Should we go to church on Christmas? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
So there’s been a lot of talk I’ve seen on Facebook about Christmas being on a Sunday this year. I do know a lot of churches are having Christmas Eve services, which is fairly common. I don’t remember going to them growing up since my parents were the ones in charge and we always went to two different houses on Christmas Eve. I know my ex-wife and I didn’t on our first Christmas Eve together, but we were also going on a deep drive through snow.
Now this year, I do plan on going to my church for Christmas. I understand we’re going to not have the regular Sunday School aspect, which is fine with me, but I plan on attending the service. There are some people who are thinking we shouldn’t have church this year on Christmas because people will want to be with their families.
Churches normally are open on Christmas day for a service and also people usually do want to spend Christmas with their families. Both of those make sense. Somehow, when Christmas falls on Sunday, it seems strange to some people to think you’d go to church.
Which is kind of odd. We’re only celebrating the birth of the Son of God into the world. It’s strange to go to the very place where that is celebrated?
However, we could also consider this a Romans 14 matter. Perhaps someone’s family has non-Christians that will absolutely refuse to go to church at all and maybe one doesn’t want to avoid any sort of drama. That would be up to each person to decide based on the kind of skeptic in their family they are dealing with. It could also be a great time to get someone to church so they can hopefully learn something more about the message of salvation.
For me, I am going to church and my family is going to be celebrating on Eastern time. They will have to wait another hour likely for me then, but I don’t think there will be much problem with that. I am staying in New Orleans for Christmas and we have said we are going to use our Echo devices so we can see each other and open gifts that way.
If we treat this as a Romans 14 matter, then we should also say that each person should be fully convinced in his own mind. For me, the idea of missing church doesn’t really make sense, but at the same time, I don’t want to look down my nose at someone who is missing. It would be horrible to be celebrating the birth of Christ while practicing the sin of satan after all.
People will be discussing their reasons back and forth for what they do and there are many factors to consider. Again, let each be fully convinced in his own mind. For me, I am going to be going to my service that day and the gifts, God willing, will still be waiting for me when I get home and the family will still be there. They’ll do just fine.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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