Is it Christmas Time?

Many of you are no doubt aware of the growing controversy concerning Sunday church services this Christmas Season.  According to the New York Times, many of the larger “mega” churches in America are not having worship on Christmas Sunday so that people can be with their family.  I even heard of one church that will be having a comedy night on Christmas.  Now comes an article I found in a little local paper I occasionally read here in the Los Angeles area.  It deals with one church’s response to a trend among some of the more contemporary churches to not sing Christmas carols in their services.  I was intrigued by it so I thought I’d share it with you.  With all of this being in the news so much this year, I think you’d agree it is timely.  Feel free to pass it along. Dave Local Pastor Calls for Boycott By Bill Swift, North Valley Free Press Pastor John Nearing is fed up and doesn’t want to take it anymore.  Nearing is pastor of a small conservative church in the San Fernando Valley and he is wondering why many seemingly conservative churches are getting rid of Christmas music in their morning services.  Nearing believes the dearth of Christmas music at churches can be traced to the same over the top political correctness he sees in many businesses these days. Call many large retailers and you will likely hear a greeting on the other end wishing you Happy Holidays, not Merry Christmas.  Purchase a Christmas tree and many stores will now call it a holiday tree.  Even the city of Boston and the US Capital got in to the issue.  Nearing believes that the tendency to substitute the word holiday for Christmas is catering to a small minority of people at the expense of the masses, many of whom are Christian.  For that reason he has supported Donald Wildmon’s AFA call to boycott businesses like Target, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart over their Christmas policies. Nearing believes it is now time to boycott some churches.  “Where are the Christmas carols?” he asks.  Pastor Nearing and his congregation, Baker Avenue Community Church sing three or four Christmas carols each Sunday during December, but he is concerned about “seeker sensitive” and “emergent churches” eliminating such popular songs as “Silent Night” and “All Come All Ye Faithful.”  His church sees it as just another step towards watering down the true Gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Jon Mercer, a deacon and leader in the church wants to know where it will all end. “First you can’t say Merry Christmas, then we lose Christmas trees and now many churches will not sing the songs about Jesus birth we all grew up with.  If we don’t step up now, pretty soon we will only be able to have a Book and not the Holy Bible!  All of our Christian traditions are being taken from us.” Pastor Nearing and his leaders are starting to recruit concerned churches for their boycott.  They are distributing flyers in and around their community advising people not to attend churches where Christmas carols are not being sung.  To date their Save Christmas Coalition has signed up twenty-three like-minded congregations in the North San Fernando Valley.  They are hoping and praying that their boycott will have the same impact that Wildmon’s boycott is having.  A return to the traditional Christian and Christmas values, which they believe this country was founded on. © 2005 All Rights Reserved, Bill Swift, North Valley Free Press, Los Angeles, CA   Used by permission. © 2005 David Miller