Holy Days

Santa Claus (Father Christmas)

You are on the worship committee at church. Someone suggests having a Santa Claus (Father Christmas) figure at the Christmas Eve worship service. Their idea is to have the Santa Claus figure give a little talk to the boys and girls and dispense little gifts. What is your response?

36% said:: No, let’s do it during the fellowship hour after the service. But instead of Santa Claus, have the figure identify himself as Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. He can tell the story of the real St. Nicholas, and why he is famous for his generosity.

23.5% said:: Yes, let’s do it as part of the service. But instead of Santa Claus, have the figure identify himself as Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. He can tell the story of the real St. Nicholas, and why he is famous for his generosity.

23.5% said:: Absolutely not! Let the church be silent about Santa Claus, so each family can deal with him in their own way.

13% said:: No, Santa Claus must wait and do this during the fellowship hour after the service.

4% said:: I have some other opinion that is not listed here.

No one said:: Yes, Santa Claus can do this during the service.

Christmas in November

In the United States, retail merchants set out Christmas decorations beginning in October and we are bombarded with Christmas music for several months up to Christmas. The Advent season traditionally celebrates the Second Coming, and the Christmas season lasts from 25 December to 5 January. Many older people can remember when Christmas trees did not go until Christmas Eve.

Here’s how you voted about restoring the historic meaning of Advent, followed by my usual crackpot observations. I note that 85% of you want to restore Advent and Christmas to their original meanings.

44% said:: We should not allow our religious celebrations to be dictated by mercantile concerns. Let us celebrate the coming of the Lord in Advent, and wait until Christmas to celebrate the Incarnation.
If you are a lay person, bravo! If you are clergy, I agree with your sentiment, but you might want to be a little more cautious in the way you carry it out. Lay people are leery of clergy who make sudden, sweeping changes. It’s not that they are slaves to tradition, it is just that they know that you aren’t Moses, and they don’t want you to start a cult by making up your own religion as you go. So to address that legitimate concern when you make a major change, you should first demonstrate that what you are planning to do is better grounded in Christian history—or their history—than the thing you are planning to replace.

41% said:: I think things have gotten out of hand, but we needn’t be extreme. Let’s restore the meaning of Advent, but build up slowly with Christmas stuff.
This is a very pragmatic attitude, and it is probably the best way to restore Advent.

6% said:: I like things the way they are. You could have Christmas 52 weeks a year so far as I am concerned.
Well, bully for you, but the rest of us get really tired of it after a while. Can you really do this kind of Christmas without getting into the musical weather reports and other traditional brick-a-brack that has no religious significance at all?

3% said:: I would prefer not to celebrate Christmas or Advent at all.
Okay, those of you who want Christmas 52 weeks a year, listen to these people. They’re so burned out by Christmas cheer they don’t want to hear of it any more. Or perhaps we need to convince them that it is okay to set aside times of the year to celebrate Our Lord’s Second Coming (Advent) and the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ (Christmas). Whatever the case may be, it seems that singing nothing but Christmas carols for two months simply drives some people up the wall. Laying a guilt trip on them, that they don’t have the Christmas spirit, doesn’t impress me as a very loving or Christmassy thing to do. So put some variety in the service, so that you don’t drive these people bonkers.

6% said:: I have some other opinion that is not listed here.

Celebrating Epiphany

47% said that your church had a special Epiphany service on Sunday, 2 January.: That’s what my church did, too. Of course, I’m a new pastor and it is the first time they had an Epiphany service, but they liked it very much. Because the Roman Catholic Church has a clergy shortage, they have moved Epiphany to the Sunday before 6 January, so most Roman Catholics would answer this way also.

16% of you have another opinion that isn’t listed here.: I would be interested in hearing details.

13% of you do not know what Epiphany is.: Well, you can read my essay about Epiphany.

9% said that your church covered Epiphany on 2 January, and had a special service on 6 January.: This is a good strategy, because not everyone can come to church on Thursday, which is the day Epiphany fell on this year.

9% said that your church had a special Epiphany service on Thursday, 6 January.: I’m gratified to hear this. You know a church has its priorities right when it can get people out for a holy day that hasn’t been commercialized and isn’t generally known about.

6% of you said that your church has a policy not to celebrate Epiphany.: I put this choice in on a whim, not expecting anyone to say this, so I am surprised at the results. I can’t imagine why a Christian church would have a policy not to celebrate Epiphany, unless you also have a policy not to celebrate Christmas, since the two holy days are related and originated at the same time for the same reason. So I would be interested in hearing from you to find out what the rationale is.

Commemorating the Dead

In the United States, we have a holiday called Memorial Day, which commemorates the people who died in various wars. In the church, we have All Saints Day (1 November in the Western Church, the Sunday after Pentecost in the Eastern Church), which commemorates the people who were killed for their testimony of Jesus Christ.

Both holidays are important. Surely we can agree that for the military, Memorial Day is more important than All Saints Day. But within the Church, which holiday do you think should be given more emphasis?

40% said:: Memorial Day, which commemorates the war dead.

60% said:: All Saints Day, which commemorates those who died for their testimony of Jesus Christ.

I was glad to see the results, because in comparison to the war dead, the people who died for Jesus’ sake get neglected, and I had hoped everyone else would have shared my yearning for more balance.

About Trinity Sunday

In the western Church, Trinity Sunday is the Sunday after Pentecost; in the eastern Church, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday are the same day. In 2000, western Easter is exactly one week before eastern Easter, so Trinity Sunday is 18 June 2000 everywhere.

Trinity Sunday is the only holy day in the Universal Church that celebrates a dogma rather than an event. (Note that dogma, as a theological term, simply means a teaching. The difference between a dogma and a doctrine is that a dogma is established by revelation and defined by the Church, while a doctrine is established by reason and defined by theologians.)

The Trinitarian concept of God is unique to Christendom, dating back at least to second-century writers who were born in the first century. It is widely misunderstood by nonChristians as an affirmation of three gods, but historic Christianity has always vehemently rejected that view. Historic Christian orthodoxy has always affirmed that there is only one God. The dogma of the Trinity concerns the inner nature of that one God, so to speak.

The dogma of the Trinity is the simple realization that if there is only one God, and if God is the Father of Jesus Christ, and if Jesus Christ is God incarnate, and and if the Holy Spirit is God, then there is a ‘threeness’ in the unity of God. These are not three modes of being, because all three are active at once, as at the Baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3:13-17. Ancient theologians placed great significance on Jesus’ phrasing in Matthew 28:19. Jesus says, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” not “in the names of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” thus affirming that God is One, but there is a threeness in that oneness.

(There is a modern movement, called Oneness Pentecostalism, that teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three modes of God’s intervention in the world. This is a recurrence of modalism.)

Christian theologians have defended the dogma of the Trinity on philosophical and theological grounds as follows: We know by divine revelation that God is love, but in order for love to be perfect, it has to be a love between equals. Thus there must be at least two persons in the Deity, or God cannot be love. However, we also know that God created us in His image, and we are social beings. It takes at least three persons to constitute a society, so God must be at least three persons. Scripture reveals God to us as the Father of Jesus Christ, as Jesus Christ, and as the Holy Spirit, thus there are three persons in the Deity. To put it more succinctly, Christian revelation teaches us that there is one God, who is a Trinity.

The word Trinity is a Latin word stemming from third and fourth century Latin-speaking theologians. It is a contraction of tri-unity. Eastern theologians, who wrote in Greek, had been using the Greek word triad but abandoned it in favor of Trinity, because triad does not express the idea of a unity in threeness.

When this poll was taken, 18 June 2000 was not only Trinity Sunday, it was also the secular holiday of Father’s Day in the United States.

Why does Trinity Sunday comes at this point in the Christian calendar? We saw God the Father of Jesus Christ during Christmas; we saw God incarnate in Jesus Christ during Easter, and we saw God among us as the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Trinity Sunday, on which we see God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is an appropriate climax.

On 18 June 2000, what was the focus of worship in your church?

33% of you said:: The Holy Trinity.
33% of you said:: Father’s Day.
16% of you said:: Some other topic not related to Father’s Day or the dogma of the Trinity.
12% of you said:: I don’t know.
6% of you gave no answer to this question.

What is your position on the Trinity?

86% of you said:: I enthusiastically affirm our Trinitarian God.
6% of you said:: I believe that God is a Trinity, but so what?
4% of you said:: I am not clear about the Trinity, or I have some opinion not given here.
2% of you said:: I reject the dogma of the Trinity, but I consider myself a Christian.
2% of you gave no answer.

How significant is the dogma of the Trinity, in your opinion?

76% of you said:: It is vitally significant. It affirms the true nature of God.
18% of you said:: It is moderately significant. It does not make much practical difference in everyday life, but it is important in a systematic theology and Bible interpretation.
4% of you said:: It has only historical significance.
2% of you said:: It has no particular significance to me.

My conclusion from this poll is that if you are a pastor, your congregation would appreciate more instruction about the Trinity and would probably welcome a traditional Trinity Sunday observance.

About Pentecost

This week’s poll was about Pentecost, which is a Jewish holy day that falls on the fiftieth day of Passover. Some significant events occurred on the first Pentecost after the Resurrection; thus Pentecost is also a Christian holy day reckoned as the fiftieth day of Easter—thus it is always a Sunday.

The events of the first Christian Pentecost are related in Acts 2.

Which of the following, in your opinion, is the most important aspect of Pentecost?

In some sense, all the answers are correct. It is correct that Pentecost is the birthday of the Church and the beginning of the apostolic era. However, to be picky, it isn’t the beginning of speaking in tongues, though that phenomenon did appear in the Church shortly afterwards (1 Corinthians). At Pentecost, the disciples and apostles spoke in foreign languages, not ecstatic tongues. And to be picky again, the Holy Spirit first came into the world in Genesis 1:2. Pentecost was the first time He was poured out on all flesh (Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28).

38% said:: It is the birthday of the Christian Church.
47% said:: It marks the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world.
10% said:: It marks the beginning of the apostolic era.
4% said:: It marks the beginning of speaking in tongues.

How does your church celebrate Pentecost?

49% said:: My church has a service about the infilling and gifts of the Spirit.
26% said:: My church doesn’t observe Pentecost, or we just mention it in passing.
24% said:: My church has a service about the birth of the Church and its universality.
No one said:: My church has a service emphasizing speaking in tongues.

How significant is Pentecost, in your opinion?

85% said:: It is vitally significant. It shows that the Holy Spirit is active and present in our individual lives each day, empowering us in our Christian walk.
6% said:: It is moderately significant. It demonstrates the power and inclusiveness of the Holy Spirit, working through the Church.
4% said:: It has no particular significance to me.
1% said:: It has only historical significance. It shows the transition to the apostolic age and the beginnings of the church as an institution.

In view of the responses to the last two questions, it appears that churches are not giving Pentecost the significance that people think it deserves.

If you could design a worship service for Pentecost, what would you stress?

6% said:: I would encourage people to speak in tongues or to demonstrate other supernatural gifts.
38% said:: I would stress the church’s appeal to all ethnic groups, and challenge the church to reach beyond itself.
62% said:: I would stress the transformation of Jesus’ followers from disciples to apostles, and how we must also transform our private devotion into social action.
7% said:: I would just have a regular service.

About Ascension Day

This poll was about the Ascension and Ascension Day, which is the fortieth day of Easter.

     In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
     So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
     He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
     After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
     They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
—Acts 1:1-11, NIV

Note that the Ascension apparently took place in broad daylight.

Which of the following comes closest to your opinion about the Ascension?

89% of you believe that: Jesus really did ascend into heaven.
5% of you believe that: Jesus did not physically ascend. This story is just a literary device to explain the end of the resurrection appearances.
2% of you believe that: The Christ spirit ascended; the body that was Jesus was left behind.
None of you believe that: Jesus did not actually ascend, but He caused His disciples to see it that way.

In the Greek philosophical system that was contemporary with the New Testament, matter was evil and spirit was good; therefore God, being spirit and good, could have no contact with physical matter, which was evil. This meant that some people who were attracted to Christianity had philosophical difficulties with the doctrine of the Incarnation. Because the word ‘Christ’ was invented by the Church as a translation of a Hebrew word, people sometimes misunderstood it as an entity rather than as a job title, like Mister or Professor or King. To accommodate their philosophical background, they divided Jesus and Christ into separate beings. The idea that there is a ‘christ spirit’ separate from Jesus came from Greek philosophy, not from the church.

How does your church celebrate the Ascension, if at all?

43% of you reported that: My church does not have a special service on Ascension Day, but the Ascension is the theme of the Sunday service that immediately follows it.
30% of you reported that: My church doesn’t observe Ascension Day at all.
16% of you reported that: My church has a special service on Ascension Day.
9% of you reported that: My church has a special service on Ascension Day, and the Ascension is also the theme of the Sunday service that immediately follows it.

How significant is the Ascension theologically, in your opinion?

77% of you said that: It is vitally significant. It shows that Jesus has gone into the control booth of the universe, so to speak; and since He did not discard His body, it means He still understands the difficulties we humans face.
14% of you said that: I have another opinion that is not listed here.
5% of you said that: It has only literary significance. It is a literary device to dispose of the body and to make a transition from the message of Jesus to the mission of the church.
2% of you said that: It is moderately significant. It is picture language to show that the early church no longer experienced resurrection appearances, but still felt that Jesus was in control.

If your church had a special Ascension Day service on Thursday evening, 1 June 2000, would you attend it?

61% of you said that: I would attend the service.
23% of you said that: I am not sure. I would have to know more about the service and my schedule.
9% of you said that: I would like to attend the service, but this year I wouldn’t be able to make it.
5% of you said that: I would not attend the service.

About Holy Week

This poll was about Holy Week services.

Which of the following services did you actually attend during Holy Week?

61% of you: attended the Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) service.
56% of you: attended the Good Friday service.
32% of you: attended the Easter Vigil (on Saturday night).
51% of you: attended an Easter sunrise service.

Sometimes churches in an area have joint Holy Week services. Which of the following services (whether you attended them or not) were held at your church?

71% of your churches: had a Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) service.
73% of your churches: had a Good Friday service.
34% of your churches: had an Easter Vigil (on Saturday night).
51% of your churches: had an Easter sunrise service.

If your church had all of the following services, which would you attend?

78% of you: would attend a Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) service at your church.
83% of you: would attend a Good Friday service at your church.
68% of you: would attend an Easter Vigil (on Saturday night).
68% of you: would attend an Easter sunrise service at your church.

Some churches have a Tenebrae service on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. What is your opinion of the Tenebrae service?

12% of you: have attended a Tenebrae service, and liked it very much.
5% of you: have attended a Tenebrae service, but didn’t care for it.
44% of you: have never attended a Tenebrae service, but you know what it is like. You would like to attend one.
37% of you: don’t know what a Tenebrae service is.