Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas. Yes, we're closed.

I'd like to start by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and direct your attention to the fact that God's response to a lost world that had turned its back on Him was to lean in and send His Son to be punished in its place. This is why we celebrate today.

Today is also Christian dirty laundry day, so excuse us while we air out a few things about what's being said about this "Closed for Christmas controversy", then, I'd like to ask a few questions that really demand an answer. (For those out of the loop, my home church is one of many that moved its Christmas services to a non Sunday day of the week.)

Read Adam Cleveland's blog entry. If you're serious about the debate and not just trying to vent, not just angry or disgusted, then I believe you really will wade through the facts and stories - I have. As an infant Christian attending a mega-church, I don't want to blindly follow the herd - you are wise to ask questions, but quit being so dogmatic. Read Scot McKnight's entry as well.

Ben is understandably up in arms over this, too. Question: If the reason for closing really was for fear that people would not attend, then yes, shame on us. But this is not the case - we are celebrating Christmas, just on a different day. He continues:
Here's another little thought. Would you willingly miss your own child's birthday? I don't think so if you really love your children. Why would you miss the birthday celebration of the birth of God' only begotten Son?

No, Ben. But we could celebrate with publicly on one day and have a more deeper, private celebration with our family on the actual birthday. How many kids would say "no" to two birthday parties? Neither would the Lord. Is God more pleased with what we do out of obligation or what we willingly give and with a cheerful heart? (Not rhetorical, just weigh the question for a moment).

"Kim" from one of the "offending" churches wrote on Adam Cleveland's blog:
At Willow we never have church on Christmas, preferring to celebrate the incarnation as a church family in the days leading up to Christmas instead. We don't have "holy days of obligation," nor do we need a priest present to worship God, so worshipping from our homes is not really a problem.


While it's not about the numbers, they do tell a tale - her church is doing 17 services at 4 locations in 4 days for 50,000 people. What about that implies a lack of seriousness and dedication to glorifying the Lord's birthday?

My pastor, Andy, at NPCC, again shows why he's the senior pastor and I'm just sitting back, taking notes... [also at POMO - look for the whole response, I have no room to post it all and it deserves your attention]
To begin with, we have called off church on the Sunday following Christmas since we started the church ten years ago[...] Every year I encourage our attenders to attend church somewhere else on that Sunday, or stay home and worship as a family , or gather with people from their small group.
The reason we shut everything down on the Sunday following Christmas is to honor our volunteers. [roughly 1800-2000 per Sunday...] The interesting thing is, we’ve never taken any heat for shutting down on a Sunday. I guess nobody was paying any attention.
[...] The way I read it, the spirituality of an individual or a group should be judged by their track record in two areas – love for one another and generosity with resources.

Bottom line, I may not be a very good Christian or pastor, but this Christmas season there are several hundred people who think I’m a good boss.

Merry Christmas

For those of you steaming in anger or just scratching heads - how large an organization have you ever co-piloted before? How many people do your decisions directly effect? How many people have been baptized because of the organization God developed through your obedience and work effort? Is it possible that you are elevating the traditions of man over the commands of scripture? All respect is due to the offended because many of you have large, cogent, and wise responses,

but most of you do not.


Until you have lead thousands to Christ, employed hundreds of people and thousands of voluteers, and partnered with God to advance his kingdom beyond the four walls of the "little c" church, I ask you to hold your tongue and do any and all of these three things first.

Then cast your stones.

Amen.

P.S. Kudos to Christian Visioneer DJ Chuang for posting where we can go if our church is closed. I would add to that the following: bring gifts or a meal to a homeless shelter or shut-in. PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL!
DJ, you rock!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

good thoughts about Christmas, and that we do have freedom on which day (or evening) to celebrate it, and we do have bigger fish to fry :) must be plain incredible to be a part of Northpoint and all the things going on there.. I hear good things :)

Warren B. said...

Is it not generally understood-- even amongst the most stereotypical anti-intellectual faithful-- that Jesus was likely born in the spring and that the date Dec. 25 (like the Christmas tree) was co-opted from Pagan ritual in order to draw more people into the Christian fold? And if so, is the date all that relevant? Given that the date is a result of vague tradition as opposed to biblical commandment, and we all know when the "Christmas season" is in an overwhelmingly Christian culture, why have people been such sticklers for the date? Is it a holier-than-thou thing?

I find it so funny that so many Jews in the most overwhelmingly Jewish culture in the world, Israel, feel that they are relieved of their religious and legal-by-tradition obligations by virtue of being in such a culture (and many Biblical passages justify this), while so many Christians in the near-theocracy of America feel the need to create obligations for themselves. Unless I'm misinterpreting what's going on here.

Aarron & Cristine Pina said...

Bloom,
One of the funny, winsome things about Christ, even from a secular view, is that He so often caught the "religious" people in the middle of their religiosity, so bound to tradition that they missed the whole spirit of why the tradition was created in the first place... You're spot on, sir. The freedom that I have found in the evangelical community, or at least in the emergent church, is exactly what you point out - unfettered by the guilt and obligation of empty ritual, yet motivated by grace and thanksgiving. < elbow>Are you sure you don't see Christ as Messiah?< /elbow>... (Crap! The elbow poke is not a legit html tag!!!)

What's even more silly to me is the fact that Christ never commanded us to remember his birthday, belated or otherwise. Thanks again for poignant comment and reaction. Peace.