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."
Exodus 20, the 4th commandment, the longest commandment says:
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
God made the 7th day holy. It's not my task to prove it's still holy to Christians. It's your task to prove from scripture that it is not holy. Where does it say in scripture that it's not holy to Christians?
My brother had an excellent point - these churches claim they're closing on Christmas Day because it's a Family day and noone will be there. My brother noted that for a lot of people, the church is their family! True words of wisdom! I just don't understand closing down a church on a Sunday.....I look forward to the years that Christmas falls on a Sunday....
This particular doctrine is easy. It's the 4th commandment, the 7th day sabbath was created by Christ and for Christ, and Christ kept the sabbath.
Luk 4:31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.
Luk 4:32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
Based on how time was reckoned in those days, if you were Jewish it was from sunset to sunset. If you were Gentile then it *may* be midnight (how'd they know when it was midnight anyway?) to midnight but not necessarily.
Well, I can't really stand arguingn about this any longer, but needless to say, I am glad my church will be open on Sunday. I will be there.
We will be there with our family who are visiting us. I don't understand why one would close a church under the pretense that nobody will be there.
Normally churches are filled with visiters on Christmas...they aren't even close to empty. :)
True. People argue it either way.
"Jesus is the Reason for the Season"
This is a great sloagan that reminds us why we are buying presents, decorating, listening to old music and filling out greeting cards.
However, in our sermon last Sunday, or priest had a new slogan:
"You are the Reason for the Season. Jesus is the Gift."
Merry Christmas! Hope to see you on other threads! :-D
Did Jesus attend Christmas mass when he walked among us?
I ask thee this I do!!!
I completely agree. So does he attend a church that meets on Christmas Day regardless of what day of the week Christmas falls on? As has been discussed ad infinitum Catholics always have mass on Christmas Day while (most if not all) Protestants have Christmas Eve services but no Christmas Day services (if Christmas is on, say, Tuesday). If he or those people whose family is the church don't attend a church that meets on Christmas Day each year regardless of the week then what do they do on Christmas? Just curious. I'll check back tomorrow, gotta hit the hay!
Another random thought: if Jesus got that tickle in His nose like He was going to sneeze did he (a) put his tongue on the roof of His mouth to *stop* the sneeze or (b) look at some bright object or light to cause the sneeze to happen?
And my final wild thought before hitting the hay. Jesus can wash us whiter than snow. That statement always makes me think about soap. Which has led me to ask: Can soap get dirty? If so, with what do you clean it?
Matthew 28:1, [Now late on Sabbath as it was getting dusk toward first of week came Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.]
Verse 6, [He is not here for he has risen as he said. Come see the place where was lying the Lord.]
This is the original Greek in the Textus Receptus(Received Text)
As you can see by the scripture he arose before sundown on the Sabbath Day. Many translations say something similar like "at the end of the Sabbath" or "Now late on Sabbath" as the Greek says. Other translations, because of theological bias, say something like "After the Sabbath was over" or some other variation.....but the original Greek shows that our Lord was resurrected on the Saturday Sabbath.
***Then what were Paul and Peter and the other Jewish Apostles doing in the Synagogues on Saturday? Just visiting?***
Dog gone P-Marlowe! Don't tell us you have fallen for the doctrines of DouglasKC and Diego(some number)!
Meamwhile, I know! I Know! Call on me! oh oh oh!
The woman I love is in town, so she got priority. :)
***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?***
HOT DOG! Can I cut and paste from my rebuttals to your other posts? I get tired of typing the same things over and over, and over!
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1511362/posts
Don't worry about that. I do not necessarily esteem one day above another. (Gasp). There are the Sunday Sabbath Legalists and the Saturday Sabbath legalists. I suppose I am a heretic in both camps.
For those who must work the weekends, what are we supposed to do with them? Condemn them to hell because they don't come to church on the right day?
For years I went to church on Monday and Thursday nights.
Since clocks and calendars were not corrected for leap years and the slowing of the rotation of the earth, I doubt if anyone knows what day it really is.
My church asked for families to volunteer to have people come and spend Christmas with them. We volunteered, but no on has asked to spend it with us. I don't know of anyone who doesn't have a place to be.
Not for the Christian who views it as a way of life and not 45 minutes to an hour on Sundays.
As I stated before, worship both scripturally and historically had little to nothing to do with singing and sitting to hear a man preach. It does have to do with living a life that is pleasing to the Lord and doing everything as unto the Lord.
That, my friend, is worship according to Scripture.
Uh...there's quite a few people both Protestant and Jewish who would disagree with you.
Would God be upset? Would those Christians be guilty of sin for not honoring the Sabbath?
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