But pastors say the holiday still means the same even if people can t be together. The whole day has been thrown off because as a pastor, most of our Christmas Eves are wrapped around us getting ready for services and today has been low key, said Brad Barbour, pastor of the Soul Church in Raleigh.
His church rented part of Transfer Food Hall six weeks ago, put a service together and streamed it live Thursday night. All of 2020 for us has been a reminder of what s really important, Barbour said. Christmas is a season of love and that s what we love: friends and family getting to do those traditions and many of those traditions include an Christmas Eve service at church.