Christmas Eve

From The Pastor’s Desk—

Christmas Eve this year was especially beautiful. The sanctuary looked lovely, as it always does, but what made this year stand out was the best problem a church can have: we ran out of bulletins. This year we saw slightly more than a 50% increase in attendance. On that evening, that meant people sharing bulletins and candles, and some of the strongest congregational singing we have heard in years. 

We can look at many factors as to why we saw such a turnout. Our Communications Committee redesigned and increased the size of our ad in the Independent; they also arranged for lawn signs advertising the service to be placed around town. Additionally, we have continued to serve the community at our monthly soup luncheons, our quarterly blood drives, with our Calendar Supper, scallop dinners, the holiday pie sale and our Christmas fair. This year we added a winter clothing drive to our traditional White Gift collection, and gathered more than 60 coats, along with sweaters, hats, scarves and gloves.

Through these efforts, we have touched the lives of hundreds of people in the Outer and Lower Cape, and I believe that is why we saw the attendance we did at Christmas Eve. In ways both practical and emotional, people are coming to see that First Congregational is a place that they are welcomed, respected, wanted.

My prayer for this coming year is that we continue to keep our doors and our hearts open to all the members of our community. No one can ever know what the year ahead will hold, and we will certainly have times of challenge and loss alongside the joys and victories. May the memory of this past Christmas Eve serve as a reminder of the transformative power of love, in our individual lives, and in our community.

—Pastor Jon