The Festival of Gifts is a long-standing tradition here at Christ Church Cranbrook. Many, many parishioners and people from neighboring areas come to this service and look forward to it year after year. This year in the spirit of long standing traditions the Festival of Gifts service will follow the original service program and lessons from December 1928. 

You may be wondering if this will look and sound very different from recent years. The answer is the order of service will change and some of the prayers will sound a little different but we think you will
FOG
find that the language and prayers will paint a beautiful picture of this very special time in our Christian faith. Of course, the readings and the story of the birth of our Lord Jesus remains the same as does the role of our beloved Acolytes who will enact the story and display a living crèche. We will also process as usual past the live crèche to view the scene of the birth of our Lord. 

You will note in keeping with this "retro" theme, the service program will also take on the historical look of the original 1928 enactment and includes some photos from past years. I hope you and your family will worship at one of the Festival of Gifts services which are offered on Saturday, December 5th at 5:00 PM and on Sunday, December 6th at 10:00 AM.

Parishioners are invited/encouraged to bring unwrapped gifts, which will be collected by various service agencies in southeast Michigan. They are:
  • Baldwin Center
  • Bound Together
  • Butzel Family Center
  • Children's Aid Society of Detroit
  • Crossroads for Youth
  • Crossroads of Michigan
  • Easter Seals
  • Federation of Youth Services
  • Lutheran Social Services of Michigan
  • Matrix Human Services
  • Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
  • Oakland County Children's Village
  • Oakland Family Services
These agencies will "shop" on Monday, December 7 for those in need - at-risk, low-income youth and young adults, ages newborn to 21.

Items requested include, but are not limited to cold weather gear, college-themed hoodies (teen/adult sizes), infant/toddler clothing, toys, board games, card games, arts and crafts, age appropriate books, puzzles, action figures, dolls and sporting good items.

We invite you to make this a part of your Christmas tradition if it isn't already!

Blessings,
Christ Church Cranbrook