Advent and Christmas in a pandemic year: Ideas from Presbyterians

November 23, 2020 by Leslie Scanlon Leave a Comment

Pastors all over the country are sharing ideas – and a certain amount of anxiety – about how to celebrate Advent and Christmas Eve during a time of pandemic.

They sense that people are longing for connection and tradition, even if it has to be done a little differently in this most unusual year.

Karen Ware Jackson (photo by Tamarah Ellen)

“Even for folks who aren’t particularly religious, they want to be able to come to church on Christmas Eve, light a candle and sing ‘Silent Night,’ ” said Karen Ware Jackson, who is senior co-pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church in Greenville, North Carolina, and who has led webinars presenting Advent and Christmas Eve ideas for Practical Resources for Churches, an ecumenical resource center.

That might not be possible — particularly in congregations not worshipping in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But “a great thing about Advent is that it is so home-and-hearth based anyway,” Jackson said. For years, as people complained about the busyness of the season, “we were always saying, ‘simplify.’ … This year, what we have is our homes. Whatever your home is — you don’t have to have a family. You can be a single person and have your traditions. You can decorate your home and light a candle, watch the movies, listen to the music.”

One possible advantage: fewer people around to insist “Don’t listen to Christmas music before Christmas.”

In Shenandoah Presbytery, pastors have been sharing ideas of new ways of approaching the season, said Bronwen Boswell, general presbyter and stated clerk. “Part of that has to do with the anxiety of our parishioners, who want some sort of normalcy,” she said. So church leaders have been discussing “how can we get creative?” — particularly with outdoor celebrations.

Here are some ideas church leaders have floated in discussions like those and on social media — both for use by congregations and people at home.

ADVENT

One Candle liturgy. Jackson has written a liturgy for a virtual “One Candle” Advent celebration — using only one candle, which would be lit using the liturgy on each Sunday of Advent. Another possibility: build community by using a downloadable graphic to create a yard sign or window sign, inviting others to join in using candles to mark the season of hope, peace, joy and love. During this election season, “we’ve used our front yards to say a lot of things,” Jackson said. “Now we can use yard signs to say something about Christ with us, about unity and peace and love.”

Letters and cards. Christina Berry, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Illinois, wrote in an Advent discussion on Facebook that the congregation she serves is meeting virtually through 2020, with pre-recorded worship. Berry wrote that the congregation’s Advent theme is ‘Letters and Cards.”

She shared in a group of church leaders on Facebook: “Each Sunday will begin with video of a card or letter being opened and a video vignette of someone reading the day’s Scripture, paraphrased as a letter. The video will be set in the chancel but the set will have a tree, rocker, table and lamp. To engage people more fully, Worship Committee is preparing take-home bags for Advent and Christmas Eve. These will contain a book of devotions, a candle, communion elements, nativity stickers (@Illustrated Ministry) and activities. They’ll be inviting written and video letters and photos in response to some specific, theme-related questions. I think it is going to be really cool and engaging.”

Advent boxes. Provide each family with an Advent/Christmas box — perhaps with small candles, coloring sheets for children, an ornament for the tree. Encourage people to mark the Advent season with prayer and daily or weekly devotional readings.

During a “Virtual Advent” episode of the “Leading Ideas Talks” podcast from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, Anna Adams Petrin, an assistant professor of worship at Wesley Theological Seminary, described possibilities for developing Advent rituals at home, ways that people can be intentional about bringing the symbols and traditions of Advent into “the liturgy of our own lives, in the presence of Christ.”

Advent calendars. Sybil MacBeth, the author of “Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God,” offers on her website downloadable handouts for Advent calendars, and on Nov. 29 is leading a Praying in Color Advent workshop via Zoom ($18 fee).

Advent candle liturgy.  Maren C. Tirabassi, a retired United Church of Christ pastor and an author, offers liturgies and poetry on her blog, including this one for an Advent wreath ceremony. “Four electric tea lights and a circle of dark green felt can be easily given to those who need them,” she writes. And Tirabassi provides ideas of interactive prayers for the four Sundays of Advent — with ways that people participating virtually can first name “those things which oppose or diminish hope, peace, joy and love,” then claim the power of light.

Jesse Tree. Some churches encourage congregants to make a Jesse Tree — the tradition of decorating a tree with ornaments representing people and events from the Old Testament leading to the birth of Jesus.  The tradition is drawn from Isaiah 11:1 that “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Here’s information from Loyola Press; ideas for making clay ornaments or downloading printable ornaments; and daily personal and family Jesse Tree devotions from Faithward, along with instructions for making a Jesse Tree and ornaments.

Illuminating Advent. The Being Reformed curriculum from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) offers a six-week adult series called Illuminating Advent, which could be used virtually for small groups. Both a leader’s guide and participant’s books are available for purchase online.   

Advent devotions.  The Presbyterian Outlook is offering a downloadable series of four weeks of Advent devotions, written by Jill Duffield, focused on the theme of time during Advent.

CHRISTMAS

Church leaders have lot of ideas — depending in part on whether the congregation is meeting in person or not; the weather in that part of the country; the size of the church; and the trend of COVID-19 infections and restrictions in the region about large gatherings.

Zoom pageants. How to have a virtual Christmas pageant? Some congregations plan to do it all online — assigning parts to the children or letting them volunteer; pulling the costumes out of storage and dropping them at the kids’ front doors; or telling them to get creative from what they have at home in dressing up as a sheep or angel. How about an intergenerational pageant? Some are planning live Zoom performances, others pre-recording the parts and assembling into one performance.

Illustrated Ministry has a kit for purchase for “Do Not Be Afraid” — an intergenerational, virtual pageant that can be done via Zoom. Practical Resources for Churches offered a webinar on “New Ways of Doing the Christmas Pageant.” And Miranda Hassett, rector of St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, posted on the Building Faith blog of Virginia Theological Seminary some Zoom drama tips for productions involving children.

Decorations. During Advent, Jackson is planning to livestream worship from the sanctuary, decorated for the holidays. Some will attend in person. But “when they’re watching online, instead of seeing me in my backyard, they’re going to see me in a robe in front of the Advent wreath, with the Chrismon tree behind,” she said.

Instead of greening the sanctuary, some congregations that don’t have in-person worship will decorate outside the church building instead. Some are exploring the idea of a line of luminarias — some in conversation with other nearby churches, so all the churches in the area would light up their outdoor spaces. (Read this Christmas Eve 2006 sermon on luminarias from Scott Black Johnston of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.)

Another possibility: a live, drive-through nativity scene (perhaps with all the participants in the scene coming from a single family unit).

And some are discussing ways of passing out luminaria bags and votive candles (either real or electric) t0 the whole congregation — dropping them at their doors or arranging a drive-through pickup. Maybe at a particular time on Christmas Eve, people would be asked to light their candles while they sing “Silent Night” together.  And then they could go outside to put their candles in the luminaria bags, communally bringing the light of Christ into the world.

Renting space. A few pastors said online that they had rented large spaces for Christmas Eve gatherings — one the biggest auditorium in town and another an outdoor wedding venue with heaters. The hope: those larger spaces would provide enough room for social distancing for an in-person service, for at least some in the congregation. Those arrangements also left space for a Covid-19 plan B.

Blue Christmas. Aware of how difficult 2020 has been for many people, some churches are adding Blue Christmas or Longest Night services — a way of acknowledging that for some, the season is accompanied by grief, loss or loneliness, Boswell said. That may be particularly true this year for those who are mourning loved ones who have died, but who because of the pandemic may not have been able to gather for a funeral or memorial service, or even be with the person when they were ill. The PC(USA) website offers a liturgy for a Blue Christmas “Service of Wholeness and Healing.” Another liturgy, “When Christmas Hurts,” is available from Young Clergy Women International.

Outdoor services. Some pastors are talking about outdoor Christmas Eve services — weather permitting. Maybe a short service with people in their cars in the parking lot, singing “Silent Night” while wearing masks? Battery-operated candles or glow sticks? Instrumental music? “Book that string quartet now,” Jackson advises.

Pajama Christmas. One possibility: maybe some will embrace the idea of a small, informal virtual Christmas. Instead of showing up at church at a set time, people can watch a recorded service when it seems right to them — maybe in their pajamas. Coffee in the sanctuary? No problem.

Sunday after Christmas.  For pastors who need a break after all the Christmas and Advent preparation, the students at UKirk Greensboro will be offering a virtual worship service that can be used Dec. 27 or Jan. 3, and will be available by Dec. 18 For information, email ukirkgso@gmail.com.

Boswell said she and her colleagues are working to put together an after-Christmas lessons and carols service that will be available to all congregations in the presbytery — an effort to give pastors a Sunday off from preaching.  That’s something other mid councils have done as well — offering pre-recorded online services as a form of pulpit supply, or encouraging congregations to work together, perhaps taking turns in leading worship to give the pastoral leaders a bit of breathing room.

Resources. Resources for Advent and Christmas are available from a variety of sites — some free, some for a fee. Among them:

• The Practical Resources for Churches (PRC) website.
• The PC(USA) website.
• Sybil MacBeth’s website offers templates for Advent calendars, Advent readings and other resources.
• com offers video commentary about works of art inspired by the Advent Scriptures.
• 26 ideas for Advent, a blog post from Rachel Held Evans in 2014.
• The Association of Presbyterian Church Educators includes links to resources from a roundtable discussion “Thinking Ahead to Advent.”
• A Sanctified Art offers ideas for “Those Who Dream: Songs for the Advent and Christmas Season,” and offers for sale “Those Who Dream” resources from Advent through Epiphany.
• Advent devotions from Presbyterian Outlook editor Jill Duffield, ($20) and downloadable for emailing to congregations.