Why are the parking lots at Protestant Churchs emty on Christmas morning?

[Carlan]

perhaps they believe that driving is work and work is considered a sin on such days like Sundays etc Or may be they simply walk to church rather than drive. Quite a few people in our church walk to church…

Or may be their service is at a different time to yours, as our priest does two services Christmas Day as with every Sunday and naturally He cannot be in two churches at the same time and thus service is at a different time. Such a simple explanation why their carpark may be empty. Service may not actually be happening at that time.

Why do Catholics have to drive to church each time I could ask in return. Couldn’t they leave their cars at home and help to do their bit to look after our environment and not polute the air etc.

Hello Englishredrose, how I would love to live close to my church,I would be there for mass most days. As it is our town is small, no public transport, not a large city ,only one Catholic Church, we live in the so called Bible belt area of the south.so having to drive is essential. Merry Christmas, Carlan

 

[IrishRush]

The rumor is that Catholics come by and steal the cars.

:yup:

 

[Julia_Mae]

I live in the Bible belt and between my home and my Church I pass about 8 or so protestant churches .The parking lots are always emty on Christmas day. On such a special day I’ve always wondered why.
Peace, Carlan

All day? Probably not unless they have midnight services, which are common,.

On Christmas morning, as I recall, Protestants open presents, have breakfast and go to church at 12-2ish. Unless it’s a church with Christmas service at midnight - actual midnight, Christmas Eve.

Only Catholics have the practice of multiple services on Christmas Day as far as I know. Sounds good, but then, for all the years I sang in the choir, not once during their growing up years was our music director home with his children for Christmas. Unless he literally stayed awake 24 hours straight. Which he sometimes did.

It’s brutal on the staff.

 

[Carlan]

All day? Probably not unless they have midnight services, which are common,.

On Christmas morning, as I recall, Protestants open presents, have breakfast and go to church at 12-2ish. Unless it’s a church with Christmas service at midnight - actual midnight, Christmas Eve.

Only Catholics have the practice of multiple services on Christmas Day as far as I know. Sounds good, but then, for all the years I sang in the choir, not once during their growing up years was our music director home with his children for Christmas. Unless he literally stayed awake 24 hours straight. Which he sometimes did.

It’s brutal on the staff.

Gosh Julia, I would think most music dirctors would love the Mass celebrations ,especially those on Easter and Christmas and the joy given the people during the celebration of Mass the worship of God and with most beautiful Hymns/Carols.

Brutal?? Not a very joyful or happy word is it!
Peace, Carlan

 

[Jeanne_S]

Its hard enough to get people to go to church on Christmas morning when it actually falls on a Sunday. Getting them to go when it isn’t Sunday is a real hassle. No one really wants to be there. Families make plans Christmas mornings.

While you’d think it would be important to observe the birth of Christ on the actual day, it really isn’t. It’s not like its Jesus’s actual birthday anyway, so if you hold religious services a few days earlier whats the big deal? My church does all of its Christmas stuff the Sunday before Christmas.

You might not feel this way if you ever experienced Mass,receiving the Eucharist.

 

[airforcemom]

I worked with a Baptist secretary who bragged about the fact that they went to church twice on Sunday and on Wednesday - she almost fell off her chair when I told her I went to Mass six days a week - she had no clue we had daily Mass - she was also shocked we had a vigil on Christmas Eve, Midnight Mass, Mass at Dawn and Mass on Christmas Day and that we did the same thing for Easter. The Baptist church across the street from my house is empty on Christmas Eve and will be empty tomorrow too.

 

[AbideWithMe]

Merry Christmas, everyone! Can we please not turn this into a holier than thou thread?

 

[DaveBj]

Reminds me of when we were living in MD, we drove overnight to get to my parents’ home in Elkhart, Indiana for Christmas. En route we passed through a major cold front – temp was about 45 or so when we started out, something on the order of minus 25 when we got there about 0500 Saturday morning. And it stayed cold, so cold that the air was blue (what the Russians call a siniy moroz.

Christmas was the next day (Sunday) that year, and the Protestant churches (including my mom’s Pentecostal church) were falling all over themselves cancelling services, but not the two Catholic parishes in town. My wife was still Catholic at the time, so I (20 years from my own conversion) went with her to Mass.

(Side note – between my father’s Buick, my brother’s 280Z, and our '79 Malibu, ours was the only car running )

snip

Why do Catholics have to drive to church each time I could ask in return. Couldn’t they leave their cars at home and help to do their bit to look after our environment and not polute the air etc.

You were joking, right? It’s 10 miles from our house to church.

 

[Journey322]

I live in the Bible belt and between my home and my Church I pass about 8 or so protestant churches .The parking lots are always emty on Christmas day. On such a special day I’ve always wondered why.
Peace, Carlan

Protestant churches don’t hold services on Christmas morning. This is often a service on Christmas Eve, however.

 

[liturgyluver]

Protestant churches don’t hold services on Christmas morning. This is often a service on Christmas Eve, however.

The liturgical Protestant churches - Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Methodists most certainly do have Christmas Day services - my local baptist church is having two!

 

[Cat]

Keep in mind that many Protestant pastors are married with children. It’s tough on the kids to have Daddy (or in some denominations, Mommy) busy at church services on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. So a lot of Protestant churches give their pastor(s) the evening/day off so that they can have some time with their spouse/partner and children.

As for the musicals on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day–it’s rare in evangelical Protestant churches. So many people are gone or busy for the holidays. What you usually see is the church musical or cantata during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

While I was growing up, the Christmas Eve candlelight Communion service was the norm. Beautiful and so meaningful. Please don’t knock it if you’ve never been Protestant–I loved it back then. Yes, I know, the Communion is just a “symbol,” but what a beautiful symbol! And it’s an easy service to plan. Usually just acapella carols, and no sermon–just a reading of a few Christmas Bible passages, or maybe some testimonies from the laypeople. And Communion is just grape juice and crackers, so no big deal.

 

[Julia_Mae]

Gosh Julia, I would think most music dirctors would love the Mass celebrations ,especially those on Easter and Christmas and the joy given the people during the celebration of Mass the worship of God and with most beautiful Hymns/Carols.

Brutal?? Not a very joyful or happy word is it!
Peace, Carlan

They aren’t enjoying the celebrations, they are working a complex system that has the highest expectations and the greatest consequences with every small failure. It’s incredibly stressful and exhausting. Would you want to miss most of your kids week-end events? Have to work every single Christmas Eve and Day and every Easter Vigil and Day for your whole working life, which is the time your kids are growing up?

Brutal is appropriate here.

 

[iloveangels]

They aren’t enjoying the celebrations, they are working a complex system that has the highest expectations and the greatest consequences with every small failure. It’s incredibly stressful and exhausting. Would you want to miss most of your kids week-end events? Have to work every single Christmas Eve and Day and every Easter Vigil and Day for your whole working life, which is the time your kids are growing up?

Brutal is appropriate here.

Let’s not be wussies now. It’s not that hard. I’ve been in a few good working choirs and practiced many hours over and above working swing shift. There are many harder things to do in this life. [PS. Those choirs were quite a few years ago. Catholics no longer have REAL choirs. We have bad-sounding ensembles now–who clearly don’t practice enough.]

People understandably have Christmas on the brain now, but about 3 Catholics would show up at an Easter sunrise service in the middle of a field in front of 3 crosses. Before dawn so the service can start right at dawn, in below freezing weather, singing The Old Rugged Cross. This is an old Protestant practice that some congregations still do, although I think most of them have finally dropped it. Now that’s getting closer to tough.

 

[jrtrent]

I live in the Bible belt and between my home and my Church I pass about 8 or so protestant churches .The parking lots are always emty on Christmas day. On such a special day I’ve always wondered why.

Depending on the protestant churches you’re driving past, it could be that they don’t recognize Christmas as a legitimate celebration. Many in the reformed tradition don’t see in scripture any warrant for the celebration of Christ’s birth; therefore, following the regulative principle of worship, Christmas is simply not observed:

“Nowhere in Scripture are we commanded to worship God by setting aside a special day to commemorate the observance of Christmas, Easter, or any other holy day except the Lord’s Day. Accordingly, we must reject the observance of these in the Church as inconsistent with the will of our Head Jesus Christ and unsanctioned by his apostles. Despite the prevalence of the practice in evangelical churches all other sic] the world, we cannot in good conscience participate in the religious observance of Christmas. We neither censure those who disagree with us nor view them with animosity. We humbly affirm this position because we sincerely believe it is the one that our Savior dictates to us in his inspired, all-sufficient Word.” covenant-rpcus.org/node/534

 

[Indifferently]

It is certainly the norm in English Protestant churches to celebrate the holy Eucharist on Christmas day.

 

[hn160]

At my LC-MS church, we have a lessons and carols candlelight service on Christmas Eve because we practice close communion and there are many visitors that are not LC-MS Lutherans that come to it. On Christmas Day, we have our communion service.

 

[Carlan]

They aren’t enjoying the celebrations, they are working a complex system that has the highest expectations and the greatest consequences with every small failure. It’s incredibly stressful and exhausting. Would you want to miss most of your kids week-end events? Have to work every single Christmas Eve and Day and every Easter Vigil and Day for your whole working life, which is the time your kids are growing up?

Brutal is appropriate here.

Ahhhh! So sad to think of a career choice for the head of a family as being, or believing it to be, a brutal activity out of which a loving family is not able to rejoice with thanks. The privilege of serving the people of God in such a joyful way while earning a fair enough living for ones family it seems to me would be something to really be thankful for. Peace, Carlan

 

[cath4alltime]

I suspect Protestants may not place a huge emphasis on Christ-Mass. We had a Mass at my Church today but I know of no Protestants who did.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

My wife’s Baptist church had both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. I usually go to her Christmas Day service, while attending one of our own Catholic Christmas Eve mass (there are two Eve masses).

I honestly can’t remember what my old Presbyterian Church did - whether they had a Christmas Eve and / or Day service. I think it might have been Christmas Eve only. I suppose to all intents and purposes, they thought that served the purpose of commemorating Christmas.

 

[maltmom]

We have the Eucharist on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - how many chances do Lutherans have to receive two days in a row?!!!

[to my Catholic brethren - you can stop smirking now]

hmmmmmmm are you watching me through my webcam??

I just checked the website for my old Baptist church. They had a Christmas Eve service only. I don’t remember what we did when I was growing up Presbyterian.