730 right? And I walk in, I was like, it's not enough. And I just felt like, underwhelmed. I don't know it was like, This is so now we're three, four years in the church. Everything has to be bigger. Everything has to be greater. Like, I'm in this mode of, like, I have to grow it. And I looked, and it's like, it's not enough. It's not enough. It needs to feel more like a stable, like one of the stable outdoor, woodsy vibe, like you walked inside, but you're outside, like, and it was just this wonderful, caring moment. I was like, I want people to experience this when they come inside the doors, right? And so I looked, and I was like, if I put hay all over the floor, then it will be Christmas. And so I ran, and then the cleaning company, I ran to Lowe's. So I go up to Lowe's, and I buy 12 hay bales. Just 12 hay bales, right, load them in the back of my truck. And I 12 might have been less than 12. It was a lot of hay bales. And so I load. In the back of my truck, and I pull up to the back of the church and have a little patio back, and I let all these hay bales out. And I'm like, Ooh, I can't just put hay in the ground, because that's gonna be a nightmare to clean up. So I put brown craft paper all over the ground that we had, and I put it all the ground in the aisles and everything. I'm like, this is a great idea. Now it's easy cleanup. People won't be mad at me. I'm like, I clean up. I got the hay cool. I spread all the paper down. Attack it down. And I spread all of the hay everywhere, right? I get done, and I look and I'm like, yes, now we can embrace Christ's birth, which is not a thing. Doesn't have anything to do with discipleship. No, it doesn't. Does anything meeting with people where they're at. No, it doesn't. And so we get all this moment done, and I'm like, Yes. And I step on the hay and realize that it is frictionless with the craft paper. And I'm like, and I'm like, Oh my gosh. And then I'm like, we have candlelight Christmas. And I'm like, oh my at this point, I'm locked like, there's not a going back moment, right? And so I'm like, I'm gonna build it up. Everyone's gonna be excited. Now, this was before I communicate well, so people are like, walking in, I'm expected. They're gonna have the same surprise, like the band and leaders and everything else, like that. Holly Jones, our beloved worship leader for seven years, and Beverly, band member, singing this Christmas awesome, doing solos. Incredible member of the church. She walks in. What I also did not consider is that she is allergic to hay. That is the moment, right there. She is allergic to hay, right? She walks in, she goes, I have to go, I have to go right now. And I was like, Why, what? Oh. And she's like, I'm allergic to and I was like, oh, never even considered right? And so she got everything, Benadryl, everything, just to make it through Christmas Eve, right? That's when I was like, You know what? I think we can change in the future, like, three years into, like, church. I'm like, we can change the future. We can do things and kind of enjoy it and be and that's where, like, candlelight Christmas came from. Candlelight Christmas came from this moment of like, hey, we can have a beautiful, peaceful time and just do minor things in the background, enjoy meeting people where they're at and have a very peaceful Christmas, right? In a really wonderful way. So, yeah, I've loved the church. Love the church. Christmas season is intense, though, right? Because we have a lot of things going on in the life of the church. And so I want to do a little behind the scenes. So I want to see if we can kind of get into behind the scenes too. And Andrew, this is probably like, where you're going to live, right? Because you've done all the volunteers. And it's not only that we do Christmas Eve. We've done Carol's and Coco right? We've done kids city Christmas. We've also done Christmas at the movies and so like all of these are different shifts in the church. So let's just open an honest moment, like you looking at volunteers working alongside us and the staff every single week, talking through everyone knows

Unknown: 17:41

she looked at Tom You know, you've already been through all this. This is my first season in this role, but now hearing these stories, I think it could be I actually have it pretty easy.

Pastor Joe Liles: 17:53

You know, what can we get that's a success? I think that is faithful. So, so what was it like? Give us some behind this for people who don't experience maybe the volunteer roles you roles, and you're in staff meetings, right? You're getting set up. You and our meeting, we're talking through things where we're adapting when we see things aren't going to work that we planned for. What is it like behind the scenes? And just start us through the Christmas season, like, let's talk like Christmas at the movies. Like, what's it like setting up for something like that?

Unknown: 18:17

Well, yeah, like, so when people come in on Sundays, it looks one way, and then the next week it's a little bit different, and then the next week it's a little bit different. And so, yeah, I don't know if it's magic elves or no, it's incredible volunteers like the men, the men's group sponsored, yes, decorating day. The women's group sponsored a decorating day, and it just builds and builds and builds and yeah, and then we throw in some popcorn and cocoa bar and toppings,

Pastor Joe Liles: 18:47

and there's no spills ever in the church or anything like that. Like, yeah, that's why

Tom Helmich: 18:51

it's a concrete floor. We did something right with the

Pastor Joe Liles: 18:53

concrete floor. It doesn't help acoustically. Doesn't help sonically, right? And it creates a lot of issues. But you know what happens when we need to clean something up. It's beautiful, right? It's absolutely beautiful. So, yeah, we did bring it. We got Malcolm popcorn, which was awesome. We put that in cups for people to go out. Real movie theater pop, yeah, real movie theater buttered popcorn. And you can't deny that, right? And the Malcolm hooked us up. They gave us three of those bags for 25 bucks. It was awesome, right? So they hooked us up for weeks on that, which was great, and but you're right. It takes a team of volunteers. And I love it, because, like, even when you say the men's group, right, they helped set up the trees. Yeah, that's on a Saturday morning, right? We're getting in there, and we're setting up. How many trees do you think

Unknown: 19:29

we have? I have no idea there are so many. It is a forest of trees.

Pastor Joe Liles: 19:33

You know? I do like that, though, right? I do. I do like, Christmas.

Tom Helmich: 19:38

I kind of want to get, like, either real or fake, like a taxidermy, like a stuffed squirrel that looks really realistic, and start putting them in the trees, just to see if who notices, like little easter eggs out there.

Pastor Joe Liles: 19:47

Great idea. I don't know if a taxidermy squirrel is what we need to go with, but like something that looks Yeah, it's like there's something hidden that you need to find. I'm in favor. Just see who notices it. One. Here's the deal. What if we did something? For, what if we did something for next year, for people who listen to this podcast, they're gonna be the only no this girl. So we have to do a scroll for next,

Tom Helmich: 20:09

some little birds, you know, just not obvious, just, you know, distant, just a few scattered, that's beautiful.

Unknown: 20:16

And, like, a name, like I said, like, it's not Elf on the Shelf. It's like, but like, squirrel doesn't really rhyme with it. Yeah? No.

Tom Helmich: 20:22

Like, creation, well, the creation and incarnation, right? Incarnation of God and super traditional, a little bit of me, but yeah, a little bit more of God's creation in the in the scene. I love this idea. And then

Pastor Joe Liles: 20:35

we should do, like, a little, like, if they find it, it's kind of like the Christmas pickle. Do you guys know the Christmas Yes, yeah. Like, we have the Christmas pickles, like a family too. So, like, if you find the pickle, find the pickle, you get the first gift, which is wonderful.

Tom Helmich: 20:45

If you find the scroll, you get the notoriety.

Pastor Joe Liles: 20:49

And we know you listen to the podcast, which is really wonderful. Okay, so, like, yeah, the men's group was in. These are cool moments that the men's group is a response from, like, hey, the previous year, we had everyone come at the same day, and they tried to set trees up and decorate trees, which we tried to pick up the trees too. So it ended up being a five hour thing versus a two hour thing, right? So we make those adaptations when we hear from volunteers going, this didn't work the way that we thought it to him, like, okay, we can actually do better. And so Christmas was set up, and we had the stanchions out, right, and the red carpet, which was kind of fun for that. What was it like for kids city Christmas? So, like, kids city Christmas was another setup, right? And all that. So what were volunteers, like, different things like that. How I was going through that

Unknown: 21:28

that was, Well, I think you had a great set of volunteers for kids city Christmas, and everything ran smoothly. And there was no, I mean, compared to some kids city Christmases. Oh yeah, it did run. Yeah, it

Pastor Joe Liles: 21:40

did run. Directing, right, awesome, right? We had Caitlin Parnell reading lines to kids, right? And then we had Julie mcmurlen In the back. Like, our joy, here's part of we're gonna get the joy at the end of this podcast. I think part of my joy is the volunteers. Like, I love serving with them, right? And I love being in these moments, like I was with five volunteers before this, right? Setting the back wall of the stage, right? Like, I love the time, right? Because it's time to talk, it's time to engage in relationship, and we're challenging ourselves, right? It's not just the same thing. It's something new. And this was your first experience in Carroll's, and Coco like setting the whole thing, and you took it from me. You like I did. You took it and you said, I want everything. Took you about four weeks to get the list from me, finally, right?

Unknown: 22:21

And then I saw the list and and then you were gonna, he wanted to just reorder the list. He's like, I'll just reorder all this. And I went, Oh, don't, because, like, we didn't need all this stuff. And then he spent, like, 599 on Avery labels from Walmart, and I got some for$1.99 at hobby. So I'm budget minded, so you're welcome, Brian.

Tom Helmich: 22:44

Thing, if you're one person trying to do too much, you can do Yeah. So that's why it's great to be able turn it loose to somebody and let them run with it.

Unknown: 22:50

Yeah, that's what, that's what we talked about, too. Is like, of course, your one stop shop, and that works for you. But, yeah, I drove to 12 different stores and got all

Pastor Joe Liles: 22:59

the things. It was fantastic, right? And the setup was great, and everything else to that. What is your favorite candy topping for Carol's and Coco?

Unknown: 23:06

I didn't actually have any cocoa. Oh, oh, that's a moment. Oh, okay, you're too busy working all over the space. But I can tell, probably I can tell you what the most popular topping was. We had some mint fudge chunks. Those went over. Those went over.

Tom Helmich: 23:24

Yeah, that's awesome. Mint and chocolate always hits

Pastor Joe Liles: 23:26

mint chocolate. That's great. And what has it been like for Christmas Eve? So carrots and Coco is kind of the lead up, you know, kind of slow down moment. So we give our our team, some time to rest right before Christmas Eve, and we kind of slow down the pace a little bit. What was it? What is it like? Because we're still in it, yeah, because you were on a Sabbath Sunday podcast, we're recording before Christmas Eve, and so we're in it right now. So if everyone's resting, we're resting too, and thinking about recording this podcast on Sabbath Sunday, but right now we're in it. And so what has it been like for you? Kind of like, looking over fellowship area, getting volunteers set up for Christmas Eve and kind of seeing that work be done too.

Unknown: 24:01

Like, it's just, it's just one of those things, like, working in the theater, like you have, you hit the point where you're like, oh, there's no way this is gonna be ready. There's no way this is gonna be ready. And then it all works out. And the show was lovely. This is not a show, but like, this is the same type of feeling, like, Absolutely, ooh, is it all gonna get done? Like, do we have the time to get all this done, but so many people step up, and that is the important.

Pastor Joe Liles: 24:25

Like, it's people that show up unexpectedly, and I always see that as a gift, right? I'll be like, who like? Even this morning, someone said, Hey, I'm not feeling well. I can't make it to help set up. Well, I had two key people to set up, and I was like, when I was like, I'm gonna adapt, right? And then here comes, I'm getting ready. I'm getting ready. I'm going, I'm like, I need to change my whole schedule this morning. I'm just going to go with this person, because we need two people on it. And so I'm going, and all of a sudden, one of our volunteers walks in, and I'm like, did you get my text? And he's like, what text? And I'm like, God is so good, and it's part of what God does. I think in the season is people just recognize that it's also fellowship. But. It's a time to serve in a really wonderful way, which is really neat. And I always love when the volunteer show, show up in a way, because there's work everywhere. Like, we have people taping windows right with black craft paper. That's a role, right? We have people setting new tap back cards on the chair. That's a role, right? We have people that are doing more intricate things, like in the band and in the choir, that are doing gifted things and skilled things, right? That there are unique to them, and it's all over, right? And so all these different things are functioning at the same time in a really wonderful way, and you lead that. And so I think part of my heart is you as a volunteer, also in the church, I deeply, deeply appreciate you because of all the joy that I have for volunteers. The joy comes from a lot of the work that you do, and it's really incredible. And I have love serving next to you in that way. So thank you, and I'm so happy that you're

Unknown: 25:48

doing it, and I didn't give

Pastor Joe Liles: 25:51

it back, but we are backing it up, which is going to be great. So it's gonna be really wonderful. So with this, like we're preparing for our Christmas, there's different ways that churches prepare. This is a modern church. We're doing a choir this year. We got incredible music, right? An incredible band. We're doing a full what we call crate miss, which is like there's crates with candles going up the stage, like it's gonna be really wonderful, and then Tom What is it like at a more today? What's it like? So I love St Luke. I LED Christmas Eve worship at St Luke when I was an intern. So I remember, what's it like, like this year for you, leading first time on Christmas

Tom Helmich: 26:25

Eve, so much different feel. There's not as much, you know, but not as much to do because of the way, the way it's set up, but it is. It reminds me of going to church Christmas Eve with my grandparents, or some nostalgia to it. You know, the focus is a little narrower. There's Christmas trees, two Christmas trees on either end of the chancel. You know that are, that are decorated. We have the hand bells out and all polished up for the bell choir, yes, and then the choir, and the choir posted, that's important. They polish it. They're bright, shiny and pretty gold. Oh, of course, beautiful. They have silver handbells too. Why? Yeah, gold. Some of them may be silver, because we have central presence hand bells. And St Luke has their own hand bells. So I don't know exactly how they got okay in the mix, because nice thing is there is, there's teams of people. Like, I don't have to be involved in any of that. Yeah, it's beautiful. They just tell me what's going on. And I'm like, great, I can stay which is good, because there's a limit to how much I can juggle. But we got the bell tower repaired.

Pastor Joe Liles: 27:17

Oh, so the bell tower has never worked. I've never, ever heard it. Yeah, it didn't work when I was there. And then I took a look at it, just for a moment. I was like, yeah, that's not gonna be a primary.

Unknown: 27:28

Do you have flyers and like, fix the bell tower I'm having back to the future.

Tom Helmich: 27:35

So DeLorean, so we have a young man there winning as an adult that is great with tech great, with tech, great, which is great because that's somebody I need. Is this that shirt? Yes. Oh, okay, I met Zach, yes. So he got the company out. They redid some of the hardware, because the hardware we've got is so old that, like, there's nobody alive that can work on it. It's part of the issue. They put in new tech. They run the control arena. It's got to hook to a laptop. Oh, so, five minutes

Pastor Joe Liles: 27:57

a year ancient, bells on a laptop, running the music. Yes. Oh, wow, yeah. And there. How does the music work with bells? Because it's chiming the bells.

Tom Helmich: 28:05

Well, in this case, it's not, it's not the mechanical bells. It's like a speaker that does a bell tone. Oh, nice. So they can, they can do that. So you don't have to have a rope and worry about teenagers.

Pastor Joe Liles: 28:14

I had someone in the back closet like, Well, yeah, because

Tom Helmich: 28:18

then you got to worry about teenagers mill and I ring the bells at 2am because that's, you know, what they would do. And so, so you like, five minutes before service, it'll chime the bells, you know, will play out. And this year they're gonna, it's gonna chime out Joy to the world. Oh, wow. And before, before service starts, I know, oh, it's great. It's just like, you know, they'll have the hand bells for the bell choir, and then the choir, and then we're gonna sing steel knocked Silent Night In German, the first verse, and then go into the rest. And it's just, it's gonna be a great, beautiful night, but it's gonna be more traditional. Okay, we are, but we are celebrating Christ's birth, which is a humble, a humble thing, right? Because he's born as a human infant, like you're gently saying that, in contrast to what we're doing. Well, no, it's Well, part of it's the emphasis of the sermon on that too. Oh, great. You know, I'm tying that. Yeah? So, yeah, sure. So we're using intention for communion instead of the little wafers. Okay, great. Because it's, I'm preaching on the humility of Christ, the humility of God in Christ, and how God comes in, you know, in weakness, and that's how God shows glory. And we're always looking for something different. So it'll it all fits, but there will be Albs and stoles and all the formal stuff, you know, but have

Pastor Joe Liles: 29:24

acolytes coming down to like candles. We have an acolyte Yeah, I might watch your live stream just to see what's going on. You'll be able to hear it now because you fixed our tech. I did so I got the joy of being down with you this week. So part of the role that we do at the church is we help other churches also. So we go out into other churches and help install technology to just get them to the next level. We're not an integrator, we're not anything crazy, but we have enough knowledge to and enough great volunteers and team members to go down and install technology like streaming setups and different sound things. So we installed a streaming setup last year to get you streaming through some PTZ cameras, and then we also just installed a soundboard, so we got you on. Digital soundboard, which was great, which apparently doesn't work with passive 1980 speakers, which

Tom Helmich: 30:06

1970s 1980s board,

Pastor Joe Liles: 30:10

because it's just beautiful. And so we got you set up, though, in a really incredible way. But why was there before you got there? So this was before your Wednesday night midweek services. I was working in there, and Jerry comes in. Oh, yeah. I sang duets with Jerry when I was at St Luke back 16 years ago, your internship. That was great. And they, they started practicing for bells. And my heart was just overjoyed, because I grew up with bells. I grew up with a massive Bell quiet right in my dad's churches, right? And so I know this. I played bills. I knew this. I mean, I had my little notes highlighted everything. So they started playing, and I was like, Oh, I remember this. This is beautiful. And then they were playing donut nobbies, right? Donna No, bees. And so I'm like, Donna No. And so I'm like, you want to sing? I'm like, No, absolutely not. So they're going, but they were just laughing and having the best. And I love serving churches in addition to like my heart for the neighborhood, because I witness the local church, I witnessed the life and the body of Christ. And at St Luke, it was beautiful, right? These are people I've known for 20 years now, right? And so beautiful to be with them, and beautiful to hear them play, and honestly, just give their heart through these songs. And so, um, so yeah, they were practicing, and I thought it was for that night, and I realized that, nope, they're practicing. Oh, they've been doing that for weeks, for weeks, for Christmas Eve, right? And so I didn't even get to hear the end result. I just got to hear practice

Tom Helmich: 31:46

number two. Can if you check out the live stream on Facebook now, because now I know how to do that. It's a genius of Christ Church, right? There's, there's a different model of church to bring joy to everybody out there. Yeah, absolutely. There's a place for everybody.

Pastor Joe Liles: 31:59

Absolutely. So Tom, you are talking about the bells and the bell tower, which is like these Christmas traditions, which we set up like new backdrops at the church. And, you know, we're doing great miss this year, which is going to be beautiful. I know it sounds kind of but it's going to be beautiful. And we're going to have crates all at the back wall and and we leave these because we do Sabbath Sunday. So the Sunday after church, we take a rest, right? Because all the volunteers, the Acolytes, the people, the bell choir, that all the people on our side that are pouring into the band and the tech, and all the people that are volunteering and setting up, we all need rest in a beautiful way. And so we keep our backdrops up, right? And we keep this moment all the way through that first Sunday in January that we come back January 4, and always tell people like, oh, it's because Christmas is still here, right? And Tom, you will tell me, actually, that, like traditionally, right, in the seasons of the church, Christmas is still here. Can you share a little bit about that, just for the church?

Tom Helmich: 32:47

So prior to the 25th we were in the season of Advent, yeah, right? This anticipation of the birth of Christ. And then on the 25th the where we celebrate the birth of Christ, begins the Christmas season. That's right. And it goes all the way through the end sundown on January 5. Yeah, that's great. January 6 is the Epiphany, the night of the of the three Magi visiting Jesus, beautiful. And so that's the epiphany of our Lord. And so for those 12 days, the 12 Days of Christmas, just like the song, right?

Pastor Joe Liles: 33:13

How many people don't know that the 12 Days of Christmas is in a loop, like, oh yeah, to the Christmas season in the church, yeah?

Tom Helmich: 33:19

Cuz the song came much, yeah, you know, much, much later,

Pastor Joe Liles: 33:23

yeah, right. And that's not working from

Tom Helmich: 33:25

Yeah, so, so like on our Sabbath Sunday, that's the first Sunday of Christmas. Yeah, that's beautiful. And what better holiday than Christmas to take a Sabbath and to be with your family and your loved ones, you know, and have to take that rest because baby Jesus slept.

Pastor Joe Liles: 33:40

What do

Tom Helmich: 33:42

we know about me? I hope for me. I hope for Mary, the baby Jesus.

Pastor Joe Liles: 33:45

I'd love to read more in the Scripture, but it's, it doesn't it's just not there. But like, who was baby Jesus, let's be honest. Like, was baby Jesus a crier? Like, was baby Jesus a person who, like, got loud? Was Baby Jesus a person who slept all the time? Like, we just don't know. I would love to know more about that, but it kind of leads us into like this wonderful moment, like family traditions, like talking about families and how we grew up in traditions. And so I wanted to ask you guys, what are some of the traditions that you grew up with as a family around Christmas? Because we've been talking church. I love I grew up and my dad had five to seven services on a Christmas. So I set out all of the candles on the sidewalks, and I helped in all the I loved it. Were you denying that I loved that kind of Christmas style? But then we also had our family traditions as a family, and now I'm creating those with my family as I have a 16 and 14 year old, and we're doing these traditions right, and they're part of so what are some of your family traditions that you guys have done with your family?

Tom Helmich: 34:36

Oh, your traditions are bringing so much comfort, and it's such a part of who we are, I can see my kids how our traditions have impacted them, yeah, and the some of the traditions that maybe aren't weren't even always necessarily intentional or a big deal that becomes so important to them, you know? Because I remember growing up, we would get to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and we did the rest Christmas Day, yeah, and then, but then Amy and I get married, we're. Blending our family, you know, because for us, so we would always do Christmas Eve service, Yep, great. We get a little rock, stay with my grandparents. Okay? Service started at like, 1045, 11 o'clock at night. We'd go to midnight, when they'd sing Silent Night, you know, in German, with a candle, and then come home and go to bed, and then we'd get up. And most time, it seemed like we'd actually went to service at Christmas morning also. Oh, wow. And my granddad was already up cooking, and looking back now as the one who does most of the cooking in the house, I'm like, oh, there's no way, yeah. Then I get home after midnight and four to start making homemade rolls, but it was worth it then, but I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna

Pastor Joe Liles: 35:34

do that, you know. Now, you know the work that went in. Now I know what went into. I'm like,

Tom Helmich: 35:37

I can appreciate it better, better after the fact, right? So for us, we start looking at our family. You know, some of the traditions that we built, one of them is three gifts. Kids only get three gifts. And my wife, she's true to this day, oh yeah, yeah. Still this day, like we've got, we go through the list, and we're like, if three was enough for baby Jesus, three is enough

Pastor Joe Liles: 35:55

for my kids. Is that really the reason you get for three? Yeah, it's really the reason so they get gold, no as far as

Tom Helmich: 36:01

we'd stretch, it is, sometimes we'd do one gift for all three kids, okay, which we don't do now, because they're, I mean, currents almost 25 my daughter's about to be 22 you know. And Connor's the youngest, and he's legally an adult, you know. And so they're all in different places, so that doesn't really work anymore, you know. But they still get three gifts, and we have the advent calendar that we put out. Oh, good. That has the, you know, the nativity scene, yeah? And when Connor came home from college, yeah, he got there, and I met him in the parking in the driveway, and he gave me a hug, and he looked at me this kind of grins, like, what he's like is the Advent Calendar up. I said, Yeah, but I don't know if it's current, yeah, Beeline. First thing he did was catch up the advent calendar and everything exactly where it's supposed to be in that and then current, he's got an advent calendar in his apartment, you know. And so this was little things like the advent calendar was like, Oh, that's a neat thing, but it wasn't, like an intentional, yeah, absolutely tradition, but it's become one for my kids. That's cool, you know. And so it's curious to kind of see, like, what is it they're going to carry on? From what? Yeah, from what we do beyond just the, you know, the three gifts, yeah, you know. And then we do, you know, Christmas Eve, always, and then hot cocoa that night. And we get up and do our family in the morning and go start hitting all the other sides of the family. So we basically eat non stop for 24

Pastor Joe Liles: 37:14

hours Christmas. That's great. That's great. Kaylee got an advent calendar this year. Very exciting. She went and bought it because it was chocolate. And so every night, she's like, Hey, you want to be chocolate. I'm not a huge chocolate, man, but, and so half of those are Miss, right? You get some of the bitter cacao ones, right?

Tom Helmich: 37:31

Like we did a cheese calendar last year. Oh, some of those were calendar. It was it was good. A lot was good. But there were some that was like, little bit of a mess.

Pastor Joe Liles: 37:39

I would also do a coffee calendar, right? If I had a coffee calendar, but the one I want to get is the Onyx one, but that one's a little bit out of my price range. But every year I'm like, one year I'm gonna get the Onyx one, and I'm gonna do, like, every day I have a little cup of onyx, which would be really nice. So what about you Andrea, what are some of the family traditions that

Unknown: 37:55

you grew up with? We grew up with, like, it's, of course, has morphed different now than it was then. But, uh, back in the like, my youth, German heritage, Scandinavian heritage. So we had oyster stew.

Pastor Joe Liles: 38:11

Oh, wow. You This is real, yeah. Like you said, German Scandinavian. I was like, I wonder how far we're gonna go.

Unknown: 38:15

No, it was oysters. I don't know if I imagine probably, at one point it was only oyster stew. But then, like, what child wants to eat?

Tom Helmich: 38:23

Oyster stew, fish or whatever, or like

Unknown: 38:27

it was, then the net morphed to, like, pickled herring that's we had, that was our fish or whatever. But, uh, but no, but then it's, it's been chili for as long as I can remember. It was chili. So it was oyster stew and chili. And then the oyster stew kind of faded out, and so now it's chili and another and another soup. But, yeah, okay, I don't, I hear people having, like, prime rib or turkey, you know, other other things, but some, but so, yeah,

Tom Helmich: 38:52

a little variety, though, because everybody's got the same one, like, yeah, like, when I after Amy's parents will get with, you know, my sisters and their families, yeah, and we're doing taco night. Oh, nice. That's great. You know, Christmas taco night. Oh yeah, that's really one would be the day, the day after by time we get because it takes so long, you know, to get, to get through everybody.

Pastor Joe Liles: 39:09

Oh, absolutely, yeah. I on Christmas really excited, because one Christmas Eve has come, right? And that's beautiful. And everyone's there. I stay at church after, on Christmas Eve, after everyone leaves, and I usually sit for about half an hour in the silence and just knows it's really special time for me where I just, I think back, and I'm just grateful of the season and the year. And there's been so much that's going on and so many people that this quiet time with God is really special to me. And so by the time I get home, it's everything slowing down in a really wonderful way. And so we, I always grew up with a Christmas movie. Like, we always, our family loves movies, and so we grew up watching a Christmas movie. And it could be anything, doesn't it doesn't have to be animated. It's not the same. I'm not a re watch it every year, kind of, I'm, like, we saw this last year. Can we watch something different? Like, I'm a new kind of one that comes up every year. And so, so we do that, and then I would usually wrap presents, because. Is I'm really kind of on the run until Christmas Eve and so and so. I have all the presents, and I usually like to sit in silence watching a movie, where I watch movies, family, everyone will go to bed, and then I'll take the presents that I've bought, right, and I'll wrap those right, and I'll just take time, and I'll kind of spend this time just kind of winding down. And then we do Jess. And Jess is a person who loves the open one gift on Christmas Eve. I am vehemently opposed. That's so opposed

Tom Helmich: 40:27

that must be a very traditional thing, because, like, I grew up with it. That's what I think my parents really seriously. So I don't know that comes from somewhere, because I've heard so many people

Pastor Joe Liles: 40:35

that do that love Santa, and I am excited to see what Santa has brought on the Christmas morning. And I don't need to see anything else on Christmas Eve, right from any other person who's bought me gift. I just want it all Christmas,

Unknown: 40:46

all our all our gifts are Christmas Eve. All, all our gifts

Pastor Joe Liles: 40:51

are all every like what happens on Christmas morning?

Unknown: 40:53

Well, there are Christmas Okay, all our family, all your family, guys, Christmas Eve is our family gathering. Kids love it.

Pastor Joe Liles: 41:00

They absolutely want to open gifts on Christmas Eve. They want it right then. And then we have the tradition of flannels. We get flannel I have four to five sets of flannels. We do

Tom Helmich: 41:10

matching we do matching pajamas. Yeah. So like, the boys have a certain color plaid pants, but they couldn't find they're gonna do like, red for the boys, green for the girls, but they couldn't find that fit everybody. Because right now is the wrong we should have started away early. Started way earlier. So it's a certain color robes for the girls and flannel pants for the boys for Christmas.

Unknown: 41:27

Oh yeah, it's a gotta buy those, right in August, yeah, yeah. But it's great.

Pastor Joe Liles: 41:31

It's great for pictures. Yeah, it's great for pictures, right? I mean, that's what. So we do the flannels, right? And then Christmas morning is cinnamon rolls. Family comes over. We're up early, so we're six o'clock getting ready. I love that, right? It's kind of say, when the kids get older, it gets easier to sleep in. They might this year, I don't know what's gonna happen when they're little, they wake up the

Tom Helmich: 41:49

crack of dawn on Christmas morning. I'm like, this was a school day, yeah? But now they're older, it's, it's a more of a slow roll we get. I mean, I usually get like, an hours there and drink coffee and make sure everything's out. I thought you're

Unknown: 41:58

gonna say you get an hour sleep, because that's like, that's kind of us too. No, I mean, because it's family Christmas and then it's games, and it's, then it's prepping for, so yeah, and, and, you know, your kids are gonna be up super early. So yeah, we're, we're out of that, super, super early. You're probably almost out of that,

Pastor Joe Liles: 42:13

oh yeah, we're out of we start to rest on Christmas morning. Like, I mean, I think it's a really beautiful thing. Like, our Christmas morning is very relaxed, right? And it's not the kind of go, go, go, go, right? And it's really intentional. And when we get through that, there's Simmon rolls, and there's Christmas music, and then we always start our Christmas puzzle. Just loves puzzles, so we put out the puzzle table, right? And we start our Christmas puzzle. But it truly becomes about rest. And I think it's like we're on Sabbath Sunday today. It's important that, as we think about this, I think that we've taken rest as a response to the work. I mean, you can even see in life of a pastor, it's hard because it comes after Christmas Eve. I love that run, but at the same time, like I rest afterwards. Rest is not a response to work, right? Rest is something that's given by God, right, not based on our achievement, right? And so I really think Sabbath Sunday was hard for me initially, because you don't ever take a Sunday, like, don't take a Sunday like, we can't take a Sunday off of church. Like, what will happen? Like, where will the people? Like, what's gonna go on? And I remembered the first time, like, thinking through this and being like, no, it's important that the church rests. You know? It's important that people know that there is rest here and that it's God given. It's not given by Pastor Joe, it's not given by the church, even it's God given. And I think what we're doing is we're teaching right the reality of what is Sabbath right and what it means to be beloved in rest. And so I want to take a second to read a scripture that kind of is always set for our the tone for our Sabbath Sunday. So it comes from Psalm 127, and Psalm 127, verse two. And here's what it says. And this, this psalm, as we come into is God's blessing in the home. So I want you to think about it. Put yourselves in your home, in your Christmas traditions, right? And and for some families, Christmas tradition is Christmas Eve, like it's Christmas Eve service, and it's going to that. It's candlelight worship or midnight mass, and we have these moments that come in. But here's what it says in Psalm 127, verse two, it says, it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest eating the bread of anxious toil. I love that line, for he gives sleep to His Beloved. That is a beautiful line. So beloved in Scripture is divine love, right? And so think of it. It's like Jesus Christ's love. So for those who God loves for the sake of the world, right? So let's talk about the world, He gives rest to His Beloved. Why then do we come to a space where we believe that we have to work in order to attain rest from God, right? And so I think there's this wonderful reality where we think that there is anxious toil, right? There's these moments that really come in our reality where we are anxious and all the things that we're doing in order to get to the season of rest. Or, hey, when I get through with this, then I will take the time and I will stop when really the reality is finding the rhythm, right? Of an embrace of God through our work and rest, right as we come to that, and I think that's one of the hearts that, as we really get into it, is that it's God's gift, right? Rest is God's gift. So part of my question that I just kind of want to close out this podcast with is like, how do you rest? And I think that joy comes through rest. So in that is probably a two part question, how do you rest? And do you find joy in that rests? And I think we need to help people understand that in rest we find joy. It's not that we worked and had the joy. Now we just get to rest from it and pause and then go back to it. I think there's joy and rests. And so what is that like for you, too? So how do you how do you rest?

Tom Helmich: 45:40

So I think to be able to have joy and rest, we have to let go of the anxious toil, because if we hold on to it, we can't, yeah, and that's when we start running, running around and running, running, running, trying to alleviate all the things that keep us from being able to rest, yes, whereas if we just are able to let it go, then, then we, then we can, you know, it's about surrendering that some things that are outside of our control, to allow them to be outside of our control, and just right? And rest looks different for everybody, right? Like, I know rest to you, wait, like, extreme, extreme, like exertion to me, right? Yeah, because for me, rest is like, I'm gonna sit in my chair next to my wife or have a cup of coffee or a drink and read a book and just relax or watch a movie because it's Die Hard every year, because it is a Christmas is it die hard every year? Oh, yeah, I've got a sweatshirt Amy got me that says Ho, ho, ho. Now I have a machine gun that I will wear while sitting there watching that movie. But it's different for everybody. Yeah, you know? And it's where people find they feel rested, and they can find they can find joy. I think part of the human condition is we have this idea that we want to take it on ourselves, yeah, and we want to make it that I did this, I earned this, and we don't want to just accept the gift.

Pastor Joe Liles: 46:50

I mean, that's, that's, I believe, 100% of the message we heard in Scripture, it frees us from thinking depends on us like that, like rest frees us that it depends on it. It doesn't depend on us. No, from the very God is working these stories, right?

Tom Helmich: 47:02

Yeah, everything about the birth narrative from the very beginning of it. You know God, God sent His messengers to us. God has sent His prophets to us. Yes, God sent his Word to us in the form of a child known as Emmanuel. God with us, right? God always comes out to us. God is the active role in this, and we can't earn it, that's right, and so we just all we can do is accept it. And when God gives us the gift of His presence with us as one of us, and gives us the gift of Sabbath and rest, saying that we don't have to try to do it all, that we can't do it all, that we can rely on him and just take a break and relax and be with our family and take a day off and experience joy outside of toil. Yeah, that's a huge gift, if we were just willing to to accept it. But we have to look past the idea that society wants us to believe, yeah, that we have to earn it.

Pastor Joe Liles: 47:54

Yeah, that's exactly right, exactly. What about you?

Unknown: 47:57

Andrea, yeah. So say there's, yeah, there's, there can be very different ways of rest. It might be couch potato. It might be hiking or running or whatever. I'm kind of like a little of a, you know, sometimes it is nice to just hang out on the couch. I watched die hard this week too. So we're, we're right with you, but then, but an activity or, like, yeah, baking or creating or doing, you know, doing something like that, you know that it's more for for you and, and, yeah, resting because we know God has it, yeah, we can rest because he's taking a care of everything.

Pastor Joe Liles: 48:33

So I even, I mean, I have those same reminders, right? And it's when, like, the people show up and everything's, I'm like, Oh, I have to work harder. Like, this morning was a great example, right? Like, having one of the volunteers, hey, I'm not feeling well. I'm not going to make it. I said, Great. That activates me. And so I said, Great. I'm going to work harder, right? And shift my plans and make sure this is going and all of a sudden a volunteer walks. And I was like, oh, that's like, Man, I'm doing a podcast on it today. Lord, I hear you. Like, I know it. Guys like, why did you think you had to work? Like, I've I sustain the church. I have grown the church. I have watered, you know, like and God's in this beautiful moment of going, No, these people are here because there is a kingdom growing, and it's not depending on you in a big way. It's not like we share our experience of God. I just do that from the pulpit. I do that from the message. I do that from leading a church. We all share that experience, and so thinking that it depends on us again is not where we need to be, right? It's, it's not based on the work, right? Really, Sabbath is about the word and it's about relationship. It's about going back into Scripture and reading that, reminding ourselves, because I am an active rest person, I I love, I love to be active. My rest is active. Like, if I have time to rest, I'll go and do something right, like, and that feeds me right, because it's hard for me to slow down. Now, there are times when I do, like, if my kids cuddle with me on the couch, here's deal, 16 and 14 years old, if they go right in the nook and cranny of my arm, and they just lean and go, you want to watch a movie, I don't care what was on the schedule. I don't care if we had. Church ministry is going, I'll be like, hey, look, can't make it today. I'm about to sit down and watch die hard with my kids. It's gonna be awesome, you know? And we do that, and it's, that's joy, like the joy I realized from rest is in relationship. It's in the word, right? It's in the 30 minutes that I take after Christmas Eve service in the dark by myself with a tree slit, you know. Like, it's in those moments where I'm like, Oh, this is the joy. This is the joy remembering it's not all based on me, right? And it's not based on anyone else. It's all of us together, right? Moving towards the kingdom. That's what I think Sabbath is. And so my hope on the Sabbath Sunday is that people find rest, right? Like My hope is that they're at home with their families, turning this on and watching on YouTube, or watching on Facebook, listening to it on a podcast, right? Maybe why they're baking sourdough, you know, who don't like they could be doing great things on a Christmas morning or in their traditions while they're doing a puzzle, right? That faith is a part of their daily life, and I think the church is a wonderful example of us gathering together, but faith should be done in the home, just like this Psalm says, This is Faith in the home, right? Sabbath is meant for you and your relationship with God. The church does not need to be present in that in order for you to have Sabbath or rest. And the church does not need to be present or for you to have a faith relationship with God. But the church is there to see the community of God in action, right, and to see the community of God moving towards the kingdom in a beautiful way, so in a really incredible way. I hope you to enjoy Sabbath also, right? And enjoy the rest after the season. And we're coming back. So now mind you, when we take Sabbath, we also come back in and we're gonna gather the body. So we're looking forward to January 4. January 4, Sunday, first Sunday back in. We're gonna be coming back into the church one service. Still Christmas, still Christmas. And that's why we leave our backdrop up, and all the trees are still up because our team leaves, I say, they cannot do anything after Christmas. They have to go home, right? And they have, like, what about this? What about it? Nope, just, just walk away. It's gonna be okay. We're gonna come back and it's gonna be fully Christmas still. It'll be wonderful. So we return one service, January 4, 10am the full body of Christ gathered together, and it's a new year. New Year for new you, right? New relationships transformed by God. So we're going to be talking about that in the message of what that means in relationship too. So thank you for joining us for our Sabbath Sunday podcast. We hope you as a family at home enjoyed our Sabbath Sunday podcast. This is the neighborhood church, and the best way to close out the same way we do in worship is all God's

Unknown: 52:17

people said, Amen. Love you. Peace.