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

Very good points. But the reality is that families with kids are going to have a hard time getting them away from their Christmas gifts to get dressed and go to a Christmas Day church service. Pretty much all of the Christians I know have always gone to church on Christmas Eve and devoted Christmas Day to opening presents and visiting other family. What's the point of paying the costs of powering and heating the church for an extra service if barely anyone is going to attend?

I guess a church has to play it by their membership. If it's mostly an older membership (or a younger one without kids), maybe a Christmas Day service works. If the membership is mostly families, it probably won't.

 

Had a Christmas Eve service and a Christmas Day AM service. To me, just common sense. If you're in the religion business, shouldn't that be one of your biggest days of the year?

Sure, there will be some people who don't go because of travel or family stuff, but there will be also a number of people who might not go other times who DO go because nothing else is open. So it's a great way to reach new people, too.

 

As a Jew, I was confused by the subject line and admit to continued confusion. We still have Rosh Hashanah services if they fall on the Sabbath. Just seems odd to me that there wouldn't be regular or enhanced Sunday services when Christmas falls on a Sunday.

 

And people who think multiple Christmas Eve/Christmas services are tough on the staff should try Yom Kippur sometime.

 

One of these days, you'll have to post a link to a performance. I'd love to hear it.

 

I've been Episcopal, Catholic and UCC, and in every case Christmas Eve was always the big celebration. Christmas Day was always an afterthought. That's because the big event was welcoming Jesus' birth, not in merely gathering on his birthday. Which really wasn't Jesus' birthday, but that's another issue.

 

If anything, we've always had to say some extra prayers whenever Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur have fallen on the Sabbath, making the service even longer.

 

Yes, though some things get omitted too when it falls on the Sabbath. On Rosh Hashanna, for example, you can't blow the Shofar on the Sabbath, which cuts about 15 minutes out of the service. I've found that it comes out to be pretty much a wash in the end.

 

Plus the "fast" on Yom Kippur is a literal fast - no eating or drinking for 25 hours. Have fun doing that while chanting prayers and/or giving a sermon.

 

I'm surprised that the percentage of Catholics is that high. I've lived places where there were lots of Catholics and places where there were hardly any, but I've never lived where there weren't lots of Protestants.

 

My synagogue's a little different. The rabbi blows the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, even if it is the Sabbath. Same with Yom Kippur.

 

When I was a kid, when Christmas fell on Sunday it meant we didn't get presents until after services were over.

When churches close for Easter, they should probably not open back up.