wfn.org | [ENS] Christmas Sampler: Sunday Services Across the Episcopal Church

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Episcopal News Service Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Christmas Sampler: Sunday Services Across the Episcopal Church

Media inquiry sparks responses from congregations

ENS 122105-1

[ENS] "Indeed, there is a Christmas, Virginia," declares the Rev. Judith
Stuart, rector of Redeemer Church in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts,
echoing the oft-quoted 1897 headline of the New York Sun.

Stuart's response, like some 62 others to ENS, was prompted by a recent
national network newscast's inquiry about Sunday services in the Episcopal
Church on Christmas Day.

The newscast's question followed the widely reported decision of some
"megachurches" to cancel services on Christmas morning, a Sunday this
year, to allow families time "around the tree."

>From war-torn Balad, Iraq, and flood-worn Biloxi, Mississippi -- from
brisk Boston and balmy Beverly Hills -- word came of vibrant services
planned to celebrate Christ's nativity -- indeed, "the Christ Mass,"
as Jamestown Cross editor Carlyle Gravely underscored from the Diocese
of Southern Virginia..

While ENS joined in congratulating a United Methodist congregation
ultimately selected for the national newscast, ENS opted to assemble
for its readers and other media outlets the responses it received. The
listing shows a cross-section of ministry in the Episcopal Church's more
than 7,200 congregations in 110 dioceses in the United States and beyond.

The roster doubles as a prayer list, too: "The Christian Gospel is alive
on Sunday morning, December 25, at the Air Force Theater Hospital in
Balad, Iraq with CH (MAJ) Carl Wright, an Episcopal priest, doing the
7:30 a.m.  service," writes CPT Jeffrey M. Cox, postulant of the Diocese
of Massachusetts..

Houston's Trinity Church will hold its regular 7 a.m. Sunday service
for the homeless, with a hot breakfast following, writes diocesan
communicator Carol Barnwell. In Boston, Trinity Cathedral's outdoor
(mostly homeless) congregation will assemble as usual, like its companion
indoor English-speaking and Chinese-speaking counterparts, notes dean
Jep Streit.

Services in Spanish and 13 other languages, including American Sign
Language, will take place in the Diocese of New York alone.

"I always hold a Christmas morning service because it happens to be
the most holy time for me and anyone who will venture out," writes the
Rev. Donna L.  Maree, rector of Trinity Church in snowy Buffalo, New York.

"When my children were young, we all went to worship that morning --
why else would we be celebrating if not for the celebration of the
birth of the one we follow? This set the tone for the day. The small
crowd gives us time to be quiet and to contemplate our call as Christ's
followers in the world, not of the world. A morning home with presents
is not what it's about."

>From 300-year-old St. John's Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey, rector Joe
Parrish writes: "We are very passionate about having Sunday services on
Sunday, as always, and had a congregational discussion Sunday about the
importance of keeping the Lord's Day the Lord's Day, and not canceling
for Santa's going away party on the 25th. So many are depressed during
the holidays; cannot we churches be awake one hour for them on Sunday?"

ENS wishes all its readers and media colleagues a blessed Christmas --
on Sunday and through all 12 days -- with special thanks to all who
provided the entries that follow. (Also, ENS regrets that deadlines and
schedule prevent adding further listings to this roster.)

Sampler of Christmas Services

(compiled by Lisa Webb and Bob Williams, with apologies for any
inadvertent errors or omissions)

ARIZONA

Phoenix -- All Saints' Church, 6300 N. Central Ave, Phoenix AZ 85012,
602.279.5539, www.allsaints.org. Christmas Eve: 3:30 p.m. Christmas
Pageant with Holy Eucharist; 6 p.m. Lessons & Carols with Holy Eucharist
with All Saints' Choristers; 8 a.m. Sudanese Christmas Service in Manning
Hall; 8:30 p.m. Festival Eucharist with Choir and Sermon; 11 p.m. Solemn
High Mass with Choir and Sermon. Christmas Day: 8 a.m. Holy Eucharist;
10 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Hymns and Soloist; 10 a.m. Sudanese Service
in Manning Hall.  The Rev.. Peter F. Walsh, rector.