For centuries, people went to church on Christmas whenever it fell on a Sunday. This is not new! This is not the first time! What makes this year different?
I think what makes this different is that the mega-churches are not set up for handling difficult children, or I guess, a lot of really difficult problems. My guess, and it is a guess, is that mega-churches tend to be lite Christianity for people who are pretty well off, spiritually and financially and just want a weekly feel-good session and no church responsibilities beyond the collection plate. I don't think the mega-churches felt their congregants would show up on Christmas Day because that would be heavy Christianity, not lite Christianity.
It's the traditional congregations that take people in whatever walk they come and try to help them. We deal with all sorts of problems, the strong helping the weak when they can, the weak helping others as best they can. For us, Christmas Day Sunday is like any other and this is the first time our congregation has abbreviated its meetings.
Today I spent some time with a widow of our congregation, helping her select a grocery order for me to get for her. Tomorrow I am meeting with three families who need help for Christmas. Later this week I will visit other families and assess their needs at this season. Last week I took several outfits to a woman who wanted to attend church but felt she had nothing appropriate to wear. Then I picked her up Sunday morning and took her to church. That same week I sat in the hospital several nights with a woman in my church. We are preparing to decorate the house of a family devastated by the father's debilitating disease. A friend of mine will take a fellow congregant to the doctor on Friday. Others will do Sub for Santa activities. Everywhere in traditional congregations there are people who practice Christianity every day of the week by sharing the burdens of fellow congregants and Sunday is no different.
I don't know much about the mega-churches but I suspect the membership is not quite as diverse as ours. I think they are probably more like social clubs where people come to hear the "good news" but seldom get to know their fellow congregants, let alone get involved in their personal trials. Because of that, I think if church gets onerous, the mega-churches will lose members and so the churches will not try to make Christmas Day "onerous" by expecting people to attend.
So what makes this year different is that churches are becoming less and less willing to demand the kind of sacrifices that build faith. And members are less and less willing to make those sacrifices.