The strangest thing happened this Christmas. Christmas fell on a Sunday, and almost everyone I know was unable to attend their own church on Sunday because services were canceled. And why were services canceled? Because it was Christmas! Who would have thought that churches would voluntarily cancel Sunday services because a religious holiday (read “holy day”) fell on the Lord’s Day?

And even stranger is the idea that these churches that canceled services were not the “liberal” type – the ones that have rejected the Virgin Birth or the Deity of Christ – no, these were all evangelical churches! I have a bit of a hard time wrapping my brain around this modern phenomenon.

Once upon a time, back in the earlier days of Christianity, Christmas liturgies were instituted by the Church itself to celebrate the birth of Christ. People went to church on Christmas regardless of what day of the week it was. And even though some churches may celebrate Christmas on a day other than December 25, almost all churches have historically observed Sunday as the day that Christians gather together for worship, because on that day Christ rose from the dead. To change (or eliminate) the weekly day of worship because it coincides with a separate holy day makes no sense. Not only does it not make sense; it seems frankly unchristian, if we take God’s commandments seriously.

Skipping church so families can stay home and open presents and “enjoy family time” (as much fun as that may be) seems a little shallow and superficial. We already have an issue in our culture with church attendance. Very few people, even people who call themselves Christians, seem to believe that church attendance is sacrosanct. Church attendance these days is optional in most people’s minds and has become fairly low priority. De-scheduling Sunday services doesn’t help; it just perpetuates the secular mentality.

Evangelicals are offshoots of the Puritans, who eschewed observing Christmas, yet would never have dreamed of encouraging people to skip a Sunday service. On the occasions when Christmas fell on a Sunday, we can be assured that the Puritans did not skip church those years. Yet we post-moderns, who believe in celebrating Christmas, must believe it is only a secular holiday to be observed at home with our families. Interestingly, the Catholic churches did not cancel, as the Catholic church holds that Sunday worship is a non-negotiable. Shouldn’t this conviction be true of all Christians?