At Columbia church, gathering and gospel take priority on Christmas
Deneka Doctor said she did not walk into St. John Baptist Church on Christmas Eve looking for hope.
She was there to watch one of her three sons sing Christmas songs with the Watkins-Nance Elementary School boys choir. She left, she said, with a renewed sense of focus.
“I just lost my mother in March,” Doctor said. “I’m just trying to get my head back, get focused and focus on my three kids.”
Added Doctor, “I needed that.”
It is that sense of hope the Rev. Jamey O. Graham said he wants St. John to spread throughout the community this Christmas.
“Jesus is the light of the world. He’s in us, and he lives in us,” Graham said. “With his light, he brings order to disorderly and chaotic situations. We, as a church, hope to bring order in this chaotic world.”
For the 21st year, St. John held its annual Christmas Eve outreach service Monday, trying to give hope to those in need of a sense of community.
Two decades ago, St. John began feeding up to 500 homeless people. Since then, the effort has grown, with the church now partnering with schools — including Watkins-Nance Elementary — to ensure children have food for the holidays. This year’s program also included haircuts and fingernail painting from Girl Scout Troop No. 1134.
“We wanted to try and make sure this community, schools in our area are taken care of,” Graham said.
St. John’s annual program is critical to the community, Graham said.
“We see the need. We see the struggle and the hopelessness at times,” he said. “We try to give them the word of life.”
However, Graham said, the Christmas Eve sermon is not only about the Gospel.
“We actually want to sit down with them, know their story, share our stories so we can become one community, one Columbia.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2018 at 3:13 PM.
