Holiday Poll

[JML]

There have been a few threads about the acknowledgment and/or celebration of holidays in the church worship service lately so I was curious as to your church’s practice. Which of the following is the practice of your church (not you as a member but your church):

1. In my church, holidays are purposely incorporated into the service in some way. This could be sermons on the subject, singing songs related to that holiday, or other holiday specific
activities.
2. In my church, holidays are not purposely incorporated into the service but the elders do not preach or teach that it is wrong to participate in them.
3. My church not only does not purposely incorporate holidays into the service but the elders also teach the holidays themselves are not appropriate to be practiced by the Christian.


By holidays I am not referring to the Lord's Day which the Lord has set aside but days such as Christmas and Easter.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

It would be good if the first choice were broken out from mild accomodation (sermon subject; song choice) to over the top liturgical excess. The PCA church I belong to would be mildly accommodating.

 

[JML]

It would be good if the first choice were broken out from mild accomodation (sermon subject; song choice) to over the top liturgical excess. The PCA church I belong to would be mildly accommodating.

I see what you are saying. Although, I think what people would consider "over the top liturgical excess" would vary greatly so it might be hard do that. I also doubt that many churches represented here would be in the liturgical excess category. I could be way off on that assumption though.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

No big deal; folks can simply qualify any answer like I did.

 

[Zach]

Our Pastor preaches a sermon on the incarnation around the Christmas holiday and a sermon on the Resurrection on Easter. We also have a gathering Christmas Eve to celebrate the incarnation and a gathering on Good Friday to remember the cross.

 

[Tripel]

My home church fully embraces both Christmas and Easter. The worship services highlight the incarnation (Christmas) and death/resurrection (Easter). We also celebrate a Reformation Sunday in the fall.

The church I currently attend also incorporates Christmas and Easter into the service.

 

[fredtgreco]

I have the same pattern for Christmas and Easter:

• I do not vary from the consecutive exposition of a book of Scripture. Last week I preached on Genesis 37 at Easter, last year I preached on the genealogy in Genesis 5. I do the same at Christmas
• Generally, the hymns are seasonal. (Carols, Resurrection hymns)
• Sometimes the Scripture reading is (1 Corinthians 15, etc.)

 

[JoannaV]

Our only services are on the Lord's Day and Wednesdays. Some hymn choices do tend towards certain subjects at certain times of year. The morning sermon on the Sunday nearest Christmas is from a passage near the beginning of the Gospel accounts and the morning sermon on easter Sunday is from a passage near the end of the Gospel accounts. So a break from Romans, which is the current book we have been working through in morning sermons the whole time I've been at this church. Our pastor does tend to preach from something other than Romans when it is a holiday weekend and more people than usual are out of town.

 

[Rich Koster]

There is a mild acknowledgment by hymn choice, and a topical sermon may interrupt a "preaching through a book of the Bible" series. There may also be sermon points that address some of the defective cultural ideas. For example: If you go to church on C&E, you are honoring God. People celebrate their family traditions at home. My pastor knows, as well as most of the congregation, about my "non- celebrant" status and has no problem with it. He also knows that I share my opinion, when asked, but not in a heavy handed manner. A few others are of the same opinion.

 

[Kim G]

Our church incorporates songs/sermons about the incarnation and the resurrection around Christmas and Easter. But they do not acknowledge other holidays, like Mother's Day, 4th of July, etc. So I'm not sure how to answer the poll. Yes, for some holidays. No, for others.

 

[JML]

Our church incorporates songs/sermons about the incarnation and the resurrection around Christmas and Easter. But they do not acknowledge other holidays, like Mother's Day, 4th of July, etc. So I'm not sure how to answer the poll. Yes, for some holidays. No, for others.

I had in mind holidays that are considered religious in nature. So July 4th, Mother's Day, etc. would not be included in the poll.

 

[Mushroom]

I AM THE CURMUDGEON! And I embrace it. Being the only family that we're aware of that gives these things even passing thought leaves us far out on the perimeter. We get to be THOSE people. Doesn't bother me, but my wife and kids feel the pinch of exclusion, to my sorrow.

My Church does the advent candle thing, Christmas eve candle-light services, seasonal hymns for weeks, Christmas sermon detours Maundy Thursday communion, Easter brunch complete w/ Ishtar eggs, Easter sermon detours, twenty-something SS classes at the local coffee shop - the whole enchilada. We quietly decline to participate, and do not foist our convictions on others, but awkward moments do arise.

It may be that we need to pack up the jalopy, park Mindy on the rockin' chair on top of the heap, tie on some spare inner tubes, and mosey on to other parts...

 

[KMK]

Easter sermon detours

Classic...

 

[kappazei]

I just want to state the if you're polling strictly US reformed churches, my vote doesn't count since even though I believe in unconditional election, my church doesn't call itself Calvinist nor is it a US based church.

 

[Heath]

John, would you agree we are "Not incorporated in service but not wrong to participate in?"

That's how I voted anyway. I was thinking we acknowledged it but Paul didn't get off his exposition through John for it.

 

[Quatchu]

We do Christmas, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. As well as the bulletin colors reflect the church calendar.

 

[Edward]

Last week I preached on Genesis 37 at Easter

I could see where one could do an Easter themed sermon from Genesis 37, but I suspect that's not what you did.

 

[fredtgreco]

Last week I preached on Genesis 37 at Easter

I could see where one could do an Easter themed sermon from Genesis 37, but I suspect that's not what you did.

I never change the text for Easter/Christmas, but I will use the common theme (here, resurrection) in illustrations.

Joseph and His Brothers

 

[Elizabeth]

We do the whole church year. Didn't have an Easter Vigil as our Anglicans did, however. Our service doesn't change(aside from very small portions of the liturgy...common/advent/lent), but the hymns, sermon do. No easter eggs, or santa or anything remotely like that.

Overall, our LCMS church is fairly low and spare. I guess, in the Lutheran panoply, we are much less 'catholic-lite' than some congregations. We are certainly less 'catholic' than our previous Anglican church, for which we are grateful.

Around here, this is as reformed as we can get. We've actually been pleasantly surprised by the reverent nature of this church. Our GF service was just very well done, totally scripture-focused; solemn, but with no pomp or fanfare.

We thank God for leading us to this church, in spite of some differences we have with Lutheran theology, in general. Laity don't need to subscribe to the Lutheran confessions, thankfully.

 

[Edward]

Joseph and His Brothers

Thanks.

 

[Reepicheep]

We acknowledge the Advent season by having an Advent candle lighting each week of Advent, advent hymns, choir selections,some Advent decorations in the sanctuary, and some Advent Sunday night activities (Christmas concert, pageant, hanging of the greens). I sometimes do an Advent sermon series. We have a Christmas Eve Candlelight service of Lessons and Carols.

We don't do Lent. We acknowledge "Holy Week" starting with Palm Sunday which includes some particular hymns, choir selections, and usually a Triumphal Entryesque sermon. We'll then have a Good Friday Communion service with Lessons/Hymns. Easter Sunday morning will have some special Resurrection-focused responsive readings (Heidelberg #1, 45), choir selections, Resurrection hymns, and a Sermon based on one of the Resurrection passages.

I'm not a big fan of topical sermons, so even my "topical" ones at these services is more like a textual/topical sermon. Further, out of 52 Sundays, I doubt more than 5 topical sermons get preached each year.

 

[JML]

John, would you agree we are "Not incorporated in service but not wrong to participate in?"

That's how I voted anyway. I was thinking we acknowledged it but Paul didn't get off his exposition through John for it.

I would say that it was incorporated into the service although only slightly.

 

[A Tulip Not a Daisy]

1.
The church I currently attend has an Easter play and a Christmas cantata. This is the entire service on those days. No sermon. It is not a reformed church.

 

[Unoriginalname]

I would say my church is mildly accommodating usually the Sunday of Christmas or Easter you will get a slightly different song choice, a sermon on one of the the incarnation or resurrection and that is really it. Nothing over the top.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

The pattern at our church is identical to Rev. Greco's church.

 

[Hamalas]

My church does #1 (even though I wish it was closer to #2.)

 

[AlexanderHenderson1647]

The PCA church I belong to would be mildly accommodating.

Likewise

 

[VictorBravo]

No change in hymns/psalms. No "detour" or change in text. Basically no mention of the holidays at all.

Christ's death and resurrection are routinely incorporated in sermons by our pastor as part of his call to repentance and the reality of sin and judgment.

 

[jambo]

Only Christmas and Easter would be acknowledged and those would be incorporated into the service.