No Church This Christmas!
Many mega-churches across the country will be closed this Sunday in observance of Christmas Day. Big time churches like Willow Creek Church in IL, Fellowship Church in TX, Mars Hill Church in MI and North Point Community in GA are all shutting down for Jesus' birthday. (Please note that Saddleback Church isn't on this list, once again proving that it is God's One True Church for America).So with all the hub-bub about this decision over the past few weeks (I know this is an old story, but I am slow), here's what I got to thinking today.
Maybe people from these churches (and others like them) will stay at home with their families this Sunday and realize that they really didn't miss anything at all. That God is still God, that Jesus was still a part of their lives, that spending time as a family is actually an act of worship that pleases God and that they can do this each and every week of the year, not just once every blue moon or so when Christmas Day falls on Sunday.
Maybe a Christmas miracle will occur and no one will go back to these mega-churches on January 1, 2006. It could happen, couldn't it? Do you believe in Christmas miracles? I do!
By the way... Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
posted by Steve at
12/23/2005
13 Comments:
Oh, great first we have spam in our mail boxes now we have this swill in our blogs.
Somebody should give lennyprehwem4030 a Christmas kick in the butt for putting his stock market junk on this on the blog.
Dan
I have just tried to look for somewhere to report this dude. Can't find it anywhere. Help please. This may get worse.
Anyway ... I have not gone to church on Christmas day in years. I must shamefully confess that I used to not go, years ago, because I felt superior to all those 'part-time' Christians who only turned up for Christmas and Easter.
(If I am looking back at what a fool I was then, how will I look at myself a few years from now?)
These days, with a wife and son, it just seems like there are not enough hours in Christmas day! With the various visits to grandparents and the like, plus nap times (I HAVE DISCOVERED IT IS REALLY NOT WORTH SKIPPING THESE FOR LITTLE KIDS!!!!!!), Church seems like a luxury (or trial) I just cannot afford.
(Does this make me better, worse, or no different to the person I was?)
Merry Christmas from Down Under everyone!
Despite the fact I haven't gone to church since March and the whole matter is pretty much null and void for me, I have a mixed opinion on whether churches should or shouldn't have church services on Christmas Sunday.
On the one hand, Christmas is technically supposed to be a religious holiday for Christians... It has always seemed kinda odd to me that church is almost never in the equation for how Christmas is celebrated on ANY day of the week. With that take on things, I don't see why church going Christians can't make the sacrifice of going to church on this one Christmas...
On the other hand, I think the fact that some churches not having services this Sunday is a good thing. It's good to have a Sunday off once in awhile...
I just looked up to see if my old church was having church tomorrow (and they are) and I think if I was still going there, I probably would have skipped church.
I just pray those church going Christians on Christmas don't look down on those who decide to take Christmas off.
Nikkiana, you said: I just pray those church going Christians on Christmas don't look down on those who decide to take Christmas off.
I have to say that I am nearly at the point where I could not care less what the 'must attend church to be a Christian' crowd think. My advice, for what it's worth, is don't let them get to you. It seems to me that we all have our shortcomings and blind spots. Their faith in the church attendance is theirs. They are no more qualified to pass judgement on you than any other.
I have just had to endure a Christmas morning of Philistine pronouncements about how the civil acceptance of homosexual marriage in the UK is demeaning to God and that everything was better back in the good 'ol days when everyone was a Christian and had to read their Bibles and how nobody did ANYTHING on Sunday but go to church and read their Bible. I had to just about gnaw my own arm off to keep my mouth shut.
The pseudo-mega church I attend had services all weekend, for whatever that's worth.
To go to church on Christmas or not... I am of the mind that it does not matter. God is God, or He isn't. Christmas is about the coming of His Son, or it isn't. I have been to Christmas services that have honestly caused me to consider my faith with greater depth, and I have been to services that have cheapened the Christmas story so severely -- with their ridiculous "skits," songs and whathaveyou -- that I felt gross afterwards.
I went this year, Sunday morning, and fell asleep during the sermon.
WHAT A BUMMER!
They plan to re-open the week after Christmas!
DANG!
I don't understand what all the fuss is about. A good deal of people on this site don't attend church right now anyway. So what's the big deal if a church is holding service on Christmas day or not? It should have no impact on their non-church attending lives.
So they have their own ways of worshipping God. Hey, more power to 'em I say. I believe as a Christian, God has certain expectations of me, but hey that's just me. God sent his one and only son to die in our place for our sin> Is it really so much to ask that we give up an hour a week to thank the both of them for that? I don't think so, but alot of people don't like the way the church carries out the thanksgiving service. So worship God, when you want, how you want. I mean it's really about you anyway isn't it? It's all about making YOU feel good isn't it? Doesn't matter if you get that in church or outside of it, does it?
Zecryphon, you excel at sending mixed messages; usually slightly offensive ones, to boot.
Offensive? Me? I'm harmless, really. Or maybe I'm just commenting on what I've seen across the internet.
You've piqued my curiosity though. What have I said in the past that is slightly offensive?
That's exactly what I'm saying! Good to know there are others out there who think like I do.
But be careful Jeff, you may now be considered offensive by some people in the blogosphere. Remember Big Blogger is watching...
;-) (the second paragraph is meant to be humourous. Do not take literally or seriously)
It's not what you say so much as the way you say it. Remember, no one can hear the "tone" of your voice in the blogosphere, so sarcasm doesn't come across as harmlessly as you may mean it. For instance, you used an ad hominem attack in your opening paragraph, which had nothing to do with your basic argument. Also, your rationale was stated in reverse--Jeff reinterpreted what you meant, flipping what you said around the "right" way).
Make sense?
i was sick on Christmas so we didn't go.
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