The 2013 Christmas Eve service

All who know me know that I love the church. Still, Vicki and I did not take our boys to Christmas Eve services.

The Brotherhood - Once Upon A Time
Here's why: The idea behind a Christmas Eve service is worship, right? At the time, our church did not offer childcare for smaller children, which meant - for us - four very excited little boys prevented everyone within a 50-foot radius from experiencing worship. We may have been agents of the devil.

For an hour, Vicki and I experienced whispering, standing up and sitting down, pleas for the bathroom, and goofy excitement. At one point, Richard began crawling underneath the pew. William joined him. They wrestled. I left the Christmas Eve service mad at my boys, and that was a crappy attitude to have on Christmas Eve.

So, we replaced Christmas Eve services with Hollywood. We went to the movies. Then we came home and made Philly Cheesesteaks, watched some Rankin-Bass Christmas cartoons, and everyone went to bed happy and with sugarplums in their heads.

One Christmas season, I was visiting a church in Rock Hill, SC. My friend Rick Martin was the pastor. Rick - and his church - were not living in a fantasy, believing that all of their subdivision neighbors would pause Christmas just to attend the church's Christmas Eve service. So, the church produced a DIY Christmas Eve service packet, including pre-recorded music, words to hymns, Scripture to read, and an order of worship. They delivered dozens of those packets to homes in their neighborhoods. I thought it was genius.

That was the year the Christmas Eve service started in our home.

We still went to the movies, we still made Philly Cheesesteaks, but then we had our own Christmas Eve service complete with singing, Scripture reading, and a time of prayer. Was it always reverent? Of course not. Was the birth of Jesus honored? Absolutely. Did Jesus smile down on us while we huddled together as a family to worship and love each other? Yes, He most certainly did, and he chuckled when one of the boys burped at an inappropriate time. (You know Jesus burped, right?)

We rolled along until Christmas 2013 and then something very real and genuine happened.

At Christmas 2013, Andrew was in Medical School. William had graduated from college and was in Washington DC. Richard was in college. Matthew was a high school sophomore. Vicki and I were realizing that Empty Nest was two years away. The boys, I think, were realizing that our family life was being reshuffled - forever. Whatever the future held, the boys were growing, moving on, and life was never going to be the same. I think it was William's move to DC that ushered in the new reality.

That year, after the Philly Cheesesteaks, we sat down in our front room under the glow of the Christmas tree.

We sang Silent Night and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
I passed around a Bible and we took turns reading aloud the Christmas story from Luke's gospel.
I shared how much our family meant to me, especially at Christmas.
We sang Away In A Manger and Hark The Herald Angels Sing. We sang off-key.

Then, we went around the room and each person had the chance to pray aloud - and they did.
The Holy Spirit, in the calm of that room, made His presence known.
Each of those boys - once goofy and silly on Christmas Eve - gave thanks for Jesus and His birth. They prayed a blessing over their friends, and then they gave a personal thanks for each of their brothers, one-by-one, and for Vicki and me.

When you hear your boys give thanks for one another and one another's strengths, oh my soul, there is no Christmas gift that will ever, ever compare to that. William was the last to pray. By the time he finished there was not a dry eye in that room. When he finished, we all just stood up and hugged one another.

It was the most powerful Christmas Eve service I've ever experienced.

This Christmas Eve, take time to worship with the ones you love. Go be with your church family, but if you can't then worship at home with the ones you love. God is not isolated to our church buildings. Pastors and song leaders are not required for worship. God is everywhere and God is with us. He was in the manger and he is in your family room.

Merry Christmas.
Amen and Amen.
www.scottdvaughan.com



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