On Christmas Eve, Columbia churches adjust traditions, celebrate light in a dark year
The COVID-19 pandemic can’t cancel Christmas, at least as far as some Midlands churches are concerned.
With traditional holiday services as disrupted as anything else by the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, many churches have found creative ways to continue the festive seasonal celebration — in line with social distancing guidelines.
“Fortunately, we have a lot of creative people on staff, so ideas have started to percolate,” said the Rev. Smoke Kanipe, senior minister at Shandon United Methodist Church in Columbia.
Shandon UMC is adjusting its Christmas traditions by holding a drive-through live nativity scene on Christmas Eve. It’s a continuation of a usual Christmas Eve feature at Shandon, but like so much else this year, adapted for the times of coronavirus.
Live animals from a local farm and church members in costumes will be standing outside the church on Devine Street from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Kanipe expects traffic to be slow enough that drivers can get a good view and interact with the characters.
At 2 p.m., the church will also hold a communion service on the front lawn, Shandon UMC’s first since March.
Many churches faced with limited seating indoors have moved their Christmas Eve services outside to allow space for more people to worship. At Shandon Presbyterian, the church has planned to hold a series of outdoor services on Christmas Eve from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., with attendance at each service capped at 50 and pre-registration required.
As of late Tuesday, the 9 p.m. service still had 20 spots left open, the church office said. If you didn’t land a spot, Shandon Presbyterian will also livestream a prerecorded worship service on its Facebook page at 6 p.m.
Grace United Methodist Church on Harbison Boulevard was looking forward to hosting a similar outdoor gathering Thursday evening, with candlelight hymns, traditional readings and a message by the Rev. Rett Haselden.
But, like much of 2020, those plans changed on short notice. Thursday’s forecast of rain drove Grace to move its Christmas Eve service all online, rather that potentially have to herd worshipers inside or, worse, have to turn people away.
“One of the things we don’t want to do is tell people they can’t come and worship,” Haselden said. “That was a bittersweet decision, but we believe it’s the best one for our church and for our outreach and witness to our community, to be able to all be together — even if it’s virtually.”
This year has emphasized for his church community that togetherness, “the communion of the saints,” does not rely on physical proximity, Haselden said.
The difficulty and darkness of the past 10 months have turned Haselden’s attention now to the biblical portrayal of Jesus Christ as a light being born into a dark world, he said.
“In a new or more particular kind of way, that’s where my focus has been drawn this Christmas,” Haselden said. “In the midst of the pandemic, all of that has been highlighted. ... To proclaim that Christ comes in the dark as the light seems like a particularly important piece of the Christmas story to highlight.”
With the weather forecast for Thursday potentially washing out some outdoor services, St. John’s Episcopal Church on Wheat Street has moved up its Christmas Eve service to Wednesday night to avoid the rain.
St. John’s has been holding services outdoors every Sunday since early in the pandemic. Rev. Nicholas Beasley said the church worked out it could accommodate more than 100 people in the church parking lot, as long as everyone parks on the street.
“The clergy have all become amateur meteorologists,” Beasley said.
Other churches have said their own Christmas Eve services will be canceled or adjusted, depending on the weather.
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