Closed for Christmas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Almost 10% of churches surveyed nationally will close this Sunday because of Christmas.\u00a0 Although some denominations have a different understanding of the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2011\/12\/closed-for-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Closed for Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Almost 10% of churches surveyed nationally will close this Sunday because of Christmas.\u00a0 Although some denominations have a different understanding of the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2011\/12\/closed-for-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith With Wisdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-23T21:03:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/files\/2011\/12\/christmas-church-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Jesep\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Jesep\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2011\/12\/closed-for-christmas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2011\/12\/closed-for-christmas\/\",\"name\":\"Closed for Christmas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-23T21:03:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-23T21:03:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/9041d07da9411554ce5032c101fc58c6\"},\"description\":\"Almost 10% of churches surveyed nationally will close this Sunday because of Christmas.\u00a0 Although some denominations have a different understanding of the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2011\/12\/closed-for-christmas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2011\/12\/closed-for-christmas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2011\/12\/closed-for-christmas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Closed for Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/\",\"name\":\"Faith With Wisdom\",\"description\":\"This blog is a spiritual reflection that faith and religion must be balanced with logic, science, and common sense as guided by Holy Sophia, the Holy Spirit.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/9041d07da9411554ce5032c101fc58c6\",\"name\":\"Paul Jesep\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89196de8d63e18f35c57bd99a7aca232?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89196de8d63e18f35c57bd99a7aca232?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul Jesep\"},\"description\":\"Paul is an attorney and corporate chaplain. 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{"id":1023,"date":"2011-12-23T21:03:03","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T21:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/experts.patheos.com\/expert\/paulpeterjesep\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2011-12-23T21:03:03","modified_gmt":"2011-12-23T21:03:03","slug":"closed-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwithwisdom\/2011\/12\/closed-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Closed for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

John Paul II observed that \u201cEast (Orthodoxy) and West (Catholicism) are the two lungs by which the Church breathes; their unity is essential to the healthy life\u201d of the one, holy, universal, and apostolic church.<\/p>\n

The Orthodox distinguishes Saturday Sabbath from the Lord\u2019s Day of Sunday.\u00a0 The Eastern Church, while respecting the Saturday Sabbath and celebrating the Divine Liturgy on it, give more attention to Sunday because it is the day of Christ\u2019s resurrection (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; John 20:1,19).\u00a0 Similarly, though with some theological distinction, Catholicism while respecting the Saturday Sabbath also focuses on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Very early on the Holy Fellowship Meal was celebrated on Sundays (Acts 20:7).\u00a0 In Revelations (1:10), Sunday is the new day of rest in Christ.\u00a0 Several of Paul\u2019s letters emphasize Sunday over Saturday referring to a new Sabbath with Saturday being a forerunner (Corinthians 2:16-17; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; Hebrews 4:8-9; Hebrews 7:12).\u00a0 Think John the Baptist as the forerunner to Jesus.\u00a0 Paul, however, also teaches that \u201cwhichever day you choose is acceptable\u201d (Romans 14:5-6).<\/p>\n

Early Church Fathers in the 1^{st<\/sup>, 2^{nd<\/sup>, and 3^{rd<\/sup> centuries taught that Sunday was the new Sabbath.\u00a0 They included Didache, Ignatius, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Victorinus, Athanasius, and John Chrysostom.\u00a0 Over time several Protestant denominations accepted the Lord\u2019s Day as a time for rest and prayer.\u00a0 Hence, widespread belief has been to accept Sunday, the day of resurrection in Christ, as the Sabbath, but without disregarding Saturday.<\/p>\n}}}

Decisions to close houses of worship have little, if anything, to do with theology.\u00a0 Otherwise it would be ongoing.\u00a0 Why not close one or two Sundays every month?\u00a0 Reasons given by mega church pastors include the difficulty to find enough volunteers to service the service on Christmas Sunday.\u00a0 Although the need for a full contingent of volunteers is unnecessary, perhaps it\u2019s still too difficult to rope off seating to enable a more intimate setting for Sunday worship.<\/p>\n

Another reason offered for closing is that recognition and celebration of Christmas didn\u2019t occur until the 19^{th<\/sup> century among many Protestants.\u00a0 It\u2019s implied that too much importance is placed on the holiday.\u00a0 Although there} $\"\"$ <\/a>is some legitimacy in giving too much attention to a co-opted Pagan holiday, if that\u2019s the reason then there is no reason to close on Christmas day that falls on any day.\u00a0 Considering the ongoing concerns that faith is under attack in America, especially when \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d is replacing \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d Sunday\u2019s without worship because of Christmas seems odd.<\/p>\n

Paul is author of Crucifying Jesus and Secularizing America \u2013 the Republic of Faith without Wisdom<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Paul Peter Jesep 2011<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"