I keep reading comments on the great "Church on Christmas Day" debate, and I don't understand it. Who cares? How many of our "Christian convictions" are really cultural, not spiritual? Is a Christmas Day service biblical or cultural? Is a Sunday or Saturday service biblical or cultural? Is Sunday School biblical or cultural (wow, I know that will really rock some of you)? Is singing hymns biblical or cultural? Is the issue of ordaining gay priests biblical or cultural...just wanted to see if you were paying attention. If these convictions are cultural (which I believe they are, excluding the last one), then why are they such hot topics? And for those of you who have chosen to get on with the real business of the church (reaching the lost and discipleship) yes, some of the preceding issues are still hot topics. I was recently talking with a worship pastor who told me they just got PowerPoint approved. How long did it take them to approve it, you ask? Only a couple of years...no, this is not a joke. The media is having a field day with the church right now regarding the "Church on Christmas Day" debate, and guess who is going to get the blue ribbon? No, it is not the church that will have a service on Christmas Day, it is...Satan. I'm sorry (...wait, no I'm not) but many Christians need to get a life or get Jesus...one or the other. Even the local Christian radio station has gotten involved by having people call in and voice their opinions on whether or not a church should have a service on Christmas Day. Fortunately no pre-Christians listen to the station because it is so lame.
Christians are turning insignificant issues into ones of importance and labeling them as spiritual debates. I guess issues regarding porn, sexual abuse, and reaching the lost are to “sensitive or uncomfortable.” Maybe I am contributing to the debate by writing this post. If I am, please let me know and I will stop.
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15 comments:
i for one don't want to go to church on christmas day.
my last comment just proved that i actually didn't read this post, and was posting my comment for the last post.
i'm now reading the most current....ummmmm.......
wow. i like what you said.
very true. so many of these things we debate over at church are of least importance compared to things like....issues regarding porn, and all the others you said.
i do think church is 90% cultural. can you tell me a church that isn't like any other church? i think i would rather meet in a house, with a group of close friends who are also beleivers and just see where the Lord leads us. sing what songs come to our heart, talk about issues that weigh upon us...not debate over should we have church on christmas day?
i'll sum it up by saying this: christians give christians a bad name. *
* not all of them, but i dare say the majority.
Leslie,
I wasn't asking for honest feedback. You are now banned from commenting on my blog.
Jon
i too was pretty frustrated with ronnie bruce. come on wdjc... get with the program. mark from mark and company was saying that "of course i'll be going to church on sunday, it's the lord's day!" i just about gagged when i heard that. the lord's day? i thought every day is the lord's day! talk about a cultural conviction- that sunday is the lord's day.
is church of the highlands having a service? what about lcbc? just curious, i hadn't heard.
it seems to me that with more and more shennanigans like this, our generation will really begin to question the way "church" is being done.
can't delve into that topic right now because i am too sleepy. but i have to say, jon, i am in full agreement with you on this subject.
You guys listen to WDJC? Wow...how lame...But I bet Jon listens to it also...lame....
wdjc....do their call letters have some deep meaning to them?
when i was at school in columbia, my univeristy broadcasted a radio station ..WMHK...aka...We make him known.
i bet it was as cheesy ad wdjc is, but i dont know, i dont listen to it?
we have good stations here in tulsa. one for the "old people" christian (which matt listens to..WHY??) ONE FOR the younger kids, like reliant k, kutless, etc etc and one for those who like the heavy metal screaming that you dont know what they are saying.
i guess you should all just move to tulsa, so that you wont be lame anymore. :)
Luke Camara is a well know Pastor/Songwriter/Friend of Jon since his college days/former user of "Answer Magazine"/and critic of WDJC/He also went to NYACK COLLEGE unlike Jon who went to Taccoa Falls
First Post I have ever made online, but I couldn't resist to get in on this conversation.
TWO QUESTIONS.
Is the Christmas Tree cultural?
If it is, then why do we care if people call it the holiday tree?
This has been amusing. I am attaching our Sr. Pastor's response to teh paper who contacted us today about this. I thought it was well said. Here it is:
Hello Helen,
Our schedule for next week will include five Christmas Eve worship services – 6:00 & 8:00 p.m. on Friday, December 23rd, and 3:00, 5:00 & 7:00 p.m. on the 24th. We are expecting a combined total of between 12,000 and 13,000 for those services.
We will not be having services on Sunday, December 25th instead we are encouraging our people to spend the morning at home celebrating the birth of Jesus with their families. Because so many people will be here the night before, we did not see the need to have them come back the next morning for another worship service. (On a normal weekend we would expect to have around 5,300 people here in attendance.)
We do not look at it as canceling services on Sunday, as much as moving our services to Friday and Saturday nights. The most important thing is not what day of the week we gather to worship, but that we have a relationship with Jesus and that we gather together at some point to worship him and celebrate his birth.
From reading different news reports I realize that not all agree with this type of arrangement. I can only imagine that to them the ritual of going to church on Christmas Day is critical. While it may be a great choice to go to church on Christmas Day, we choose to focus foremost on the relationship with Jesus.
I hope this helps, but please feel free to call or contact me if you would like further clarification.
Thanks Helen,
David
way to go pastor dave.
and nathan, congratulations on getting sucked in to the wide world of addicting blogs.
may you recover quickly.
I wonder who anonymous is. When are you, Shana, and Cala (???) coming over? Nathan, very good thought. At first I was a little upset about the Christmas tree debate, but you put it in good perspective. Leslie, I find it somewhat bothersome that you get your only news from Rick and Bubba. But then again you are a full time mom who probably has very little time for slouching like the rest of us. Especially when you are busy cleaning up...well, we won't go there.
are rick and bubba national? i want to listen.
are they anything like john boy and billy?
jon, i love the term pre-Christian.
And I'd just like to say it sics me out how "those Christians who care about issues will boycott Target for refusing to acknowledge the 'Christmas' season rather than the holiday season" (AFA)
It's not a Christianity hang up we are having here. Not to wax political but it's almost entirely to do with the state of our country being willing to bend to fit any mold except one distinctly shaped like America.
The church keeps getting choked on itself. We need a reality check every day in order to stop fighting those preChristians and instead woo them.
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