An Update from Keith Simon: Why Christmas 2020 is Online
COVID-19 has taken a lot from us this year, but Christmas with The Crossing is still happening. However, given the current health guidelines that limit us to less than 400 people in the auditorium at one time, we’d have to start Christmas services on Thanksgiving Day in order to accommodate the 6000+ people that attended 5 services over 2 days last year. Thankfully, God has prepared our church for this moment. (It’s almost as if he knew what was coming!)
This year, Christmas with The Crossing will be an online experience that we can watch with our friends and families.
Prefer to listen? Watch below to hear more on this update from Keith Simon.
If you’re like me, you’ll miss holding the candles up high as we sing Silent Night, but you won’t miss the itchy Christmas sweaters. Seriously, this pandemic has cost us a lot. Some of us have been sick with the virus, kids have missed school, people have lost jobs, marriages have struggled to stay together, seniors have struggled with loneliness, many have struggled with their faith, and now we will miss one of our favorite services of the year.
If we ever needed to celebrate that King Jesus entered into our world to redeem us from sin and its consequences, it’s this year.
Where we see an obstacle, God sees an opportunity.
You know the person in your family that always finds an excuse to not come to church for Christmas Eve services? Not this year. You know the friends and family spread out across the country that you would love to go to church with but can’t because they’re in a different city or state? That won’t be an issue this year.
An online Christmas service will allow you to invite your family to watch the service at a time that works for you. No one has to miss the service in order to get dinner ready. And it allows you to share this service with friends and family who can’t be present. Even though you can’t share the same meal, you can attend the same Christmas service.
Our hope is that this is the largest and most meaningful Christmas since The Crossing began. COVID-19 forced us online, but God’s Spirit works there too. God met his people in the lion’s den, the fiery furnace, on the road to Damascus, in a whisper and a fire. I don’t think he’s going to have any problems meeting us online.
COVID doesn’t get the last word. That belongs to God. What seems like an obstacle to us may be just the thing God uses to reach people that we’d never expect. What COVID intended for harm, God intended for good. While it’s right to lament the things COVID has stolen from us, by God’s grace it won’t steal Christmas.
More information about the online Christmas service will be released on November 27. Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates about Christmas. Until then, please join us in praying that this Christmas event would help more people believe that Jesus is more.
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