The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday was 11 years ago. I don't know if much has changed since then, but certainly 11 years of maturity cause you to see things differently. Here are some thoughts on a recent article I read: Christmas and Sunday Collide and some Churches Scramble.
Why is it that Christians dodge church on a time when Christmas falls on a Sunday? Churches expected low attendance and adjusted accordingly. My church normally has 3 morning sunday services and 2 evening ones. This Christmas Sunday...only 1. They expect that less than 1/5 of the church will even bother showing up Christmas morning. Some other churches cancelled services all together. It's not like Christmas isn't some religious holiday or something. I mean why bother going to church at all on the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus let alone when that day falls on Sunday. What?! Here's an idea...let's pre-empt Sunday services because they fall on our own Holy holiday.
With any other religion, a religious holiday would be spent in a place of worship. Why not Christians too? We all pack our churches on Easter to remember His death and resurection...why can't we do the same for His birth. Without Christmas, Easter would never have happened. And yet, this Christmas, churches lay empty while everyone is at home seeing what some guy in a red suit brought them this year.
It seems that Christians have bought into the secularized Christmas. It's all about a man in a red suit and how much you can get. They bust their buts day and night to get all their Christmas shopping done, sometimes staying up all night to make everything perfect for their kids in the morning. And yet, they can't take a hour out of the day to gather together on the day chosen to celebrate His Birth. Some religious holiday. It's a good thing we don't try to hold services every Christmas.
Don't get me wrong. I love the presents, the happy people, families, snowmen, santas, and everything else that has come to represent Christmas. But let's not forget the reason for all of this in the first place: the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
New Years is coming up in two days and again falls on Sunday. The Rose Parade and Rose Bowl are being held on different days so as to not spoil church attendance. Six years from now, Christmas will fall on Sunday again. What will happen then? Will the trend be even worse or will we discover that Church and Christmas don't collide, they go together.
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I think there are three things:
Tradition - if you have christmas morning traditions it is hard to change.
Christmas Eve Church - Many people go to that instead (Sabath does start the previous sun down after all).
Work - since Christmas is a large family gathering for a lot of people it is hard to give up two hours of the morning just because there is a lot to do.
We didn't go this year on Sunday for the last two reasons. I am glad that I didn't. I know that it is a bad excuse. My morning schedule was:
wake up
get dressed and cleaned up
cook breakfast for 6 people.
start cooking lunch
open presents
eat lunch
relax for an hour to enjoy family
attend another christmas party
All those things kept me going non-stop from 9 in the morning till 10 at night.
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