Explain Again, Please
This sure caught my attention on my RSS feed from columnist Ben Witherington III on BeliefNet.com...

I suppose it had to happen. The megachurch in Lexington (Southland Christian) consulted with other megachurches like Willow Creek and decided that they would close on Dec. 25th, even though it's a Sunday and even though it's Christmas Day! The rationale given in our local newspaper, The Lexington-Herald Leader, was: people are so busy and Christmas is supposed to be a family day, so this decision was made as a family-friendly gesture. But wait a minute--whose birthday is it anyway? And which family is supposed to be serving which--the family of faith or the physical family? Talking about putting the EM-Phasis on the wrong syl-LABLE.

No church on a Sunday because it's Christmas. Hmmm. Sure there won't be a whole lot of people there so maybe it's a good money-saving move. Sure, we all want to have that precious time with family digging through the wrapping paper. But I have to agree with Witherington.

This is downright scary. If someone would suggest that we cancel church on say, the year when July 4th is a Sunday because, well, you know, it's important to celebrate our nation and, after all, those picnics are for families, we would go after them as being anti-Christian. But when a branch of the church says that Christmas is about family, which is, I think, a secular idea, they think they're doing God's work. I have a hunch they are, in reality, just giving one more reason for the society to see Christmas as a secular holiday.

Now, I have to admit that for every Christmas from 1984 - 2003 I was serving a church where we had a service on Christmas morning every year. I would have loved to spend time with family at home. Instead we went to church together. Isn't that what CHURCH is all about?

Let me end with another paragraph from Witherington's column:

It is past time that these sorts of churches be called to account. It is time for them to realize that they have simply capitulated to the larger culture's agenda on issue after issue, in this case in supporting the worship of the idol called family in place of the worship of Jesus. The church does not exist to serve the world, but rather to save the world. The church does not exist to serve the physical family, but rather to redeem it...