It's really very simple: Jesus is the reason for the season. Everything else is just background noise, distractions.

With its Simply Christmas event, Lititz United Methodist Church (LUMC) is getting back to basics.

Simply Christmas is a holiday celebration, a community event and an opportunity for neighbors to gather. But most of all, it's Lititz United Methodist's way to promote what Christmas is really all about.

"Christmas is a very special time of the year," said Patti Bergman, the coordinator of LUMC's Simply Christmas. "We are given one life to live, and the biggest gift we are given is time. It seems like everyone is running around at this fast pace, and a lot of it doesn't focus on Jesus anymore. I look around and see so many people who are so stressed. To simplify Christmas is so important."

LUMC will conduct this season's Simply Christmas event on Sunday, Dec. 10, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the church, 201 Market St., Lititz. There will be live music, games, prizes, food including cookies, crafts, gifts, decorations, a model train display, story time, Christmas trivia, a worship area, a gift room where kids can shop for presents for adults and a live Nativity scene.

Everyone is invited, and everything is free.

"Just like Christ's love and salvation is free," said Bergman. "It's our church's way of inviting everyone to our house for Christmas. The church is always so beautiful, and it's tastefully decorated. It takes a lot of hearts, and the hearts are so giving and so many people are willing to help."

Because of the pandemic, this season will mark the first time in four years that Simply Christmas will be held indoors at LUMC. The last time it was held inside, the event drew 850 people.

"I don't know of any other organizations or churches who hold an event like this," said Bergman. "It's unique because it's God-inspired. There is a lot of work involved, but it's stress free. It's got God's hands all over it."

Simply Christmas is not the only time LUMC reaches out to the community. The church, which hosts its own clothing bank, also conducts a community Trunk or Treat event at Halloween and an Easter egg hunt in the spring.

"Our church is known to be community oriented," said Bergman. "We're a congregation and we're also a family in Christ. We invite because we're a living, friendly, giving church."

This Simply Christmas will be LUMC's 12th. It started simply enough and has continued to gain momentum ever since.

"I was driving down Newport Road in 2012 and I saw our church in the middle of the community, and I felt a nudge," said Bergman. "It was a God-inspired epiphany. I took it to our planning team, and we were all trying to find something different to do at Christmas. We discussed it and it just started to fall into place. We brainstormed and this is what we came up with. We all worked together to put it out there."

"I really feel like God was asking me to do something," Bergman continued. "I felt like there was something missing, like we're missing the reason for the season."