Savior of the world is between us!
The celebration of Christmas Festival prepared by Istanbul Protestant Churches took place on Sunday, December 22 at Cemil Candaş City Cultural Center.
Esay Tastan, who made the opening speech of the event where 700 had gathered, invited Mayor of Sisli Muammer Keskin to give a speech. Keskin said: “I would like to express my pleasure to celebrate Christmas together and invite you to our municipality. I want to let you know that I am happy to live with you in the same country.’’ He added: “Our differences are in fact our values.”
Habib Anlı, the pastor of Zeytinburnu Church, prayed and blessed the evening and the program started.
The worship group led by Daniel Günay, the pastor of the Agape Church took its place on the stage. While many Christmas hymns were sung, the hall was filled with great enthusiasm.
After the worship group, the Adolescents of the Timothy Service were invited to the stage and they staged a theater drama explaining why Jesus Christ was born. After the theater, they performed some Christmas melodies with hand bells.
While the children left the hall to participate in the program prepared for them, Serkan Şahin, an elder of Life Family Church, appeared on the stage to give his testimony.
Hakan Taştan, pastor of the Üsküdar Cankurtaran Church, was invited to the stage to give his sermon on the importance of the day. He said: “Do we realize that the Creator is born in a stable; not in the palace? To Born in the stable and dying on the cross… King of Kings! As Christians, we can learn a lot from this. A large part of the Bible stories took place in this land. We are called Christians in this land. So, celebrating Christmas in this land is very valuable. But it should also lead us to think deeply: What is Christmas really?”
The program ended with Christmas chants and sharing of the food offered by the Municipality of Şişli. (SAT-7 TÜRK / DAP)
