Christmas worship

Upside-down Christmas trees, removing “Christmas” from the public venue, a public school rewriting the lyrics to “Silent Night” and substituting secular sentiments — what’s next? Well, for starters, how about large evangelical churches just doing away with the Christmas worship service on Christmas Sunday morning altogether?

The Associated Press reports that, across the country, evangelical megachurches are just shutting their doors and canceling services on Sunday, Dec. 25, this year. Southland Christian Church of Lexington, Ky., for example, which boasts a weekly attendance of 7,000, said “the move is designed to allow staff and volunteers to spend the holy holiday with their families.” Willow Creek Community Church, Chicago’s largest congregation, and the “father of the seeker-sensitive movement,” is likewise declining to hold services on Christmas Sunday. Crossroads Christian Church Pastor Glenn Schneiders, of Lexington, said that “Dec. 25 is no longer considered sacred by many Americans.” I guess not. If the church and church leaders don’t consider Christmas Day, and Sunday especially, a sacred day, why should the rest of the country be expected to think it special?

Excuses range from “It’s being lifestyle-friendly for people who are busy,” to “It’s hard to get enough volunteers,” to “It’s just inconvenient.” I once heard that the last words of the church would be, “We’ve never done it that way before.” I now believe that the last words of the church, should she die an ignoble death, will be, “It’s too inconvenient.”

In 1998, I traveled to Kenya and Uganda. On a road trip to minister at a church in the boondocks, I noticed people dressed in their finery walking along the hot, dusty road some eight to ten miles from the village. When I asked who these people were and where they were going, the local pastor said, “You will see them later. They are walking to our church services.” These dear people traveled on foot, with their children, a distance of 16-20 miles each week to attend services of worship. Inconvenient? They didn’t seem to think so. It was their duty and their joy to gather together on The Lord’s Day to celebrate and worship.

We seem to think that the services of worship are for us but they are not. Christians are to gather together on the first day of the week, according to the New Testament, to present themselves to God and to worship Him. A true service of worship is not about the people, is not directed to the people, and is not for the people. It is a “bounden duty” of the people to be the church gathered and direct the services of the gathering to God and to God alone. One wouldn’t know that by what goes on in many “worship services.”

I confess that, in years gone by, I went to church to see what I could get out of the service. If I didn’t like the sermon, the music, or the length of the service I moaned, whined, and complained, as though I were a consumer. Later, as a pastor, I picked songs the people, the consumers, would like, prayed prayers that would minister to the people, and choreographed events to impress and move people. Whatever it was, it wasn’t worship; if it’s for the people, it isn’t for God, and if it isn’t for God, it isn’t worship. It may be something, but worship it ain’t.

Will attendance be down at churches this year because Christmas falls on a Sunday? Probably so. If attendance is down significantly, shouldn’t we just cancel the service? By that logic, church services would be canceled when it rained, or snowed, or was too hot, or a particular Sunday fell on a holiday weekend. For that matter, why not just cancel services during the summer?

Louisville’s Southeast Christian Church, where 18,000 gather each Sunday, is not one of those large churches choosing to abort their worship on Christmas Sunday. Recognizing that many people will be away with family, the church is still scheduling one large service in the congregation’s fellowship hall. At First United Methodist Church in Lexington, a spokesman said, “Even if there’s a small group, we’ll be there to worship.” Well, hallelujah!

A number of years ago, I was driving 120 miles round-trip to preach and serve Holy Communion to a group of six people. Before one service, I was grumbling silently that this was a waste of my time to give this much effort and drive this far for six people. In the midst of my whining, it seemed that the Lord spoke to me and said something like this: “So, David, which of these six was not worth my time and effort for me to die on the cross? Which of these six isn’t worth your valuable time? Are you so important that you can’t be inconvenienced to lead this small group in worship and praise of Me?” I shut up.

The scripture says that “where two or three are gathered together” in the Lord’s Name, He will be in the midst of that gathering. That’s reason enough to hold services and to go to Church on Christmas Sunday. Besides, it’s about Him. And He is worth it.