For pities sake: what else are you going to do on Christmas day and what kind of thinking prefers that over celebrating the Incarnation on that day?
Your question would only make sense if I had said that I don't celebrate Christmas/the Incarnation.
__________________ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He justified also ; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
"We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours." John of Salisbury, 1159
As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. Closing the gap between the God I want and the God who is. The same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay. Puritan saying I am doing better than I deserve. God is always bigger than our misunderstandings of Him.
Your question would only make sense if I had said that I don't celebrate Christmas/the Incarnation.
So are you trying to say in a roundabout way that you are celebrating the Incarnation on Christmas day, just not in church?
__________________ Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)
The January 7 was kind of an inside joke to the fellow EO folks here since there are Orthodox parishes that celebrate the Nativity on either December 25 (Gregorian or New Calendar) and those that do so on January 7 (Julian or Old Calendar).
I believe in Russia, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine and a few other places they celebrate Nativity on January 7.
How is going to church on Christmas Day a "have to" event?
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So are you trying to say in a roundabout way that you are celebrating the Incarnation on Christmas day, just not in church?
That would be correct.
__________________ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He justified also ; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
"We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours." John of Salisbury, 1159
As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. Closing the gap between the God I want and the God who is. The same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay. Puritan saying I am doing better than I deserve. God is always bigger than our misunderstandings of Him.
The January 7 was kind of an inside joke to the fellow EO folks here since there are Orthodox parishes that celebrate the Nativity on either December 25 (Gregorian or New Calendar) and those that do so on January 7 (Julian or Old Calendar).
I believe in Russia, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine and a few other places they celebrate Nativity on January 7.
How is going to church on Christmas Day a "have to" event?
Hopefully it's not. But there have been a couple of comments about it being in the canon, or it being inconceivable that their church wouldn't have services on Christmas, and one statement indicating that one would answer some sort of judgement if they didn't attend. Sounds pretty "have to" to me.
__________________ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He justified also ; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
"We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours." John of Salisbury, 1159
As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. Closing the gap between the God I want and the God who is. The same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay. Puritan saying I am doing better than I deserve. God is always bigger than our misunderstandings of Him.
So I guess the question becomes "why do you prefer to way you currently choose to celebrate the coming of the King over doing so within the community of his people?"
__________________ Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)
It has been a fascinating thread - a rather simple OP and then Hammster posts ...
Originally Posted by Hammster
No, our church doesn't. We just aren't that legalistic.
... and then follows up with a number of posts defending a hypothetical position - that any church celebrating Christmas on Christmas Day is somehow 'legalistic' - that in celebrating Christmas on Christmas Day one is 'having to'. Which beggars the question - when should Christmas be celebrated if not on Christmas Day? How is it that celebrating on the day in question gives rise to charges of 'legalism? I find this rather fascinating.
__________________ for we walk by faith and not by sight
I think this whole thread can be summed up thusly:
Everyone Else: "We celebrate Christmas at church"
Hammster: "That's legalism"
EE: "Why?"
H: "Because that implies that I'm not as spiritual"
Illogic rears its ugly head.
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Why wouldn't a church have a service on Christmas day? I can think of a few valid reasons - they rent space and it's not available on Christmas, for example. I can think of a few less valid reasons too.
Hopefully it's not. But there have been a couple of comments about it being in the canon, or it being inconceivable that their church wouldn't have services on Christmas, and one statement indicating that one would answer some sort of judgement if they didn't attend. Sounds pretty "have to" to me.
Look, the spiritual life of the believer is between the believer and God.
Yet it still seems, I'll be blunt, ridiculous even bordering on heresy to not go to church and worship Christ on His birthday. How is it considered "legalistic" to celebrate His birthday by taking the time off and worshiping Him as a community like one does on Sundays?
I'm not saying this to be mean or anything like that, I'm just trying to understand the rational for not going to church on Christmas because it seems as foreign to me as Shakespeare is to your stereotypical country hick.
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To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. <--------I make that stuff! At $10.50 an hour, avg. 27 hours a week to prepare for a $1,000 college bill (and books, cars and other things)!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. "Glory to God for all things!" - Last words of St. John Chrysostom To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
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