Keep the “Mass” in Christmas
Categories: Uncategorized
Written By: Stiegemeyer
Every year, Christians post billboards and bumper stickers that say, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” That’s a commendable thought. I just posted over at my personal blog an item on A Tale of Two Christmases. My thesis is that there really are two distinct holidays that occur in America on and around December 25th, both of which are called “Christmas.” A cultural celebration and a religious one. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but many nowadays observe one but not the other. More on that here. So the admonition to “Keep Christ in Christmas,” as I see it, is a call to the world to take notice of the Christ-child.
My post title above, “Keep the “Mass” in Christmas,” is not so much a call to the world to believe in Jesus but a call to the Church to observe our Lord’s birth in something more than just a sentimental, private or cultural fashion.
Most Lutherans do not use the term “mass” in reference to our worship services. That term is generally associated with the Church of Rome. “Divine Service” is a preferred phrase to refer to what happens around the pulpit and altar on the Lord’s Day. However, since the Lutheran Confessions continue to use the term “mass”, I find no reason to avoid it for the purpose of making this illustration.
So to the Christians reading this, how did the way you celebrated Christmas differ from the way an atheist might do so? Christmas eve services are still fairly popular, but sadly fewer congregations are holding services on Christmas day, largely because of very low turnouts. I recently heard about a local congregation that has 4000 members but only had 12 come to their last Christmas morning service.
In your practice, is Christmas really just a private or family devotion? What better way is there to celebrate the nativity of our Lord (the Word made flesh) than to gather as His Body to receive His Body and Blood and be edified by preaching and hymns?
December 29th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
I understand what you’re getting at, but you really have the ancient Roman church to blame for Christianizing pagan traditions. i’m not saying that doing that was a bad thing either, because I believe that it is important for different cultures to worship God in their own special way. However, in regards to a Christian Christmas not looking like an atheist/pagan… i would say that the missionaries to the anglo-saxons and nordic peoples nailed that coffin shut.
December 29th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
It seems odd that people who preach about welcoming Christ to Earth would turn around and exclude Holy Communion from Christmas(s). I fine it’s easier to locate the clear promise in the “This Is My Body” than it is for me to understand exactly what “O Little Town of Bethlehem” means when it sings “Be born in us today”… the Incarnation happened once, didn’t it? and where is this promised? I may be ignorant on this, but I’ve always had a hard time understanding what that figure of speech means exactly, as opposed to the literal Verba.
On the other hand, I wonder whether the same influences that remove the Sacrament from Christmas wouldn’t result in a “Come one, come all” approach to Communion fellowship if it were celebrated. I would suspect that at least some churches don’t welcome the Sacrament on Christmas because of the difficulty of maintaining closed communion.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:08 am
Here’s a thought I had yesterday morning (it’s just past midnight. Why am I still up?) Take it for what it’s worth, admittedly not much. There are three masses for Christmass, technically The Nativity of our Lord. The first mass is Midnight Mass (which was quite lovely and charming at Zion Detroit) this year, the Aurora Mass, and then High Mass, which just might be the real “Christ-Mass.”