Greetings and Salutations, this is Life and Books and Everything.

I'm reading an article that's addressed to pastors, although it could be to other church leaders,

thinking in particular as we come this year to have Christmas fall on a Sunday,

and as some people may be considering whether they have church because it falls on a Sunday.

So here's a very brief article called A Plea to Pastors Don't Cancel Church on Christmas.

Dear Brother Pastor, I hope it's not too late to make you reconsider your decision to cancel church on Christmas.

I know that December is crazy busy for you and for everyone else.

I know you probably have Christmas Eve services,

maybe even one that bumps up against midnight. I know that families like to gather Christmas

morning to open presents. I know that many of your people may be traveling and others won't come

to church on Christmas after coming on Christmas Eve. I know that canceling church for one Sunday

will not send all your people slouching to Gomorrah. I know that canceling church for one Sunday will not send all your people

slouching to Gomorrah. I know that getting volunteers for the worship team and for the sound system

and for the nursery may be challenging. I know that you'd rather not have to work on Christmas

when you already had to work on Christmas Eve. I know that you may have places to go and family

to see. I know that when

Christmas falls on Sunday, it's an all-around big pain. Why couldn't Leap Day do us a favor and

skip over this problem? But don't do it. Don't cancel all your services on Christmas. Scale back on

the nursery, perhaps, take the week off from Sunday

school, make things closer to an hour than an hour and a half, skip the life groups, or even the

second service for a day. But don't close the church up on Christmas. You need reasons?

Here are a few. One, most people will come back. Even if half of your people don't show up, and I imagine far more than half will be there, that's still a gathering of 25 or 50 or 150 or 400 or 1,200 people. In most churches, most of the people will still come to church on Christmas, and let's not kid ourselves to think that we can encourage everyone to have a meaningful, thoughtfully prepared, do-it-your-self service at home.

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