Back in the day, I was (at the tender age of 27) the "senior" (which is to say, the only) pastor of a small rural Illinois Restoration Movement congregation. It was Christmas Day 1994, and we were open for business. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, we had a baptism that afternoon.
It seemed to me, even then, absolutely contradictory to cancel worship services because of Christmas. Yet, that is what some prominent members had suggested to me and the elders and deacons. (I won't comment whether those members were part of the leadership.) I held out for keeping the services on Christmas morning. After all, we wouldn't have even thought about doing it for Easter. But Christmas . . . well, it apparently was far more important to some to celebrate opening gifts that totaled several hundred dollars per household, than to take an hour (an hour! mind you) out of the day to come together as Christians and worship the King whose birth we celebrate on Christmas Day. That'll teach the kids some important lessons. The gifts you can buy with money are more important than the priceless gift of God's grace. I'm not sure if our parish children got the message but we sent it anyway. Jesus is Lord. We worship him on Sundays as the gathered body of Christ. That is what Christmas is about.
Well, it's another one of those years on which Christmas falls on a Sunday, and what are prominent churches doing around the nation? Yep. They're closing up shop.
Here are a couple of links noting the phenomenon:
Megachurches in Lexington, other cities decide to cancel services on Christmas
Evangelical churches such as suburban Willow Creek will close on Christmas so members can focus on family
Some Megachurches to close on Christmas
I suppose in one way, it shouldn't be too surprising. These churches wouldn't likely have Christmas day worship services if Christmas fell on a weekday, anyway. So not having worship services this Christmas day would be par for the course.
The difference, however, is that for Christian churches Sunday is always to be a day of worship. Been that way for oh, say, 2000 years. To cancel worship--and to do so precisely because of a holiday set aside to celebrate one of the central tenets of the Christians faith--well, that's not just counterintuitive, it's downright secular, even pagan.
Yep. I've said it.
May the leaders of these churches who made this decision get large lumps of coal on Christmas day.
Posted by Clifton at December 7, 2005 01:04 PM | TrackBackThough I can hardly call myself an aficionado on the "evangelical mind" or, more specifically, the "megachurch mind," it seems to me that the decision to "cancel Christmas" (which, let's be frank about it, is what they're really doing here) is moored in their larger pathology of "church" being not about offering praise to and seeking forgiveness from the Creator of the universe, but instead offering nice life lessons that fit snugly into the everyday existences of their "parisoners."
Christianity becomes then merely a supplement to the culturally conditioned "values" of those who make the now-ironic proclamation that Christ is King. What they are taught is a Gospel of convention with an alleged authority in the Maker, but which can only be acquiesed to by way of its perceived practicality. I suspect that even those who seek to adhere to something fuller, higher, and more absolute than what the world has to offer are still unconsciously moored to their worldliness. The mirth aroused by their perceived safety in the Platonic cave is enhanced, not challenged, by Holy Scripture; God's Word is reduced to a sweet lullaby that can only put to bed forever any real hope of escaping.
Posted by: Gabriel Sanchez at December 7, 2005 02:46 PMAll evangelical churches aren't just about "offering nice life lessons", but it is a valid point. I wonder, though, how much of this decision to cancel Christmas (my in-laws' church is doing it as well) is profit and seeker driven. On the former, it is clear that attendance will be down on those Sunday mornings - will the church bring in enough in way of the offering to even pay for the heat & lights? For larger churches this may not be much of an issue, but for smaller congregations it may well be a real problem. On the latter point, which I think is far more likely - these churches don't want to alienate any of the seekers coming to their services by making them feel guilty about either missing church or taking time away from their families. Largely, I think, because these churches know they will lose - a vanilla, non-demanding, "sensitive" Christianity will lose to the subtle lure of presents under the tree, ie, self-gratification, every time.
Posted by: Nathan at December 7, 2005 04:13 PMA key here, I think, is the issue of "family time." We are becoming a culture that worships "family," (or our ideal thereof) instead of being families who worship God.
Posted by: Jane Ellen at December 7, 2005 05:56 PMI agree with Jane here (and really everyone else). Since when is worship not family time? Through the birth (life, death, resurrection too) of Jesus, and our baptism, we are adopted as children of God. Worship *is* family time.
Posted by: Susie at December 7, 2005 07:20 PMNot only is worship "family time", but to a Christian, our family is the family of believers. By canceling Christmas at any of these places, they are cancelling the very family time they are claiming to support.
The evil one is very tricky, indeed, to have fooled them to this extent.
Posted by: JohnH at December 8, 2005 12:44 PMWhere does it say in the Bible that a church has to meet on Sunday morning? I'm part of a church that is offering multiple Christmas services on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, helping people to focus on the reason for Christmas. Then, encouraging families to worship together, in their homes, on Christmas morning. So...according to your commenters, that means we've been tricked by the evil one, we worship families instead of God, we are profit driven, and have reduced God's word to a sweet lullaby. Isn't that being just a little bit judgmental?
Posted by: Tim at December 8, 2005 09:06 PMI'm not so worried about the Sunday. But, to not worship as a community on one of the highest holy days? Weird.
In many Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, known for their rich liturgical traditions, Christmas Day attracts far more worshippers than an average Sunday. Grown children return with their parents to the parishes they belonged to when they were young. I contend that, like Easter, this is a day not to miss for the Christian community if we truely desire to follow Him and shine a light into the world.
Christianity is supposed to be in the world, not of it. Worship of God as the assembled Body of Christ is the pinnacle of our experience as Christians, taking part in receiveing His Body and Blood.