Christmas Eve services are always a challenge for me, especially the longer I serve in ministry. How many different ways can you find to preach on the same passages and the same topic?
The tendency, of course, is to try to get creative and do something out of the box. There's a real limit to how effective that is. After all, people come to hear the Christmas story, not some random obscure passage from 2 Ezekiel (which is not a real book, just making a point). The other temptation is to try to cram every piece of theology in knowing that there are people who only show up once or twice a year that will be there.
I think the trick is to keep it simple. And especially keep it short. My typical Sunday morning messages run about 27 minutes, give or take. Christmas Eve is more a meditation and a challenge than a typcial sermon. I shoot for 20 minutes max on Christmas Eve. Add in special music, a video, several Christmas carols, and time for lighting candles and you end up with about 45 minutes for the evening. Which seems to be about right, especially when you have extended family visiting and so on and everyone is anxious to get home and finish preparations for Christmas morning.
All that to say, if you don't have a place to celebrate Christmas Eve, we'd love to have you join us at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow!
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