"Churches" Closed On Christmas
The recent news that several of the sorta-Protestant mega-churches have decided not to open on Christmas day, because "...it takes 800 volunteers to service..." just serves to reinforce my perception that they are not really Christian in any meaningful sense. What they are is a mass-marketing "feel-good" operation.
I suppose that, after about 4 generations (~100 years) of relentless commercialization, that the religious aspects of Christmas have all worn off, and the only thing left is the party. For the past 50 years that I can remember, every Holiday season, as regular as clockwork, there have been adjurations from the Pulpit to "Put Christ back in Christmas!" and pious deploring of the tendency to spell it "Xmas".
Perhaps we who believe in Christianity should simply give up, and celebrate the "Feast of the Incarnation" instead. The Orthodox -- and various sects of Protestant blue-nosed wowsers -- deplore the name "Easter" for the other major Christian Holy Day, and prefer "Pascha" -- the Hebrew/Greek/Latin term.
The Christams Feast is the celebration of the Incarnation -- the ineffable and transcendant God pouring himself into human form -- sharing our suffering and mortality. As the Nicene Creed says: "I believe...in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven. And was made flesh by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried. And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and of His kingdom there shall be no end."
I don't know what kind of Gospel these mega-churches are preaching (if any), but obviously the concept of the Incaranation, and the clebration of it in communion with all the rest of Christendom is not a marketable concept. Which may help to explain the reported average stay in these churches by their target audience -- 18 months.
Crowd-pleasing whiz-bangs are amusing for about a year and a half,it seems, and then it's time to move on. And one has to admit that they are efficient machines for relieving their target audience from surplus cash -- if one credits the stories about senior "pastors" and 7-figure salaries, as well as their humongous edifices and high-tech audiovisual equipment.
I'm afraid I don't see Christ in these mega-money-machines -- only Elmer Gantry.
I suppose that, after about 4 generations (~100 years) of relentless commercialization, that the religious aspects of Christmas have all worn off, and the only thing left is the party. For the past 50 years that I can remember, every Holiday season, as regular as clockwork, there have been adjurations from the Pulpit to "Put Christ back in Christmas!" and pious deploring of the tendency to spell it "Xmas".
Perhaps we who believe in Christianity should simply give up, and celebrate the "Feast of the Incarnation" instead. The Orthodox -- and various sects of Protestant blue-nosed wowsers -- deplore the name "Easter" for the other major Christian Holy Day, and prefer "Pascha" -- the Hebrew/Greek/Latin term.
The Christams Feast is the celebration of the Incarnation -- the ineffable and transcendant God pouring himself into human form -- sharing our suffering and mortality. As the Nicene Creed says: "I believe...in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven. And was made flesh by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried. And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and of His kingdom there shall be no end."
I don't know what kind of Gospel these mega-churches are preaching (if any), but obviously the concept of the Incaranation, and the clebration of it in communion with all the rest of Christendom is not a marketable concept. Which may help to explain the reported average stay in these churches by their target audience -- 18 months.
Crowd-pleasing whiz-bangs are amusing for about a year and a half,it seems, and then it's time to move on. And one has to admit that they are efficient machines for relieving their target audience from surplus cash -- if one credits the stories about senior "pastors" and 7-figure salaries, as well as their humongous edifices and high-tech audiovisual equipment.
I'm afraid I don't see Christ in these mega-money-machines -- only Elmer Gantry.
posted by Sam'l B. at
4:01 PM
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