Today's Times notes that several "megachurches," including Mega-Mother-Church Willow Creek and the Campbellite "Fort God" Southland Christian Church, have canceled services for Sunday, December 25, 2005 (link requires free registration, and what kind of gentle reader are you if you won't register for the NY Times?).
SWNID, wanting to be right on this and all issues, will set forth an definitive opinion after rumination. We supply the link to this interesting story to give gentle readers the chance to ruminate too.
We will briefly note the following, however, as this constitutes a regular SWNID topos:
In its original social context, the Christian observance of the Lord's day was a powerful theological statement. In the Graeco-Roman world, only Jews counted days by sevens. To do something special on a seven-day calendar was to say, I am part of Israel, the people of the God of Abraham and Moses.
But Jews didn't do something special on day one of the seven days. They observed day seven as a day of rest, commemorating creation and deliverance from Egypt; secondarily, they met in the synagogue for prayer and the reading of Scripture on that day.
Christians, on the other hand, gathered on the first day, not for a Christian Sabbath (Christian Jews continued to attend synagogues for as long as they were welcome, or at least not thrown out) but to commemorate the resurrection of Christ. Observance of what they called the "Lord's Supper," a revision of the annual Jewish Passover, as a celebration of the death of Christ, coincided with this gathering to celebrate the resurrection.
Hence, Christians, gathering on the first day of the Jewish seven-day calendar, in effect said:
- We believe ourselves to be the true people of the God of Abraham.
- We have been made such by an action of God that is like his freeing the Israelite slaves from Egypt, only greater; namely, God has redeemed us by the death of Christ.
- We have been made such by an action of God that took everyone by surprise on the first day of the week; namely, God raised Jesus from the dead.
- This is so great and wonderful that we celebrate it not once a year like Passover, but once a week.
Now, back to the "megachurches." Those guys, following the Willow Creek model of suburban seeker-sensitivity, have always eschewed symbols. They communicate by music, drama, and the spoken and written word. But symbols--be they the later developments like crosses on walls or pictures in stained glass windows or the biblical originals like baptism and the Lord's supper--are played down or altogether ignored in the Willow Creek model.
So it's hardly surprising that the significance of first-day observance, already heard only faintly in a culture that lives for the "weekend," is being gently skipped one year out of every seven. And it's no surprise that it's being replaced with exhortations to and resources for "family worship," as strengthening families is always near the top of the agenda in the Willow Creek model.
Hmm. Maybe we have already offered a definitive opinion.
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*It is not easy for the Times to adopt a popular term. Following its style sheet that demands that individuals in a story be referred to first by their first and last names and then by their last name with the appropriate title (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr.), the Times is said to have referred to rock star Meat Loaf as "Mr. Loaf."
9 comments:
Are they sure it's not "Dr. Loaf?"
SWIND,
it never ceases to amaze me the great lengths, back flips, and positions in which we, the church, will contort ourselves into to make the simplistic teachings of the faith complex. This particular "gentle reader" is becoming increasingly "not impressed" with the "mega-church" and the ministry philosophies that they continually put forth. And if I might add, I am sure that with the following these churches have, namely smaller churches with a desire to be "baby" mega-churches, will follow in the lead of their mother, and close their doors as well. So much for sharing the real reason for the season!!!!
mars hill church in grand rapids cancelled their sunday morning service last year as well (when Christmas fell on a saturday). they rescheduled their service for thursday night and held 2 services.
and to dynitta (i'd LOVE to know what your middle name is): luckily, most of the baby mega-churches out there can't afford to be closed on Christmas day.
For the purposes of amusing a follow gentle reader with the screen name "rustypants," I am friend of SWIND, and my middle name is: Jahna.
And recently over dinner with friends, this gentle reader was informed that smaller churches indeed are closing their doors on the morning of the Christ Mass. As for this reader, I will be sitting in my pew, bible in hand, and hopefully listening to the smooth sound of SWIND as he blows on his trusty sax. Blow SWIND, BLOW!!!!!
The thing that seems to be overlooked by the "MSM" here is what the churches in question ARE doing which in most cases is far more than the "traditional" church. They seem to be mesmerized by what they are NOT doing, namely holding an assembly onone specific day. Also the "mega-churches" as well as the "baby mega-churches" are volunteer driven not clergy driven. If the church is clergy driven it's no big deal to "have a service" but as a worship leader who must staff worship services on days like Christmas and Christmas Eve I can attest to the problems of staffing these services when volunteers are loathe to serve on these special times because they serve every other week of the year.
Raymond
P.S. I have to go to church now and be involved in a musical production involving about 100 people who have given up about 3 months of 3 per week rehearsals and 7 performances over the course of 10 days. I can't understand why their families may be reluctant to give them up to lead worship on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.
Raymond
As a member of a so called "mega church" my entire life and being close to pastors of some of the particular churches in question I thought I would throw in my two cents. First of all I think the leaders have the best of intentions with the no-church sunday morning, and that it does not matter what day a person goes to church, in my opinion the day means nothing at all. It should also be noted that I am not simply agreeing with what some of these churches are doing because I attend one, I find myself disagreeing with what my church does fairly often. Lastly, Jon Weece, pastor at one of the "mega churches" spoke about the whole issue at length the past sunday, I would reccomend everyone listen.
http://www.southlandchristian.org/exec/messages/1/422
While we agree that "it does not matter what day a person goes to church," we also disagree. Symbols matter. We say things with them. When I gather with the brothers and sisters on the first day, I confess my belief that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day. That, gentle readers, matters.
We can say that in other ways, of course. But we've been saying it this way since the beginning of this Christian thing. As we've also been dipping people in water and eating flat bread washed down with grape drink.
Here's an idea. We could start celebrating Christmas on the first Monday after the 25th, like all those postal holidays. In so doing, we'd relieve the megachurches of the terrible burden they find themselves having to bear every seven years, and, more importantly, we'd guarantee that everyone--Christians and pagans alike--would get a three-day weekend. Come to think of it, we could do the same for Easter. I can already hear the morning Scripture reading: "And on the fourth day he arose from the dead."
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