Every few years, Christmas and church fall on the same day. On those years, Christians struggle with where to spend that day. And in our modern society, the question can be more complicated than “Skip church or skip presents.” We can find compromises or excuses thanks to online streaming, different meeting times, churches themselves skipping services, or even people redefining what “church” means.
Thus, the question isn’t whether we take part in some kind of “church-like” time in the midst of gifts, family, and food. It’s not about ticking a box and feeling like a good Christian or combating guilt with a number of excuses. Instead, what we do this Sunday will reveal our priorities.
Why is church important?
The value of regularly assembling together with a group of other believers, under the authority of one or more pastors, diminishes year by year. In an increasingly individualistic consumer culture, people base the church’s value on their own needs. If they don’t feel they need church, they don’t attend church. If they don’t like the typical church model, they change it to suit their own preferences. For many, this means refusing to commit to regular attendance at a local church if it would interfere with something else.
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25)
God doesn’t call us to treat the church as a preferential thing. He doesn’t even let us treat it as an optional thing. Church is a necessary part of how God has designed us and what Christ has saved us into. It’s where our pastors equip us, where we regularly worship the Lord with others, and it’s where we’re called to serve.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds [pastors] and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12)
Our pastors can’t equip us when we don’t sit under their teaching.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)
Corporate worship isn’t done in isolation.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
We have no opportunity to “stir up one another” or “encourage one another” by watching a live stream or encountering God during a quiet walk.
On the first day of the week [Sunday], when we were gathered together to break bread (Acts 20:7a)
There’s no biblical mandate that determines how many times a week we should meet, but there’s a reason that even the apostles met weekly. Whether we like it or not, we are called to meet together with other sinners who have been saved by the blood of Christ. To neglect the typical meeting time when something optional comes along is to claim “I’m making something more important than growing, worshiping, and serving where God has called me to.”
If you truly believe that church is important, use this article as a tool to help you evaluate where it fits in your priorities.
Our time commitments reveal our priorities
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)
A treasure is something we have a finite amount of. Where we spend it in one place, it cannot be spent in another. Thus, we show what truly matters when we give our treasure to one thing instead of another.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)
Many think of treasure as money, but our time is also a treasure. God allows us a certain amount of minutes in our lives and calls for us to use that treasure for His glory. When we fail to consider our time as a gift from Him, we often use it in ways that glorify us.
On Christmas Sunday, it’s tempting to think that skipping church is necessary because we just don’t have enough time for everything else. We look at everything we’ve committed to and realized that church is an only optional thing that can be cast aside. It’s a good thing, but it’s not the most important thing.
However, this reveals what is expendable and what is sacred in our lives.
Consider some time commitments that will keep people from church on Christmas Sunday:
- Church is too early and we want to open presents. A family tradition, or the preferences of children and/or parents, is most important.
- I have family coming in and they don’t want to attend church. A fear of judgment, or a need to please others, or social gatherings determine where we’ll spend our time.
- I’ll be too tired after Christmas Eve events. Attending an event, despite knowing its consequences the next day, means that church is the thing that must suffer.
- We go to church every week, and this is a one-time thing. Church is important, but only until something more important comes along.
- We’re celebrating baby Jesus, so it’s close enough. This alleviates guilt, but we know that Christ is barely present in any Christmas celebration we’d skip church to enjoy.
Most Christians don’t mind going to church when it works with their schedule. But given the choice between skipping church or missing something like children’s sports, hobbies, or other important events, they place their time where their heart truly lies. And in such cases, we must be honest about what we’re doing. Missing church for unnecessary things is to claim “Church is getting in the way of something more important.”
Our struggles reveal our priorities
When the discussion about missing church for a rare or one-time event comes up, many argue that skipping church once makes it easy to skip again. And while true, it misses the point. The question isn’t “What stops other things from becoming more important than church?” Rather, the question is “Why are other things already more important than church?”
When given two choices, we only struggle with them when they hold relatively equal importance to us. Consider the classic “Sophie’s Choice” dilemma – a mother in a Nazi concentration camp is told to choose between her two children. One will live while the mother must watch the other die. If she chooses neither, both will be killed. This is a struggle that is almost impossible to think about because a parent cannot comprehend deeming one child as more valuable than another.
However, consider if “Sophie’s Choice” involved choosing between her child and a rock. Suddenly there is no struggle at all. The child won’t just barely win – a mother would choose their child without a second thought because that’s how highly she values them.
Which of these shows our struggle between church and Christmas morning? If it’s a near-impossible struggle, or if we choose to sacrifice church to save Christmas, then the issue may not only be a low view of church, but an elevated view of our Christmas traditions.
Our compromises reveal our priorities
“Doing this is kind of like church.”
“It’s just one time. I go to church enough throughout the rest of the year.”
“I don’t want to be legalistic about church.”
There are countless ways we justify skipping or modifying church so we can do something optional. We may even convince ourselves that this “optional” thing is absolutely necessary. However, if we’re willing to be honest with ourselves, we know that we’re compromising in one area so we can preserve something else.
To see where our priorities lie, consider flipping the positions of church and Christmas morning. Are we willing to say “Christmas can be different just this once.” “I can miss a few hours with the family.” “Church is too important to miss.”
For many, church must bow to Christmas. Church must bend because our traditions or preferences are rigid. Because we are committed to Christmas, we must abandon our commitment to church.
In life, we compromise things that matter less so that we can stay committed to those things that matter most. We’ll can tolerate lesser versions of some things, but cannot fathom compromising our highest priorities. When comparing church and Christmas, the one we compromise reveals the one we prioritize.
Seeing the bigger picture
Many may read this and cry “legalism!” Or perhaps they’ll be more festive and cry “Grinch!” But if we set aside emotion, the entire point of this article is to call people to examine themselves.
Church can never become something we just “do” without thinking. This article isn’t telling people to mindlessly go to church. Instead, I want people to mindfully consider what they believe about church in the first place.
Christians throughout history, and even today, have risked imprisonment or even death to meet together with other believers. They don’t do it because they’re legalistic, but because they have a biblical understanding of the critical importance of church. They would sacrifice their safety, their lives, and even Christmas morning because they place their treasure in something else.
Christmas, and many other events, seem so big and important when we’re close to them. We struggle to imagine changing our traditions, upsetting family, or sacrificing our own preferences. This is where it’s important to step back and try to honestly evaluate our priorities.
Is church getting in the way of Christmas? That shows us our true priorities. No matter how we try to justify it, minimize our decisions, or even find other Christians who will give us permission to abandon our weekly gathering, this is what our actions say about our hearts: Church is getting in the way of Christmas.
A note on churches that aren’t meeting
I won’t pretend to know the heart of every pastor who chooses to modify services or close a church on Christmas morning. God has set them as leaders and shepherds of that local body of believers, and they must answer to God for every decision made to glorify God, as well as every decision made according to human wisdom. But right now, they face an inescapable teaching opportunity.
What pastors choose to do on Christmas morning will send a message to the people God calls them to equip, guide, and protect. A church member’s value of the church will be formed, justified, or challenged by whether human tradition gets to modify or cancel the weekly gathering of believers. They are learning the value of their local church from their pastors.
Should we let church get in the way of Christmas?
Whether they mean to or not, every pastor will be answering this question on Sunday. And not only must they answer it, but their actions will proclaim the answer to their entire church. It’s a difficult decision, and one that must glorify God.
Final thoughts
This is a difficult topic in our culture. Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year for Christians and non-Christians alike. It may be important, but it’s become too important.
Consider why Christians began celebrating Christmas. It’s not a biblical command, but a man-made tradition. We wanted to remember the incredible moment when God was born into the world as a man. The Messiah arrived as a baby, yet every moment of His earthly life pointed Him to the brutality of the cross. Christmas was a call for all Christians to join together and consider the incarnation of our Savior.
Today, Christmas is at odds with Christ. This discussion exists because people aren’t sure if they should worship a tradition at the expense of worshipping the Lord. We don’t know if we should make a fun holiday more important than a weekly opportunity that Christians have died to attend.
My goal isn’t to make people feel guilty. This is a tool to help Christians examine what their actions reveal about their priorities. If we believe we’re meant to gather together regularly, then why should a holiday change what God calls us to in Hebrews 10:25?
Christmas is a special day to the world, but the weekly gathering is a critical day for Christ’s church. So instead of asking “Should Christians go to church on Christmas?” perhaps we should ask “Should Christians go to church?” If we answer yes to that, we’ll know how to answer on December 25th.
