It's Christmas Eve! We don't have any little kids in my immediate family at the moment, so instead of setting out milk and cookies we're heading out to an evening church service. Well, we went to Christmas Eve services when I was a child too, but then the highlight of my evening was setting out milk and cookies and looking at the barren tree trying to imagine what it would look like with piles of presents underneath it. My priorities have changed a little bit since then.
We used to go with my Grandma to her church, the First Presbyterian of Lexington Ohio, which was built probably a hundred years ago. It's a beautiful old building with big stained glass windows, glossy wooden pews, and a vestibule. They don't build vestibules any more, now churches have visitors centers and welcome kiosks and weird things. Not the Presby. Candlelight services were magical at her church - there's really nothing like a hundred people singing softly in the dark with their faces lit with tiny candles.
Now we attend a different church - one with an entry instead of a vestibule - and have candlelight services in a slightly different way. Now we are in a building that used to be a factory and was converted to a church by the hard-working men and women of our congregation. Tonight's service included dance routines from the children, scripture readings by couples and families, some lovely music, and, of course, candles. It was a lovely evening with friends and family, preparing for the holiday tomorrow. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without singing Silent Night over little white candles shrouded in paper collars.
