Christmas Eve Invitation 2021

Our PUCC Covid Team met on 12/22 – on Zoom – and wants to update you on our plan for our 4:30pm and 7:30pm Christmas Eve worship services.** We took our time discussing St Louis County case numbers and positivity rates and our PUCC safety protocols.

 

We are so looking forward to celebrating Jesus’ birth with you – the light coming into the darkness… a light that is never overcome by any darkness.

 

As has been our practice since coming back into the sanctuary in mid-July, our Christmas Eve worship services will be in-person and on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/parkwayunitedchurchofchrist) with an upload to our YouTube channel within an hour of each service (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAfC0pEFqhhAXB5MFpsx0Pw)

 

Every other pew will be open. Wearing a mask is more important than ever. We have topped off the hand sanitizers. In order to exercise even more caution at this precarious moment of the pandemic, we have set up additional chairs in the Gathering Space to help with physical distancing.

 

We have also modified our plan for the candlelight closing. We will sing our traditional Silent Night (with the first verse in German as a nod to our forebears) but will remain in our pews and turn to see the candlelit faces of other worshipers from a distance – rather than being shoulder to shoulder and leaning into one another to pass the flame.  You will receive a small battery-operated candle upon arrival. These candles were purchased this fall. They have not been used before and we ask that you take the candle home with you as reminder of the light that shines in the darkness.

 

You will be asked to depart through the sanctuary exit and not come back through the Gathering Space – as we did for several months this summer and autumn.

 

Blessings to you this Christmas.

Feel the gifts of hope, peace, joy and love. Let them flow through you to others in the words you use and the actions you take.

 

[We could use a few more PUCCers to extend hospitality — a touchless greeting, encouragement to sign in (contact tracing) and mask distribution  as needed. Please let kevin@parkwayucc.org know if you are available.]

 

 

** 4:30pm — series of brief messages and carols tied to Christmas story

** 7:30pm — choir, sermon, communion (individually pre-packaged)