Christmas Doesn’t Matter Anymore

Pews have been emptying for many years now. Services have gone from traditional to entertainment in just one generation. Newer generations just couldn’t be bothered with a service centered on time-tested prayers, religious music, and most importantly, God. No, they had to focus the service on themselves, like everything else in their lives, so services became a place where people expressed themselves in made-up song, dance, and art useful for the moment. The more elaborate, so much the better to reach the Divine. Never mind that our ancestors found God in plain clapboard churches or simply read their Bibles. In fact, these days, if fancy doesn’t do it for you anymore, why not skip church altogether? Christmas Day services will not be held at several major churches this year. One pastor rationalized that staying home on Christmas Day ‘decentralizes’ the church, apparently a good thing. Hey Reverend, how about this--it dilutes, diminishes, or eventually destroys the church. (Funny how liberals want to centralize State power to rule over others, but love to decentralize religious institutions.) Another evangelical church will be handing out a DVD, the better to reach the masses with. I guess that the tired masses that can’t make it to church all own DVD players. The religious leaders of these churches opine that the Christmas story is really a family story about a couple who had a baby, so to honor Jesus, just spend quality time with your own family. Yes, I’m sure that the millions who can now stay home from church guilt-free (sorry Catholics, not you) will be solemnly contemplating the meaning of the birth of Christ, heads bent in prayer, voices lifted in songs of praise. Yes, I’m sure that each poor believer has a family with which to worship. Come on, if the supposed role model for the flock won’t even be working on Christmas Day, why would the flock be doing anything else but going hither and yon doing whatever it damn well pleases? Hmmm…let’s try to imagine a world without churches and church services…hey, clergy wouldn’t be needed…their salaries could go to the poor instead of to people so uncommitted to their faith that they can’t even show up to hold a church service on Christmas Day. Why worship together, even though the Scriptures tell us that we should, when we can save so much money? Yeah, let’s just make the church line up with the selfish needs of the people, those who can only think of the mess that their Christmas Day schedule will be in if they have to factor in an hour for church…well, more than an hour because, to be polite, you have to greet your neighbors and fellow parishioners…what a pain. Yes, let’s continue to make church so PC, so culturally correct, that all we have to do is read a liberal rag, watch a liberal newsman, listen to a liberal politician or watch the current movie to find out the right thing to do. The New York Times…the good news is with us, hallelujah! Dan Rather…praise be to God! Howard Dean…the Spirit descends to earth! Hollywood liberals…may all the saints be examples to us! Today’s church doesn’t ask anything of people, doesn’t expect anything, and alters its beliefs to fit current PC ideas, so why attend at Christmas or any other time of year? The power and mysteries of faith that have altered the lives of men for centuries are only one more thing to schedule, or not, into our Blackberries. Now man can drag and click the worship of God to a more convenient day on the calendar. Thank man for technology…or is it thank God? See you in church on December 25th.