Church services aim to ‘push people into the heart of Christmas.’

Amid the shopping, the parties, the cooking, the decorating, the wrapping, and the gift-giving that Christmas entails, it’s easy to forget that it’s a religious holiday.

“When you push people past the tinsel and glitter, past the materialistic binge that Christmas has become, you come to its center, which is the spirit of Christ,” says the Rev. Daniel H. Newhall, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, 100 N. Hillcrest Blvd., Inglewood. “All pastors try to push people into the heart of Christmas.”

They do it with Christmas Eve messages, choral music and brass flourishes, candles and greenery that still smells of the forest, and a sense of warmth and magic on a cold, dark night.

People pack these night-before-Christmas services--and for some, it’s their only visit to a church all year. “We welcome them any time,” said Msgr. Patrick Gallagher of Mary Star of the Sea Church in San Pedro. But, he added: “we’d like to see people come more often.”

This Christmas Eve on Saturday, people can choose everything from a rousing Foursquare Gospel evening, where familiar carols will be given a Calypso treatment, to formal Roman Catholic midnight Mass. But regardless of the approach, the focus will be the joy that accompanies the birth of Jesus.

Said Steven Bliss, music director at Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach: “We celebrate on this date the birth of the Messiah, the promised redeemer of all mankind. It is through His birth that we can rejoice, knowing He came to pay the price for our sins.”

Some examples:

The pure white and formal decor of the New England-style Inglewood First Presbyterian Church will be offset Christmas Eve by fresh green garlands and wreaths, 30 poinsettias and nearly 100 tall candles burning atop 6-foot candelabra.

At the 7:30 p.m. service, the Chancel Choir, joined by an organ and a brass quartet, will perform traditional carols with the audience joining in some of the music. At the end of the candle-lit service, the choir will wait for the congregation outside the church. As people leave, they will be surrounded by carolers on the church steps.

“It’s a real simple service,” said Newhall, “candlelight and music, lots of singing of carols, but it seems to click and meets the mood of the people.”

The Italian Renaissance splendor of Palos Verdes Estates’ Neighborhood Church sanctuary--painted, vaulted ceiling, dark wood and arched windows overlooking the Pacific Ocean--will be the setting for two Christmas Eve musical services. For the season, flowers and wreaths antiqued with heavy gold have been added.

The Christmas story will be told at a 7 p.m. service of Gospel lessons, carols with the adult choir and organ accompaniment. The main Christmas Eve program at 10:45 p.m. will present the choir, three soloists, an organ and a woodwind ensemble performing Ottorino Respighi’s “Laud to the Nativity.”

“It is in the pastoral style, very gentle, but at the same time, there is a huge fanfare like a Gloria at the end,” said Craig V. Fenter, the church’s music director. The performers will enter in a candlelight procession and after the service will sing carols outside the church at 415 Paseo del Mar, Palos Verdes Estates.

Fenter said Christmas has a mystery about it that is felt strongly at the bluff-top church: “There’s something beautiful about being able to look out over the ocean, hear those waves coming up against the cliff; and with the gentle candlelight, it’s such a touching, nostalgic place to be.”

Christmas Eve at Hope Chapel, 2420 Pacific Coast Highway, will be an exuberant evening, with a 7 p.m. family service where the Christmas story will be told with puppets. A service at 9 p.m. will be dominated by carols performed both in traditional style and in contemporary pop arrangements, including one in Calypso rhythms.

“We want to cross the bridge between all the different generations,” said Bliss, who expects the 800-seat chapel, formerly a bowling alley, to be packed.

“Celebrate Christ” is the Christmas theme at Hope Chapel, a Foursquare Gospel church whose congregants average less than 40 years old. A banner stretches across the front of the church, while wreaths and hanging geometric shapes in various colors decorate the sanctuary. Another banner proclaims, “Happy Birthday, Jesus.”

“Our focus is caring, reaching out, touching people’s lives,” says Bliss.

Mary Star of the Sea Church, 870 8th St., San Pedro, one of the largest Roman Catholic parishes west of the Mississippi River, will celebrate vigil Masses at 5:15 and 8 p.m. signifying preparation for the birth of the Christ child. Midnight Mass--amid white and gold banners and flags symbolizing the joy of Christmas--will celebrate the birth. The crib will be blessed and the infant placed in it at the side of the altar.

Some 100 voices in five choirs will sing seasonal music starting at 11 p.m.

“This is a time of bringing all the people together and sharing,” said Msgr. Gallagher. “One choir sings in Croatian, another in Spanish, one in Italian and two in English.”

This ethnic blend reflects the history of Mary Star of the Sea, which began ministering to people in the fishing town of San Pedro in 1889 with a congregation of 150. Now the parish has 7,000 active families.

Traditional Christmas Eve services this year have an historic significance: They will be the first official events of the church’s centennial year, which will include many other celebrations.

“Midnight Mass is a very joyful experience,” Gallagher said. “Because Christmas takes place in the middle of winter, it’s cold and dark outside. But it has the sense of warmth and light and love for each other. At the end comes the good news that Jesus was born to be our savior. What we wish to celebrate is to allow him to be in our community and in our hearts.”