It’s clear the pandemic is with us for the foreseeable future. If you listen to the scientific and medical community, it’s likely we have another 12 months or so, depending on multiple factors. My source on this is Dr. Michael Osterholm of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Besides being an active ELCA Lutheran, he’s also among the best. His podcast is on my weekly listen to list. I’m aware that 12 month window is not what you want to hear, but frankly, I’d rather plan for that, and then be pleasantly surprised with a shorter timeline.

What does this mean for people of faith, and particularly people for whom gathering for worship is an important part of their spiritual life? To be more focused, what about Christmas?

Here are several ideas I’ve thought of or read about in terms of Advent & Christmas planning.

1) Advent is often called the season of preparation. In an earlier era, it was longer than the four weeks we have now. Can we return to that this year? Let’s start Advent in the middle of November, and then by the time we hit early December start the Christmas preparations with, wait for it…..Christmas Carols. Yes, I’m an advocate for Christmas Carols in worship in December. Why? Primarily because it’s an evangelistic tool, as in telling the good news. In our US American culture, people no longer hear Christmas Carols, instead they hear Mariah Carey and Justiin Bieber singing All. I Want for Christmas is You? Let’s evangelize with O Little Town of Bethlehem, Go Tell it on the Mountain and (pick your favorite.)

2) Since worshipping indoors will be a challenge for most of our New England congregations, let’s move it all outdoors for Dec 24. Don’t attempt to recreate your standard Christmas Eve worship outdoors, instead do something all together different. How about a 3:00 p.m. Manger Scene with people semi-costumed (maybe covering their LL Bean parkas). Tell the story, don’t read it. Or maybe have a kind of Stations of the Nativity, similar to a Stations of the Cross. You can do this on your church property, or maybe a walk through your neighborhood if you are in an urban environment. Here’s a resource guide I found.

3) You could also consider an online devotional on the Stations of the Nativity. One church used this resource and adopted it for an online devotional. The book is available on Amazon, but here’s the link at Paulist Press. How could you adapt this to a digital format? Video reflections, maybe by members of your congregation?

4) if you Google ‘Stations of the Nativity’, you will find more resources than you know what to do. Here’s one resource that I found, that involved people in a community who have artistic gifts. They were invited to draw their interpretations of various events. Maybe if it’s raining on Christmas eve, you could have a gallery walk through of people’s artwork. Just think about proper ventilation, spacing, and masks - maybe even have people sign up for appointment times. You could play pre-record Christmas music as people walk through the church witnessing the Stations of the Nativity.

The point of all this is to get you thinking differently about Christmas this year. Don’t try to re-create “what we’ve always done".” Use this as a time to experiment. Have fun, enjoy, play and co-create with the Creator.