“Christmas Eve by Candlelight” is the theme of our services this year, Wednesday December 24 at 6pm and 7.30pm. The night before Christmas 2008, Mars Hill | Lake City will host back-to-back, intimate, candlelight services commemorating the arrival of God incarnate. It will be a change of pace from our usual services, austere and traditional. Songs, scripture reading, and a brief message will highlight this family-style service and all are welcome.

It’s an easy year to get distracted by things that ultimately have NOTHING to do with the origin and deep resonance of our Christmas tradition. Collide Magazine asked me to write an article on Christmas trappings last year and it was a pleasure to dig in and wrestle with the mixed feelings many of us can have this time of year:

“It’s usually the morning after Halloween when commercials begin featuring Santa, sinking his Claus into holiday marketing and checking his list twice as he divides who gets a nice iPhone from who gets a lump of Zune in their stocking. Soon, A Christmas Story will begin playing on several cable stations on an endless loop. A flurry of Scrooges—from George C. Scott to Bill Murray—will shower the channels. Animated Grinches will become civic-minded. Expect to see a silhouette of Rudolph, on highway billboards everywhere, wearing ear buds—wires tangled around his snout—guiding the sleigh, thanks to the glow from his Video Nano…” (for the full article, CLICK HERE).