Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, Shiloh Church tried something new. If I am right, what Shiloh did this year may well become a tradition in the life of the congregation. I wanted to see what readers of The Shiloh Insider thought.
Shiloh held a single Christmas Eve service, at 7:30, preceded by a thirty-minute instrumental concert. The concert featured organ, violin, saxophone, flute and piano. Led by Shiloh's organist, Rev. Aaron Sheaffer, the concert was attended this year by many more than in years past. The service was a fairly traditional service of Word and Carols. It included selected verses from ten traditional Christmas Carols, a children's time, an operatic vocal solo, performed by an old friend, Bree Sprankle, our bell choir, a traditional Christmas message, prayers and a candlelight ceremony. Casey Robinson presented ASL interpretation throughout the service.
While we received a small handful of concerns about not holding the traditional 10:30 Christmas Eve service, the attendance and attitude of the single Christmas Eve service were tremendous. As usual, the candlelight ceremony was a highlight, the perfect way to usher in the celebration of Christ's birth.
Shiloh held a single service on Christmas day, at 10:30 a.m. Again, we held a service of word and carols. We sang selected verses of eight carols, celebrated with our sanctuary choir, heard from our children, and performed a message structure that was new for Shiloh Church. The message was interactive, meaning that members of the congregation told the stories. Despite some fear that members of Shiloh would remain quiet, the response was tremendous. We heard from families who were celebrating a Christmas together after decades of estrangement, gifts given that met the needs of those around us, service to neighbors and friends, and efforts made to make the lives of those around us a bit merrier.
The message format was a fabulous success. It fed off the energy of a congregation that had gathered to celebrate the birth of its Lord and Savior. Perhaps it helped that Shiloh had advertised the service as "pajama-friendly." Our outdoor sign related the times of the Christmas Eve and Day services, with the line "jammies welcome" underneath. Roughly half of the congregation came in their jammies, either as a reflection of how they typically are dressed on Christmas morning or as a way to embrace the whimsy of pj's in church. Either way, the atmosphere was joyous, almost electric. At the close of the service, worshipers were invited to gather in the chancel for picture, one that will serve as Shiloh's 2012 Christmas card.
Has Shiloh started a new tradition? Will the congregation offer a single Christmas Eve service each year and a mid-morning Christmas day service? From the experience of this Christmas season, I can testify that this Christmas celebration was warmer, more energetic, and more spiritual than any I have experienced anywhere else in the Church. If you were with us, join me in the testimony, or offer your own feedback. If you were not with us, let us know whether or not you might be invited to be with us in the future.
What if Shiloh were to offer a single Christmas Eve service and a single Christmas Day service, even if Christmas were to fall on a day other than Sunday? Would you take part? Would you appreciate the flexibility? Would you come in your jammies on Christmas day?
Your input will go a long way to determining what we do next year.
See You Sunday!
1 comment:
While I understood the necessity of having just the one Christmas Eve service and one Sunday service to permit our staff to have family time since Christmas fell on Sunday, I honestly missed having the two Christmas Eve services. In years when we have two services, I almost always have attended both services--sometimes with family in tow and sometimes alone. I enjoy the more informal early service, but the more formal late service followed by the drive home with everything closed (parti-cularly Meijer's) has made the experience more sacred and holy. I realize two services means a lot more work for our staff and volunteers, and I would adjust to one service but prefer two. I do know people who attend other churches attend our late service. Kudos to our wonderful musicians for the pre-service concert and to Bree. Another minor setback in my recovery kept me from the Christmas day service, but I liked the idea of being able to come in "jammies" for that day only. Mona
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