Christmas Eve Tradition

From the Christian Standard Bible translation:

The Nativity of the Messiah

18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.

20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

Today is December 17, 2024. On my way back from Springfield, TN, I noticed on the sign of FBC Greenbrier that there would be a Christmas Eve worship service at 5:30 pm.

From that reading, memories poured back all the way home and then to this writing.

One of my treasured Christmas memories is the tradition of the First Baptist Church of Tullahoma. Every Christmas Eve, a brief worship service would be filled with Carols, followed by the Lord’s Supper, Communion. At the end of the service, the chairman of the Deacons would make a presentation of a gift to our pastor, Tom Madden. Bro. Madden would then eloquently thank the church while his wife would dab tears of joy with her lacy hanky. Following a closing prayer, Bro. Madden would stand at the door near the organ and pass out boxes of Baby Ruth candies. (That was my favorite part!)

My emotional memory of that worship time is better than my own family’s Christmas morning traditions. Now that I think about it, that service was a part of our family tradition.

I started that Christmas Eve tradition when I became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Greenbrier. Ours was not a duplicate of the FBCT, but it was beautiful. We didn’t have the Lord’s Supper, and I could not afford the generous candy boxes. Each year, we would have a different but relaxed format filled with the “familiar” verses of traditional Carols. The service began in the dark, with the lighting of the Christ Candle of Advent. For several years, Allison H. would proceed from the back of the room with the flame that was to light the Christ Candle; she was a delightful sub-tradition.

 One year, we had a stringed instrument band; if you played a guitar or banjo or whatever, you were invited to our one rehearsal, and then we let her rip. Several times, we had soloists, trumpets, saxophones, storytelling, and all sorts of fun family things.

Our service was thirty minutes long, and the highlight was taking the Christ Candle flame and passing it from candle to candle until the whole room was filled with the warm radiance of the combined light. In that light, I would have the congregants turn to face each other across the aisle and sing a chorus I no longer remember the words to: “Emmanuel.”

That time of worship and fellowship was my favorite time with the church. Nothing surpassed the emotions I felt during that time of worship. (Seeing Jan and the kids’ faces lit with their candlelight was also amazingly moving.)

I plan to attend the special Christmas Eve service with my church, Long Hollow Church. I am full of anticipation for another wonderful time reflecting on the event of Jesus’ Advent.

The Advent has made a different man of me. The years have accumulated a lot of joy, but they have also generated a lot of sorrow and pain. I celebrate that it was and is the fact of God’s presence, Emmanuel, with me that rightly focuses the joy while giving purpose to the pain.

God has been with me, is with me, and will continue to be with me. God’s presence with me is the one stabilizing and energizing fact of my life. Every event of my life has taken on an atmosphere of worship, as both the good stuff and the bad stuff of life were, are, and will be encounters with Emmanuel.

May your Christmas celebration be filled with an acute awareness of Emmanuel that will continue throughout 2025!

Photo – Taken in NYC’s Macy’s east entrance in 2019.