Christmas vs. Worship

Last year about this time I wrote a couple of articles about Christmas being on the Lord's Day and my view on Christians rescheduling or canceling services. For the record-I’m completely against moving around worship times or canceling worship for any holiday.

I was shocked at the responses I got from friends and family. One brother in Christ told me that this was no way "to make a name for myself" (still not sure what he meant by that) and that I was going to make a lot of enemies with articles like those. He ended his note by telling me that he would never read my articles again!

WOW! I didn't know it would be offensive to state the obvious-that the Lord’s Day takes precedence over Christmas. While I’m on my soap-box let me also make it public that I believe worshipping the Lord comes before work, shopping, eating out, sleeping in, hunting, fishing, soccer games, basketball games, and, yes, even the Super Bowl!

I was asked just the other day what our congregation was going to do about Christmas Eve. (Oh, no it’s happening again.) I replied, "Nothing." It’s just another holiday and doesn’t even compare to the day that the Lord has set aside for me to be able to come together with other Christians to worship Him. When did we start thinking that the Lord’s Day was for our benefit? It’s not. It’s the day that we come together to break bread, give, sing, pray, uplift each other, but most of all to worship our Father and Savior.

Many of the people who disagreed with my stance on Christmas vs Worship stated that Christmas was a time to be with family. It's not that I don't want to be with my family but Jesus told us where our family members rank in Matthew 10:37. How can I teach my children that nothing comes before Christ and then turn around and make adjustments to the worship service so that I can do something, anything, else? What is that going to teach them- That God is priority in my life until the Lord's Day falls on December 24 or 25? I can’t do it with good conscience. I can’t tell them that God adapts to my life. He doesn’t.

Other friends and family that disagreed with me said that we aren’t required to worship twice on Sunday and canceling a Sunday night service really isn’t a big deal. I understand that we aren’t “required” to meet at 6 pm on Sunday nights but I also know that in the first century church Christians were craving the Gospel. In Acts 20, for example, Paul preached until midnight and we have proof that there were people there listening (not everybody was asleep :)

Should we be so quick to cancel service for any reason when the early Christians desired to hear the Word so deeply that they would listen until midnight? I guarantee that we have preachers who would love to preach until midnight. Would there be any listeners? Where is our desire to hear the Gospel? And do we only want to hear it when it suits us?


There’s nothing wrong with celebrating Christ’s birth as long as we are constantly aware of His death and His resurrection. And we should never limit ourselves to only thinking about Jesus during December. We can use Christmas as a time to evangelize. What would it tell the world if we worshipped on Christmas Eve just like we do every other Sunday night. We could even invite them to worship with us!

I guess we can go to extremes on this issue. I know of preachers who won’t preach on Jesus until February and I know of congregations who will sing Joy to the World and Away in a Manger every Sunday in December. There has to be a happy medium.

I hope I don't come off sounding like an ultra-conservative legalist because I’m not. This is just something that I feel strongly about. Who knows Jesus might come back before December 24th anyway.

Where will you be on December 24th?

After A While

I heard this poem many years ago at a funeral. One of those funerals where you are completely taken aback. Memories flood in, life drastically changes, you start trying to figure out who you are and what you're going to do next. A place in time when you realize that the person you're going to be depends on you, not on your family, not on society, not on good or bad choices you've made, but on character, your own character. A time to stand up or fall down. A time to lose it all or give it all. A time in life that matters. Maybe some people glide into this time easier than others. I was stubborn. Mine wasn't an easy gliding, more like a crash landing.

Someone once said it takes losing all you have to realize God is all you need. Finally, I got it.

I've been searching for this poem for years and it happened to fall into my lap the other day.
Thought I would share it with you.

After A While
by Veronica A. Shoffstall


After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul
and you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
and company doesn't always mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises
and you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of woman, not the grief of a child
and you learn to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much
so you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
you really are strong
you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye,
you learn