In the years that I have been ordained, there have not been that many times where I have not celebrated the Eucharist on Christmas Day. For the most part, people attend worship on Christmas Eve so that they spend time with their families on Christmas Day for gift opening, and the cooking of the Christmas Feast. Yet for me, to celebrate the Eucharist on Christmas Day is a quiet, beautiful thing. Prior to my ordained life and still living home, there was one year on Christmas Day where the weather was “warm,” and I decided to walk from Seal Cove to the church in Upper Gullies, and walked back after Christmas Day worship. Now, I like driving in the quiet and stillness of a community on Christmas Day to go to the church to celebrate the Eucharist.
In my time in parish ministry, when I preside on Christmas Day, The Book of Common Prayer is the liturgy of choice, and I do so in the early morning celebration version of no hymns and no sermon; just the straight-forward liturgy beginning on page 67 and ending on page 85. No matter the liturgy used on Christmas Day, the gospel reading appointed for the day is John 1. There is much richness in the words of Christmas Day. In reality, because people are caught up in the other things of Christmas and not in the worship of God, people do not get the beauty of what it is and get caught up in the story that they are used to hearing in the proclamation of Luke 2. Yet in John 1, we are given this: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:5)
As much as Christmas is seen as a joyous time, it is not a joyous time for everyone. Hence the reason why I always offer the celebration of the Eucharist on Christmas Day because Christmas Eve is not for everyone because of their feelings and emotions. There are those who would rather not be in the noise and bustle of Christmas Eve worship but rather the quiet and contemplative atmosphere of Christmas Day. The thing about Christmas Day is that we do indeed celebrate the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.
Christmas this year will certainly be different for me, as this is the first Christmas since the passing of my mom earlier this year. Yet the one thing I know that will unite me to her, and to those who have gone before me in faith, is the Eucharist on Christmas Day. Just as it is the feeling at every celebration of the Eucharist, we join with those who have gone before us in faith in celebrating that which we call mystery. As much as it may seem dark for those this year who have not had an easy year, the light of Christ is a reality. The light of Christ, the birth of the child Jesus, born in the poorest of places, yet the greatest of Kings—is a reality of light shining in the darkness.
This Christmas, may you find the light that you are longing for in your heart and in your soul, and know that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.
