Saturday, December 25, 2010

Is it weird that I'm so bothered by the fact that my church, as well as many others, don't have a church service on Christmas Day?

My church growing up did. It was certainly not as well-attended as Christmas Eve services were, but they did have one, and the "regulars" (as I would call them) always attended. I pretty much always went. My dad (and I) sometimes had to sing with the choir, but even when we didn't at least my mom and I went, and usually my brother too, and my dad most of the time. So it seems normal in my mind to have church on Christmas Day. After all, that IS the holiday. I always thought of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as two different holidays, one about the promise, and one about the fulfillment.

Now, I know the reasons most churches don't have a Christmas Day service. First of all, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are pretty much the same holiday, and so people go on Christmas Eve just like many people go to church on Saturday evening instead of Sunday morning--it fulfills the same purpose. Christmas Day services aren't very well attended because people have all their other activities that day--presents, parties, dinners, etc.--and they schedule their time around the church services the night before. And pretty much everyone opens presents on Christmas morning, and who would be cruel enough to make little kids wait to open their presents until after church? Lastly, it gives the pastors and other church officials a chance to spend the holiday with their families after what is usually a pretty time-consuming and maximum-effort to produce the Christmas Eve services, since most churches have more than one.

But it just seems to me that part of the family holiday on Christmas Day should be spend at church. I mean, Jesus IS the reason for the season, and all that. If we spend Christmas Eve in anticipation of His arrival, shouldn't we be back in church on Christmas morning to celebrate the arrival?

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