Members of a community celebrate the season in many different ways.
Every year people from several of the churches in Maidstone gather to plan a meaningful service to share faith and friendship. This year the ecumenical carol service was held Dec. 5 and was hosted by the Maidstone United Church.
Readers from each church involved took a turn sharing parts of the Bible's Christmas story as sections were read between the songs. The community choir, the Lutheran Church choir and the Catholic Church choir all prepared special music to perform for the assembly and each church's accompanist led a few songs for everyone to sing along.
Mary Theresa Owens and Melanie Giraudier sang a duet entitled Blessings to open the program and Rev. Ean Kasper led the prayers.
A collection was taken for the food bank and everyone was invited to stay for coffee and treats and a visit with friends.
Before closing the service the lights were dimmed and candles lit for the singing of Silent Night, the familiar melody and the darkness dotted with the dancing flames is always a highlight of the evening as peaceful smiles cross the faces of those remembering the story of the night 2000 years ago.
