Christmas Eve service at Eastside Baptist
Eastside Baptist Church in DeLand is having a Christmas Eve service at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 24. The public is welcome.
Christmas Eve candlelight service at 1st Christian
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of DeLand invites all to worship during the Advent season, with the Rev. Carlos Perez welcoming you and Julia Taylor as the greeter.
A traditional worship service at 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 24, will celebrate the theme of love in the lighting of the fourth Advent candle. Brenda Velazquez-Morales and the Rev. Fernando Morales lead the prayers for all who want to participate in open Communion.
At 7 p.m. that same day, Trinity United Methodist and First Christian are combining to provide a meaningful Christmas Eve candlelight service. The Rev. Todd BardIn and the Rev. Carlos Perez are leading the service, which will include song, reflection, Scripture and open Communion.
Other activities are the Disciple Women’s Christmas Market, which will be open for last-minute needs on Sunday, Dec. 24. On Friday, Dec. 22, 6:30-9 p.m., the market will be available in the sanctuary hall, while bingo starts at 7 p.m. in the fellowship hall. Bingo proceeds for December are designated for the Salvation Army.
‘Joy’
The congregation of Mosaic Unitarian Universalist meets online at 11 a.m. every Sunday. The Dec. 24 service is titled “Joy.”
On this fourth Sunday of Advent and the day before Christmas, the service will celebrate the quality of joy. Tracy Lunquist will draw from spirituality and psychology to explore the idea of joy — how we define it and how it refuses to be defined, where we look for it, where we will never find it, and how it sometimes finds us when we least expect it.
Today will be a joyful day! Everyone is welcome!
Memories, music and magic
The community of First Unitarian Universalist Church of West Volusia in DeLand will celebrate the magic and mysteries of the season. Join us and listen to our own musicians as they create the magic of Christmas with their talents, as we stroll together down memory lane of Christmases past.
There will be a Zoom meeting for the service part of the program.
Unitarian Universalists are an open-minded, freethinking, openhearted, spiritual community, where all are welcomed, as everyone learns and explores together in a search for truth. If time allows, discussion may be included after the program.
Pitching the tent
The fourth Sunday in Advent at First Presbyterian Church of DeLand falls on Sunday, Dec. 24. At a combined service at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary, Pastor Michael Bodger will extend his six-week sermon series “Where We Belong” with the fourth lesson, “Pitching the Tent.”
The Old Testament relates stories of the Hebrew people’s centuries-long search for their God, Jahweh. Going from place to place, the ancients believed God dwelled in a tent, much as they often did.
In 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, we read that the Lord instructs David through the prophet Nathan, “The Lord himself will establish a house for you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
Centuries later, with the birth of Jesus, God metaphorically “pitches his tent” in the Son, establishing God’s very presence and availability in our world. His spirit dwells in His followers.
Thus, we have become the dwelling place where God resides today. The tent has been pitched, and it does not exist as a dwelling place — It is us!
For each Advent Sunday, with the guidance of The Advent Devotional of 2023, the First Pres community has daily studied the four traditional Advent gifts — hope, peace, joy and love. We have been preparing for the coming of God’s Son in Bethlehem, Savior of the world at Christmas, the pinnacle of Advent. To benefit church workers worldwide, we will welcome the Christmas Joy Offering at this service.
First Pres DeLand welcomes you and your family to the two Christmas Eve services — in the pavilion at 4 p.m. for contemporary worship and in the sanctuary at 6:15 p.m. for a traditional candlelight service.
Share the joyful music and Scripture, telling of the birth of God’s Son. Christmas Eve services will add greatly to the magic of this season. Bring your family, old and young, able and disabled, to share the beginning of Christ’s journey.
We remind you that at both Christmas Eve services, special offerings will take place. To benefit local missions, gifts from the services will become our traditional White Christmas, giving nonperishable food to The Neighborhood Center and monetary gifts to Family Renew.
A safe place
Trinity is a United Methodist congregation devoted to Christian hospitality and to the welcome and care of people who’ve been displaced from their church homes by disruption, disaffiliation or closure. We are committed to #BeUMC and to living out our faith as a United Methodist Church.
We seek to provide a judgment-free and welcoming space to belong either for a season or for a lifetime.
At Trinity, we seek to welcome, care for and disciple people who have been through crisis and/or carry church hurt. If you find yourself in unchartered waters, we want you to know that we see you. We love you. And we are on the journey with you.
Whether a person or group of people stay for a season or make us their new home, Trinity seeks to offer an assurance of calm, comfort and stability.
“We will welcome, affirm and support you. And you can trust that while we are not perfect, the division and hurt you experienced before is not happening here,” said Pastor Todd Bardin.
— For church locations, worship times, group meetings and contact information, check out the Religion Directory on Page 2B. Send church news to margie@beacononlinenews.com.
