Calvary Church hosts ‘mulitsensory’christmas services
Under a veil of secrecy, Calvary Church ushered in parishioners to its atrium and auditorium for six Christmas services Sunday, Dec. 23, and Monday, Dec. 24, not hinting at what they could expect inside.
As attendees walked from the parking lot to the entrances of the church, they heard Christmas carols and a brass band play before a fiUH SLW. ,nVLGH, WKHy ZHUH given soft pretzels and hot FKRFRlDWH DnG FRffHH. ,n the coffeehouse within the church, families could take pictures in front of a large gingerbread house photo-op spread.
“We really worked hard to create an experience from the minute people get out of their cars to the minute they leave again,” said LuAnn Rittenhouse, director of communications at the Hilltown church. “The whole thing is an experience — the smells, the taste, the sounds. We tried to make it a whole, multisensory experience.”
Calvary has had large Christmas services before, but Rittenhouse said this was WKH fiUVW WLPH WKH FKuUFK KDG created such a multisensory experience.
Senior Pastor Jeff Supp said Christmas and Easter are usually large services at the church, but this year they expected more people than ever to participate.
The auditorium where the services took place seats more than 1,500, and the church expecting about 7,500 people in total to come to the services, according to Supp.
Supp said the services were designed to be accessible to everyone — people who didn’t have a church to go to or people who didn’t usually go to church.
“Christmas is often complicated with other things, so we really invite the community to embrace the true meaning of Christmas,” Supp said. “We want people to feel that joy the moment they step onto campus and WKURuJKRuW WKH VHUvLFH. ,W’V D KDSSy PRUnLnJ. ,W’V D PRUning to celebrate.”
7KH DuGLWRULuP ZDV RuWfiWted with lit-up trees and huge presents as decorations, and two drummers on-stage provided entertainment as people found their seats.
,n Dll, WKHUH ZHUH DERuW 15 people on stage, but Rittenhouse said there were probably 200 volunteers behind the scenes helping with the production, ushering attendees to their seats and greeting people at the door.
The church also offered deaf interpretations of the service, as well as bridge disability sessions. Rittenhouse said these sessions ZHUH VSHFLfiFDlly fRU yRuWKV and adults who had challenges or special needs and who might be overstimulated by the lively service. Child care was also available for newborns through pre-kindergarten children.
Bookending the service, a band played Christmas carols in a modern rock style, ZKLFK fiW Ln ZLWK WKH WKHPH of the services: Christmas Rhythms. When one member of the band started WR VLnJ “,’ll EH HRPH fRU Christmas,” snow fell from the top of the stage.
Speaking Pastor Charles Zimmerman asked the crowd to yell out their as- sociations with Christmas; they responded with words like presents, a tree and a manger.
Zimmerman tied in the thread of Christmas Rhythms by saying other “beats” or associations should be included in one’s view of Christmas. RevoluWLRn, VDFULfiFH DnG FHlHEUDtion were the main themes of his speech.
Rittenhouse said Zimmerman had been the speaking pastor for these Christmas HvHnWV fRU fivH RU VHvHn years, so he worked hard to bring something different to the Christmas story each year.
“We hear the story every year and we get a little bit calloused to the story, so he has worked really hard to bring the together the themes of Christmas, contrary to what we’re used to KHDULnJ. ,W FKDllHnJHV SHRSlH to experience it on a different level,” Rittenhouse said of the Christmas services. “,nVWHDG Rf PHHN DnG PLlG, it’s blown up.”