Two Churches, Very Different, Prepare for the Holiday

Two congregations, one sitting in the soaring Gothic nave of a historic Los Angeles church and the other a displaced group of new immigrants without their own building, each ushered in Christmas in its own way. And it took a lot of work for both.

From the trumpeting of the great 20,000-pipe organ at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles to nostalgic Central American carols sung by members of the small Pico Union Shalom Ministry of the United Methodist Church, the two congregations joined hundreds of millions of Christians throughout the world in marking the birth of Jesus.

The two Christmas Eve services didn’t just happen Friday night.

At First Congregational, founded in 1867 and said to be the oldest continuously operating Protestant church in the city, planning began in earnest eight weeks ago and involved hundreds of volunteers.

No detail was overlooked, from ordering 1,000 candles and several hundred pounds of green branches for wreaths to selecting Bible passages and organ preludes. Even the red Persian rug in the narthex, valued at $100,000, was cleaned at a cost of $7,000.

A dozen volunteers spent all day making 20-pound Christmas wreaths that hung from chandeliers. “It took me 2 1/2 hours to make one wreath,” said John Rundall, a deacon and longtime parish member. Organ curator William Zeiler has the continual job of tuning the $10-million instrument. The sanctuary temperature must be kept at 70 degrees for the organ.

Since the first week of November, Alexander Ruggieri, minister of music, and David Goode, organist in residence, had worked together to select the music. Seven church members who read Bible passages spent many hours rehearsing, coached by veteran screen actor James Shigeta, a church member.

“To the audience and members of the congregation, it [the Christmas Eve service] will look very seamless, almost like theater,” church administrator Andrew Duncan, a former operations director at DreamWorks SKG, said a few days ago.

The church at Commonwealth Avenue and 6th Street used to attract mainly affluent Anglos from the surrounding neighborhoods but, with demographic changes, it now has a more ethnically and economically diverse congregation.

Though some of the church’s 900 members aren’t regular attendees because they have moved away, they still come Christmas Eve, church leaders said. And with nonmembers also worshiping, preparations were made for 1,300 people to fill all pews, even in the balcony.

“I think that’s why most people continue to come [Christmas Eve] -- because they love the tradition,” Duncan said. The sanctuary “is austere but beautiful at the same time.”

Only two miles away, the small Latino congregation -- the Pico Union Shalom Ministry -- also prepared. But its 25 members, mostly Salvadorans, Mexicans and Hondurans, would be happy to have a church building to call their own this Christmas.

The old wood-frame house at Pico Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue that had served as their place of worship was torn down this year to make way for church-sponsored, low-cost apartments and a community and child day-care center that will be the parish’s new home next fall. Until then, church offices are in a construction trailer in a nearby alley.

Since July, it has been a wandering congregation -- not unlike the Christmas story of Mary and Joseph in search of an inn. Three other United Methodist Churches have taken them in.

The Pico Union congregation is too small to have a choir. But its members and their pastor have planned a joint Christmas Eve service at their current host church, the United University Church on the USC campus.

They said they’re grateful for the university church’s hospitality, but to the extent possible they want to try to keep Christmas in their own way. The two pastors worked on a service that respected the different ways Christmas is observed here and south of the border.

“It’s a struggle,” said the Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez, who grew up in a Missouri farm family and married a Salvadoran. This is her first pastorate.

So at Christmas Eve services Friday, the combined congregations were to have a little of each: traditional Christmas carols in English and, from Gutierrez’s church, a musician from El Salvador playing two Latino Christmas tunes, “Pastores a Belen” (“Shepherds to Bethlehem”) and “Campana sobre Campana” or “Bells Upon Bells.”

“Those are the ones that are dear to our people’s hearts. I think that’s what a successful Christmas service is,” Gutierrez said.

The Pico Union congregation put most of its efforts into two posadas last week, one at the university church and another at an indoor swap meet in the Pico Union district. A posada commemorates Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem in search of a place to stay. Posada means inn, or lodging, in Spanish.

Church members cooked 200 Mexican pork and Salvadoran chicken tamales. A hundred more were donated by someone in the neighborhood. Lupita’s Bakery on Pico Boulevard contributed French bread and a large cake.

Owners of the swap meet brought rice and beans. West Los Angeles United Methodist Church, which for two months was the Pico congregation’s temporary home, donated more than 100 toys for neighborhood children.

For Christmas Eve, each pastor planned a short and different meditation on the meaning of Christmas. The candlelight service was to end with “Silent Night,” sung simultaneously in the languages of those present.

The Rev. Susan Halcomb Craig, the university congregation’s pastor, said she thought God would appreciate the sound. “What God hears, I think it makes God smile -- people praying and singing in the way that’s most meaningful for them,” she said.

Back at First Congregational Church, Joyce Morrissey, chairwoman of its board of trustees, said preparation for the special night each year is a privilege and a blessing for the hundreds involved.

“It’s so special. It’s a glorious way to recognize the true meaning of Christmas,” she said.