On one of the holiest nights of the Christian year, there will still be candle-lighting, the singing of “Silent Night,” children’s pageants and sermons heralding the birth of a savior.
It’s just that much of it will be live-streamed, prerecorded, in very small groups and — in at least in one case — conducted in the bitter cold.
The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Madison-area churches to come up with inventive, 21st century ways to celebrate Christmas Eve — perhaps the most traditional of Christian services when people pack the pews to sing hymns, listen to the story of a pregnant Mary and her husband, Joseph, looking for a place to stay for the night, and pass a candle’s flame symbolizing the light of Jesus coming into the world.