One of Pitman’s finest traditions comes on the Saturday before the first week in Advent. People from all over take part in the annual Christmas Parade, and then everyone heads over to the Hagerty’s to see the opening of their annual Christmas lights display. The parade starts in our parking lot and then continues down Broadway, through the downtown area, and then ends smewhere around Ballard Park.
This year, in addition to hosting the parade’s starting point, we entered our own float and marched in the parade. Along the way we handed out zip lock bags containing a Advent Event Schedule bookmark along with a”Whistle” (a decorative piece of wood reminding us that “Unto Us a Child is Born.”) Over 900 of these handouts were given out along the route!
Getting our Float Ready…
The words “Christ” and “Mas” literally mean “a celebration of Christ,” and our float celebrated the birth of the Christ child. The front half of the float featured our “Christmas Parade Praise Band,” while a live Nativity with Mary and Joseph at the end of the float reminded everyone of the birthday we’re celebrating. Throughout the parade, the Band played some familiar Christmas Carols (to a slightly unfamiliar beat).
Here are some pictures of our float and “Marchers” before the parade began:
PUMC- the Parade’s “Staging Area”…
Our parking lot has always been the place where floats gather and marchers make last minute preparations before “stepping off” into the parade. In fact, even before our church was built, this ground was used for the same purpose. Ours wasn’t the only float gracing our parking lot. Here’s a tour around the parking lot as other floats and organizations prepared for the parade:
Marching Down Broadway!
The generators were running, the guitars were tuned, and everyone was ready to go. When the time came, we all started walking down Broadway. Here are a few views of the parade along the route:
Keep Christ in Christmas!
Christmas means a lot of different things to different people. For most of us it is a time of family, giving, and joy. For others it is just another day. But for Christians it is a reminder of how much God loves us. Humanity had (and “has”) gone so far off track that God had no other choice than to either wipe us out or to come down to earth Himself and show us how to live. Not only did He come to earth Himself to teach us, he came down to die for our sins! Take a fresh look at John 3:16.
God is super amazing. Christmas is a time to Celebrate Christ and God’s amazing grace and love.
