For more than a century, candlelight been the centerpiece of Union Episcopal Church’s Christmas Eve service.
Dozens of candles placed in the Claremont church’s arched windows are lit and remain so throughout the service, which is usually the largest of the year.
“It’s kind of spectacular,” said Melissa Richmond, executive director of the West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts, which is based at Union Church. “It’s beautiful and has such spirit to it, but it’s also very open for anyone who would like to come. It’s more of a community service.”
This year, those candles will be lit well in advance of Dec. 24 as church leaders will record the Christmas Eve service without an audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout last week, musicians, readers and other participants stopped by Union Church to film their parts, which will then be put into a video and be broadcast at 7 p.m. Christmas Eve on YouTube, Facebook and Claremont CCTV8.
“I think the writing has been on the wall several months,” Richmond said about the decision to go virtual. In addition to the candles, the church will be decorated with boughs of green, a manger scene and a Christmas tree.
Since the pandemic started in March, churches throughout the Upper Valley have adapted their programs for ever-changing state guidelines, switching to livestreams, recordings, outdoor services, or smaller in-person gatherings — or a combination of all four. Christmas and Christmas Eve create another set of challenges as those services involve additional music, readings and other traditions.
“Typically the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses are very well attended, but this is not a typical year,” said Father Charles Danielson, the pastor at Saint Anthony’s Parish in White River Junction and St. Francis of Assisi in Windsor.
Both Catholic churches are at half capacity for their Masses and require parishioners to register ahead of time. Attendees must wear masks and provide contact information for contact tracing.
“We hate that we have to do that, but we have to be so careful not to exceed our seating capacity,” Danielson said. “To their credit, people have been very understanding.”
The Plainfield Community Church will also hold an in-person service on Christmas Eve, except it will be outside at Cory Tabor Memorial Field. Lyric videos of Christmas carols — included a pre-recorded performance of the church’s bell choir — and the Christmas Story will be projected onto a big screen that’s used for movie nights during the warmer months. Real candles will be replaced by electric ones or the light glowing from parishioners’ phones.
The church has been doing a mix of livestream and in-person, indoor and outdoor socially distanced services since the pandemic began, Pastor Chris Jordan said. While they went fully remote after Thanksgiving as COVID-19 cases rose around the region, Jordan wanted to find a way to make an in-person Christmas Eve service happen, in part because the service is the church’s largest of the year and might be the only one people attend.
“It’s a tradition for them and we wanted to make sure we did something at least to fill that void,” Jordan said, adding that the event might offer comfort to people who are grieving or unable to join family due to travel restrictions, even if they’re socially distanced and wearing masks. “It’s something (that) we can be around some other people safely without much risk and still have that familial Christmas-type feeling.”
The Plainfield service will be about a half-hour long and, weather permitting, people can ice skate afterward at the outdoor rink at the field.
“I think it would be kind of nice if it were snowing lightly,” Jordan said.
On Sunday, Pastor Jane Strohl, of the Community Lutheran Church in Enfield, will do something she hasn’t done since March: Give the sacrament of communion. Wearing a mask and gloves, Strohl will give attendees — who will remain in their cars — individually wrapped grape juice containers and wafers (a gluten-free option is available) in the parking lot of the church. She will repeat the process on Christmas Eve. Both will be livestreamed.
“The sacrament is important to people,” Strohl said. “It’s sort of like a little Happy Meal, and I think a lot of people are like, ‘That’s kind of tacky,’ but it works. Given the circumstances we’re in now, this is really great.”
The Christmas Eve service will be livestreamed and Community Lutheran will be decorated similarly to years past, including a Christmas tree. While the church reopened to in-person services briefly, not many people attended and with cases on the rise they’ve gone back to virtual-only.
“I think it’s meant a lot to folks to see the inside of the church and see me where they’re used to seeing me on a Sunday morning,” Strohl said.
One of the biggest changes for many churches — and one the pastors say congregants have missed the most — has been their approach to music. Instead of choirs, services feature soloists, cantors or the pastors themselves taking the lead on Christmas carols.
“The hope is that the Union congregation watching at home on Christmas Eve will be able to sing along,” said Angela Biggs, a soprano who is recording traditional carols including O Holy Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Silent Night accompanied by an organist for the Union Church service. “I think that this year especially it’s important for people to have those beautiful things, to have the music they’re familiar with in the church they’re familiar with.”
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
