Calvary Chapel of Fort Lauderdale now promoting its Christmas Day service online after initially announcing a Dec. 25 closure
Posted on 12/19/2005 6:23:54 AM PST by NYer
With many large churches across the U.S. announcing they won't be open on Christmas Day, some pastors are defending their decision to stay closed, even going so far as to blast those who question their motives.
Among them is Jon Weece, pastor of Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Ky., who received complaint e-mails from Christians in all 50 states.
"I was deeply saddened by the knee-jerk response of the Christian community as a whole to give the benefit of the doubt to the media and not a church or a brother in Christ," Weece said in his Dec. 10 sermon. "I'm still troubled that more Christians in this community specifically did not stand up for us knowing what this church represents."
(Audio of the entire sermon is available here.)
Weece blamed Satan the devil for using the Christmas issue as a distraction, prompting Christians to bicker among themselves.
"People are not the enemy," he said. "The devil is, and it is obvious that he has been at work in this situation."
Weece said the services being offered on Christmas Eve were still technically the "first day of the week" if one went by the custom of starting days at sunset, which some believe was the case in Jesus' day.
He went on to note: "Christmas began as a pagan holiday to the Roman gods, and if we were to really celebrate the historical birth of Jesus, it would either be in January or mid-April. I'm only pointing out the historical technicalities not out of intellectual arrogance, but again because of the illogical, ill-informed and even hypocritical arguments that were aimed at me personally this last week."
Weece also said Jesus himself walked all over opinion and tradition: "Do not lose sight of the controversy that Jesus incited by turning traditions on their head. And always remember in the economy of Jesus, the one whose birthday so many are claiming to be so passionate about, Jesus placed value and emphasis on people over policy and procedure and protocol every single time."
Meanwhile, the largest Christian church in South Florida has reversed itself on its closure Christmas Day, and now says it will be open for a single service next Sunday morning, Dec. 25.
Calvary Chapel of Fort Lauderdale now promoting its Christmas Day service online after initially announcing a Dec. 25 closure |
Calvary Chapel of Fort Lauderdale originally decided to give its members and workforce a day off to spend with their families on Christmas, even though it falls on Sunday, its traditional day of worship. Instead, it had scheduled a slate of extra services for Saturday night, Christmas Eve.
 Pastor Bob Coy |
"I've been called a bad person and a shame to Christianity," pastor Bob Coy told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "It made me realize that many people misunderstood our motives."
But after an onslaught of negative public reaction from both inside and outside his congregation, Coy had a change of heart.
"Say it isn't so," read one e-mail, according to Coy. "You're shutting your doors on Jesus' birthday. I'm appalled at the message you're sending to the community."
Coy also was advised by some church members who said they wouldn't be able to attend services on Christmas Eve, and preferred to come on the actual holiday.
"Christmas is filled with unrealistic expectations," he said. "I don't want to fuel that. If people need Jesus on Christmas, I want to make Him available."
The entire issue has exacerbated the national Christmas controversy at a time which many believe is supposed to harken back to the Gospel of Luke's "peace on Earth."
"There is no biblical mandate that we meet on Sunday, only that we meet," writes Larry Baden in an online messageboard. "This is clearly a nonessential issue. Nobody's orthodoxy stands or falls on having a Sunday service. Nobody's salvation depends on having a Sunday service."
Minister Jeff Chitwood contends: "I think the issue centers on canceling worship on a day that is supposed to be centered on Christ. Too many times the church accuses the world of taking Christ out of Christmas but now the church is the one changing things because a day centered on Christ conflicts with schedules. What kind of message does it send to those who we have condemned in the past? At our church we are rescheduling service times but not eliminating the opportunity to worship on a day centered on Christ."
One poster said true worship is about much more than just singing or attending a church service.
"The way I greet my family when I go home from work is an act of worship. The way I talk to my co-workers. The dedication I give to my employer. The passion and inspiration I find in teaching or writing or editing or reading or mowing the lawn or ironing my shirts. ...
"Let's all just focus on God this Sunday. He's a big Guy. I'm sure those who look for him will find him – even if they don't set foot in a church building."
Hebrews 10 clearly endorses a literal Sabbath day.
Nobody said that the Lord's Day means nothing. What was said is that we're dead to the Law.
You can be bound by those laws if you wish.
I'm not going to be.
You are in error.
Worship is not a meaningless ritual.
It is one of the means of grace, and if you fail to go to church, your spiritual benefit will suffer greatly. No, you do not go to hell for not going to church. But, it is not something to gloss over.
I am a historic Protestant, and I am not standing for this new, kissy-face Christianity in which any kind of demands on the Christian are ignored.
Hermann, I don't think I have ever said this to you, but amen and thank you.
Exactly right.
We are no longer required to keep the law, for Christ kept it for us.
But, the Holy Spirit inside us should still create in us a desire to keep the MORAL law, which has never been destroyed. The 4th Commandment falls under the moral law and simply has a slight change under the NT in that with Christ's Resurrection, it is now Sunday we meet to celebrate his resurection weekly, rather than Saturday. But, Sabbath Keeping is still required.
I suggest you read this article defending Sabbath Keeping:
http://www.reformed.com/pub/sabbath2.htm
Read a Reformed defense of what the Reformed faith has believed for centuries......the view you are oddly attacking......that the Christian is to keep the Sabbath:
http://www.reformed.com/pub/sabbath2.htm
Of course, it is not required for salvation, but it still is a Christian duty.
I agree with this...mostly. But where in scripture does it say the sabbath was to be changed from the 7th day to the 1st day?
Now how on earth do you know that? Do you attend Southland? Or are you specifically referencing an organized event on the 25th? Read about how this church "organizes" to reach the lost daily through their "Helping through Him" program. See how they serve those that others pass by and give them their own celebration regularly with their "Jesus Prom". Learn about the special "Day of Service" where literally thousands of workers scour the community and help those who can't help themselves. Investigate the church you so quickly judge first before tossing them out with the chaff. And I say this as someone who agrees that Sunday, and Christmas Sunday especially, would be a great opportunity to have the doors of all churches open. But I don't begrudge this pastor and his eldership the decision they've made.
They may not be as big and elaboarate as the Vatican, but pretty darn big:
http://www.firstdallas.org/index.cfm?FuseAction=page&PageID=5
http://www.prestonwood.org/sites/document.asp?did=4468
http://www.second.org/global/our_campuses.asp
What is wrong with them having worship on Saturday night (Christmas Eve) instead of the morning??????
I don't get it.
I think this is hinging upon some references in Acts 2:38-42, Acts 20:45?, and Revelations 1:10. Of course in Acts 2 it wasn't just the "first day" it was DAILY. In Revelation John was in the Spirit on the "Lord's Day" which is held to be on Sunday. I haven't read the references from Hebrews 10 another poster mentioned above but I also recall the Scripture making it clear that one day is holy to one person and not necessarily holy to the next person --- each person may choose. And I believe that we'd best be careful about what we call Holy. The Bible is very clear on what is truly "Holy". God Himself is Holy and not a day, regardless of what people may teach.
Christians are not bound by anything.
They have the joy of assembling themselves together, and they shouldn't forsake it.
But....there is no law.
The reason the Sabbath was able to change was because there is no more law that binds us.
To be honest with you, the Sabbath never was much of a day of assembling. They couldn't travel more than a mile on the Sabbath. They surely weren't congregating at the temple with that kind of restriction.
I am referring to the 25th in particular.
If his reason was for the church to be the church, he would actually do it. But, guess what.....he isn't currently scheduled to lead a church helping the homeless event or something. No, the real reason for not having it on the 25th is to allow the huge number of staff at this megachurch to be at home with their families.
It is not spiritual at all.
Where in the New Testament does it say that Christians are subject to the sabbath?
I don't attack their loving acts on other days; in fact, I wish other churches would do that as well. But, if he says he is closing on the 25th to help the church be the church, why doesn't he do anything to do that on that day specifically?
Because the Sabbath is Sunday, not Saturday.
The Christian can meet any time they want.....as long as they also obey God's command for the Sabbath.
I'm using "holy" (little h) and "Holy" (big H) to signify different things. I'll let you and the others look up all the variable definitions but the short story is that God Himself is the only being that is Holy in every sense of the word. A day may be "set apart" for special observances but it isn't anywhere near true Godly "Holiness".
References about holy days have nothing to do with the Sabbath, but rather what we would call holidays.
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