A recurring theme among Christmas Eve and Christmas Day church services this year was hope following a year of turmoil.

On Christmas morning, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in downtown Colorado Springs, the Rev. Kyle Ingels spoke about the importance of having hope through dark times.

“With all the things going on in the world, today is the day of hope,” Father Ingels said.

A patron at the service, Wanda Grosche, also talked about the importance of holding onto hope this holiday season.

“My daughter came to Mass today and she hasn’t been in years,” Grosche said.

She said she held onto hope and having her daughter, recovering from alcoholism, come back to church is what Christmas means to her.

Many churches in the Pikes Peak region opted to not hold a Christmas morning service, saying attendance is low with members wanting to spend time with loved ones.

First Baptist Church, on Kiowa Street downtown, held a Christmas Eve service this year. The sermon Tuesday evening also focused on hope, as well as the understanding that God does not wait until everything is right to come to us.

The church had two significant deaths in the congregation within the past several days. Two other members have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer recently.

“There’s a lot of folks in the congregation that are feeling like this is almost a Blue Christmas this year,” Dan Schumacher, senior pastor, said ahead of services. “(The sermon) isn’t about God waiting until we get everything right, but God being with us, even in the mess.”

Schumacher told The Gazette that this year marks his 10th Christmas at the church. In years past, he has always told the story of Mary’s Christmas Eve. This year, Schumacher decided to tell Joseph’s perspective of the story, an example about how nothing goes right.

Schumacher noted the holiday season is one of his favorite times of year, despite the stress it brings. He said one of his favorite aspects is that he gets to see more members of the community at Christmas Eve services.

“It can be stressful, but at the same time, this tends to be a night where there are people I know I’ll see tonight that I see only at this service,” Schumacher said. “It’s a reunion with people I’ve now gotten to know over 10 years of doing this.”

First Lutheran Church, located in the Old North End neighborhood near downtown, focused its message on the relationship between humanity and God .

“The message is about how God meets us and the way he comes to us in a baby is on purpose,” pastor Travis Norton said. “The way he is vulnerable and dependent upon us is a way not to scare us or intimidate us, but to enter a relationship with us.”

Norton spoke of similar excitement to Schumacher for the holiday services, also highlighting the “homecoming” that is Christmas. One of the most attended services of the year brings together the community in a reunion as many patrons attending the service only come during the holidays.

New Life Church focused on both hope and promises.

Brady Boyd, New Life’s senior pastor, recounted his Christmas Eve tradition, emphasizing the sentimental value of watching “A Christmas Story” and the symbolism of Ralphie receiving a BB gun from his father.

Boyd drew parallels to the unexpected gift of Jesus, highlighting God’s faithfulness and promises. He encouraged the congregation to hold on to hope and faith, emphasizing the eternal presence of Jesus and the promise of a better future.

“We are looking at the world around us, and we are all shaking our head, understanding that we’re living in a dark, broken place with not a lot of hope,” Boyd said during his sermon. “But then, we’re looking ahead to the new heaven, the new Earth that is going to arrive and the return of Christ.”

Boyd continued on, reminding the congregation that the story is still going, unfinished with another chapter to come, one everyone will be a part of.

“I’ve come here tonight to give you a simple (task) on Christmas Eve 2024. I want to tell you something,” Boyd said. “I want you to keep going. I want you to take another step. I want you to pray another prayer. I want you to show up one more time. I want you to give it one more chance. I want you to not give up.”

The sermon by Eric Strader, pastor at First United Methodist Church downtown, told a story of a broken nativity scene with Mary missing. Mary is depicted needing a break from the challenges of motherhood and the potential danger of rampant poverty in the area.

Strader’s sermon then drew parallels to modern-day struggles, mentioning Bethlehem’s current turmoil and other ongoing wars across the ocean.

“Two thousand years ago, Bethlehem was a poor farming town that had this tension within it. Tonight, it’s quiet there because Bethlehem is in Palestine and affected by bombings that have damaged churches,” Strader said. “Today, Syria is still a place in turmoil, not under the reign of a dictator, but still caught in conflict.”

The narrative of the sermon then shifts to the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” illustrating how even broken lives matter to God. Strader concluded with a call to embrace the light and hope of Christmas, symbolized by lighting candles to counteract the darkness in the world.