As I mentioned in the announcements yesterday (if you missed them click here), we are working on several things to make our Virtual Christmas Eve service as special, and as “normal” as possible.  But to do that, we NEED YOUR HELP.  Both of these things are a part of the candle lighting that we traditionally have at the end of the Christmas Eve service.

1. Each Christmas Eve we look forward to seeing our sanctuary fill with light.  But, if you can’t physically BE there, how will we do that?  Let’s just say that we have a plan and we intend to light a candle in the sanctuary for EACH ONE OF YOU in a way that you can watch.  But to do THAT, we need to know how many of you will “attend” our Christmas Eve service.  So, whether you have attended our worship services in person, or if you’ve been worshipping with us virtually from wherever you live, or if you have visited for Christmas Eve in the past, or if you intend to visit for the first time on Christmas Eve, please DO THIS:  a) Send an email to Pastor@CUMCAlliance.org and tell me that you are coming.  b) Tell me how many will be with you, and c) tell me their names, or at least a name for your family group (ie. “the Schultz family”).  Names may not be strictly necessary, and we may not use them for anything, but it will help me to keep track so I don’t count people twice.  Then, when we record the candle lighting portion of our service, we will light a candle for EACH ONE of you to represent that you ARE THERE with us.
2. This one is harder but I hope that you will try.  Record a ten second (more or less) video of you lighting a candle.  Maybe even dress up a little like you would if you were there.  Start with a lit candle in front of you on a table (or chair, or whatever you have) and then, holding a second candle, light it from the first one and hold it in front of you.  Click here to see a short video from Bob Wallace demonstrating what we have in mind.  If there are more than one of you, feel free to make a video for each of you or, record everyone taking a light at the same time or, pass the light from one person to the next just like you would have if you were standing in “your” pew at church.  The plan is to edit all of your videos together so that on Christmas Eve we get to SEE one another lighting our candles.  I hope that we will get to see ALL of you.  If you need help, ask a friend of help you, but PLEASE send us a video.  When you’re done send your completed videos to: rlwallace@mac.com and put <Candle Light Video> and YOUR NAME in the subject line. 
3. DEADLINE: In order for us to have some time to record and edit these videos, please try to send your emails and videos by DECEMBER 15^th.

Obviously, we’ve never done this before, so it may not turn out exactly like we planned, but if it’s going to work at all, we will certainly NEED YOUR HELP.

We literally cannot do this without you.

Blessings,

John Partridge

Pastor

Christ United Methodist Church

470 East Broadway Street

Alliance, Ohio 44601

www.CUMCAlliance.org

www.PastorPartridge.com

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