We won the lottery! Seriously.

[Pastor Gary]

Not the FINANCIAL lottery: Each year since 1984 the City & County of Honolulu has mounted a huge Christmas display called Honolulu City Lights. Big deal here.


Several blocks of lights, trees, huge Mr. & Mrs. Santa dangling their feet in the fountain... and a few non-profits get space. Year after year it has become more secular, with groups having NOTHING to do with Christmas in there -- political groups, health charities, friends of gays & lesbians, etc.

I had a sense that there were not hundreds of applicants for the 5 non-profit slots but nobody would tell me how many entrants there were. So I applied.

And WON one of the 5 slots!

Turns out there were only 9 applicants this year, so the odds were pretty good. Of the 5 groups, only TWO will be Christian.

From the Saturday Honolulu Star Bulletin:

» Chabad of Hawaii, an Orthodox Jewish organization. It erects a giant menorah at Waikiki Gateway Park each year to mark Hanukkah, which begins Dec. 22 this year.

» Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Liliha. It has sponsored booths depicting the birth of Jesus several times in recent years.

» Reunion Church, ministry of Hawaii Church of God of Prophecy, a new entrant.

» Parents, Family, Friends of Lesbians and Gays -- Oahu. It has sponsored past exhibits extolling tolerance and peace.

» Hawaii Brain Aneurysm Foundation (Friends of Michele Higa), a new entrant.

The tradition began in 1992 when a church group convinced former Mayor Frank Fasi that his new Honolulu City Lights show should include the real Christmas story among the sectarian, bigger-than-life scenes of elves and toys and snowmen. A challenge over religious displays on government property was resolved when the city set up a lottery open to all nonprofit groups.

If you had this opportunity, what would your display look like? What would the central message be. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is likely to have the traditional nativity display they have used before.

Our area is 20' x 20' x 12' tall max, must be surrounded by a white 3' picket fence for display consistency, will have one electrical outlet but no sound is allowed.

[TW]

You might try a "simplistic" approach. A Manger and a Cross in front of an Empty Tomb. The three most important events in human history, Jesus birth, death and resurrection tied together in one display.


TW

[Billy n NC]

Great Job Pastor G.
What a great opportunity.

Good Idea also TW.

Pastor G. Your Graphic Artist Skills will need to be dusted off for this one. Actually when you look back in your life you may find that all those Graphic Artist years was prep for this door to walk thru.


Take lots of pics.

[PastorP]

Yippee for you! Keep spreading the Word every way you can!

[rjc]

Congratulations!

[ToJJB]

Congrats! I look forward to seeing your picture of the display.

[dolfan]

A modernized nativity, perhaps, with people that look like your neighbors portraying the folks in the scene. I know these aren't real "people" in the display, but you know what I mean. We did a silent skit one year where people were walking along a town shopping district and the guys closing the store on Christmas Eve "froze" people on the street and put them in the window, arranging them in a nativity scene. People loved it.

[rough_rider]

Great idea TW

[Pastor Gary]

We kind of have a preliminary, rough concept.

I posted it on my blog at http://kahugary.blogspot.com/

The basic idea is:
• Keep it simple - it's a moving crowd browsing through.
• Keep it Christ-centered without any cheesy plastic baby Jesus lawn ornaments.
• Use scripture: We are favoring "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
(We might shorten that or switch verses, but this one has some key elements we like... fear not (at a time of uncertainty)... great joy... all people... a saviour... Christ the Lord...)
• Visually, the angels are nice symbolism of things heavenly.
• We're going for the star/cross imagery that ties the Christmas story to the Cross.

Tomorrow we are consulting some theatrical set design people my daughter works with, and an Adventist friend who does professional stage lighting to see how they might enhance the concept and help out.

[pastorables]

huge Mr. & Mrs. Santa dangling their feet in the fountain...

My seven year old, who rarely looks at the site, was quickly drawn to this picture (from over my shoulder) and exclaimed, "They're naked!".