Christmas has always been big for Odessa Christian Faith Center Music Minister Lowell Hohstadt, whose most vivid holiday memory is seeing his late father Thomas directing the Midland-Odessa Symphony in a Christmas concert when he was a boy.
Hohstadt has spent six months preparing the programs for 9 a.m., 10:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Christmas Eve services at OCFC at 9000 Andrews Highway with the 35 members of his praise team, choir and stage band and he expects the Christmas spirit to be palpable.
“We will do 11 songs with original arrangements at each service, ‘O Holy Night,’ ‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,’ ‘Do You see What I See?’ ‘What Child Is This?’ ‘Away in a Manger,’ ‘Silent Night,’ ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ and others that I have written and some contemporary songs,” Hohstadt said. “It’s a time for all Christians to rejoice in the light that God sent to us through Jesus.
“Music goes hand in hand with singing, wind instruments and all sorts of artistic expression. I remember my dad directing the symphony playing ‘Sleigh Ride’ with a special jazzed up arrangement. We always enjoyed family and having meals together and exchanging presents.”
The Rev. Adrianne Coleman, pastor of Mackey Chapel United Methodist Church and Highland UMC, always celebrated the holiday as a girl by traveling 620 miles with her family from Houston to a big family get-together with her grandparents at Blytheville in Northeast Arkansas.
Mackey Chapel at 306 W. Clements St. and Highland at 1908 N. Dixie Blvd. will observe Christmas in 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 24, services at the end of four weeks of Advent celebrations of hope, peace, joy and love.
“What Christmas means to me is the opportunity once again to celebrate the love God has for us by coming to be one of us through the birth of Jesus,” the Rev. Coleman said, referring to Luke 2:10-11 where an angel told the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.”
Coleman said Christians should therefore not be dismayed by national or global unrest.
“Considering the turmoil that surrounds us in our world now and the situations that Joseph and Mary dealt with, there is always hope to be found,” she said. “We drove around Houston looking at the lights, opened our presents on Christmas Eve and then went up to Arkansas.
“I was the only girl among my brother and a bunch of cousins, so I didn’t get dolls, I got boy-type toys so I could play in the snow with the boys. One of the blessings I have, being in Odessa, is being able to meet in person with my church members and do Zoom with family.”
