Does your church have a special Christmas Eve service?

Our church traditionally has a Christmas Eve service.  I do enjoy them, but sometimes the holidays get hectic especially the week of Christmas.  So, we did a quick show of hands to see who would come and what day they preferred to have this special service.  We don't have mid-week services, so we decided to have our Christmas Eve-Eve service on Wednesday night to give people time to start getting together with families or making last minute preparations.

Does your church have a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service?  Will you go this year?

We typically have three services -an early family-friendly service, a more traditional service and then a late (10 PM or so) candlelight service with traditional hymns.

Several years ago, a week or so before Christmas, we created a prayer walk labyrinth. I was part of a trio that sung Medieval chants that dealt with the birth of Christ. It was pretty special.

Our church is just online this year (as we meet in a school, and the school doesn't want people in over the weekend).  That doesn't really affect us at Christmas though, as for the past few years we've...

gone to our local Church of England church for a Christmas Eve service
On Christmas Day we go to my mother-in-laws church.

Our church has a Christmas Eve service but we stay home and spend the time with family.

Yes, the UMC I attend has always had one. Several years back they stopped doing the one at 11 PM because the congregation has gotten more top heavy on age as time has gone on. So now it's 4:30 (I think) and 7 instead of 7 and 11. I prefer 11 since it was a tradition of my family growing up so I've gone to another church a couple times so I could still do 11. It was discouraging to see how few churches offer an 11 PM service anymore. This year ours will be virtual since bishop ordered before Thanksgiving that our conference not meet in person until further notice.

The other church I attend normally doesn't do one. We do still meet though since we're tiny (9 last Sunday).

Our church has a Christmas Sing Inn on Christmas Eve.

Due the corona and the lock down in my country it is not possible to do that this year.
Only 30 people can visit church.
Singers of the church band are allowed to sing.
The 30 people in church may not sing.

I'll miss the Christmas Eve Sing Inn this year so much.

We are taking our service outside this year. We have invited the neighbourhood to come. It won't be a usual service though, more of an open home sort of thing where people come, say a prayer, make a prayer flag, sing carols, and finally, have a standing meal.
Christmas Eve service has always been my favourite service of the year. The music is so uplifting and the church (before covid) was always full. I miss it too.

The Church I had been with did the new one does not and I miss it. The old place was a 50 mile round trip from the house and shut down for the Pandemic so I started sitting in with an old friend that is at a Church a mile and a half from the house and stuck around. I miss the old place and the old team so may wind up gong back. Here is a clip from the Christmas dinner in the fellowship hall a couple years ago at that place with me on electric.


 Then the Christmas service on the 23rd that year

topshot rhit wrote:

Yes, the UMC I attend has always had one. Several years back they stopped doing the one at 11 PM because the congregation has gotten more top heavy on age as time has gone on. So now it's 4:30 (I think) and 7 instead of 7 and 11. I prefer 11 since it was a tradition of my family growing up so I've gone to another church a couple times so I could still do 11. It was discouraging to see how few churches offer an 11 PM service anymore.   This year ours will be virtual since bishop ordered before Thanksgiving that our conference not meet in person until further notice.

The other church I attend normally doesn't do one. We do still meet though since we're tiny (9 last Sunday).

I wonder if that is more of a regional thing.  I am 51 years old, and I have never heard of anyone outside of the Catholic churches (which are not a ton here) doing an 11 PM Christmas Eve service.  When I was a teen, no churches in my area did a Christmas Eve service at all.

My church did ours on Christmas Eve Eve as many of our people were having get-togethers on the 24th.  I let them decide.  It was just as nice, but I have never been one to hang on to traditions.

alldatndensum wrote:

topshot rhit wrote:

Yes, the UMC I attend has always had one. Several years back they stopped doing the one at 11 PM because the congregation has gotten more top heavy on age as time has gone on. So now it's 4:30 (I think) and 7 instead of 7 and 11. I prefer 11 since it was a tradition of my family growing up so I've gone to another church a couple times so I could still do 11. It was discouraging to see how few churches offer an 11 PM service anymore.   This year ours will be virtual since bishop ordered before Thanksgiving that our conference not meet in person until further notice.

The other church I attend normally doesn't do one. We do still meet though since we're tiny (9 last Sunday).

I wonder if that is more of a regional thing.  I am 51 years old, and I have never heard of anyone outside of the Catholic churches (which are not a ton here) doing an 11 PM Christmas Eve service.  When I was a teen, no churches in my area did a Christmas Eve service at all.

My church did ours on Christmas Eve Eve as many of our people were having get-togethers on the 24th.  I let them decide.  It was just as nice, but I have never been one to hang on to traditions.

Our UMC church here in North Texas usually has a 11 PM service. We leave just as the Catholic church across the street gets ready for their midnight mass.

our church had several. One of them was going to be outdoors which we were going to attend then it stormed BIG time so we stayed home. Stormed all day and evening Christmas Eve with heavy rain and high winds.

alldatndensum wrote:

I wonder if that is more of a regional thing.  I am 51 years old, and I have never heard of anyone outside of the Catholic churches (which are not a ton here) doing an 11 PM Christmas Eve service.  When I was a teen, no churches in my area did a Christmas Eve service at all.

I would guess it more Methodist, Presbyterian and other denominations that typically closely follow the "church calendar" for the year and thus celebrate Advent among other things, which is obviously common for Catholics as well. The other church I have attended for 11 PM is Wesleyan, which is close to Methodist. Perhaps those denominations aren't as big in your part of TN?

topshot rhit wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

I wonder if that is more of a regional thing.  I am 51 years old, and I have never heard of anyone outside of the Catholic churches (which are not a ton here) doing an 11 PM Christmas Eve service.  When I was a teen, no churches in my area did a Christmas Eve service at all.

I would guess it more Methodist, Presbyterian and other denominations that typically closely follow the "church calendar" for the year and thus celebrate Advent among other things, which is obviously common for Catholics as well. The other church I have attended for 11 PM is Wesleyan, which is close to Methodist. Perhaps those denominations aren't as big in your part of TN?

While Baptist and now non-denominational churches outnumber all the others here, every town has a Methodist church.  Most mid-sized towns on up to the cities have Presbyterian churches.  Catholic churches are harder to find outside of the larger Metropolitan areas.

It could just be that I grew up in such a rural setting that I just never heard of 11 PM services on Christmas Eve.  

Most Baptists around here have adopted Advent with the lighting of the candles each week and a reading to go along with it.  While I do it because of the church I go to wants it, I find it incredibly boring.  It is just pomp, to me, for the sake of adding pomp.  I have yet to have anyone tell me at our church that it really adds something extra to the services leading up to Christmas for them.  Most of the people just gloss over while we do it.  I say it is a tradition, at least for my church, that should probably be phased out and perhaps try doing something new and more celebratory.  Of course, when your average age of your congregation is 70+ years old, making changes doesn't happen.

alldatndensum wrote:

While I do it because of the church I go to wants it, I find it incredibly boring.  It is just pomp, to me, for the sake of adding pomp.  I have yet to have anyone tell me at our church that it really adds something extra to the services leading up to Christmas for them.  Most of the people just gloss over while we do it.

Those seem to be contradictory statements. Perhaps you should ask all your members what they feel (if anything) about it?

Even though I grew up with it, I also don't feel the Advent season and candle lighting adds much even though our family is often one of the ones that does it. Of course, the flip side is Christians as a whole do a terrible job at things such as regular fasting to draw closer to God as we're supposed to so this reminder to prepare ourselves for the Messiah one time a year is better than nothing.

While I'm obviously not on the extreme like some Church of Christ branches that refuse to celebrate Christmas, I think Christians make too big a show of it (perhaps to keep up with society, witnessing tool, etc.) when Resurrection Day should be the big show. I do love Christmas music though; there seems to be a huge gap in the # of great songs written for the Holy Week period.

alldatndensum wrote:

topshot rhit wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

I wonder if that is more of a regional thing.  I am 51 years old, and I have never heard of anyone outside of the Catholic churches (which are not a ton here) doing an 11 PM Christmas Eve service.  When I was a teen, no churches in my area did a Christmas Eve service at all.

I would guess it more Methodist, Presbyterian and other denominations that typically closely follow the "church calendar" for the year and thus celebrate Advent among other things, which is obviously common for Catholics as well. The other church I have attended for 11 PM is Wesleyan, which is close to Methodist. Perhaps those denominations aren't as big in your part of TN?

While Baptist and now non-denominational churches outnumber all the others here, every town has a Methodist church.  Most mid-sized towns on up to the cities have Presbyterian churches.  Catholic churches are harder to find outside of the larger Metropolitan areas.

It could just be that I grew up in such a rural setting that I just never heard of 11 PM services on Christmas Eve.  

Most Baptists around here have adopted Advent with the lighting of the candles each week and a reading to go along with it.  While I do it because of the church I go to wants it, I find it incredibly boring.  It is just pomp, to me, for the sake of adding pomp.  I have yet to have anyone tell me at our church that it really adds something extra to the services leading up to Christmas for them.  Most of the people just gloss over while we do it.  I say it is a tradition, at least for my church, that should probably be phased out and perhaps try doing something new and more celebratory.  Of course, when your average age of your congregation is 70+ years old, making changes doesn't happen.

When we lived in Michigan when I was a kid we attended a Church Of God. They used to have an 11PM service every New Year's Eve. I HATED IT. I might have been between the ages of 5 and 8. Since I was a kid that was way past my bed time (hey still is!). My dad would make all of us go. My cousins (same age as me) would bring pillows so they could nap on pews but we (my brothers and I) had to stay awake and alert for the whole thing. They went on well past midnight. My dad eventually mellowed a lot but by that time we moved to Tennessee and there were no midnight services (although I do remember midnight volleyball on New Year's Eve with my youth groups which was a lot of fun as a teen).

alldatndensum wrote:

Most Baptists around here have adopted Advent with the lighting of the candles each week and a reading to go along with it.  While I do it because of the church I go to wants it, I find it incredibly boring.  It is just pomp, to me, for the sake of adding pomp.  I have yet to have anyone tell me at our church that it really adds something extra to the services leading up to Christmas for them.  Most of the people just gloss over while we do it.  I say it is a tradition, at least for my church, that should probably be phased out and perhaps try doing something new and more celebratory.  Of course, when your average age of your congregation is 70+ years old, making changes doesn't happen.

For UMC, Advent is meant to prepare us for the "coming" which the Latin word for is Adventus. It is about recognizing the coming of Christ to our world to bring us salvation.

It does appear to be contradictory.  But, if it is a tradition and not a true form of worship, wanting to keep something familiar and glossing over at the same time is more than possible.  Several people want things the way they were when their former pastor was there.  He left for several reasons.  They lost well over half the church after the resigned abruptly.  He literally quit when the invitation part of the service came and never looked back.

Having a familiar practice may be comforting; but judging by the looks on people's faces when we do the Advent candles, it appears to be less about worship and more about holding on to something they've always done.