Non Denominational Christmas Services

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hope1960
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
We’re actually celebrating Christmas tomorrow, withered the exception of Mass on Christmas Eve.
 
And yet, you are stating the day of Christmas. So there is an acknowledged day .
 
I can celebrate and honor every day the lives and sacrifices of the men and women who have served in the military too, but that’s just living my every day life. However, there is meaning in the human gesture of setting aside a specific day which has the “theme” of a very specific purpose. It causes everyone in the group in which that theme has meaning to spend the day intensely focusing on celebrating and honoring that theme. Whether it’s honoring the men and women who have protected a nation, honoring the men and women who keep a nation alive and running through their every day labors no matter how small, honoring the end of a war, honoring a person’s birthday because they are a part of your life and you find joy in their existence, and even honoring Christ being born on Earth because without his birth there could have been no death.

In the case of Christmas it’s an intense joy and celebration of the wonderful mystery that is the Incarnation. That God loved us so much that He would come in the form of a little child. He grew in a human family. He experience human emotions. In my mind it makes it so much easier to grasp the concept of God “understanding” us because He also lived as one of us in all things but sin. In the end, if He had not deigned to lower Himself to human flesh His Passion as we know it wouldn’t even be possible. Christmas time is a time set aside by humans, because we are physical, to remember this and to find joy in it because of what in the end it brought to us as a fallen people.

Disparaging something because it is man-made seems kinda silly to me. All the trappings that people have added on to it, sure, but to look down because humans have set aside a single day to focus their honor and praise on the Lord’s birth is confusing. I use Church holidays as a focus for my day’s meditation and contemplation instead of picking the topic myself.
 
Last edited:
RoseScented said:
Disparaging something because it is man-made seems kinda silly to me.
Click to expand...
Where have I disparaged Christmas? I was simply trying to explain the mindset. Christmas is a man-made holiday. That is neither a negative nor positive statement. It is simply a fact.
 
I followed that thread and there were a bit more then just Catholic and Lutheran Priests. For instance Presbyterian and Episcopalians would have pretty stringent educational requirements. Unless you meant you only have Lutherans and Catholic churches where you live?
 
I don’t know about non-denominational churches. But the Church Of Christ around the corner from us has Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services.
 
ltwin said:
40.png
RoseScented:
Disparaging something because it is man-made seems kinda silly to me.
Click to expand...
Where have I disparaged Christmas? I was simply trying to explain the mindset. Christmas is a man-made holiday. That is neither a negative nor positive statement. It is simply a fact.
Click to expand...
Sorry for going off a bit. All of my interactions with non-Catholics will use “man-made” to mean something isn’t worth interacting with and should be actively avoided and condemned. It’s always a negative statement whenever I encounter it in conversation; especially about religious matters. (I interact with a lot of people who think that the actual physical world, including their bodies, should be always thought of as evil. So something being “of man” would naturally be something evil. I don’t agree, but it do understand how they get there.) As a statement of fact it is true that as a holiday it is man-made as all holidays are. Their inspirations aren’t necessarily man-made by default (Incarnation, Resurrection, etc.) but the actual act of marking a day for commemoration is.

Once again, I beg pardon.
 
Last edited:
Could be possible but where I am from I have not encountered a Church not having a Christmas service.
 
Hope1960 said:
What’s up with skipping regular weekend worship and having Christmas services on the day before Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve only?
Click to expand...
I always felt it was a mistake that some pastors argue not having services on Christmas Day is good because it’s about family.
Right, Christmas is about family, trees and presents.
 
My husband was an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene for six years until he resigned in September in order that we could attend RCIA and join the Catholic Church at the coming Easter vigil. To become ordained, he had to have extensive theological education-years of classes (he had a Master’s in ministry and additional religion courses). This was checked through yearly interviews (and I was also required to be interviewed before his ordination).

Obviously, we have come to believe that the Catholic Church is the true church, but I just share this to say that many Protestant denominations require extensive religious/ministry/education training.
 
ltwin said:
Where have I disparaged Christmas? I was simply trying to explain the mindset. Christmas is a man-made holiday. That is neither a negative nor positive statement. It is simply a fact.
Click to expand...
Well, yes and no. Christmas is Jesus’ Birthday. The exact day He was born in unknown.
 
ltwin said:
It’s a man-made holiday. We can celebrate the birth of Jesus literally every day of the year if we wanted. What difference does it make to celebrate the birth of Jesus in church on the Sunday before Christmas and celebrate with our family on the day of Christmas?
Click to expand...
I don’t think it actually is a man made day.

Dr Taylor Marshall makes a rather interesting argument why Dec 25 is the actual birthday of Jesus Christ.

Here is his video pod cast explaining this theory & research: Was Christ Born on December 25? Yes! Dr Marshall Explains [Podcast] - Taylor Marshall

And here is his free eBook explaining his position: https://taylormarshall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Gods-Birthday-Dec-18.pdf

God Bless and Merry Christmas
 
I got an email from the ND pastor I’ve been talking with and he was just busy with Christmas, he wasn’t offended by my questions.
 
I’m Catholic, however, I work at a nondenominational church as their sexton!
The nondenominational church I work for DOES have a Christmas Eve service!
The pastor there and I did have a civil discussion about the differences in Holy days!
She explained to me that they do NOT have many Holy days as DOES the Catholics!
My rite of the Catholic Church has a few more Holy Days of Obligation than does
the Roman Rite!
 
Last edited:
I have never heard of December 23 worship services when I was not Catholic until I became an RCIA attendant. I don’t really know why non-denominational churches do not hold masses, or worship services during these days. However, more traditional branches, such as Anglicanism or Lutheranism, hold services on these days, I heard. Please correct me I am wrong.
 
Herculees said:
The nondenominational church I work for DOES have a Christmas Eve service!
The pastor there and I did have a civil discussion about the differences in Holy days!
She explained
Click to expand...
The fact that the non-denominational Church has a female pastor tells me that it’s not of a fundamentalist bent that would object to Christmas celebrations.
 
I have often wondered about this. The only non-Catholic churches I see that have services on Christmas Eve/Day are Anglican/Episcopalian ones. Protestant churches do not seem to have them. It makes me wonder if they have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas and only view it in the modern, secular way. It is as if they are saying we cannot intrude on people’s Christmas by having church services.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top