Churches Closing for Christmas???
This year we have seen the continuation of the trend of shutting Christmas out of the December holiday season. Despite the familiar music on the radio, I have yet to hear a DJ wish anyone a Merry Christmas. As Klaus has noted, Christ has been purged from Christmas. Today it was noted that despite the complaints of many evangelical Christians, even President Bush's whitehouse greetings cards fail to mention Christmas.
While many Christians see this as sad, I think this is just the natural result of the progression of the American culture. This is not to say that I condone wishing people "Happy Holidays," but there's a part of me which would like to see the celebration of Christ's birth separated from the day when we gather with family and exchange unnecessary and unwanted commercial goodies and engage in gluttony.
For over 2,000 years Christians have gathered to celebrate our risen savior on the first day of the week. And for most of those 2,000 years Christians have gathered again on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to celebrate his birth. Many American Protestants, including many Baptist churches where I grew up, have seen fit to do away with these additional services, perhaps because they seem "too Catholic." (I am glad to say that there seems to be a rise in Protestant Christmas Eve services, even among Baptist and non-denominational churches.) However, this year, when Christmas happens to fall on the first day of the week, churches are closing their doors! I have nothing against large churches, as I have even worked on staff at one, but it is a sad Sunday when a church closes its doors.
The logic given by one church representative is that the diminished number of people who would attend the service wouldn't make it worth having church. After all, it takes 500 people to hold a service and they would like a break. By this logic, wouldn't it make sense to cancel church during July and August when most people are on vacation? Church is neither about convenience nor about attendance. Besides, if a smaller crowd is expected at church on a given day, then fewer volunteers should be required. Surely the church can scrape together a few dedicated souls to welcome anyone who wishes to actually worship on the Lord's day.
One friend who attends one of these churches argues that his church will be holding services all day Christmas Eve, what difference does 24 hours make? By this logic we could count the number of services which a church holds in the year. Once the church has crossed 52 services (or weeks' worth of services) then we've done our duty. After all, it doesn't matter when we worship, as long as we worship. Perhaps this is where the importance of a creed comes in. To quote one, "I believe in the Church Universal..." For 2000 years the church has met on Sunday; we are breaking fellowship when we fail to gather with our brothers and sisters in worship.
Of course, no argument is going to convince Willow Creek, North Point, Southland Christian Church, or any other church to meet on Christmas Sunday. I'm certainly not skilled enough to convince them that they should. Whatever the logic, however, the fact is that these churches are closed because they believe that their attendees place family time above church time. That's fine, but attendees of these churches and their leadership are certainly in no position to complain about the disappearance of Christmas from our culture because they are contributing to it.
While many Christians see this as sad, I think this is just the natural result of the progression of the American culture. This is not to say that I condone wishing people "Happy Holidays," but there's a part of me which would like to see the celebration of Christ's birth separated from the day when we gather with family and exchange unnecessary and unwanted commercial goodies and engage in gluttony.
For over 2,000 years Christians have gathered to celebrate our risen savior on the first day of the week. And for most of those 2,000 years Christians have gathered again on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to celebrate his birth. Many American Protestants, including many Baptist churches where I grew up, have seen fit to do away with these additional services, perhaps because they seem "too Catholic." (I am glad to say that there seems to be a rise in Protestant Christmas Eve services, even among Baptist and non-denominational churches.) However, this year, when Christmas happens to fall on the first day of the week, churches are closing their doors! I have nothing against large churches, as I have even worked on staff at one, but it is a sad Sunday when a church closes its doors.
The logic given by one church representative is that the diminished number of people who would attend the service wouldn't make it worth having church. After all, it takes 500 people to hold a service and they would like a break. By this logic, wouldn't it make sense to cancel church during July and August when most people are on vacation? Church is neither about convenience nor about attendance. Besides, if a smaller crowd is expected at church on a given day, then fewer volunteers should be required. Surely the church can scrape together a few dedicated souls to welcome anyone who wishes to actually worship on the Lord's day.
One friend who attends one of these churches argues that his church will be holding services all day Christmas Eve, what difference does 24 hours make? By this logic we could count the number of services which a church holds in the year. Once the church has crossed 52 services (or weeks' worth of services) then we've done our duty. After all, it doesn't matter when we worship, as long as we worship. Perhaps this is where the importance of a creed comes in. To quote one, "I believe in the Church Universal..." For 2000 years the church has met on Sunday; we are breaking fellowship when we fail to gather with our brothers and sisters in worship.
Of course, no argument is going to convince Willow Creek, North Point, Southland Christian Church, or any other church to meet on Christmas Sunday. I'm certainly not skilled enough to convince them that they should. Whatever the logic, however, the fact is that these churches are closed because they believe that their attendees place family time above church time. That's fine, but attendees of these churches and their leadership are certainly in no position to complain about the disappearance of Christmas from our culture because they are contributing to it.
posted by RecoveringBaptist at 12:39 PM
2 comments
