Christmas

Well, I looked up my (by "my", I mean the one of which I am officially a member) local United Methodist Church's website and found something shocking today. This year's Christmas Services all occur on Christmas Eve. Not a one of them on Christmas Day. Why?? Because Christmas is unlucky enough to fall on a Thursday this year!
And to top it all off, only one of them even features Communion!

Here's the Schedule . . .

Christmas Eve Worship

Traditional Worship

4, 6, 8, and 10:30 p.m.

Communion at 10:30 p.m.

Family Celebration Worship

2, 4, and 6 p.m.

Just what have we become? The last time I checked, the United Methodist Church, founded by John Wesley, was a sacramental church (of sorts) , holding Holy Baptism and Holy Communion as sacraments reserved to ordained elders. I have long been frustrated by the marginalization of Holy Communion in the United Methodist Church, as the rise of "contemporary worship" and the relegation of "traditional worship" to something practiced by stuffy old folks has seemed to have gained momentum of late.

So just for kicks, I surfed over to the local Catholic Church website ( one which I have visited on occasion in the past) and found this . . .

Christmas Schedule

Christmas Eve

4:00 pm - Children's Mass
4:10 pm - Overflow Mass in Parish Hall
6:00 pm - Mass
6:10 pm - Mass in Parish Hall
8:00 pm - Mass
11:00 pm - Choral Concert
Midnight - Mass

Christmas Day

9:00 am - Mass
11:00 pm - Mass in Spanish

Note: The Blessed Sacrament will be reposed at 8:30 am on
Christmas Eve.
Adoration will begin again on Monday after the 9:00 am Mass.

You can probably bet that they'll be "serving Holy Communion" at each and every one of those masses!

I have observed that most Protestant congregations do a better job of celebrating Christmas than they do of observing Easter and the related observances at the beginning and end of Lent. But I guess that only applies when Christmas falls on Sunday!

Sheesh!

May God's Peace be on all this Christmas!

Return

My return to a life of faith took many years. It was actually my lovely wife who dragged me kicking and screaming to the Methodist Center at college a few times that started the process. The lack of ceremony and informal approach to worship actually appealed to me and was intriguing, to say the least. However, the interest was short-lived and I never attended regularly.

We would be married in the Methodist Church eventually, and had our children baptised there as well (yes, as infants).

One day, my wife asked me what I thought about people who clung to religion and faith and I said that they were weak and needed religion as a crutch. I remember speaking those words today, because they represent a turning point in my faith journey. I immediately began to feel like what I said could not be correct, could not be right. The words were like a stake through my heart. I began to wonder and hunger for a deeper understanding of God and of faith. And I began to dig.

Later on, we did begin to attend church regularly and I joined a men's small group Bible study. This experience changed my life. I bought Bibles and read books and memorized scripture. I had an insatiable thirst for all things related to faith and religion. I carried my Bible with me whenever I traveled. I learned to lean on God for guidance and strength. The "hogback" experience I have written about before occurred during this time frame.

I volunteered at our church and made my way into the committee structure as the chairman of the Long Range Visioning Committee. For those who are not familiar, the United Methodist Church is built around a congregational structure, where each church is chartered by an annual conference and each church is its own nonprofit corporation, owning assets, taking in giving, and incurring liabilities and expenses on its own account. The organization is controlled by a partnership between conference-appointed clergy and a congregation-elected Board, along with various committees. I later became the Administrative Board chairman and served in this role for several years.

Throughout these days, I grew into a committed Christian. The little spark left inside of me years earlier had ignited a fire that burned hot. I had returned to the faith.