Bob Allen
EthicsDaily.com
Rather than singing O Come All Ye Faithful on Dec. 25, some mega-churches this year are opting instead for I'll Be Home for Christmas.
Because Christmas this year falls on a Sunday, some of America's prominent evangelical churches-including Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago and Baptist-affiliated North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga.-are canceling worship services to allow church staff and members to spend time with their families.
Willow Creek spokesperson Cally Parkinson said the decision makes sense in today's hectic world. “It's more than being family-friendly,” she said, quoted in the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader. “It's being lifestyle-friendly for people who are just very, very busy.”
Critics denounce the move as the ultimate capitulation to culture.
“What's going on here is a redefinition of Christmas as a time of family celebration rather than as a time of the community faithful celebrating the birth of the savior,” said Robert Johnson, professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Christmas falls on Sunday this year for the first time since 1994.
James Flamming, pastor of First Baptist Church in Richmond, said he found it “kind of fascinating” that any church would be canceling services on Christmas morning. He said his congregation is conducting only one service, instead of the usual two, and canceling Sunday school, but he “really would have trouble not having any worship service” at all.
“In our culture Christmas is obviously about Christ, or else there wouldn't be so much controversy about Merry Christmas,” Flamming said.
“I don't think frankly we even thought about not having services,” said Flamming. “If I had brought it up I probably would have been reprimanded.”
After three Christmas Eve services, and with many families having family traditions Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas expects a reduced crowd on Christmas Day, said pastor George Mason.
Because of that, the church is canceling Sunday school and an 8:30 a.m. worship service, while inviting members and guests to a single joint worship at 11.
While seeking to balance spiritual and practical concerns, Mason said canceling Christmas Day services altogether subtly sends a wrong message.
“The church is one sign of the family of spirit/Spirit that is the kingdom of God, and as such it is the only family that in principle survives the grave intact,” Mason told EthicsDaily.com.
In Catholic tradition, Christmas is a holy day and church law mandates attendance at Sunday Mass, making Christmas one of the best-attended days of the year. Most Protestants, however, don't schedule special services on Christmas Day when it doesn't fall on Sunday, celebrating instead Christmas Eve while allowing church members to spend Dec. 25 with family.
North Point Community Church in Atlanta's northern suburbs says on a Web site, “This year's Christmas services will take place Saturday, December 24 at 8:30, 10:30 & 12:30,” and “There will be no services on Christmas Day or on New Year's Day.”
But such accommodations beg the question for conservative Christians like Roy Wickoff of the American Family Association of whether many of the same voices getting angry over secular culture supposedly removing Christ from Christmas are themselves guilty of “Santa-Tizing” Christmas by putting more energy into buying gifts than worship.
“It's no wonder the chain stores and the culture uses the term ‘Happy Holidays' instead of ‘Merry Christmas.' We don't even know why we say ‘Merry Christmas'-and for that matter, why we get so upset at others for not using it-when we would rather pay homage to the commercial Christmas and Ol' Saint Nick.”
Flamming, who as been at the Richmond church for 22 years, acknowledged that churches can't do anything about family and travel commitments reducing the numbers of people who show up when Christmas falls on a Sunday.
“But you can make it a celebration of worship,” he said, “and that's what we try to do.”