When Christmas falls on Sunday

Last updated on: December 8, 2005 at 6:59 am by Scot McKnight

When Christmas falls on Sunday 2005-12-08T06:59:08-06:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

There has been a flurry of blogging about (mostly) mega-churches that have opted not to have a Sunday service in light of their attention to Christmas Eve services. Most of the blogging has been negative, some of it sharply so. Iâm thinking here of Ben Witheringtonâs blog â and Ben is a friend and a fellow NT professor. He has been forthrightly against the mega-church decisions, and he has drawn a number of comments along the same line. Steve McCoyâs blog also has had a similar set of comments. I set up a poll on my blog to see what is going on â and it suggests that more than mega-churches are doing this. (I remember as a little guy that my Baptist church, which didnât give into much, did not have a Christmas service one Sunday morning, but I could be wrong. Memories are hardly infallible.)

Let me take the view that we should be a little more charitable in the discussion (and drop some of the caustic, belletristic, and condemnatory language). And let me make a mild case in defense of the mega-churches and smaller than mega-churches doing what they are doing: considering the Christmas Eve service to be their worship service for the week.
As Protestants, we begin with the Bible.
First, letâs ask this question: Does the NT teach a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship service. I think the answer to that one is pretty easy. Besides being a topic no one in the early Church apparently considered, we have to put its lack of interest in this topic in the context of OT legislations about feasts. Hereâs a fact consider: evidently, God thought a bundle of days were so important for the Jewish calendar that he gave laws both on the necessity of their annual celebration and he told them just how to celebrate that day. And Israel did just that.
Hereâs something else to think about: evidently the same God didnât think the same of Christmas, for there are no legislations about keeping but one âholidayâ: the Lordâs supper.
No one, to my knowledge, can argue or is arguing that the mega-churches are violating a biblical Christmas sacrilege. No one should can stake a biblical claim for Christmas being the most significant day of the year â Iâm not sure what one can say about such a topic from the Bible.
Second, letâs ask a question at the heart of the discussion: Does the NT teach a Sunday morning worship service? Well, the evidence isnât what some are making it out to be. We need to be fair here: there is a distinction between what is taught and what is mentioned or hinted at as something practiced. And there is no clear text legislating that Christians are to meet for worship on a Sunday morning.
And it ought to be observed that there is, whether some will admit it or not, no clear connection between Christian worship on a Sunday and the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of ârestâ while the Sunday was a time of âworship.â (See here A.G. Shead, New Dict. of Bibl. Theol, 749-50.) Not one shred of evidence here. In fact, the Apostle Paul says in Col 2:16 that oneâs judgment about Sabbaths ought to be kept to oneself â or at least it ought not to be used as an instrument of judgment. (I have a hard time, and you probably do too, thinking Paul is letting ordinary Christians render judgment about when they were to âattend worship.â)
There are, however, clear indications that Christians met on Sundays, the first day of the week: Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2. Iâm not sure what Rev 1:10 means, and no one ought to be dogmatic about it, but I tend to think it is close to meaning âthe Lordâs day (when on the first day of the week we gathered for the Lordâs supper).â
And there is the warning in Heb 10:25 that Christians ought to meet regularly with other Christians, though the author does not say this was to be on Sunday â we can assume it was, but it is an assumption.
This leaves us with this: no strong correlation between Sabbath and Sunday; no commandment to worship together on Sunday; the evident practice, however, of meeting on Sundays for worship and fellowship. The precedent, as Joe Thorn rightly says on Steve McCoyâs blog, is there; there is, however, no commandment. And Col makes me wonder if it is appropriate to correlate Sunday worship with Sabbath practice.
Third, let me assume that many who are blogging and commenting about this issue are low-church Protestants where local churches make such decisions â that is, the local church pastor and board of elders/deacons/whatever, as leaders of a congregation, make the decision about whether or not there will be a worship service on Sunday morning. If we believe in such a theory of church government, then we get decisions like this and we have to trust those elders and pastors and churches to make good decisions. I like Craig Leeâs comment over at Steve McCoyâs site in this regard. We might at this point just trust our brothers and sisters to do what is good.
Fourth, let me poke some in the eye here: what Iâm reading is that there is too much identification of âworshipâ with Sunday morning and too much identification of âbeing the churchâ with âattending a Sunday morning service.â I find this pretty surprising in that so many are making the case, pretty solidly I think, that âchurchâ is not something done on Sunday mornings but something we âareâ and âare all through the weekâ â climaxing at the Lordâs table and in Sunday worship.
Fifth, let us consider that many of the messianic Jewish Christians of the first century would have naturally transferred their views of what to do on a Sabbath from the Sabbath to the Lord Jesus Christ, though they did not leave a trace in the NT that they saw the Sunday as the replacement of that Sabbath. I consider it highly likely that messianic Jews would have celebrated Sabbath (starting Friday night, we might add) and perhaps also Sunday morning. Hard to know in light of the paucity of evidence.
Sixth, by the time of Ireneaus Ignatius some Christians (we shouldnât pretend to think he speaks for all) gave up Sabbaths for the Lordâs Day (Magn. 9:1). Justin Martyr is clear: it was a Sunday (Apol. 1.67). Constantine pulled the curtain on any other view. Emperors can do things like that.
Seventh, letâs get to some pragmatics: a significant issue for mega-churches is that there is not sufficient space for a Sunday morning service. Now this might say to some that they ought to distribute the goods and not be so big, but to the saints who like mega-churches there is a space issue. Many mega-churches have multiple services because they canât handle having everyone gather at once. This, after all, is a cause of rejoicing for all of us: to have too many Christians to house all at once is a good thing because it bespeaks multitudes of believers. I like that. You might contend that churches shouldnât get bigger than they can handle; well, then, make that argument. Willow Creek one year had about 60,000 attend Christmas services â I think their auditorium holds about 7500. They canât handle all 60,000 on a Sunday morning. Letâs make sure that the beef with mega-churches is not envy. And in the process let’s not disrespect those pastors of smaller churches as if this Sunday cancellation is only a mega-church issue.
Eighth, I think it is unfairly insulting to our brothers and sisters to say that mega-churches, tout simple, are consumeristic and selfish and focused on getting rather than getting. I doubt many who say such things know much about what actually goes on in mega-churches.
Ninth, another issue involved for many churches: the performance nature of the Christmas Eve service is so intense that there is nothing left for another service. Again, you might fight hard against the âperformanceâ level and concentration (cantata, musical, theatricals, whatever), but argue that that and not that churches have lost their soul if they cancel Christmas Sunday services.
So, my suggestion is this: letâs be a little more charitable in light of what the NT does and does not say. Letâs permit our brothers and sisters, once every seven years, to make decisions that we might not approve of but know that they answer to God, that we answer to God, that it is about worship of God and incarnating the gospel in our world for the good of others and the world.

Advent

Previous Post

December 8, 2005

Mary and Elizabeth 4

Next Post

December 9, 2005 Can your body bend like this?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to James, what should you do if you lack wisdom?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Seek counsel from elders Study the Torah diligently Ask God, who gives generously Fast and pray for seven days