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The churches say they're being evangelistically sensitive.

"Studies would say the best opportunity to invite people is Christmas Eve. It's, for whatever reason, the least threatening service of the year to attend … . so what we do is really point all of our energy in that direction," says Glen Schneiders, pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Lexington, another church closed this Christmas. "We don't think we're compromising. We're actually reaching more people by doing that."

Parkinson told the Tribune that Willow Creek is taking the money it would have cost to conduct a Sunday service and is instead putting it into producing and distributing a Christmas DVD, "potentially touching thousands more people than the same message from the stage on Sunday morning."

But again, the suggestion that the message is all that church is about, or that you can duplicate church on a DVD, is going to send those same critics howling.

There are so many angles to this story—the nature of church, the consequences of equating "pro-family" ideology with Christianity, the challenges of Christmas services' attendance (largely attended by non-Christians), the changing nature of Christmas, the subordination of religion to "family" at a time when "pro-family" groups are arguing for more explicitly religious Christmas greetings … .

But Weblog probably shouldn't go on at length. After all, Weblog's church isn't meeting Christmas morning, either. (Then again, our non-sabbatarian church never meets on Sundays, since we rent, rather than own, our church space.)

More articles

Christmas wars:

• Suit filed over denied Nativity scene request | A local man's free speech rights were violated when the cities of Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach refused his request to erect a Nativity display in a public park, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Jacksonville this morning (The Jacksonville Times-Union, Fla.)
• True meaning of Xmas | Money Editor Anne Howland writes it's fine to put the 'X' in Christmas; what's not politically correct is the holiday's commercial craziness (Ottawa Sun)
• Happy, er, Merry, er — oh, just 'Have a nice day' | Receive 'Happy Holidays' or 'Merry Christmas' greetings with the spirit in which they are intended (Editorial, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson)
• Oy to the world | There is a grave concern, on news shows and op-ed pages, that we are about to lose Christmas. Though no one outside the media is at all interested, I figure jumping in will make my editors think I'm smart (Joel Stein, Los Angeles Times)
• The defense of Christmas is in the shopping bag | There was a time when falling on your knees was the suggested posture to "hear the angel voices." Now, apparently, it's the only way to hear the cash registers ring (Laura Billings, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.)
• Selling Jesus isn't reason for season | Compulsory Christmas greetings by checkout clerks are just the beginning (Diane Carman, The Denver Post)
• Xmas on the rocks | I don't hesitate to use the word "Christmas." Even in mixed company. But I do wonder about the self-described Christians who become highly agitated upon failing to detect the "Christmas" spirit during their shopping sprees (Dan Bernstein, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Ca.)
• Joy to the world—now start spending | What religious person would enter a float celebrating the birth of Christ in a parade alongside marching bands, flaming hula hoops and a giant balloon kangaroo named Jumping Jack Cash? (Mike Littwin, Rocky Mountain News, Denver)

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December (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49