Christmas Eve sermons will be different this year

It’s a challenge pastors often face, but it never has been more conspicuous than after a year like 2020.

What inspiring words can church leaders possibly say during Christmas Eve services after so much death and disappointment?

Even though the long-awaited end of 2020 is coming, what about the beginning of 2021 and the dark winter months to come? How will clergy instill hope in the hearts of their followers?

While there are no easy answers, faith leaders have been busy crafting messages to lift the spirits of members of their flocks attending services in-person or online.

“I intend to deliver a word of hope as well as joy in that message,” said the Rev. Felicia Brock, pastor of First Baptist Church of Tarentum. “Hope that no matter what’s happening around us, including the coronavirus, that certainly we are living in expectation of the birth of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus and how that impacts our current situation.”

Brock said she wants to remind people that the current situation could always be worse.

“Things are not ideal by any stretch of the imagination,” said Brock. “I just want to present joy for where we are right now and the positive things that have come out of covid-19. And there are some.”

One example, as far as Brock is concerned, has been the move to virtual services, which her Christmas Eve services will be.

“We can reach more people,” Brock said. “I also think that we have developed a greater sense of appreciation for time and places and people because we have been prevented from having that contact.”

Some churches are still holding in-person Christmas Eve services, including Mount St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in New Kensington, which is having a traditional Midnight Mass, said Monsignor Michael J. Begolly.

Begolly, pastor of Mount St. Peter, St. Mary of Czestochowa and St. Joseph Catholic churches in New Kensington, said he’s planning to relate the story of the first Christmas because it ties in directly with the ordeal the world is facing and helps people focus less on what they don’t have.

“That first Christmas was not easy for Mary and Joseph,” said Begolly. “The birth took place in a barn with smelly animals all around. So, it was messy — and that’s the good news that we’re celebrating.

“God chose to enter into the mess that human life is. The good news is that just as Jesus entered into humanity long ago in the squalor of a stable, he’s here with us in the midst of this pandemic. He comes to strengthen us so that we can live our lives in hope.”

Still, Begolly acknowledged maintaining a hopeful message amid the recent covid surge has become even more difficult than he anticipated because illnesses are hitting closer to home for members of his church and for him personally.

“Two of my aunts who are Benedictine nuns are down with covid at this point. One is 99 and the other is 94,” said Begolly. “But while it’s bringing the reality of the disease home to us, you look for ways to be a messenger of hope to others.”

Being a messenger of hope on Christmas Eve is the focus for the Rev. Noah Evans, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon. Evans, who will deliver a virtual sermon, said Jesus was born in a time of political turmoil not unlike what Americans have experienced in 2020.

“There was a lot of social anxiety,” Evans said. “We’re celebrating Christmas at the darkest time of year, and all of those are reminders that even in times of darkness and turmoil and distress, that’s when God chooses to act, that’s where God is. When times are broken, when a world seems divided, when it seems that there is no hope at all, that’s where God is.”

Churches are not necessarily havens from political divisions which, in the past year, seem to have spared no part of American society. Alan Hannah, in his first year as lead pastor for Allegheny Center Alliance Church, described as a multicultural church on Pittsburgh’s North Side, is embracing a message that politics must not divide people.

“In October, I preached a sermon called ‘Jesus Over Politics.’ We have congregants on both sides of the aisle and everywhere in between. The idea was the Jesus who unites us must be greater than the politics that divide us,” Hannah said. “God is not wrapped up in the Republican Party, and God is not wrapped up in the Democratic Party. We don’t politicize our faith, and we don’t demonize the other side. That’s been a model that we’ve lived by in a political season.”

Brock said there is a clear split along political lines within the First Baptist Church of Tarentum congregation, and she is condemning both sides.

“What we’re seeing being done out here is being done by Christians,” Brock said. “I am certain that there are more than a few Christians that are involved in the horrible, horrible things that are being said to one another, the horrible things that are being done to one another over an election, over political views. Where is the love that a Christian is supposed to carry with them, even if they disagree?”

Brock said she is preparing her sermon and can’t say how much her concerns will permeate her message.

“What I can tell you is that absolutely Jesus’ birth, salvation and hope is all about love, the love he had for us and the example he ultimately put forth for us to follow,” said Brock. “I will certainly be saying something in the (Christmas Eve) message about the love we should have for our fellow brothers and sisters, whether we agree with them politically or not.”

Begolly said the challenge is to get people to focus on the needs of others, and that it all comes back to the “do unto others” command based on the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

“Maybe we can focus on bringing hope to others, taking a meal to somebody who’s shut in or calling them or sending them an email or reaching out to people who we haven’t been in touch with for a while,” Begolly said.

“There are practical ways that we can put our faith into practice, so we’re not focusing on what we miss this Christmas but on the opportunity that we have to do a little bit more for others.”

Hannah said to look for the blessings that come with the pandemic.

“Let’s not waste this pandemic. Let’s not allow these things to make us angry or bitter or to divide us, but instead let’s allow God to use it to help us to be better people.”