Some megachurches are closing on Christmas. And Christmas is on a Sunday, to boot! Talk about an admission that what these "churches" offer is just like any other mall or social club. The reason for closing - that they won't get enough attendance - is shocking. First, it's amazing that if "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" (as these evangelicals like to mouth all the time) they would rather stay home and open presents. Second, it's clear that what they're really afraid of is either (a) insufficient donations to match the expense of one of those multimedia extravaganzas (b) having the place look empty. Third, it shows how much this is a cultural fad, not true spirituality.
FYI, full disclosure: I go to church on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day. Same on Easter (midnight service).
Here's what makes me happy. A church that closes for Christmas is a church that will, sooner or later, close for good. And take the Republican razor-thin majority along with it. What does it say that it's easier to pack in the faithful on Election Day than Christmas?
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 9:33 AM
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I think about all those lonely people in those megachurches - the middle-aged woman whose daughter can't fly home for Christmas, the guy whose family died in a car accident, that nice young man who works in the antique shop and has an extensive Malibu Stacy collection (but just can't seem to find a nice girlfriend).
How lonely it must be to spend Christmas all by yourself, watching TV, especially if you spend every other Sunday at a prayvaganza. There are people in any church who spend a lot of time alone. Who don't have anyone speak to them or touch them outside of church. And even if five people show up for Christmas Day services, those are people who want to spend Christmas with the family they have - their church.
I was baptized on Christmas Day (I remember trying to make a break for the door, but was thwarted by my dad). I was three-ish, and while I have pretty fuzzy memories of the whole affair, I remember that our pastor was a single guy who always did a service on Christmas. It didn't matter to him that only a few diehards would show up. The church was his family. And even though most everyone else in the church would come to the Christmas Eve service with the candles and the pretty bell-ringers and the stories, he thought Christmas deserved a religious service.
I just hope these lonelyhearts get to watch the fairly secular (and quite subversive) "It's a Wonderful Life." For those of you who aren't familiar with a film, it's a movie that makes a lonely, depressed, troubled man understand that he's helped more people in his life than he'd ever realized, just by being a good person. Now it's pretty down on the wealthy, the successful businessman, and spinsters, but it's got Jimmy Stewart, a healthy dose of redemption, and a fool named Clarence. That's good cinema.
-Seventh Sister
// posted by Anonymous
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