Grace Community Church and Northview Church (here in Indy) have recently stated they will not be having church Christmas Sunday.
Please Read what Tom Ascol had to say about this trend ( from http://www.founders.org/blog/ )
What Christmas Church Closings Indicate
What I find even more disturbing than churches actually cancelling their Lord's Day services are the reasons that are being given to support their decisions. So far, what I have read or heard (from both the internet and our local media) as justifications for shutting down Christian churches on Sunday, December 25 can be grouped into several categories.
Convenience
The kind of production that Sunday services require in some larger churches is simply too difficult and involved to ask the staff and volunteers to do that on a holiday as important as Christmas. If it did not incovenience so many people to hold Lord's Day services, then, according to some of the reasons being given, some churches would opt to stay open on Christmas.
Pragmatism
Some church leaders simply faced the facts that their members are simply going to stay home that day, regardless of what is scheduled with the church. A local Christian radio station manager for WAY-FM made it clear this morning that he was going to spend the day at home with his family, no matter what. He even interviewed his United Methodist pastor (who plans to hold a scaled down service on that Sunday) as a way of showing that his plans should not be "judged" by anyone who disagreed with him. Another pastor in our area said that when polling his congregation it became apparent that many simply planned to skip church that day. So instead of facing the embarassing reality of the low level of commitment that exists in the church, he decided to cancel it.
Just desserts
Another line of reasoning sounds something like the old McDonald's commercial: "You deserve a break today..." People work so hard for 364 days a year (or 51 Sundays a year, as a variant rationale goes) that they deserve not to have to go to church on December 25. Those who have made this case sound like worshiping with God's people is such a pain and burden that no one should begrudge getting out from under that load on a day as special as Christmas. One pastor, commenting on Saddleback's planned shutdown indicated that since that church does so much good, no one should question their decision to take a Sunday off. After all, even Walmart shuts down on Christmas, why shouldn't a church have the same prerogative?
Family values
Familes ought to be together. There are so many pressures that pull them apart, especially during the Christmas season, that it is the least that the church can do to shut down on the Lord's Day in order to promote family togetherness. This is actually viewed as a noble decision, rooted in love for families.
Evangelism
One church even argued that since very few unconverted people are expected to attend on that Sunday, it would not be cost-effective to hold services that day. The reasoning goes like this: since the church's main responsibility is to reach lost people, if they will not come on Christmas, then we will not waste our time and energy at putting on a service.
I am sure that there are other stated reasons and I am sure that many who have offered variations of those I have mentioned above would like to elaborate or refine their comments. Be that as it may, the obvious, glaring omission in all of these excuses is any appeal to the Word of God. It is as if the decision whether or not a church should gather on the Lord's Day is purely subjective. I have mentioned this before but it applies again here--wouldn't it be helpful if someone along the way stopped and asked the question, "Does God have an opinion on this?"
Does God care if a church cancels its worship service on the Lord's Day because it falls on December 25? If He does, then shouldn't we listen to it and heed it? If He doesn't, then let those who advocate canceling Lord's Day services say so plainly. They should say something like this: "We are canceling Lord's Day worship services and God doesn't care one way or the other. The Bible has nothing to say about this. We are completely free to do this."
The kind of reasoning that is coming out in defense of church closings has more in common with the world and its ways than it does with the Bible. And this is further evidence of how far American evangelicalism has fallen away from basic, biblical Christianity. At some point, like Machen did in the early 2oth century with liberalism, we are going to be forced to admit that what passes under the banner of evangelicalism simply is not Christian, no matter how many Christian trappings are retained.
Our only hope is reformation and revival.
2 comments:
From M Johnson
"Yes, very good - thanks for sending.
See editorial below from the Indpls Star on Saturday. After noting the cynicism in this author's prose, note her legitimately cynical observation in the closing paragraph and her specific choice of words. The disingenuous nature of many seeker churches is not lost on this obviously liberal author."
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IndyStar.com Opinion
December 10, 2005
Ellen Goodman
Waging Christmas war
WASHINGTON -- Some years ago my husband was a last-minute draft pick to play the role of godfather at a young friend's naming ceremony. Admittedly, his relationship to organized religion was a bit dicey, but you know how it is in the understudy business. In any case, at the end of the home ceremony, he leaned over and stage-whispered into the ear of the infant the promise that her training as a Druid would now commence.
You may be relieved to know that Laura was raised in a somewhat more traditional church. But now it appears that her few homilies on Druidry may come in handy.
This year, as you may know, a Christmas tree donated by Nova Scotia arrived in Boston disguised as a holiday tree. After much too much ado, it was finally lit as a Christmas tree. Meanwhile in Washington, the Capitol Holiday Tree was also rechristened by Dennis Hastert as the Capitol Christmas Tree. In Georgia, too, the tree at the governor's mansion underwent a similar conversion.
In short, the sacred and co-opted evergreens of the Druids have become the symbols of the purist Christmas Christians. Somebody hug a tree for me, here we go again.
There are a dwindling number of battling days until Christmas. The malls are filled with so much Christmas Muzak that we are all longing for a silent night. Nevertheless, we are again treated to the notion that Christmas is beleaguered and besieged and battered by the forces of diversity and secularism.
Jerry Falwell's Liberty Counsel is running a "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign." James Dobson's Alliance Defense Fund is running a "Christmas Project" with the motto: "Merry Christmas. It's OK to say it."
Fox News' John Gibson has killed who knows how many trees to print "The War on Christmas." The combined forces of the Catholic League, the American Family Association and Bill O'Reilly have accused Target and others of banning Christmas by wishing their customers a "Happy Holiday."
On the one hand, the Christmas defense team is portraying its side as the overwhelming majority. On the other hand they are describing themselves as oppressed, indeed victimized. On the one hand they want more Christ in Christmas; on the other hand they want more Christmas in the marketplace. It makes one long for the screeds against commercialism.
The last real war against Christmas was, in fact, a religious war. It was waged in my hometown by Puritans who banned mince pies and plum puddings and declared that celebrating Christmas was a criminal offense. In 1711, Cotton Mather gave his famous lecture against "mad mirth," "long-eating," hard-drinking and reveling "fit for not but a Saturn or Bacchus."
I admit to being bemused with today's one-size-fits-all "holiday" season. How did the celebration of the birth of Christ elevate Hanukkah from minor to major league status?
But living in an extended family as well as a country that celebrates holidays that range from Hanukkah and Christmas to the Chinese New Year with stops along the way for Druidism, I also understand why "holiday" appears on everything from the president's greeting card to the office party. Conversely, one of the hallmarks of the culture wars is the way tolerance of diverse beliefs is reframed as intolerance for the majority.
If the religious right is worrying about the erosion of Christmas, maybe they should focus more on the megachurches around the country that colluded to close on Sunday, Dec. 25, for fear they wouldn't have enough customers. Christmas, they demurred, is a family day. As for this orchestrated seasonal battle, let's give the final word to the Druids. The mistletoe was also sacred to our Celtic forebears. That ritual kiss beneath the mistletoe was meant to seal the end of a dispute. The war against Christmas? How about a little peace on Earth.
Goodman is a Boston Globe columnist. Contact her via e-mail at: ellengoodman@globe.com.
(One friend wrote,)
Caleb,
That is SAD. Since when did going to church become like work? Since when did church become unpleasant and burdensome? Since when did church become something we need to "take a break" from? The opportunity to worship God with other people is one of the highlights of the week, all the more so when we are celebrating a joyous occasion like Christmas!
AL
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