Some Mega-Churches Closing for Christmas Day

Are these the same people bitching about how "secular" the Christmas holiday has become? They're cancelling services on Christmas Day (which is a Sunday, no less).

I actually agree with the decision, but it's still pretty ironic.

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Just who is attacking Christmas here ??

on Christmas Day maybe they should just go out of business? When I was a kid in the RC church, Christmas was one of the highest attended holidays of the year. That and Easter.

what will they do for Sunday tithingworship?

:bounce:

but my friend who is non-denominational christian, has never gone to church on christmas day. whatever churches she ever belonged to didn't have christmas day services.

The Sunday that falls between Christmas and New Years' is typically one of the lowest-attended services of the year (because people are travelling out of town), followed by the Sunday after Thanksgiving (same reason), and any Sunday when the Pastor is out of town (obvious reason).

on Saturday....which leads in to Sunday.......

I once went there on Palm Sunday (I was going through a phase). I was astonished that the sermon and service had absolutely nothing to do with Palm Sunday, not a thing. But they did have a spectacular, patriotic service for July 4: they had five separate color guards, one for each branch of the armed services, enter the sanctuary (!!) with their respective service songs (e.g. Anchors Aweigh) being sung by the large choir.

This is a church with 18,000 worshippers on a typical weekend, with a sanctuary that seats 9,000. This church has a malign influence on local politics, they're quite shameless about it. They put up billboards everywhere last year that said God's Plan for Marriage: One Man One Woman, and had a three-sermon series last October on marriage. They hosted conferences against homosexuality last year. This of course was to get out the republican vote. It worked: the local anti-gay ballot measure passed by a large margin, and the US senator race went republican by a thin margin.

is considered to be non-partisan -- the IRS rules prohibit partisan politics. Churches cannot campaign directly for or against specific parties or politicians. So they have to speak in code words like "protect the family," knowing that certain parties/politicians are using the same slogans. But of course they're really pushing on it, because what they did really helped the republicans, and no one doubts that that was their intention.

I'd love to see the boom lowered on this church. Locals call it Six Flags Over Jesus, one of the ten largest congregations in the country. Their weekly collection is half a million dollars plus.

Gotta remember that one! That's even funnier than the RC Church up on I-95 in NJ that has the (actual) name Our Lady of the Highway.
:rofl:

in Louisville, Kentucky.

At least the secretaries, landscapers, and care-takers will get the day off.

That sucks. I can't have a Holy Roller Latte while looking for the Kirk Cameron DVD Box Set.

Monuments to cultish stupidity and greed.

...I personally loathe what modern American Christianity has become, but it is so wrong to advocate closing them down. Christians are also entitled to the freedoms of speech, assembly, and association.

I cant wait to hear how bin Reilly is going to spin this one!

Meanwhile they will be at home celebrating Christ's birth with a toygasm!

(I crack myself up...)

:rofl:

they wil surely get a kick out of it. Boy, thta is really in the "spirit", isn't it?

and the 10AM service on Christmas Day, just like every year.

But what do I know? I'm just a mainstream Episcopalian. :shrug:

wacky episcopalians!

- I'll be singing at the 8:00 PM Christmas Eve, my children will be singing at the 11:00 PM Christmas Eve and then I have to sing at the 11:00 AM on Christmas Day.

I'll admit that the Sunday Christmas Day service has created havoc with long-established Christmas Day plans but we're adjusting.

Just a Methodist here.

Christmas day has never been a well attended service, but no one ever considered not having it. This is even more ridiculous since Christmas is on a Sunday, which is always observed. Wacky Episcopalian here also.

I love it! What a bunch of phony bastards. It's typical, they wear Jesus on their sleeve when it suits their purposes, but when it is inconvient or might cost them money or votes...out goes the faith!

Do we need more proof that they are business organizations, not religious ones?

The reason a lot of sububies gravitate to these is they have HUGE gymnasiums and health club type of arrangements. Nothing like deducting your charitable giving which is really your admission to the gymnasium/health club.

and yet seemingly intelligent people keep supporting these churches and falling for their hucksterism . . . haven't they noticed that the one thing all of these mega-churches have in common is . . .

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fabulously wealthy pastors? . . .

so don't go blaming it on seculars, such assholes! x(

Edit: Spelling

I have two young children and, for us, Christmas morning is family time. We get up, tear through the presents, and have a late breakfast. I suppose a noon or afternoon service could fit into the calendar, but not any earlier. And, honestly, tt's not like we not attending services three or four times during the week prior to Christmas -- and twice on Christmas Eve.

hold services on Christmas Day, although my Portland church, with 150 members, did so.

However, to skip any Sunday is just unheard of. The only instance I can remember was once during my teen years when a whopping blizzard (not at Christmas time) made it impossible for anyone to get out of the house.

but I didn't attend, either. I suppose I can see the practicality in it. And I'd like to think that these isolated congregations aren't those who are beating their breast and wailing about the secularization of the holiday.

Does this go for Falwell's Jesus Mart, too?

I consider myself Christo-pagan, and I was seriously considering going to church this year. I love Christmas. I love the carols, and the candles, and the churches hung with "boughs of holly" and evergreen branches and the big Christmas tree in the front. It's a wonderful mix of the two religious traditions I practice!

And the frickin' fundies, who are so self-righteous, and think THERE'S A WAR ON CHRISTMAS CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO SHOW UP?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Their "faith" is a sham, just an absolute sham.

They make me SICK!

:puke:

:-)

Christians have become apostate, yet they can't actually haul their asses into church to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus?

And yet, the so-called apostates can?

It just goes to show that they'd rather spend time with their crap from Sprawl Mart, and that "church" is more a political than a religious statement for them.

I don't know why this has hit me so hard, but I feel literally sick over this.

:puke:

And many of the Protestants were smart enough to get rid of the Pope but keep the good stuff.

The History Channel has a show about the History of Christmas; check this month's schedules. It tracks how the celebration has evolved over the years, mostly in the USA. Of course, the Puritans disapproved of such a Pagan & Popish holiday. Christmas services remained quite low key--until lots of Catholic immigrants arrived. Non-Catholics started checking out the Midnight Mass, etc. So many Protestant denominations began competing...

and not a spiritual mentality. Its all about numbers to them. Truly caring people wouldn't mind if only one person showed up as long as that person needed guidance and support. The evangelicals need to worry more about the fact that their religion is being turned into a corporation than whether people are saying Merry Christmas or not.

P.S. - I couldn't see why someone would go to megachurch for spiritual solace in the first place, but I'm just saying...

Then again, I'm Catholic. We have to fight for seating on Christmas day :)

a lot of them are not there for the reason that they say that they are.
They're just taking money from people for their tax-free corporations. :puke:

If even the fundamentalists aren't going to church anymore who's going to church?

catholics are actually interested in observing christ's birthday.

They wrote some of the best Christmas Carols. It's a standing joke for many congregations (Catholic or Protestant) that Christmas & Easter are the only days some members show up. And you don't cancel services on a Sunday--no matter what.

One "excuse" given by the mega-churches was that no "new" members would show up on Christmas. In fact, I'd think that some lonely people looking for faith--or to renew their faith--might well have an urge to attend a service on Christmas day. Will the sign on the church door read "Closed for Christmas"?

I know of several groups that schedule a meditation session Christmas Day.

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

oh, right, these are good repuke megachurches. Never mind...

What the hell?

18th century Luthern services were held on Christmas, and the two days following. Part 4 is for New Year's Day, Part 5 is for Jan. 2, and Part 6 for Epiphany, Jan 6. Bach wrote the segments of the oratorio to be performed on each of those days, not all at once, as is commonly done now. Now that is a real Christmas service!

music history geek mode /off

They're more into "praise music" like "Our God is an Awesome God." (One of my fellow choir members, in discussing this branch of music, said that she was waiting for a song titled, "We Are, Like, So Praising You.")

I would much rather hear Bach, with organ, chamber ensemble and full choir than a "christian" rock band. I want to be inspired, not grossed out.

And yes, I am a music history geek. I love all that wonderful Renaissance church music. And the bawdy madrigals as well.

That's why I stick to the Lutherans and Episcopalians.

I'm currently in a choir that does the typical English repertoire, lots of Renaissance motets, Purcell, and the late nineteenth-and early-twentieth century English composers such as Stanford, Vaughn Williams, Howells, Walton, and Britten, with a little French and German music thrown in.

I hate contemporary services. One "hymn" that our church uses has a total vocabularly of seventeen words -- it's the sacred music equivalent of "Hop on Pop."