Christmas Eve offers special message
By Mike Haynes
The cold
nights of Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 both radiated warmth for me and my wife, Kathy,
and those around us.
On the eve
of Christmas Eve, we joined my mother-in-law, Peggy, in the center of Hillside
Christian Church’s modern auditorium, which holds 2,000-plus people, for one of
multiple candlelight services on Hillside’s West Campus. Close to that many
people were given little white candles as they entered, and we kept them handy
as the 19 musicians – singers, guitarists, drummers and a small group of
orchestral players – filled the room with high-decibel sound, most of it in the
form of rocked-up Christmas music.
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| Hillside Christian Church West Campus - Amarillo, Texas |
The colorfully
lighted stage included 13 drums stacked in three rows eight feet high, with a
drummer pounding them to thunderous effect.
Communion
juice and wafers were passed around, and the hour ended with one candle from
the stage lighting another, which lighted another, and within a minute or two,
we were surrounded by a soft glow.
I had to
glance around to see what the spots of light and the faces looked like. That
survey of the faithful made my eyes glisten with moisture.
The next
night, we were in my hometown for the communion service at the Methodist
Church. The sanctuary, its walls adorned with stained glass windows that
Charles Goodnight brought to the Texas Panhandle more than 100 years ago,
welcomed fewer than 100 McLean residents and visitors. Around 25 of them were
my extended family.
The
congregation sang “Joy to the World” with piano accompaniment before some
standard responsive readings. Erin Shaw delivered a heartfelt rendition of Leonard
Cohen’s “Hallelujah” song with Christmas lyrics.
Communion
on Christmas Eve had the small-town worshippers shuffling up the middle aisle
with an option: to go left for a piece of bread to dip in a cup of juice or
right for a wafer and small cup.
 |
| First United Methodist Church - McLean, Texas |
At
Hillside, we blew out our candles before exiting to the wintry air. At McLean,
some of us knelt at the altar before going home to gifts and Christmas trees.
It was a
megachurch on the 23rd and a country church on the 24th,
and I’m sure some people would prefer one to the other. I like both even though
the music and worship styles swerve in different directions.
You would
expect similar messages, but I was pleased to hear on both nights a slightly
different take on the Christmas story. On Tuesday, Hillside associate senior pastor
Johnathan Mast read from Luke 2 about the baby Jesus coming to Earth 2,000
years ago. But he expanded the theme to talk about the other bookend of
history, the anticipated second time that Christ will descend to the planet.
In his
low-key way, Johnathan reminded us of the reason, not so much for the season,
but for Jesus coming to save us and how that process continues until his
return.
On
Wednesday, I’m sure I saw tears welling up in the eyes of my cousin Thacker
Haynes, pastor of the Methodist Church, as he recounted the love God had for us
in sending Christ on that same mission that Johnathan had outlined. Thacker
told us about a man who, just that week, had been desperate for personal help
and how the local church happened to have a program for just such a need.
Along with
that example of God’s love and provision, Thacker also mentioned that promised second
coming of Christ. In both of those services, the pastors urged us to look back
but also ahead.
Christians
too often get caught up in differences – praise music and electric guitars vs.
traditional hymns and organs, casual worship vs. ritual, wafers vs. chunks of
bread, big churches vs. little churches.
At
Christmas and all year, maybe we could try to focus instead on the story that
began in a manger but will climax with a triumphant return.
