gosh, this is good

Here's a totally excellent email from a Presbyterian pastor to his congregation explaining why his congregation is having all regularly scheduled worship services on Christmas Day, which this year also falls on our weekly feast of Christ's resurrection -- AKA Sunday.

I think it's appalling that so many pastors are suggesting that it would be somehow un-Christian to hold services of worship on Christmas Day, as this might interfere with families' taking time together on Christmas Day. First off, are we just blowing smoke when we talk about being brothers and sisters in Christ or in the human family? If your family claims to be Christian, how can you say that spending time with your sisters and brothers is not “family time”? And if you're a parent, you can be sure that your children are paying attention to how you live when they're assessing how much you mean that whole Baptismal Covenant thing. Secondly, what about those in your congregation who don't live with biological family, don't have biological family close by, and/or aren't currently on good terms with biological family? When even regularly scheduled services are canceled so parents and children can open presents together at a particular time (what on earth is wrong with the afternoon of December 25 for opening presents together, or with having the big biological-family dinner on December 24, if going to church on December 25 would somehow render it impossible to do dinner properly on that day?), what message does that send to single adults about their role in the community?

I understand that there are a lot of people who will choose to celebrate Christmas after sundown on December 24 (which is perfectly fine in our sundown-to-sundown reckoning of holy days), as in fact many of us do customarily anyway. But I've never complained about needing to work on both the evening of the 24th and the morning of the 25th, and I don't understand why it's so much of a bigger deal to go to church and/or work in one when the 25th is a Sunday. At least it isn't the 24th on a Friday, the 25th and a Saturday, and the 26th on a Sunday ... that was quite a work schedule.

Hope these final hours of Advent are a blessing to y'all!