December 21, 2010

CHICAGO – The Christmas Eve service at Incarnation Lutheran Church, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregation in Columbia, S.C., will be televised locally and carried on the Web, thanks to anonymous benefactors financing the broadcast.

Incarnation's Christmas Eve worship will be a traditional worship service, with attention to U.S. military personnel, including those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. The service will be taped Dec. 24 at 5 p.m. EST, the usual Christmas Eve worship time for the congregation.

WIS-TV, Columbia, will broadcast the service locally at 7 p.m. EST, and it will be at http://www.wistv.com on the Web. The station plans to rebroadcast the service on Christmas Day and make it available for on-demand viewing on the website.

"We're really blessed to have an amazing outreach opportunity that is financially supported by Lutherans outside our congregation," said the Rev. Mary W. Anderson, senior pastor, Incarnation Lutheran Church. "I view this worship service as a gift from the wider Lutheran community in the Columbia area. We are honored to be the host congregation this year."

Anderson said preparing for the service has been an "energizing experience" for the congregation. "It's exciting to see how God is at work in the midst of all of these preparations," she said.

The service will focus on Luke 2, Anderson said. Special soloists – including a U.S. Air Force pilot who returned from Afghanistan in August – will perform, as will the Capital City Brass Quintet, she said. Members will offer instrumental accompaniment during worship, which will conclude with the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah." Typically, about 280 worshipers attend Incarnation's Christmas Eve service, but this year, the congregation is preparing for as many as 400 people, Anderson said.

Incarnation's service will include a special greeting to military personnel serving overseas, Anderson said. "I've asked our active military personnel in the congregation to wear their uniforms so they can be seen by those who may be deployed far from home on Christmas Eve," she said.

Members of Incarnation Lutheran Church and residents of Columbia have significant connections to U.S. military personnel, including those stationed at Fort Jackson, McEntire Joint National Guard Base, and those serving overseas, Anderson said.

The ELCA South Carolina Synod worked with the benefactors to make the broadcast possible and assisted in the process of selecting the congregation, said Celie M. Addy, director of communications, ELCA South Carolina Synod, Columbia. The synod is encouraging members to contact U.S. military personnel serving overseas about the webcast, she said.

In 2009 Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church, West Columbia, S.C., was the site of a similar broadcast and webcast. With the continued help of the benefactors, the synod hopes to move the service each year among Columbia-area ELCA congregations, Addy said.

Information about Incarnation Lutheran Church is at http://www.incarnationlutheran.com/, on the Web.

A video promotional announcement about Incarnation's Christmas Eve service is at http://www.sclutheran.org/, on the Web.

ELCA News Service