Evangelicals keep Christ in Christmas...except on Christmas Day?

Don't go looking to your favorite megachurch to be packed with the fine soldiers fighting the good fight in the War on Christmas this Christmas day...as many churches will be closed, since Christmas falls on a Sunday.

What?

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111223/NEWS06/312220065/On-Christmas-Day-some-Nashville-area-churches-will-rest?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the major church service of Christmas actually late at night on Christmas Eve?

 

Yeah, the megacult ... I mean megachurch ... near us caught holy hell the last time Christmas came on a Sunday and it didn't have a service. I don't think I've ever seen a pastor laugh like ours did when he brought it up during our Christmas Day service.

 

Depends on the denomination. The LDS Church doesn't have special Christmas Day services, but there will be a regular church service Sunday.

 

As a kid I used to hate when Christmas was on a Saturday or a Monday and I had to get dressed and go to church two consecutive days.

 

It was a special misery at our house since we were members of St. Stephen's parish. December 26 is the feast day for St. Stephen (which is why Good King Wenceslas is technically a Box Day carol) and thus a day of obligation for our parish. Mass for 3 straight days. No wonder the RC now stands for Recovering Catholic in my case.

 

Well, at least the Catholic Church doesn't frown on drinking.

 

Most evangelical churches around here are having their "big" services on Christmas Eve (as they usually do), then a smaller service on Sunday. It's difficult to find the lay help on Christmas Day because of family obligations, et al, to go along with church.

 

I remember at some point in my youth, when Christmas fell on a Sunday (shortly after the Catholic Church had OKd the Saturday night mass fulfilling Sunday obligation), a relatively huge brouhaha when the bishops made a special ruling that Christmas Eve mass did NOT fulfill both the Sunday and holiday obligations. I believe their ruling was that to fulfill the obligations, you were supposed to attend two masses between noon Saturday and midnight Sunday. (I am sure it had nothing to do with making two big holiday collections.)

So they ran Saturday afternoon/evening masses at noon, 5 and 7 p.m., the big Midnight Mass wing-ding at 11 p.m., then a full slate on Sunday (7, 9, 11 a.m., 12:30 and 7 p.m.)

That was back in the days when they had all the priests they needed, they could throw all the masses they wanted. They could have 10 masses on a Sunday if they wanted to.

According to my sister who still goes to the same parish (now consolidated with another nearby parish), this year they will have the Midnight Mass (expected to be jammed beyond the rafters) and one mass, 10 a.m. on Christmas Sunday.

They don't have the priests to say any more.

It is what it is, boys. If it's so important to you to keep women and married priests out of the church and protecting the pedos at all costs, keep on keepin' on. Eventually you'll have nothing left.

 

My dad's a minister -- not evangelical -- of a couple community churches up, and they won't be open on Sunday this year. They'l have the Christmas Eve service, but nothing for Christmas. I've never really understood why not, but it's always been the case when it Christmas has fallen on a Sunday.

 

Not to mention that you get paid for going to church now.

 

Like Starman above, I remember a weekend back in the late 70s that had the Sat/Sunday Christmas Mass jam-up...I was an altar boy and I ended up serving 4 Masses. Lotta good that did me!