Our church is holding a very limited service on Christmas Day for those who absolutely feel that they can't miss it. There are families who told me that they weren't planning on coming who I thought wouldn't have missed church unless they were dying in the hospital.
What with Christmas Eve service AND church on Sunday, when is there time to celebrate the holiday, open gifts, and spend time with the family? I'm a Christain but for as often as Christmas lands on a Sunday, I vote to cancel church. I doubt anyone's going to hell over it and missing one week of church isn't going to be that detrimental to one's spirituality.
..... there is always a reason to miss church. The thing that is most important is that you DO miss church. Any and all reasons will be good to do just that. In fact you or anybody that you can influence will be assured of not going to hell if they miss church.
Because the most important thing is not going to church..... it's about what you feel. The most important thing in the world isn't found in church or what is said in church or even what is learned in church.... right? It's about spending time with your family, opening presents, eating a good meal, watching a football game, playing with the kids, laughing with long lost relatives... not the hour you will spend thanking the Lord for all the things that were made in his name, and that in the very end is his to begin with.
I don't have to go to church, I need to go.... if only to pray for my pathetic attempts to be a Christian and to thank the big guy upstairs for his grace in allowing me the opportunity to honor him.
One hour over a whole weekend.... that's all. I waste more time surfing the 'net or waiting between meals or looking at the pregame or sleeping in late.
It's all about what "going to church" is to you. In fact it's not even about how it appears to your friends or family..... it's our time to "drink the water" and refresh ourselve.
Merry Christmas.
Looking at your answer, I think you are being sacastic (when can you celebrate Christmas if you have to take time to go to church.) Some folks are going to miss your point without a sarcasm tag, however. I did at first until I looked at what you actually said.
If I were considering to change a regular Church service schedule, and was posed with cancellation of a Christmas service, the first thing that would strike my thinking would be the purpose of the service intuitively.
The issue has nothing to do with missing a periodic meeting of religious people.
On the contrary, rationalism is the wrong thinking that needs to be challenged by Scriptural worship.
Hopefully, today's Christian is immersed in Scripture daily, not merely weekly.
There are also enormous opportunities to communicate the Gospel to believer and unbeliever alike on Christmas that appear to not even trace across the thinking of this church.
On the contrary, an issue that I am not judging, the church canceling the service is displaying their true works magnificently. They definitely appear absorbed in rote bureaucratic management thinking in their operational policies. I discern that type of behavior very differently than a body of believers seeking to study Bible Doctrine and apply it to their lives daily in all thinking. If that is not occuring, then that does far more to promote carnality than spirit-filling living.
"I doubt anyone's going to hell over it "
Are you not concerned about those who might decide for the first time or in a long time to go to church that morning and find the doors locked? What kind of message does that send?