Christians across the Emirates filed into churches and stood outside chapels to listen in to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services.
Wearing masks and observing social distance guidelines, groups of families and friends sang hymns and recited prayers at traditional midnight Mass on Friday and during Saturday services on Christmas Day.
The in-person mass for the festive season across the country brightened the weekend for churchgoers looking forward to quiet celebrations two years into the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, registrations were mandatory to enter churches in Abu Dhabi and some in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah were shut on Christmas Day to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Churches stayed open in the UAE this year to welcome the faithful with varying rules in different Emirates. Some reintroduced the registration rule but the overriding message was one of hope as people celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Mass in person instead of through online services.
To ensure safety, worshippers were reminded against gathering in large numbers around brightly lit Christmas trees and nativity scenes that decorated church compounds.
Churchgoers in Abu Dhabi were required to show proof of a PCR test with a 96-hour validity and a green pass on the Al Hosn app.
This was in line with guidelines for Christmas and new year issued by the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority.
In Abu Dhabi’s St Joseph cathedral, Bishop Paul Hinder led the Christmas Eve mass.
“Amidst the insecurities and the never-ending threat of the pandemic, we all need the good news that brings joy to our lives,” said Bishop Hinder, who oversees the Catholic Vicariate, or jurisdiction, of southern Arabia covering the UAE, Oman and Yemen.
Calling on the faithful to be “little versions of good news in a world that every day produces too many versions of bad news” he reminded the Catholic congregation to assist people in need.
Bishop Hinder urged them to help people mourning the death of loved ones and to look out for those feeling lonely and abandoned.
Numbers at the church were capped at about 1,000 people for each service late on Friday and throughout Saturday.
Congregations in the UAE are multinational drawn from India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Europe and other countries in the US and Africa.
At St Paul’s, Abu Dhabi’s second Catholic church in Mussaffah, Reena de Guzman, was grateful to attend Christmas services with her husband and teenage son.
“We are thankful to celebrate face-to-face. There are some areas in the Philippines that still have restrictions and can only do online services,” said the 46-year-old who works in a nursery.
“I pray for the safety of all our families.”
The church reintroduced the online registration requirement for Christmas to limit numbers to 600 per service.
Fr Maxim Cardoza, parish priest at St Paul’s, addressed the anxiety and stress caused by Covid-19 in his Christmas Day homily, urging the congregation to use compassion to fight hardship.
He said the Christmas spirit ushered in new hope and a message of peace.
“May this Christmas bring this healing, newness, hope, peace to all humanity,” he said.
“When there is such strong hope, the outcome is the joy. This joy has to be shared.”
Testing requirements varied with some churches requiring shorter Covid-19 test validity.
Parishioners at St Andrew’s Anglican Church needed a 48-hour negative PCR and online registration for entry to services this weekend.
Christine Trainor, senior priest, said registrations had been open for a month at the Anglican church.
Her Christmas message highlighted positivity while acknowledging the challenges people faced.
“We are dealing with a lot of difficulty this year. People are grieving, they are not able to go home,” Rev Trainor said.
“Right now it does not really seem like such a happy ending. But even in that case God comes in to the world to give us a magnificent ending.”
In Dubai, priests were delighted to welcome the congregation for Christmas prayers.
PCR tests and registration were not mandatory but numbers were restricted due to social distancing guidelines.
Rev Jim Young, the vicar at the Anglican Christ Church in Dubai’s Jebel Ali, said the world had endured two years of “a bleak pandemic".
“Lives, livelihoods, and entire communities have been lost to the virus and fear all too often permeates our days,” he said in a sermon adding there was room for healing.
“We are reminded that God is the source of all hope. As Christians, we are called to offer reconciliation, peace, dignity, and hope to all people.”
In Ras Al Khaimah too, churches were open on Christmas Day unlike last year and worshippers needed to show a green pass on the Al Hosn app.
In the compound outside St Luke Anglican Church, fairy lights and a sparkling Christmas tree were readied by government workers in the days leading up to the festive season.
“These lights bring cheer as all churches around the compound can enjoy this lovely public celebration with snowmen and candy cane,” said Fr Kent Middleton, the parish priest.
He encouraged parishioners to spread love with continuing acts of kindness.
“It’s important to remember the message of hope, that the light and love of God continues to spread,” he said.
“We need to realise that irrespective of what our faith is, that we are God’s hands. Light and love continues to shine and spread because of our actions.”
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