Christmas Service

Saying Amen
In the large lobby, I heard many murmured conversations, exclamations of “Merry Christmas”, and exuberant children, as we hung our winter coats in the coatroom. We found enough seats to accommodate our family of ten, with the youngest going to the nursery.
Poinsettias festooned each side of the multi-plat formed stage, leading your eyes to the tall, twin pine trees decorated with red bows. canned music filled the room until the bass drum’s rhythm counted the measures for the violin. The crowd hushed as the strains of the violin were joined by the electric keyboard. The pastor of the McLane Church invited the 400 or more attendees to stand to glorify God upon his birth.
Yes, this was a Christmas Eve service in a Christian Church in Edinboro, PA. I knew our Jesuit-trained, hometown, Anglican Priest would roll his eyes at these tactics, but when was the last time he’d presided over 400 Christian worshipers gathered together to hear the gospel and honor the birth of Jesus?
We stood and sang several traditional Christmas Carols, albeit, with a violin/piano/guitar/electric keyboard accompaniment with two males and a female singer. The words were displayed on a “ticker-tape” digital readout above the back stage, that was decorated with a swag of evergreens and tiny white lights. I only know the first verse of many songs, but the music was loud enough that I felt very comfortable singing and la-la-ing my heart out, for the first time in ages. When the violin soloist played “Oh, Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel” my tears started to flow.
Okay, so I’m a sentimental ol’ lady, with many years of knowledge that noone listens to; however, God heard my heart felt praise, thanks, and sorrows that evening.
My daughter-in-law reached over to grasp my hands and I knew that she not only loved me but understood the emotional release my tears demonstrated. I heard lots of others sniffing back tears, where I just let mine flow
Pastor Cox began his message as my tears continued to flow. He had a blessed blend of Gospel passages and axioms, human foils and situations that we could all relate to, humor that targeted each of us, and inspiration to attain a higher love.
After Pastor Cox’s message, we once again stood for several carols, then, as the lights dimmed, our candles were lit for the singing of “O Holy Night”. We raised our lit candles and felt we were truly embraced by the Holy spirit and meaning of the coming of Our Lord’s birth.
NOTE: We had attended the Thanksgiving service and knew how the McLane Church serve doughnuts, coffee, and juice prior to their 9:00 AM service and scrambled eggs and sausage prior to the 11:00 AM service in obeisance to Jesus’ request to “feed my lambs”. If the purpose of a church is to get the Good Word of the Gospel out to the people, then, the McLane Church is very successful. And, by the way, they distributed over $144,000 to folks who petitioned them for assistance through their Beneficent Funds last year. Amen.