Come experience our accepting, joyful community in-person or online this Christmas. ​

In-Person Worship

​Early Christmas Worship: Wednesday, December 22
6:30PM- Candlelight Service (Masks Required)
 ​Christmas Eve Worship: Friday, December 24
10:30AM- Family Service (Masks Required)
2:30PM- Candlelight Service (Masks Encouraged)
4:30PM- Candlelight Service (Masks Encouraged)
10:00PM- Candlelight Service (Masks Encouraged)
You are invited to join us for one of five in-person worship services this Christmas. Our theme is “A Weary World Rejoices,” which acknowledges the how weary we are from the pandemic* (see covid precautions we are taking below) and countless other challenges you may be facing. We celebrate that the Christmas story does push aside and ignore the weary world, but rather enters into the middle of our weariness with hope, peace, and rejoicing. So join us to hear the Christmas Story, joyfully sing your favorite carols, and celebrate Holy Communion at each service. 

This year we are offering an early Christmas service on December 22 at 6:30pm, which will be an early version of our traditional Christmas Eve Service. This is a great opportunity for those who are going out of town for the holiday to celebrate Christmas at Elk River Lutheran. To provide more covid cautious individuals a chance to attend in-person, masks will be required at this service.

On Christmas Eve our 10:30AM Family Service will be extra fun for kids and the young at heart! Children and their wiggles are welcome at all our services, but this service will provide extra opportunities to participate in worship. Family bands are leading the music. To protect our youngest, oldest, and immunocompromised family members, masks will be required at this service.

Our candlelight services will start with an upbeat, joyful celebration of the good news of great joy of Christmas and end peacefully with singing sweet carols, closing with Silent Night.  Special musical offerings include: Christmas Eve at the 2:30PM- ERLC Choir, 4:30PM- Worship Band, and 10:00PM- Riverside Ringers.

*Masks will be required on Dec. 22 at 6:30pm & Dec. 24 at 10:30am, and encouraged at the other Christmas Eve services. See full list of Covid Precautions below.

We hope you’ll join us as A Weary World Rejoices this Christmas season!

Online Worship

While there’s nothing quite like being at church for worship at Christmas, worshiping online via Facebook or YouTube from home is a great option for those who are unable to attend in-person. We encourage you to enhance your at home worship experience by setting up special lighting (light dim the lights and have a Christmas tree lit), have candles ready to light for candlelit services, and have bread and wine (or crackers and grape juice, whatever you can find) ready for Holy Communion. You can worship online LIVE or On Demand (watch anytime after the live broadcast) with these online services:

Early Christmas Candlelight Service
​- LIVE Dec 22 at 6:30pm and On Demand
This service will start with an upbeat, joyful celebration of the good news of great joy of Christmas and end peacefully with singing sweet carols, closing with Silent Night. It will be streamed live and then available to watch immediately following the service. You can be prepared with candles and communion elements.

Christmas Eve Family Service
- LIVE Dec 24 at 10:30am and On Demand
This will be a special service designed with kids in mind. There will still be a sermon, Holy Communion, and other traditional elements, but there will be special fun for kids and the young at heart. Music will be lead by Elk River Lutheran family bands, and we encourage you to have “instruments” to play along with the music.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
- On Demand Dec 24 with LIVE watch party on Dec 24 at 3:30pm
A special pre-recorded Christmas Eve service featuring elements from our Early Christmas Eve Candlelight Service will be posted to Facebook and YouTube on Christmas Eve morning and available to watch anytime. If you enjoy the LIVE watching experience with your fellow church goes, we encourage you to tune in for a “LIVE” watch party at 3:30pm.

Outdoor Christmas Light Show Every Night

We invite you to experience our outdoor Christmas Light Show. You’ll find the lights on the North side of our building (Main St side) at 729 Main St NW, and we invite you to pull into the drive through loop. Tune your radio to 88.3FM so you can watch and listen to the lights as you experience fun Christmas music, dancing snowflakes and lights, hear a telling of the Christmas story, and even laugh at some hilarious jokes!
 
The Christmas Light Show will run every night from 5:00pm-10:00pm through the Christmas season, so come check it out and share and invite with your friends!

Covid Precautions

While we all wish the pandemic was completely behind us, it is not, so we are taking the following extra precautions to make worshipping at Elk River Lutheran as safe as possible this Christmas season:
  • Masking - Masks will be required at two services: Dec. 22 at 6:30pm & Dec. 24 at 10:30am. At the other Christmas Eve services, masks are encouraged and will be worn by pastors, staff, and musicians.
  • Additional Services - This year we will have five in-person Christmas Eve services to spread out worship attendance.
  • Spaced Out Seating - While we normally add seating for Christmas, this year we have fewer seats in our sanctuary, allowing rows to be spaced out more.
  • Increased Ventilation - Our sanctuary (worship space) is uniquely equipped with three heating/cooling units, which allows us to circulate a lot of air, which we will be doing to mitigate viral spread.
  • Vaccinations - Pastors and staff leading services are fully vaccinated and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated.
  • Holy Communion - We will celebrate Holy Communion at all services using individually wrapped, prepackaged elements (grape juice and bread wafer)
  • Online - Those uncomfortable attending in-person worship services are invited to join us online.