FBC of Starkville celebrates Christmas season

First Baptist Church Starkville held its annual Christmas Eve candlelight service on Thursday night where carols were sung, and the joy of the Christmas season was celebrated.

In a year that has not been the most joyful, FBC Starkville wanted to remind the community that the Christmas season is still worth being joyful and cheerful about, despite what 2020 has given us.

Associate Pastor of FBC Starkville Clifton Curtis said that Christmas is always the most meaningful time of the year and 2020 is no exception.

“I think that just as we come to this joyful season, we are just reminded of God’s love for us – that he was willing to come and live on Earth as a human like us, and he would love us so much that he would sacrifice his life for us, so that we might have eternal life,” Curtis said. “So, Christmas is such an important and joyful time of the year with all of the presents, the singing, and the joy, so it is very important for us to get together to sing Christmas carols and have our candlelight service for this very special time of the year in our church. To provide a great opportunity for families to come together and worship together in this very important service. It means a lot to us.”

With the current circumstances of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, social distancing guidelines have been active, leaving very little to no room for gatherings. Curtis said that the church had to find a way to still have their annual Christmas Eve service while obeying the guidelines.

“All of the pews are cleaned and marked off with 6-foot social distancing,” Curtis said. “We’ve been doing social distancing in the past and we’ll continue to do so. We asked everyone to wear a mask in services, and we keep plenty of airflow going through the services with our heating and cooling. We offered both options to either come and attend the service in person, or to watch it online from home. We’ve worked really hard to make the online option a good one, because we know a lot of people are in positions to where they don’t need to be out, so we tried to meet both needs of those who don’t feel comfortable to come in person, and also those who don’t need to come in person. We also emphasized making the church as safe