Luminaries will lead the way to Christmas Eve service

During the Christmas season of 2021, four members of Fostoria's First Presbyterian Church spent several hours constructing 96 luminaries, using plastic milk jugs as the bases, to line and brighten Fremont Street as people made their way to the Christmas Eve service. Mother Nature had other ideas, though, and delivered snow, wind and bitter-cold temperatures of such severity that the plan for the added decor was scotched. "It was super cold, and then for one reason or another, it didn't work out for the next two years," said Mary Schwepe, one of the luminary builders and the church's pianist, organist and accompanist. "But this year, everything's a go." Indeed, the weather forecast for Tuesday is favorable for this time of year, so the plan is for members of the First Presbyterian Church and Trinity United Brethren Church, which share the 133-year-old building at 102 W. Fremont St., to set out the luminaries along the stretch of Fremont Street between Wood and Perry streets, as well as along the stairways into the sanctuary, beginning at 2 p.m., A multi-faceted service hosted by the two churches will start at 4:30 p.m., with the public invited to attend and stay for refreshments and conversation afterward. "The two churches are coming together for this program," said the Rev. Marie Louden-Hanes, pastor of First Presbyterian Church. "So, we'll have voices and musicians and people reading scripture from both churches." Schwepe suggested that people arrive with plenty of time to spare in order to take in the day's entire experience. "They should come early so they can fully enjoy what they're going to see outside. They might want to show up at 4 just to kind of go, 'Ahh,'" she said with a smile while emitting an exaggerated sigh. She's hopeful for all to go well this year after having a different feeling in 2021. "It was really disappointing," she said. "That's all there is to it. I mean, this is an active place, I think. You go to many things at Christmastime and they have beautiful luminaries out. It's something that's kind of relaxing, don't you think, to look at beauty and light?" Plans for the service include putting to use the building's video system. "There's going to be audio, visual, sensual — all three things going on in this church, with different voices, different soloists," Schwepe said. "Probably not many churches would be using a screen with religious art. And we've gotten to a point where we're doing all that and so is Trinity United Brethren."The starting point of the afternoon, the luminaries, started with Schwepe, Jean Baker, Sandy True and Becky Farrand met several times for a couple of hours each to put them together. Tuesday will provide the first opportunity put all of them to use. "They were very committed, these women," Louden-Hanes said. "They wanted to make sure they had them just right, and they were so dedicated. It was like they were constructing this project with multiple, multiple layers coming together and making sure everything was just right. Everything had to be so organized and so beautiful that everyone would see that beautiful light and just follow it to the church." "And the good news is that they were made so they can be used year after year after year. We hope that this year with allow us to do that." Certainly, Schwepe hopes so, too, noting that she'd like to see the balcony seated needed. "We'd love to have as many people as possible," she said. "It seems to me it's what we should be doing on Christmas Eve — celebrating the birth of Christ. There's nothing else like it to start Christmas."