Christmas Keeps L.A. Churches Humming : Holiday: For many faiths, having last Sunday of Advent on Christmas Eve means some quick changes. Services across the Southland fill with worshipers.

The switcheroo was good-naturedly fast and furious at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Studio City on Sunday morning.

Away went the purple ornamental cloth and candles decorating the altar for the Advent service held early in the day. In came the red ribbons, poinsettias and white-gold decorated cloth, used to celebrate Christmas services.

Church volunteers, themselves pressed for time because of pending holiday dinners and last-minute errands, polished crosses, prepped wreaths and placed bows on pews to help ensure that afternoon and night services for Christmas Eve would carry the full spirit of Noel.

“Everything was changed in here. Nothing looks as it did,” the Rev. Ellen Hill, church rector, said with a smile. “Preparing for Christmas is really labor-intensive.”

This Christmas Eve was especially pressure-filled for many worshipers because it was also the last Sunday of Advent, which includes the four Sundays before Christmas. The nearly overlapping services made for one of the biggest churchgoing days of the year, with the faithful confronted with a double duty of sorts--Sunday service followed by a Christmas service.

Churches throughout Southern California have been gearing up all week for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day two-day onslaught. For many clergy and volunteers, it has been virtually round-the-clock work, beginning with early morning Sunday services, afternoon children’s services, the evening Christmas vigil and then for Catholics the granddaddy of them all--Midnight Mass. In some cases, there were sermons to be written for Sunday and more for Monday.

“For priests, lectors, ushers, altar servers, musicians and choir people, two sets of Masses in two days means a lot of double duty,” said Father Gregory Coiro, director of media relations for the Catholic Archd Msgr. Gerald Wilkerson of Enctook turns starting at 5 p.m. Sathey said Christmas Eve Masses aVentura Boulevard to its 1,500-p *

Then, today, on Christmas, fo12:30 p.m. Meanwhile, parishionebeen collecting gifts to distribthe church--with 2,300 registered “Thank goodness next year isWilkerson said.

For many churches, even the p Catholic, Episcopal and many worship areas after the fourth and final Sunday of the Christmas Advent season, switching to Christmas colors and symbols.

But with only several hours between the end of Advent and Christmas Eve, many of those so-called liturgical churches already introduced poinsettias, Christmas trees or creches into the church.

“It’s just one of those years when you can’t do anything else, even if we had a hundred volunteers to help,” Wilkerson said.

Pastor Rodney Friend, of the Friendly Temple Baptist Church at 105th Street and Wilmington Avenue in Watts, said Sunday was the focus of Christmas activities for his church. Things got off to a strong start when about 100 members of the congregation hosted a special Christmas party for 40 needy children that included gifts, other treats and a play.

Knowing that many congregants Sunday morning were going out shopping after the service, Friend said he used his sermon to talk about the need for spiritual gifts and the importance of Christmas gifts that are lasting and personal.

At the Chinese Zion Baptist Church in Los Angeles, Christmas was celebrated Sunday as well. Members of the church were busy planning for a holiday outing for young people. Rev. David Wong said the youngsters will spend five days in Lake Arrowhead starting Tuesday. “They are very excited about going to the snow,” he said. Other youthful members of the congregation, home from school for the holidays, will get together and play football today, said Wong.

At St. Bede the Venerable Catholic Church in La Canada Flintridge, the Christmas Mass preparations started about four days before the big event. That’s because the whole sanctuary had to be transformed into a life-size manger scene.

Like many others, First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills has had a mixture of Advent and Christmas colors and symbols in the church for weeks now.

The decorating has been done by several groups, including a Boy Scout troop at the church. Members of the congregation built a float for the annual Granada Hills Christmas Parade. Meanwhile, deacons assembled food packages, a dance was staged for high schoolers last Saturday and an elementary school connected to the church performed a skit, “Rip Van Christmas.”

Special children’s programs were also taking place at the Chung Woon Korean Church on Virgil Avenue in Koreatown. Christmas Eve services were held Sunday evening featuring caroling and programs put on by children for adults.

Catholic priests at many churches have schedules that include a dozen Masses and that means more than one sermon, or homily, said Coiro.

“For the priests, if the homilies are to be any good, it takes hours of preparation,” he said. “But this is a positive thing. It’s Christmas. For everyone involved, this is a labor of love.”

Staff writer Doug Shuit contributed to this story.