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...they stay home the next day. Or they drive to Grandma's, or go to the movies. But however they spend Christmas Day - "the feast of Christmas" on the Christian liturgical calendar - one way most Americans don't celebrate it is by going to church. While demand for Christmas Eve celebrations is so high that some churches hold as many as five or six different services on the 24th of December, most Protestant churches are closed on the actual religious holiday. For most Christians, Christmas is a day for family, not faith. (See the top 10 religion stories...
That schedule of Christmas events is now the default tradition for most Americans. Some pastors understand the cultural emphasis but consider it an obstacle to focusing on the spiritual messages of Christmas. "We've seen churches embrace the Americana idea of Christmas," says Michael Hidalgo, lead pastor at the multi-denominational Denver Community Church. "Their heart is in the right place, but in some ways they end up looking like Target celebrating Christmas." Others, though, have accepted the idea that Christmas Day is a time for family instead of religious reflection. "I think it is our job to get Christmas...
When did Christmas Eve displace Christmas Day as the time for Christians to observe one of the two holiest days in the church year? Some traditions, including Catholics and Anglicans, hold midnight masses on the Saturday before Easter to usher in that holiday. But everyone still shows up the next morning for the traditional Easter celebration, just as Christmas Day remains a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics, who are likely to be found in church the day after attending a Midnight Mass. By contrast, the Christmas service everyone thinks of as "traditional" is the Service of Lessons...
...idea that Christmas Eve is a prime marketing opportunity to attract new members is widespread among pastors. In online forums, they give each other advice on crafting services that are broken down into digestible segments that will "hold the attention" of infrequent church-goers. (They also devote considerable space to trading concerns about the fire hazards posed by those Christmas Eve candles their congregants love holding.) One pastor said he considered regular Sunday services at his church to be "seeker-friendly," but holidays like Christmas and Easter were "seeker-focused." The irony is that by holding Christmas Eve services that...
...mother, whom he called "toot," his version of the traditional Hawaiian word for grandma, "tutu." He and his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, a history teacher at local La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls, scattered Dunham's ashes at Lanai Lookout in the afternoon after a private service at a church in the Honolulu neighborhood of Nuuanu. Dunham died Nov. 2 at the age of 86, two days before her grandson's victory in the general election. (Obama visited her the week before she passed away. See pictures of Obama's family tree...