INSIGHT: Christmas Day is on Sunday

This year Christmas Day falls on a Sunday.

This happens every seven years or so. Christmas Eve is on Saturday. Christmas Day is on Sunday.

The church of which I am pastor, West Main Baptist, like most churches, has adapted the practice of celebrating the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve. We do so with carols, communion and candlelight. It is simple, but lovely, and the crowds are large.

We usually do not meet on Christmas Day, except in years such as this one. This year we will gather for Christmas Eve in the late afternoon, then gather again on Sunday morning, which in our mind just happens to be the same day as Christmas. Why we will meet again is simple. For 2,000 years Sunday is the day most of the church of Jesus celebrates the resurrected Christ. It is our defining day. So we meet on that day without fail. It is our habit. It is our identity.

I have read that many churches around the country, mostly the mega-churches, are cancelling their Sunday Christmas Day services and going with Christmas Eve only. This is being done for practical reasons that are meant to support families. There is logic to the decision.

After all, Christmas Day morning is filled with many wonderful family traditions. The rising of children who bound into the living room to open presents. The cooking of the family feast. The lollygagging around in pajamas, enjoying a leisurely day on which no one is expected to work (except policemen, firefighters, nurses and convenient store employees.)

The idea of getting up on Christmas Day and dressing the whole family for a trip to the church, especially after just having been there the night before, does seem a little much, from a purely logical, family point of view. And any Christian who, after worshipping the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve, decides to remain home Sunday morning to enjoy family traditions is hardly committing a grievous sin.

Nevertheless, we will gather, as I suspect the vast majority of churches around the world will gather. Sunday morning is just our day. That’s the gist of it.

Some churches will go all out on Christmas Day. They will pull out all the stops. The music. The sermon. I understand. After all, Christmas Day is the day set aside to celebrate Christ’s birth. It is the day for the birthday party.

Other churches, like ours, will keep Sunday simple, but creative. It will not have the scale of Christmas Eve, but we will be there, worshipping. We will gather as we do every Sunday, celebrating our renewed life in Jesus. And whoever shows up, we will welcome. If it is 10 or 200, we’ll sing our songs of hope and love. We will tell the story once again. We will pray together for forgiveness and peace. We will reflect on the best ways to live in this world as followers of Jesus.

I guess it boils down to a stubborn commitment to what makes us who we are. As much as we value family, and family values, we really believe more in the transforming power of a relationship with Christ. Christ is first. Christ is the defining relationship that shapes all other relationships. We think that when we submit ourselves to the disciplines of our faith, one of which is gathering for worship each Sunday, we are healing our families and our personal lives. We are getting our priorities straight.

On those years when Sunday intrudes on Christmas Day family festivities, it is awkward, even a little inconvenient. But it is also a strong reminder to us that we are more than moms and dads and siblings and grandparents, we are followers of Jesus, in whom we live, move and have our being.

Bruce Wilson is the pastor of West Main Baptist Church.