A month ago, during our church service, and in the spirit of getting ready for Christmas, our pastor spoke to us from the pulpit as usual.
He had a cheeky smile and a twinkle in his eyes. He softly and in all seriousness said, “A lot of people have asked me if we will be having church Christmas Sunday.”
There was great pause after that.
He went on to say, and still in a rather subdued tone,
that indeed many churches in the area are actually closing their doors on the Christmas Day that falls on a Sunday.
In a near whisper, he added, leaning forward to us, “You know what? That is a legitimate question….. for our culture.”
And after another brief pause he added, “but its not a legitimate question for this church or its members.”
I suppose that was the end of his soft tones, and after that flowed out his passion and perhaps agitation for his belief that in all things, we put God first, and for crying out loud, definately on the day chosen to celebrate Christ’s birth.
Then the pastor gave an illustration in priorities from Proverbs 24:27
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
He explained the dilema of a certain man, buying on new land and trying to decide whether to build the house and then till and plant the garden for food, or should it be the other way around. To live without the comforts of shelter for awhile and till and plant your garden, so that soon, you will have food and nourishment, and THEN build your house.
Priorities.
I think the world is watching Christians, to see what they will do in this occasion of Christmas falling on a Sunday. Perhaps THEY want to know just how lazy, self-centered and ‘giving in to the cultural changes and materialism that Christmas has become’ ARE modern day Christians.
And while Christians stomp their feet, and proclaim righteous indignation how department stores, government, and other institutions are erasing religious and secular symbols that mean so much to them this time of year, perhaps a thought or two might be worthy to examine our own selves. If the modern day churches want to close their doors on Christmas Day, they are also erasing Christmas out of the one place that claims to want the right to have it everywhere.
I like this quote from this article:
“Our culture does not need any encouragement to be more self-centered and narcissistic or to stay at home on Sunday. It is already that way. Christmas above all else should be a day when we come together as the body of Christ to worship and adore the Lord Jesus. Christmas should be the day above all days where we don’t stay home and open all those things we bought for ourselves INSTEAD of going to church. Christmas should be the day when we forget about ourselves for a few hours and go and honor the birthday of the great King, our Savior. ”
What do you think on this one?
Links
Churches Closed For Christmas?
Churches closed for Christmas?
Have yourself a megachurch Christmas
Some county churches closed for Christmas
No Church On Christmas
Churches closed for Christmas – Megachurches shutting down, anticipating low attendance on ‘family day’
Closed for Christmas?
The church I attended when I was a younger man held services on Christmas Day when it fell on a Sunday, but I remember other churches were closed. But my current church is not holding services on Christmas Day. Am I bothered? Do I think it’s laziness or lack of respect? No! First of all, we already have two services on Saturday night (I usually attend the 6:30 PM service), and for Christmas Eve they are adding several more.
Personally, I feel that worship is something we (should) do every day, regardless of whether it includes attendance at a church service. And what’s not said by the articles about churches being “closed” on Christmas Day is that ALL of them are having Christmas Eve services. To say that they aren’t honoring Christ this Christmas is to speak a half-truth — something that the media is very skilled at.
Well, I didn’t expect some to agree with me, but I thought to mention
it wasn’t the media that formulated any opinion I have. I will say my
dear pastor helped to put things into perspective for me at that service
about a month ago.
Since then, I did think to actually research it, and to see to what extent
churches would be closing, yes that has been publicized and as I found,
blogged in one slant or the other as much can be expected.
The media rarely helps me form an opinion. I do know they TRY and WIN in many
cases to the masses.
You can paint it pretty and call it whatever you want, but there is
no better place to be than in Gods house with my whole family on
Christmas day. My father is a pastor, and I was raised “in church”
literaly. So much so that I often skip a Sunday now and then to
make it a true day of rest. I worked in Christian Radio before my
marriage and rarely went to church on Sunday. I felt I had been
every day of the week! So, I know that you don’t have to be in church
to worship God. I do believe however, that by taking the time and
goint to church and giving God your time in worship is the point.
In the book “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren it is pointed
out that the act of Worship is not for our benifit but for God’s
benifit, we are created to worship Him. I believe the church is
sending the wrong message by closing it’s doors. If the members who
chose not to attend, that’s okay, but by closing the doors, the
choice is taken from the few or many who may want to spend time
thanking God for His wonderful gift, on the day, selected by us
humans to celebrate His birth. My father tells of a true incident
he experienced long ago on a snowy night. Now to understand, my dad
the pastor, find no greater joy that being in church. He is not a
saint, just a man, who truly loves serving God. On this night when
I was a teenager (who loved to have snow so that maybe church
services would be cancelled and we could stay home!) Such is the
mind of a young girl who likes to be home and catch the shows on
television she can never see, because it’s Wednesday night or Sunday
night and we have to be in church! Well on this snowy Sunday night
my dad decided that the snow may not be enough to keep some members
at home. On that cold, winter night dad went over to the church and
shoveled the snow from the front walks and steps and if you know my
dad, it wasn’t a half done job. He swept the steps and kept the walk
way cleard. At 7:25pm (service started at 7:30) no one was there.
My dad sat in the empty church and said to himself, why did I
bother, no one will come. Then the miricle happened, God spoke to
my dad in a clear manner and said if only one person comes, the
doors to My House were open. By 7:35 there were about 12 people
present, and dad knew that it had been worth the effort.
Worship is not God’s gift to us, it is our gift to Him. I truly
believe the church should be open, and the membership allowed to
decide individually if they chose to attend, that’s how God deals
with us, individually.