Singing Our Way Into the Season
Family Christmas Carol Sing

I had the joy of leading our second annual Family Christmas Carol Sing on Sunday, November 30, 2025. We had tried this gathering for the first time the year before, and people responded so warmly that it felt natural to bring it back. Even though the date technically fell in November, it felt like the perfect doorway into December and the Christmas season.

By the time people arrived, the sanctuary was fully decorated. Lights were glowing, greenery was hung, and the room already felt festive and welcoming. After the singing, everyone spilled into the foyer for hot chocolate and cookies, which added to that warm, family feeling. It was simple, but it created a space where people could slow down together.

I wondered at first if Thanksgiving weekend would be too busy, with football games, travel, and everything else competing for attention. In the end we had around 100 to 125 people come, which felt like a real gift. Parents brought their kids, and it was not just an event for adults. Seeing families sit together, sharing hymnals and singing side by side, reminded me why we did things like this in the first place.

One of the ongoing highlights for me in these carol sings was people’s response. Christmas could become so crowded with family plans, work responsibilities, and church activities that, before we knew it, the season passed and we wished we had made more room for what mattered most. This evening gave people a chance to breathe, to sing the carols they knew and loved, and to reconnect with memories tied to those songs. We did not sing every verse of every carol, but we touched most of the carols in our hymnal that people cherished.

When the evening ended, I was grateful. It felt like God had given our church family, and our guests, a gentle, joy-filled start to the Christmas season. We left having sung our hearts out, warmed by hot chocolate and community, and more ready to step into December with our eyes on Christ.

Dave Schroyer,
Worship Pastor