Preparing Your Family for Christmas Day Worship
Bereans,
2022 is another year that Christmas falls on a Sunday. The first time Christmas fell on a Sunday after Berean Covenant Church was formed (December 30, 2000), the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer ran a front page story on how the largest church in Columbus (at that time) was canceling services on Christmas day. It was a big deal at the time, not just because the L-E actually had tens of thousands of readers and still was quite influential in the community, but because it was the first time that an evangelical church of any size had done such a thing.
I remember reading that the pastor said that they wanted people to be able to spend time celebrating the holiday with their families, and that their church was going to have a Christmas Eve service instead, where children could come in their pajamas. In the article, the secular journalist was questioning the reasoning behind the decision, as even non-believers wonder, "Isn't Christmas the reason you Christians meet on all the other Sundays?" Of course, the answer to the question is self-evident.
Unfortunately, for the 3-4 "Christmas Sundays" that have passed since then, the trend has only grown bigger to have a cutesy, cuddly, pajama-type party on Christmas Eve, then call it a weekend as far as worshiping the Messiah's first coming. "That's enough for us, we've got presents to unwrap and family traditions to keep."
Well, that's not how Christians for centuries have viewed Christmas Day. The Advent, which made the death and resurrection of our Savior possible, is indeed the reason we meet on the Lord's Day. We do so in anticipation of His return. When Christmas falls on Sunday, it is all the more reason to celebrate with the people that will spend eternity with us, worshiping the Lord who made that possible!
I understand that missing a worship service any day of the year is not a law and is not always a sin. Sin is a matter of the heart motives, which only God can know. The reasons for not attending worship on Christmas Sunday can be complex, for which you will each need to examine your heart as to whether your motive is pure (such as wanting to visit a relative who may be near the end of life), or whether it is driven by such things as the fear of man or love of pleasure. The following article by Kevin DeYoung sums up some of the main points for why we will still plan to worship on Christmas Day.
Article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/a-plea-to-pastors-dont-cancel-church-on-christmas/
The point of this blog post, though, is not simply to convince you of the reasons to plan to meet, but to help you prepare your family to worship, particularly if you have small children. I totally understand that most of your children will want to be at home opening presents and playing with new toys much more than they will want to get dressed and go to church.
I also recognize that some of your most fierce opposition to attending church on Christmas Day will come from extended family who will want to spend the morning together (See Luke 14:26-27). I am further aware of the emotional "tug" that family traditions have for you, especially those who did not have positive family experiences as a child and desperately want to establish positive traditions for your own children.
I get all that, therefore, I want to help you by suggesting some practical ways you can make worship attendance on Christmas Day a positive, joyful occasion for your children and a gospel witness to your family members.
2022 is another year that Christmas falls on a Sunday. The first time Christmas fell on a Sunday after Berean Covenant Church was formed (December 30, 2000), the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer ran a front page story on how the largest church in Columbus (at that time) was canceling services on Christmas day. It was a big deal at the time, not just because the L-E actually had tens of thousands of readers and still was quite influential in the community, but because it was the first time that an evangelical church of any size had done such a thing.
I remember reading that the pastor said that they wanted people to be able to spend time celebrating the holiday with their families, and that their church was going to have a Christmas Eve service instead, where children could come in their pajamas. In the article, the secular journalist was questioning the reasoning behind the decision, as even non-believers wonder, "Isn't Christmas the reason you Christians meet on all the other Sundays?" Of course, the answer to the question is self-evident.
Unfortunately, for the 3-4 "Christmas Sundays" that have passed since then, the trend has only grown bigger to have a cutesy, cuddly, pajama-type party on Christmas Eve, then call it a weekend as far as worshiping the Messiah's first coming. "That's enough for us, we've got presents to unwrap and family traditions to keep."
Well, that's not how Christians for centuries have viewed Christmas Day. The Advent, which made the death and resurrection of our Savior possible, is indeed the reason we meet on the Lord's Day. We do so in anticipation of His return. When Christmas falls on Sunday, it is all the more reason to celebrate with the people that will spend eternity with us, worshiping the Lord who made that possible!
I understand that missing a worship service any day of the year is not a law and is not always a sin. Sin is a matter of the heart motives, which only God can know. The reasons for not attending worship on Christmas Sunday can be complex, for which you will each need to examine your heart as to whether your motive is pure (such as wanting to visit a relative who may be near the end of life), or whether it is driven by such things as the fear of man or love of pleasure. The following article by Kevin DeYoung sums up some of the main points for why we will still plan to worship on Christmas Day.
Article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/a-plea-to-pastors-dont-cancel-church-on-christmas/
The point of this blog post, though, is not simply to convince you of the reasons to plan to meet, but to help you prepare your family to worship, particularly if you have small children. I totally understand that most of your children will want to be at home opening presents and playing with new toys much more than they will want to get dressed and go to church.
I also recognize that some of your most fierce opposition to attending church on Christmas Day will come from extended family who will want to spend the morning together (See Luke 14:26-27). I am further aware of the emotional "tug" that family traditions have for you, especially those who did not have positive family experiences as a child and desperately want to establish positive traditions for your own children.
I get all that, therefore, I want to help you by suggesting some practical ways you can make worship attendance on Christmas Day a positive, joyful occasion for your children and a gospel witness to your family members.
Ideas to Consider
- Do not try to open all your gifts before church on Sunday morning. You will be setting yourself and your children up for failure. Everyone will be tired, the children will not want to leave their gifts, and no one will be able to focus on worship because you've all spent the morning overstimulated.
- Have everyone open one gift before church, then the family will open the rest after you return from church. If you choose this option, do one of the following to heighten the anticipation:
- Let your children pick the gift they are most interested in opening.
- You strategically decide which gift they will open. If it is a child that likes clothing, have him/her open something he/she can wear to church. They'll be excited about changing into it and showing their friends and church family the new dress/shoes/hat/necklace/etc.
- You strategically decide which gift they will open based on how "stimulating" the gifts may be, avoiding any that might tempt your child to have a bad attitude when they have to leave it behind to attend church.
- Have everyone in your family bring a gift to church for someone else.
- It could be a homemade card, food gift, or something else your children have made.
- Make a big deal out of having them choose the person they want to bless with their gift. (If you do not know for sure whether the person will be in attendance, check with them ahead of time, or have an alternate person in mind.)
- Use the opportunity to build excitement about the blessings of giving versus receiving.
- Open all your presents after you return home from church, having blessed other people first.
- Move your normal Christmas morning celebration to Christmas Eve or Christmas night.
- You can still save one or more presents for Christmas morning, but move the main present opening to a time when you won't be rushed to get everyone ready for corporate worship.
- Be careful not to make a bigger deal of our "traditions" than we do the worship of Christ. Our traditions have only temporal, not eternal, value.
- Make a big deal out of the Christmas Breakfast. (I do not consider this a part of the worship service, but simply another way to have fellowship of believers on Christmas Day. Therefore, I consider the breakfast as totally optional, whereas the worship service is something you should consider more seriously.)
- Have your children help prepare some of the meal items you'll bring.
- We'll have hot chocolate for them to enjoy on a cold Christmas morning!
- Invite family members to come with you to church (and the breakfast, too).
- Share with them that meeting together on the Lord's Day is part of our weekly routine and that you do not want your children to get the idea that presents and toys are more important than our weekly gathering.
- Encourage them to come hear a Christmas message preached, participate in hearty singing of Christmas songs, and enjoy loving fellowship, after which you can go home and continue the celebration.
- If they give you pushback, kindly ask them why they celebrate Christmas, and what they think Christmas is all about. (In the case of unbelieving family members, you may be able to point out the irony of someone who does not profess faith in Christ telling a Christian what is most important about celebrating the birth of Christ!)
- Ask your children if they have suggestions for how they might like to combine Christmas celebrations with Christmas morning worship...they may surprise you with ideas! (If they do, share them with me and with others!)
- Overall, instead of thinking of your Christmas traditions as fixed and unchangeable every year, begin thinking of them as your "Regular Christmas traditions" and your "Sunday Christmas traditions."
- Regular Christmas traditions are what you do for the majority of your Christmases. Be sure you are not elevating your Christmas traditions above your normal worship traditions.
- Sunday Christmas traditions are what you do roughly every seven years. These Christmases can actually become more special because they will be the traditions that don't happen as often!
- Our traditions should be a joyful blessing that serve us, not burdens that bind us.
Benefits
- Christmas on Sunday is a tremendous opportunity to instill in your children the virtue of patience and to teach the the value of delayed gratification.
- Discussions with your children and family about why this year is different will present a golden opportunity to explain the gospel and the true meaning of Christmas.
- Your children will implicitly learn that we all live for things and purposes much greater than ourselves, that the world (and calendar) do not revolve around their desires.
These are just some of the ways that you can start preparing your family to celebrate Christmas this year with corporate worship as a priority. However you choose to celebrate, don't wait until the last minute to tell the children what you'll do. Let them have time to process it and prepare their hearts for the things you will do differently this year.
Grace and peace to you,
J.W.
Recent
Archive
2024
2023
January
March
April
May
August
September
October
November
2022
September
October
November