There are so many mysteries surrounding Christmas.
How did that modern Stone Age family know they should celebrate Christmas? Our beloved Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, Pebbles, Bam-Bam, and Dino, too, had a “Flintstones Christmas” celebration. So we can surmise the residents of Bedrock set in a period thousands of years before Christ’s birth were a prophetic bunch.
Another thing, why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th? There are no birth certificates for the Christ child found among the holy sacred writings that survived from the days of antiquity. Similar to celebrating the Queen of England’s birthday during the warm weather on a day in June, rather than her actual birth date of April 21st, our Lord’s birth is commemorated on the dark winter day for a reason. Spoiler alert: this will be the topic of our Christmas Day sermon.
Finally, how come we start celebrating Jesus’ birth on Christmas Eve if Christmas Day is the official holiday? The answer goes back quite some time, even before the Flintstone’s Stone Age. It starts with the creation story in the Bible, “and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” Following our Jewish heritage, our Christian liturgical day begins in the evening. Therefore, Christmas Eve begins the celebration of the nativity. Additionally, the scriptural descriptions in Luke remind us of the shepherds in the field at night, further supporting the night-time birth of our Lord.
Today, Christmas Eve observances have expanded to include hours before sunset. We begin at 2:00 PM with an outdoor worship service, including a live nativity “petting zoo” for our children. Sorry, Dino and his fellow Stone Age dinosaurs will not be joining us.
Please join us for worship. Here is our entire weekend worship schedule:
Friday, December 24th – Christmas Eve – 2:00 PM (outdoor with Family Live Nativity), 4:00 PM, 10:00 PM
Saturday, December 25th – Christmas Day – 11:00 AM (Carols and Lessons)
Sunday, December 26th – 1st Sunday of Christmas – 9:00 AM (spoken liturgy), 10:00 AM