Monday, 22 December 2008
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QOTD: Christmas Eve Service at Church?
Does your church offer a Christmas Eve service? What does the service usually entail?
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Comments (34)
My church has a Christmas Eve service, and this year they're doing a Lord's Supper ceremony. I wish I could be there!
Well, it's not technically Christmas Eve. Midnight Mass begins at midnight of course so it is Christmas day. Our Parish offers it, but we are going to St. James Cathedral for it as we usually do. My friend sings in the choir so it will be great to see her singing again. The Mass at the Cathedral is essentially the same as any other but a little longer and the Archbishop presides. This will be my third year going to a Midnight Mass. I don't think you can really appreciate the beauty of it unless you see it.
In the past, we have went to an earlier mass on Christmas eve which is for kids who can't quite stay awake too late, and it is also very special in its own way. The readings are sometimes done by younger kids, so it can be kind of interesting but in a good way.
We have three services. The first one is a family oriented one. The second is a contemporary service, and the third is the traditional service.
Most churches in my area (including my own) have candlelight services, where everyone has a small candle that they light off the Christ candle in the Advent wreath, and we sing "Silent Night" with the only light in the room coming from the candles. We also sing Christmas carols, and have a few dramas performed. The service is mostly a calm reflection on who Jesus is and the humbleness of his coming.
Two 'traditional' Christmas Eve services, 6PM and 10PM, about 1hr long, complete with living nativity, camels, donkeys, and old Christmas carols. Candlelight at the end to top it off.
There are three mini sermons every 15-20 minutes or so and dispersed throughout the whole service is singing and scripture readings. The service ends with a darkened auditorium, with everyone holding a lit candle singing Silent Night.
We didn't before, but now we are. It starts at 10pm and ends at midnight :)
Usually there is a small program from the kids as well as singing carols and the message.
Yes. I've not yet been able to go to one since being a part of the church, as I'm usually out of state with my family. But hopefully someday I will be able to. One year though there was an event that caused controversy and discussion for years following. Blogs wrote about it and people around the world who don't know us said horrible things about the pastor and the woman at the center of the controversy. I love my church.
yup, we're having 2. haven't been to one yet but i know there is lots of singing of carols and hymns (a departure from our regulary contemporary music). prob a brief message too. and i'll most likely be working it from the media end.
Our church had a candle light service last night. We sang hymns with people coming up to read something about the history of that particular christmas carol, we had testimonies and ended with candlelighting and singing of Silent Night acapella. Then we had FOOD! On Christmas Eve we go to a friends farm where we have a service in a barn. We sit on bales of hay, all wrapped up because it is usually very cold. There are animals making noises, we have singing which my husband helps to lead, and a short message. It is geared to unbelievers. Then we go into their house and have FOOD!!!! and fellowship.
we all get together and sing hyms and have a short sermon. then we all line up in a HUGE circle, all holding unlit cadles, and then we pass the flame from one candle to another until they are all lit and then we sing one final hymn. the kids usually perform a skit before the sermon, but they did it a week earlier this year, and i was in it!
I'm the first chuch-goer here to say - no! We don't have Christmas Eve services. But we do have a Christmas Day service. We come together for a regular worship service - so our service is the "same" - except of course, that the sermon and the songs and the prayers etc reflect the true meaning of Christmas.
Last night the choir that I direct put on a Christmas Praise Evening which involved lots of choir and audience singing, a kids choir, our GEMS group presenting the story of the Candy Cane to the little kids (with my daughter playing the lead role!), different instruments accompanying the singing, a short meditation and a poem or two. It was fun - something we do annually.
my church doesn't have a christmas eve service.
Mine does along with other events that go on. I've never gone to a Christmas Eve service so I couldn't say what went on. I'm always a late Christmas morning service person myself.
We do, but I don't feel like typing it out. It's pretty cool though.
@crevis05@xanga - your mom is the traditional service
We have a candlelight Christmas Eve service.
My church hasn't done a Christmas or Christmas Eve service in over 15 years. My parents moved recently, and their new church has a service. I don't know if we're going, though. New Years Eve "night watch" service is more their thing.
We will be having a Christmas Eve Service. It will have Christmas worship of Christmas songs surrounding the meaning of Christmas, Christ's Birthday. And we are doing Christmas Communion..........Monic
I am Catholic, and yes my church does offer a mass for Christmas Eve, but it is not at midnight, it is held at 7:30. It is also completely boring and completly in latin, which is something that I can not understand and simply put, do no like. But at the same time, I go every year, because I feel as though it is my duty as a catholic to attend this mass.
Yep, my church has had a Christmas Eve service for as long as I can remember. It's called "Candles and Carols." It starts at 11pm, and usually ends shortly after midnight. We usually have a live nativity with the church's newest baby and his/her parents. We also have several 'specials' - church people singing songs, reading pieces, playing instruments, etc. At the end of our service we form a circle around the sanctuary and turn out the lights. The two closest to the Advent wreath light their candles from the Christmas Eve candle, and then we pass the light around the sanctuary. When everyone's candle is lit, we sing Silent Night. :)
My church has 3 services on Christmas Eve: The Childrens Service at 7 pm, and the other two services at 9 and 11 pm. I've only been to the Children's service.
The priest hides the baby Jesus somewhere in the pews and the kid who finds it brings it up to the nativity and places the figure in between Mary and Joseph. Then, after the processional and the readings, our priest reads a religious children's story and has all of the kids come up to the altar while he reads it. After communion, we sing Christmas hymns and go home. It's a nice service.
Nope, no Christmas eve service. :S
Midnight Mass (Christmas Eve/Day at exactly Midnight) at Subiaco Abbey in Arkansas is breathtaking. It is not boring at all. I look forward to traveling there every year. It's a very uplifting experience.