Christmas Eve Services - A Contrast of Styles

Well another Christmas Eve has come and gone.  Last night I was lobbying to attend three Christmas Eve Services and in the end lost to my family and we compromised and attended two services.

The first service was at 7:00 PM at Sunset Hills Baptist Church, our home congregation.  The services at SSH have been for many years now contemporary in nature and is definitely what one would categorize as "low church".  With nearly or no liturgical qualities to be found in the service and certainly none in the Christmas Eve service.  It was a very nice service with a heavy emphasis on congregational singing (a very 'Baptist' thing to do) and some readings.  It was a candle light service which is always a stable of Christmas Eve Services at SSH.  

After the service we went home and had some supper and waited to head out to attend the Midnight Mass at Saint Cecilia Cathedral.  We arrived there about 11:30 PM and took in the last half of the Organ & Choral Prelude.  The music at St. Cecilia's is always breathtaking and awe inspiring.  The acoustics of the Cathedral are remarkable and especially when hearing songs sung in Latin one cannot help but feel transported to a location just this side of Heaven itself.

I always love taking in the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at Saint Cecilia, the building is beyond beautiful and there is such an air of reverence throughout the service that you can't help but be move by it all.  I have included several photos of Saint Cecilia but trust me no photo can ever do justice to the beauty and grander of this remarkable building.  It is interesting to note that when the building was completed in 1959 it was one of the ten largest Cathedrals in the United States.

Gail and I visited about the contrast in the two services that we experienced last evening and we both agreed that especially on Christmas Eve at least some form of litany seems called for.  As we age we find ourselves enjoying more and more a traditional service as opposed to the more contemporary 'low' church services that seem to be so common anymore.   This is especially true for Gail, I'm a bit more lenient and flexible and I generally find some edification in nearly any style of worship.

I look forward to next Christmas Eve already and hopefully we'll be able to take in the Midnight Mass again.  It's hard to know what the next year will bring and I wonder if by next Christmas we will have found a Pulpit from which to serve.  If not I hope to be able to convince my little tribe to go along with taking in three services again.  It's always interesting to experience new churches and to witness the different ways of worshiping and revering God Almighty.

I hope this Christmas day finds all who are reading this blog post safe, healthy, happy and sensing the true meaning of this wonderful day.  This time of year we celebrate the coming into this world of the Lord Jesus who is the Christ.  Let us focus on being a small part of Christ himself, let us be his spirit in this world.

May you all be blessed in the coming year and let us all step out in faith and work to serve the Lord  Jesus who is the Christ in all that we feel driven to do on his behalf.

In his abundant Grace and Glory,
Roy