When my brother and I were young, our celebration of Christmas was somewhat compartmentalized. Christmas Eve was for church. My parents, the two of us, and my grandmother (who lived with us), would bundle up and head to church for an early evening candlelight service. In those days, before the advent of children’s sermons and early communion, Christmas Eve was the one time when Brant and I felt equal to everyone else. We were not excluded as the ushers distributed candles or when the candles were lit! On Christmas Eve, everything in worship seemed so familiar, from the gospel to the carols. It was also beautifully different with the Christmas tree, wreaths and candles in the windows. Once we got home from church there was only one thing left to do—get to bed and try to sleep as Mom and Dad wrapped presents right outside our bedroom door.I do not even know if our congregation had worship on Christmas Day. For us, Christmas morning was devoted to exchanging gifts. Around noon, my other grandparents, my uncle and my great-grandfather would arrive. It was Mom’s job to cook Christmas dinner since we had been at my grandparents for Thanksgiving. Ham and scalloped potatoes were on the menu each year. There were nine of us at the dinner table in our tiny house. As I recall, a folding table was set up diagonally in the living room to accommodate us all. Christmas evening, after the dishes were done and our guests had gone home, the four of us would get in the car and spend the evening with my parents’ closest friends and their two boys.
There seemed to be a division between the sacred and secular in our celebration of Christmas. Christmas Eve was about Jesus. Christmas Day was about gifts, family and friends. But as I think about now, there was nothing secular about our celebration of Christmas. Our celebration simply began with and was undergirded by worship.
That is how it still is for me. My celebration of Christmas begins in worship. In fact, Christmas does not even make sense to me without worship. I trust the same is true for you. “Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn King!”
I join our bishop and the entire synod staff in wishing a Merry Christmas to all.
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