On Saturday, participants gathered at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lehighton to take part in an outdoor Christmas worship.

Originally the service was set to take place on Christmas Eve but was postponed due to rainy weather.

The service consisted of prayer and a Christmas carol singalong including popular songs such as “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “Away in a Manger,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “Silent Night, Holy Night.”

A Nativity scene was included as well, featuring youth volunteers Nevaeh Simmons, Nekya Strohl, Cassidy Snyder and Nevaeh Snyder playing the roles of Mary, Joseph and two angels. Live animals were scheduled for the Nativity on the original Christmas Eve date but were unable to attend due to the change in schedule and cold weather.

Bonfires and hot cocoa were provided for attendees to keep warm throughout the service due to the cold and windy conditions. Afterward, snacks were set out for people to take before they departed from the event.

The Rev. Lauren Wolfe Blatt said, “We decided to do it because of COVID and because we could only have one service inside that was smaller. We wanted to be able to allow anybody who wanted to come and not have to turn people away.”

Regarding the postponement of the original Christmas Eve service, Blatt said Christmas extends past Dec. 25 in the Christian faith in accordance with the celebration of Epiphany.

“People think that Christmas is over as soon as the presents are gone, but Christmas goes on until Jan. 6, so we figured we could still have it (the Christmas service) and see what happens.”

Despite not being held on Christmas Eve, the event had a good turnout of participants.

One attendee included Beverly Mills, who said she enjoyed the service.

“It was great. The hymns were nice and just sharing the worship with everyone here was nice.”

Mills also said she was glad that St. John’s hosted the event and said that she would enjoy attending again if they hosted a similar service in the future.

Visit the St. John’s website www.stjohnsmahoning.org for more information about the church or to watch digital worship and weekly message videos. In-person worship is scheduled to start again on Jan. 24 and anyone who is interested is welcome to attend.