Christa lives with her husband and four children in northern Illinois. She has a MA in Theology from Concordia University Irvine, a BA in Mathematics and Lutheran Secondary Education from Concordia University Wisconsin and is currently pursuing a PhD in History of Exegesis from Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis. She is a coauthor of Male and Female: Embracing Your Role in God’s Design, author of Gathered by Christ: The Overlooked Gift of Church, and author of Journey Through Church History Curriculum. She spends her time homeschooling, teaching theology, writing, and learning as much as she can about church history. Find her at

Recent Posts by Christa Petzold

Why Do Christians Celebrate Communion at Christmas?

When I was a child, my church always sang “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” on Christmas Day as the Communion elements were processed into the sanctuary. The congregation would start quietly and crescendo with each verse, serving to highlight the Lord’s Supper as the high point of the service. We would have the hymns printed in a bulletin, so I remember being surprised the first time I realized that this hymn is found in the Lord’s Supper section of the hymnal rather than the Christmas section.

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