It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. In two weeks it will be Christmas. At Hometown Friends Church it means a sequence of traditions that includes things like “a taste of Christmas” next Sunday evening and three candlelight services Christmas eve. Christmas events have food or music and some (like the “taste of Christmas”) have both.

The sun is shining through the windows, but it’s cold outside. Of course the music is Christmassy. The music minister tries to keep the faithful happy by using a few traditional carols along with the less traditional stuff. “Have You Any Room for Jesus?” was sung by a small group. One of the phrases is, “Will you ever let him in?” When I learned this song may years ago this phrase was, “Sinner, will you let him in?” It was an era with fewer subtleties.

With Christmas landing on a Sunday, the faithful at some churches will have to either collect their attendance points at the Christmas eve service or attend another church on Sunday morning. These churches are making the news by deciding to not have Sunday morning services on Christmas day. The faithful will have one service they can attend at Hometown Friends instead of the usual three.