Deck the Chapel

The day after Thanksgiving the Protestant and Catholic youth groups got together to decorate the Chapel for Christmas. I can definitely say that working at the chapel has given me a big appreciation for what it takes to make a modern church run. How many people really think about how many man hours it takes to put up the trees and lights and pointsettias and nativity scenes that we all love being surrounded by during advent? Thankfully our chapel is relatively small and we had an army of 25 or so teenagers so it didn't take TOO long to get the place looking nice and festive.

No, the real challenge was painting our new chapel Christmas card. Misawa has a tradition where all of the base organizations design and decorate a large plywood Christmas card each year. Then all of the cards and put on display in the round-about in front of the Wing Headquarters as a way of spreading holiday cheer. Up till now the chapel has been conspicuously unrepresented (I think because the "chapel" - being a government agency - technically has to represent all of the different faiths on base and it would be a headache trying to decide what message to convey with a card.)

But our Protestant Parish did some research and realized that we count as an organization and could have our own card if we wanted to. So we decided to take a big stand for Christ with our card. My friend Erika Meister designed it before she moved in October. Then the guys in the men's ministry cut out the nativity silhouette in the wood shop and the youth were tasked with actually painting it. That was quite a job so after they were done with the basics, I called James in to help do the detail work. He was a good sport and put in a good three hours of work. But I think the finished product is worth it. The design is eye-catching enough during the day (as it is pictured below). But the real treat is when it's lit up at night. We have one light that shines on the lettering to make sure you can read it in the dark, and then one light that shines on the translucent white sheet behind the nativity scene which makes the stable and star glow!

So Merry Christmas season from Misawa Air Base!