ONE MAN'S OPINION

I will be attending church on Christmas day! Not because it is Christmas day, though that is a pretty good reason for a Christian to go to church, but because Sunday is my normal day of worship. I cannot imagine not going to church on one of the Christian churches "most Holy days" as quoted in the Dothan Eagle.

So far I have seen two arguments on why some churches have canceled services on Sunday, December 25th. The first is that "people need time with their family" and Christmas is traditionally a family day. If this rational is true then we should never expect people to go to church...there is always a need for more family time in our fast paced society. It also has to mean no more golf days (takes half a day), no more football games (at 3 hours or more), etc. By the way Scripture tells us, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:37-38). No one is more committed to their family than I am but I want my all of my family members to understand my commitment to Jesus Christ. What do we teach our children when we cancel a whole day of regularly scheduled worship services (I have no problem cancelling the evening service since that service is a man made tradition)? What does this say to the lost world? I cannot imagine any of the world religions canceling services on one of their most holy days for the reasons stated.

The second reason I have seen stated is that "the churches purpose is to reach the lost" and since the lost won't come to church on Christmas day there is no reason to have church. To that reason I say you totally misunderstand the purpose of worship. While I agree the church must be about the business of evangelizing the lost our first priority is to Worship the one to whom we owe all, Jesus Christ. One other comment on this reason. The two days that bring the largest number of lost people into our churches have historically been Christmas and Easter, so if we are really concerned about winning the lost why would we do away with one of the two days with the greatest potential for sharing the gospel?

Finally, remember Matt Redman's song, "The Heart of Worship?" If we cancel worship, in my opinion, we cannot sing a song such as this again because we have just twisted the words and made them say, "It's all about me Jesus, it's all about me."

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You, It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
And it's all about You, It's all about You, Jesus
I'm coming back to the heart of worship,
And it's all about You, It's all about You,
Jesus I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
And it's all about You, It's all about You, Jesus