Friendly Fire in the War on Christmas: many churches cancelling their services this Sunday

[Tanuki]

because, apparently, "keeping Christ in Christmas" isn't really a priority. I can't decide whether their war is on Christmas in this instance or on that one of the 10 Commandments about keeping the Sabbath holy....


http://www.patheos.com/blogs/ponderanew/2016/12/13/8-reasons-not-cancel-church-christmas/#

[hrmjustin]

1. I go to church Christmas eve, not Christmas day.

This is not uncommon or new. Plenty of Churches do their services on Christmas Eve instead.

Personally for me Christmas is more of a family holiday than religious. Easter on the other hand is much more religious for me.

[chillfactor]

2. same here

my church has Christmas Eve services......time for families to get together on Christmas Day.

[Tanuki]

6. My point is not whether a religious service celebrating Christmas should be

held on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, but on the usual Sunday service being cancelled and the church having no worship service at all that Sunday.

[hrmjustin]

8. That's interesting point.

Catholics, Anglicans, and the Orthodox would never abandon a Sunday for convenience. The only time my parish sit down on a Sunday was because of a hurricane. They opened for the blizzards we had.

[TeamPooka]

13. The Catholic Church's motto is practically "We Never Close." or it used to be anyway. nt

[Ilsa]

3. Ours has multiple Christmas Eve services and

One Christmas Day service. There will be plenty of fundamentalist churches having regular services this Sunday.

[Retrograde]

4. Makes me question the theological bases of these type of churches

I was raised old-style Catholic: not only would it require something as drastic as the priest dropping dead seconds before it was supposed to start to cancel Sunday mass, but Christmas day itself is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning all practicing Catholics are expected to make every effort to attend services that day. It is, after all, only the 2nd most important day in the liturgical calendar. It's interesting that none of the churches mentioned in the article are mainstream Protestant denominations: I wonder if these are small congregations founded by self-appointed preachers with little or no background in the history of Christianity.

[Hekate]

12. Theological basis might be Calvinist. The Puritans canceled Christmas because of the pagan...

...celebrations. They weren't wrong in that, just kind of grim. Same with modern day Jehovah's Witnesses.

The important holy day to them was Easter, because of the Resurrection. That was the whole point: anybody can get born; only Jesus rose from the dead.

As for me: Axial Tilt is the Reason for the Season! Merry Midwinter! Happy Solstice! The Light Returneth!

[Fla Dem]

5. So they are cancelling Christmas services because it's Christmas? What a bunch of freaking

hypocrites. Having a religious service to celebrate the birth of Christ, might get in the way of opening presents, eating and drinking.
Sheesh.

[Coventina]

7. Proof of Christian hypocrisy as if any were needed.

Blessed Solstice, everyone.

[kwassa]

9. These services were not canceled. They were never scheduled.

There is a difference.

As to a non-believer like yourself deciding what appropriate theology is for these churches, that seems a little silly, does it not? You have no bone to pick here. No religious authority.

My church has 3 services on Christmas Eve, and one on Christmas day, which will be lightly attended, probably. We won't be there, as it is the family holiday. We are there almost every other Sunday.

Most who celebrate Christmas do it without any religious context at all. Jesus is nowhere to be seen. Christmas has become a largely secular occasion.

[Tanuki]

10. Did you even read the article, which is about regularly scheduled

Sunday services being cancelled at some churches because Christmas falls on a Sunday this year? Also, what gave you the impression that I am a "non-believer"?

[kwassa]

14. If you were a believer ....

I think you would understand that there is a wide range of Christian belief and practices, and there isn't one way to celebrate that is inherently Christian, (although there are many Christians think they have the one-and-only true Christian way to believe). The author of this opinion piece certainly has an opinion, and that is fine and he is welcome to it. I don't place such restrictions on others in the way they chose to worship. Christmas Eve services are traditionally the big service for most churches, but to each their own. This is simply a custom.

[Tanuki]

15. See #6 above. Sorry that this disqualifies me as a "believer",

in your view.

[Historic NY]

11. No Church the latest "self-inflicted" casualty...

thats ok Trump will order them opened next year so he can visit.