Christmas Eve

It's about 8:30 Christmas Eve morning. I'm sitting in my office making final preparations for today's services. Deana and Riley may (or may not) already be up working through their Sunday morning routine. Deana's sister Kay has spent the night with us. Roscoe and Suzy (two stray dogs I've given names) are nowhere to be seen but are surely near the house or the church.

For many people, having Christmas fall on or near a weekend is a great thing. Those who are worldly take advantage of the extra time off work for parties and family time. I like those things, too, as long as the parties are civil and sober. But it seems that some Christians feel having a Sunday and Christmas so close together puts a kink in their plans. If you are a marginal Christian (OK, a "backslidden" one) then you probably don't want church services to interrupt your Christmas activity.

HELLO!! Who said it was OK to separate church and Christmas? Christmas and Easter are the only two services each year that some people come to church. We call them CEO Christians (Christmas and Easter Only!). Even those so far out on the fringe of Christianity understand the link between Christmas and church.

Before you think I'm a dogmatic fundamentalist, let me say that the Bible says nothing about the schedule a church should keep other than to meet regularly. The New Testament indicates that Christians met for regular worship on Sunday; the writer of Hebrews warns against forsaking the regularity of meeting together. So, I'm OK with rearranging the "normal" schedule today. And I'm OK if some can't make it to everything we do today. And I'm OK if some are out of town today...as long as they attend church where they are.

Our church normally has a Bible study at 6pm and a worship service at 7pm. Tonight we are having a worship service at 5pm instead. And I want our congregation to know this is not a "mandatory" meeting; however, attendance is encouraged. Quite frankly, if a person pins their hopes of accomplishing true worship on one service or one day a year they are way off the mark anyway. We celebrate Christmas (Christ coming into the world to save us from our sins) every day and we've been specifically "Christmas-y" for the last month. One day isn't going to make or break a person's trip to Heaven.

Nevertheless, this is a great time to worship the King of kings. I hope our church will be filled with people seeking to praise him. I hope we have some of the CEOs here so that, maybe, they can catch the fire of commitment. I hope we have non-believers here - family members who come just to appease the Christian in the family - so I can present the gospel clearly and invitingly. This is Christmas Eve! What a great gift - to receive the gift of salvation today; to receive the gift of forgiveness today; to receive the gift of love, joy, and peace today; to receive the gift of reconciled relationships today.

I'm not all that concerned about the reason they will come today but I hope each one leaves having been drawn closer to Christ and with a clearer understanding of his will for them - if they can reach that point in one service or if it takes all our services.

However you choose to celebrate the holiday season, I pray the Christ of Christmas is or becomes your Savior and Lord.