By Bill Robinson
Children may go to bed tonight with visions of “sugar plumbs dancing in their heads,” eagerly anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus and what he may bring.
However, a random survey of local churches shows that Christian fellowships in Madison County are making a special effort to commemorate the arrival for which Christmas celebrations originally were intended.
While no one knows the date, or even the year, of Jesus’ birth, church fathers during Roman times selected Dec. 25, then the date of winter solstice.
That date, when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky for the year and already celebrated as Rome’s festival of the unconquered sun, would be appropriate time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, “the son of God and light of the world.”
In addition to a 7 p.m. worship service, the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond will host its annual Peter Marshall/Ginny Moretz dinner at 5 p.m.
During World War II, the Rev. Peter Marshall, a beloved Washington, D.C., pastor who would become chaplain of the U.S. Senate, had his church serve a dinner for military personnel and others who could not be home for Christmas eve.
After Marshall’s untimely death, other churches around the nation took up the practice he started.
Ginny Moretz, a school teacher and member of First Presbyterian, led the church in starting the tradition here in the early 1980s, said Sandy Connor, who now chairs the effort.
After Moretz and her husband retired and moved from Richmond, the local church added her name to the dinner.
The dinner is for anyone who is away from home on Christmas eve or is not able to prepare or afford a dinner of their own, Connor said. The church is expecting to serve a record number tonight.
After dinner, Santa Claus will show up to distribute baked good prepared by church members to adults and toys to children .
At 7 p.m., the church will conduct a candle-light worship service with the congregation and choir singing Christmas carols.
St. Mark Catholic Church will be one of a few churches conducting two services this evening. It will conduct another tomorrow.
A mass with a family litergy will be celebrated at 4 p.m., said Father Jim Sichko. The church’s children’s choir will sing, a mother will read from the Old Testament and her daughter will read from the New Testament.
At midnight, the church will celebrate a solemn mass, Sichko said.
“The choir will process into the scantuary with an honor guard from the Knights of Columbus,” he said. “For many years, the St. Mark congregation has been pleased to welcome many of our non-Catholic friends to this special worship service.”
The church will celebrate a Christmas day mass at 10 a.m. Friday.
First United Methodist Church and First Christian Church of Richmond also plans two Christmas eve services.
At 5 p.m., First United Methodist will conduct a worship service especially for families with young children, said Amy Sutton, the church secretary. Communion will be served at an 11 p.m. service. Both services will feature carol singing by candlelight, Sutton said.
At 5:30 p.m., First Christian will present a Christmas pageant during which soloist Betsy Grise and the chancel choir will sing, said Connie Adams, the church secretary. At an 11 p.m. candlelight service, during which communion will be served, the Bettler family will sing and play musical instruments.
First Baptist Church on the Eastern Bypass will stage a nativity pageant at 5 p.m., according to Mickey Ballard, minister of music. The service will include candlelight carol singing by duets and trios as well as the congregation.
White Oak Pond Church will conduct candlelight vespers at 11:15 p.m., according to Lee Wells, church secretary.
The service will include readings from scripture and from “Why the Chimes Rang” by Raymond Macdonald Alden, as well lots of special music. That will include a violin-flute-and-piano trio, a dulcimer quarter, a flute solo and handbells.
The Kirksville Baptist Church will conduct a candlelight service at 8 p.m.
In Berea, Union Chuch next to Boone Tavern Hotel plans two worship services with a potluck meal in between.
The Christmas eve gathering will begin with the organ playing at 5:15 p.m., and a candlelight service of lessons and carols starting at 5:30. A potluck meal will follow the service. Visitors from out of town who cannot prepare food are encouraged to come, said a church spokesperson. At 11 p.m., a candlelight communion service will be conducted in the church’s Cowan Chapel.
At the Berea Baptist Church, an organ music prelude to an 11 p.m. candlelight service will start at 10:30, said Alan Pike, minister of music. The church’s a capella choir will sing and the Christmas story will be read from the Bible, he said.
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.
