Christmas Day falls on Sunday this year. One sign of the times is that some churches are canceling their worship services that day. If it is true that some people only go to church at Christmas and Easter, why cancel church? I believe Christmas on Sunday is a very important time for friends and families to worship together. Christmas Day can also be a very stressful and exhausting time for many. This year we will open the church doors for our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Lord’s Supper Service on Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. and gather at 10:00 a.m. for a Christmas morning brunch and worship hour. Christmas on Sunday is special.
For someone on their own or even traveling, Christmas can become a quiet and unsettling day. In 2006, Christmas Day was on a Monday. That meant two special Sunday services on Christmas Eve. Our family, for what must have been some really good reason, had decided to go on a brief holiday cruise to Mexico, leaving from Galveston on Christmas afternoon. That meant a family caravan road trip leaving around 10:30 p.m. on a rainy Christmas Eve. As we drove through the night the topic of conversation was about all the closed gas stations. We arrived at Dayna and Kevin’s Waco home around 4:30 a.m., took a brief nap, opened Christmas presents, then headed for Houston in three cars. We met Kevin’s parents at the only open restaurant in Houston for a too quick lunch, then we were back on the road, looking for open gas stations, barely making it to Galveston in time to board the ship. That was an exhausting and stressful Christmas day.
What is always open on Christmas day is a different kind of sanctuary—movie theaters. The shared experience of a movie is a refuge for some and a point of connection for others. The church is that and so much more. It’s an encounter with the true and living God, who “became flesh and dwelt among us,” Jesus. It’s the place where we come to know authentic grace and truth. Here we can cast our burdens on the Lord, and hear His call to service and mission.
Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Make Christmas on Sunday special. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.
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