Like so many things this year, Christmas will not be normal. Even though we have begun to have in-person worship, there are many reasons that a traditional service indoors is just not practical this year. We always have many guests at that service, and we have no reliable way of communicating the procedures for worship to them reliably. With the current limitations on both capacity and spacing there is no way to safely handle a crowd of uncertain size.
Instead, we will have a simple outdoor service at 5 pm, weather permitting. It will be short, and should end about sundown (5:40 that day). Details are still being worked on, but being outside both allows us to space out for as many people as come AND will allow for singing. We are working on details for music but I am looking forward to this new worship service. One good part is that by finishing around sundown, those who do not drive at night should have about 20 minutes to head home before it is fully dark.
We will also have a service online, which will be pre-recorded so people can worship whenever it is most convenient. By pre-recording we can make the service have a more ‘polished’ look to it and ensure that the sound is as good as we can make it. For those who want to be community online as we have been these last months, we will watch together on Zoom at the usual 7 pm worship time, and will have a few specific things happen during that time to interact and share Christmas greetings and stories.
2020 has indeed been a year like no other, but we know that Christ has been present in it all. We will close it by watching for the coming of Christ, not only in the story of a manger long ago, but in the here and now.
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