Church on Christmas?!?

That doesn't sound like a bad thing.
But I guess there are churches that simply dismiss services on one of the two most important Christian holidays of the year.
You might think I'm baffled by this, well I'm not.
It's really an indicator of the state of some of the churches and Christians in our country.
Before I throw any stones however, let's be honest.
Church attendance on the other Sunday mornings, and for some churches Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, is becoming more of an option than a requirement for many believers. They seem to be saying I could care less.
Many churches see that their membership rolls are a lot higher than their weekly average attendance. I have heard it said in my own church, "if we could just get everybody here, we would have 300 people".
First let me say I'm guilty. When I was younger and less spiritually mature, I would miss Sunday nights and Wednesday nights because, if I'm honest, I wanted to spend that time doing my own thing. Nothing against church, I just felt like there was better uses for my time, (like watching TV). And remember folks, I was and still am an Elder of the church.
It required another Christian to hold me accountable, and bluntly told me "how can you be a leader of the church and not be here?".
Good question.
Through that other Christian, and a heavy dose of conviction by the Holy Spirit, I realized that if I am going to lead others in a committed Christian walk, I had better be willing to model that walk. I will use this time to urge any Christian leader out there who is reading this to be honest with themselves and ask themselves how important attendance is to their ministry. Are you saying "people need to be in church" but living "I'll go to church when I want and when I have nothing better to do". Pray about this.
Now what about Christians who are not leaders. Is Church attendance important or even a requirement?
In my view..Yes.
Why?
Well the Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:25 that we should not give up meeting together. Why?
Well if we read on it tells us that we need to encourage one another.
Bottom line is that we feed off of each other. That's a good thing.
The reason we don't want to come to church, or we don't want the church to change, or we don't like it when someone is sitting in "our pew", or blah blah blah, is because church is about us.
When is it convenient for us to come to church, where can I park or sit where it is more comfortable. My time and activities are far more important than anything we are doing at church.
What happened to sacrifice? What happened to carrying our cross? What happened to following Jesus no matter the cost?
We all need to remember the cost of our salvation, the agony and death of an innocent man, just so we could have the opportunity to spend eternity in a perfect place. Can you put a price tag on that? How much money and time is that worth to you? What is more important, your comfort or Jesus Christ?
Yes Virginia, we will be having service Sunday morning.