Children bring toys to church to be blessed

It?s difficult to pry children away from their new toys and gifts Christmas morning, especially after waiting all year for Santa to stop by and reward those who were nice.

But at Queen Street United Methodist Church Sunday, children?s Christmas gifts were the focus of the day?s sermon.

Children were asked to bring their favorite Christmas gift for the first ever Blessing of the Toys service, led by Director of Children Ministries Bridges Baker.

?It?s rare that Christmas falls on Sunday, so we just figured it was a nice way to have a casual service and to bring the focus of all the gifts that the children and we received today back to Christ, the reason for the season,? Baker said. ?Kids don?t want to leave their toys behind and so they could bring a toy with them and come in their pajamas.?

As children held and wore their favorite presents, Baker explained to the congregation the reason people exchange gifts on Christmas is because the Three Wise Men gave baby Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Rickey Howard, 10, brought his Angry Birds ? a popular game played primarily on cell phones ? hooded blanket to church to be blessed.

?I love Angry Birds,? Rickey said while wearing his new Christmas gift.? ?My mom likes to play it on her (cell phone).

Rickey?s older sister Amy said she received everything she wanted for Christmas and decided to bring her most entertaining present to church.

?I got a chicken hat,? Amy said of her headwear shaped like a hen. ?I didn?t ask for it, but I got it anyway? I asked for clothes and books.?

Baker said the church had planned to hold the special service last year, but foul weather got in the way.

?This is the first year we have done it here, we will probably continue it,? Baker said. ?It is something I had heard of at other churches in the past. ? We were going to do it last year, but it snowed and so our church services were canceled. This year was just a great time to do it since it fell right on Christmas Day.?

Baker said she looks forward to hold future Blessing of the Toys services to keep the day centered on Jesus, ?the greatest gift ever given.?

?Gifts are an important part of Christmas, and play is an important gift from God,? she said. ?They should be honored and given in his name and not just the name of commercialism or anything like that.

?We just want to point it back to Christ, because that?s where it all comes from.?

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Jane Moon can be reached at 252-559-1082 or jmoon@freedomenc.com.

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Source: http://www.kinston.com/news/toys-78775-blessed-bring.html

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