Yet Another Christmas Controversy
Comments(21) Please Note:
[As part of my Christmas Blog Break 2008, I'm re-posting Christmas articles from the past! Hope you enjoy and have a great Christmas and New Years - I ought to be back sometime after the first of the year - unless of course something comes up that I just can't resist! - Louie]
Originally posted: 12/9/2005 – this is the post that was quoted on Time Magazine’s site, got a lot of hits off that for about three days!
There’s a lot of controversy surrounding Christmas again this year. It’s become an expected thing and a staple of the media, especially the conservative and Christian media.
This year we’ve even got a brand new one. Oh joy – just what we didn’t need!
What is it? Many churches are closing their doors on Christmas Sunday this year. News sites are reporting on it, bloggers are blogging about it, and of course just about everyone seems to have an opinion.
One of the more interesting aspects to this is how the coverage is slanted. At CNN ,and Christianity Today, and Fox News the coverage is focused on what the Mega Churches are doing.
That’s not too surprising as they garner the majority of what little media coverage that churches get. Being that large and effecting so many people I suppose it’s only natural that whatever they are doing would be considered a much larger story than what us small fry do.
Bloggers are weighing in also – here’s a few just to wet your appetite: Ben Witherington, Mark Daniels,& Tod Bolsinger.
One of the funny aspects to this story is that the Mega’s are being blamed for this whole thing! The AP story that both CNN and Fox have on their sites says the Mega Churches discussed this together before making a decision!
Ooooh – Beware – a new conspiracy theory! I haven’t heard if Saddleback is going to meet or not, but hope they do if for no other reason than to knock a hole in this.
That’s funny to me because one of the most anti-mega churches I know in this area has decided not to meet on Christmas Sunday morning. They have a Christmas Eve service and that’s it.
I think that if I told their Pastor the Mega Churches were behind this he’d probably change his mind and meet that day!!
Personally I don’t have a dog in this fight. I really don’t care what other churches do on this issue. Meet, don’t meet, or do a reduced schedule, whatever other churches decide to do is fine by me!
As for me and my church – well I wouldn’t even consider not meeting personally, though I did offer that as an option to our Worship Team when we discussed it.
I just think it’s not just a Sunday, it’s the day we’ve chosen to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! And we’re not going to worship on that day?
Now I know the Mega’s have issues we small fry don’t – it’s takes literally hundreds of people to make a Mega church function properly. Many of them feel too many people will gone for them to successfully operate.
That’s fine, but I would remind the Mega’s that while we don’t need hundreds of people to operate, I’ll bet as a percentage of our attendance we actually use more people than they do!
Either way, we’re all free in Christ to do what we choose. We’re going to have just one service, and a shorter one than usual. I don’t plan on preaching very long that day – but then with me you never know!
What I do know is this isn’t something we ought to be fighting about! What other churches decide to do is exactly NONE of my business! Let’s just focus on serving God the best we can and remember this passage of Scripture as we encounter our differences -
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. Romans 14:4 (NIV)
‘Nuff said?
you people need to realize that candlemass
was here long before your beliefs
Hey Wolf,
Just because it was here first doesn’t make it true. I’d say more but am afraid I have to admit I don’t know what candlemass is.
I think this issue should be discussed. Why should a church commit itself to a
service that takes dozens of people to run? What happened to the simple liturgy
that was handed down over history? Could you imagine Jesus cancelling the
Sermon on the Mount because he did not have enough staff? I hope the
church-corporate quickly realizes that all the money spent on high-tech services
does not do much to advance the Gospel. Pare it down, elevate the bread and the
wine, preach the word, and sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The body of
Christ singing in unison to the savior is more beautiful than a
dozen, screeching guitar solos. Merry Christmas!
I agree with the comment by George Mimmen. Why
must there be such a ’show’ at church? Why not
just have part of the sanctuary open for those
who would like to worship in God’s house on
Christmas day? Have pastor’s and assistant
pastors take shifts to ensure security and safety.
Let people worship in the manner they choose and
more people might worship.
I think it’s good that it’s discussed alright. But in the end I don’t think it’s my place to put down what another church decides to do.
One of the reasons we have different churches is because people need or choose to worship God in different ways.
And that’s okay – thus the quote from Romans in the article.
Ben Witherington’s remark is unfortunate… “Shame on you mega-churches–repent and believe the Gospel, starting with the birth stories of Jesus.†The assumption is that we are not celebrating the birth story of Jesus if we are not meeting on Sunday. Apparently to Mr. Witherington the gospel includes a requirement to worship on Sunday. We will be having Christmas service on Christmas eve – Sat. night, celebrating who Christ is and welcoming seekers as well. We, as a church, are comfortable in our freedom in Christ to switch the day from Sunday to Sat.
Louie, I applaud your comment on focusing on serving God and not worrying about
what other churches do. I’m so disgusted with the division of Christianity over
things that don’t really matter and of the so-called Christians who feel it’s
their place to condemn others. If we would all pull together and put God
before all of our bickering, what a wonderful powerful force we could be.
Many blessings to you!
As one of millions of unsolicited voices, my personal concern is that we are showing non-believers that we can shift our established services for convenience. The concern feeds an even greater concern of (1) what if Christ or the apostles would have shifted their teachings or events due to convenience, and (2) what else is our Christian hierarchy willing to shift on in the name of that convenience? This is not a simple matter of shutting down services for a single day, Christmas. Further, this is neither to criticize a certain church over their choices. It is a question for those running those churches on what they are doing and how the world of non-believers view those choices. In this critical time in our history, we need to show the light to all.
Hi, I just wanna raise some questions to comtemplate.
1. How do you know that the Christ’s birth day is on Dec. 24 or 25 ?
Is it based on the Bible ? we know from history that it is “invented” by the Pope because it is the birthday of the god of Sun.
2. Obviously, in the Bible, there is not a word mentioned the followers should
celebrate His birthday but remember His death, His
If we claim that we are His followers yet disobey the commandment, are we real
Christians?
Hey T –
You are right of course – He almost surely wasn’t born on the 25th – I’ll be posting on that issue closer to the date, but your facts aren’t quite correct, more later. And of course we aren’t commanded to celebrate His birth.
BUT – we aren’t commanded NOT too either – so it’s a matter of choice which was my whole point!
There should be no condemnation on either side – disagreement sure – why not? Pauls says in Romans 12-14 that’s fine – but condemning my brothers and sisters who disagree with me on matter of opinion which Christmas surely is – that’s disobeying God’s Word.
As a “megachurch” member and leader, this “discussion” is ridiculous to me for so
many reasons….but the greatest is this….as “Evangelicals”, one of our core values
is that Scripture is our final authority, yet, I have failed to see any serious
discussion in the articles/blogs, etc. citing Scripture as the main defense for
their positions, even amongst the “scholars”. The arguments appear to be based on personal opinion and cultural standards. Those who are so blatantly “disgusted” by those churches who
have seen conversions as the Acts church did are failing to focus their attention on
what truly matters….the Word who became flesh….Jesus! May we seek God’s forgiveness for the blatant disregard for His desire to see His bride unified!!
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for commenting. I agree with much of what you said, and I hope you noticed that the Scripture I quoted and ones like it are just about the only ones that really apply.
We aren’t commanded anywhere to celebrate Christmas or even to have church on Sunday. It’s all up to us – worship we must but the day is left to us.
So I say God bless everyone out there who’s doing the best as God gives them the light to do it, if our hearts are open to the Lord, then let’s discuss all we want, but not condemn.
Why not encourage each other as the day so quickly approaches?
I belong to a mega church.
I agree with not condemning but I do disagree with not having Christ-mass.
Our church is adapting to Christmas by not having daycare except for three and under, and the celebration is only for an hour instead of an hour and a half.
For the most part, I believe this discussion (not on this website in particular) makes evangelicals look pretty pathetic. All too easily we forget about that darn log in our eye.
Just call us – Log Eye – sad but oh so true!
I belong to a mega church and we will be having a total of 21 services in our four locations. But, my family will be with me that morning and again that afternoon. We will worship, pray and enjoy each others company. The scriptures say “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (matthew 18:20) We are not pastors or worship leaders but we will be honoring HIM for whom the season is about. Does this mean that we didn’t go to church on Sunday? The scriptures also say “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1)
I don’t think it is about the day, it is about the way:
The way we choose to worship
The way we live our life that others see
The way we love one another like HE loves us
Hey Sue,
Great – glad your church is worshipping that day – I’ve heard Saddleback is meeting on Christmas, makes me happy!
God bless you and yours!
Our church of about 400 will probably be more like 200 on Christmas Day…but we are eagerly anticipating the fun of actually worshipping together on a Sunday Christmas. We meet in a Middle School, and will set up our “sanctuary”, a gymnasium, to look like a family gathering area – chairs in a circular shape, rugs, guitars. Maybe it’s easier for a smaller church to do this…if so, then I am grateful we are small.
>Hey Wolf,
>
>Just because it was here first doesn’t make it true. I’d say more but am afraid I have to admit I don’t know what >candlemass is.
>
>Comment by louie — December 9, 2005 @ 11:03 am
I’m not sure what’s worse – making a blind statement about truth and beliefs – or admitting you are ignorant and unwilling to take 5 minutes to Google to learn about it before making your statement.
Jim
I didn’t critize whatever it is that you do believe, I simply stated a fact that being older does not necessarily make you correct or true.
So tell me, what’s worse, taking cheap shots at someone, not explaining what you do believe, or dodging legitimate points when they are made?
Our church in Syracuse, NY has been labeled a megachurch by
the local media when active membership passed the 2,000
mark. We, too, did not have a service on Christmas day:
our Friday beliver’s meeting was moved up to Wednesday the
21st; and instead of one service on Friday the 23rd, we had
two that evening. This year, we were given a devotional
to help guide us in our worship AT HOME! It was AWESOME.
My husband and I celebrated the birth of our Lord and
Savior, and shared communion in our home. I disgree with
the idea that worshipping w/ one’s family as another
“me-ism.” To worship Christ in one’s own home w/ his/her
family and friends made our worship more intimate and
sincere. There were probabably some households that
didn’t take time to worship, for sure. But that’s not my
business–I’ve got my own walk to deal with. The idea
that we can only worship at church is very legalistic.
Can’t I be a Christian outside of church? I’m in services
twice a week, and serve every other Friday in the children’s
ministry and I am usually involved in a prayer group or
class. My husband serves in the youth ministry 3 days/week,
is in the regular service on Sunday, and serves in the
duplication dept @ least once a month. So we’re basically
in church in some capacity of worship and learning 4 days/
week. Every week. I love my church, my pastors, and my
brothers and sisters in the Lord; but to say having to be
at church 4xweek (and work full time in the secular world)
IS NOT stressful would be lying.
When I heard that we would not be having service on
Christmas day, I was saddened for a moment–I thought
what is the meaning of it all? But then pastor told the
congregation that we were worshipping in our homes and
that he was supplying a devotional (he and his staff
wrote it) as a guide to worship Christ’s birth, I rejoiced
at this opportunity. It was a breath of fresh air.
Joe Secular misconstrues a lot about churches, Christianity,
the Bible and Christ, Himself. The apostle Paul wrote that
the natural man cannot perceive spiritual things. I don’t
think Chistians need to put on an act for Joe Secular; he
doesn’t get it anyway.
Sincerely
Vanessa Davis
THE CONTROVERSY ASTOUNDS ME.
CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE A CHRISTMAS WITHOUT WORSHIP. IT WAS THE REASON THAT i PREPARED FOR THE SEASON – “JESUS WAS THE RESAON.”