We’re just a couple of weeks away from Christmas Day, 2020. Maybe one of these posts will encourage you as you tell the gospel story to loved ones and friends:
- 10 Suggestions for Telling the Christmas Story this Year – Particularly for those who teach and preach the Bible (whether in-person or online this year), this post offers simple guidelines for communicating the good news of Christmas.
- 15 Thoughts to Consider if Your Church is Having a Christmas Eve Service – I wrote this post prior to COVID, but perhaps something here will help you however you’re offering a service this year.
- 5 Christmas Truths for Plateaued or Dying Churches – Many churches need hope, and the Christmas story is filled with that.
- 10 Recommended Books on Prayer to Read during the Holidays—and to Give to Others – If you’re not traveling this year, you might have even more time for reading. Give some attention to prayer this year.
- A Christmas Devotion for All of Us – It’s a simple, but beautiful story of hope for sinners. We have much good news to tell.
- 10 “Joy Stealers” in a Pastor’s Life – I’m afraid we all have some of them. Let’s not lose our joy this Christmas!
All very helpful articles. What I am planning for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is two asynchronous services, one for Christmas Eve itself and the other for Christmas Day. I will be used an adaptation of the traditional order of service for Evensong (Evening Prayer or Vespers) and Matins (Morning Prayer). I do not generally use that order of service because it is rather lengthy for online. But since I am anticipating that my viewers may include older people for whom that particular order of service has sentimental associations, I decided to use it but in an abbreviated form. Each service will consist of Christmas carols, hymns, and anthems; psalms; Scripture readings; prayers, and a homily. I am using an asynchronous service format because it is easy to navigate and I want my viewers to read the Scripture readings, prayers, and homily for themselves. If a household is viewing the service, one or more of its members can read them. I want to engage my viewers as much as I can. Even if they are viewing the service by themselves, I am going to encourage them to read these parts of the service aloud. It was a practice of the early monks that when they read the scriptures alone, they read them aloud so that they would hear God’s Word as well as read his Word. It is a practice that I have adopted myself. When we read the Scriptures aloud, we read them more meditatively and with more attention to what they say. I have selected most of the music for the two services. Going to church on Christmas Eve, hearing again the Christmas story, singing the familiar Christmas carols, and receiving communion has been long been a part of Christmas for me. I would serve as one of the assistant ministers at my church and then attend my mother’s church, the church of my youth, later that evening. This year I believe that it will be safer for most of us to stay home on Christmas Eve, read the Christmas story, listen to Christmas carols, and to give thanks to God for his blessings in 2020 and to pray for an abundance of his grace in 2021. Most of all we should give thanks for the greatest of his blessings—our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate on this night.