Greetings All,
It will be different this Christmas Eve. We won’t be in the church with music rising to the rafters. We will be meeting on Zoom, but we will still hear Christmas music and stories, and sing Christmas carols.
Many of you have been joining the Holy Trinity Sunday Zoom gatherings for months. You know how we have adapted to this new online reality and how we have come to appreciate each other in new ways. We have had great music, inspiring homilies and wonderfully real congregational prayers and reflections. We have laughed and cried together, and grown stronger as a community in the process.
Now, whether you have been on Zoom with us all along or have been reluctant to give Zoom a try, whether you have a long affiliation with Holy Trinity or someone has just pointed you our way, please know that you are welcome to join us on Christmas Eve. There is room here for all.
We will start gathering at 7:45pm for a brief social time and a toast. At 8-ish a celebration in word and music will begin. There will be time for prayers and reflections. We will share a (ritual) Agape meal and end with “Silent Night” by candlelight.
Christmas Eve will be harder for many people this year. It was hard for Mary and Joseph on the night Jesus was born. It was hard for the shepherds watching their flocks in the cold and the dark. It was hard for all their kin and all their nation living under Roman occupation. Their story, the story we will hear again on Christmas Eve, is that God comes to us even in the hard times. So please join us to find and to celebrate how God comes on Christmas Eve in Covid times in the year 2020.
Things you may like to have ready:
- If you have a home Advent wreath, a fifth (Christmas) candle for the centre
- If you don’t have a home wreath, do you best to find just one candle you can light
- Bread and wine/food and drink for your household so that you can participate in the ritual meal
