Gathering to worship on Sunday is a tool to train us to put God first. This tool becomes more vital when it is not convenient. Recent years point the necessity of human gathering and interaction. When Christmas lands on a Sunday, what should we do? Do we not gather because it is not convenient for family and traditions, do we do one or the other? Do we do both? Perhaps the question is: How do we put Christ first?

Christmas is about Christ

The purpose of celebrating Christmas is that God the Father gave us Jesus. Celebrating the advent is huge because it proves the reliability of the Old Testament, that God is involved not just transcendent, and most importantly that God exists. Christmas on a Sunday should be one of the more significant celebrations of the advent.

How you train is how you play

Training is essential to staying sharp. This is why regularly gathering is important, why we give regularly, why we participate in the Lords Table regularly. It trains us to put God first and recognize the lordship of Christ. In working out, it is the end of a set where it gets hard that growth happens. If we want families to take Jesus seriously, that means taking Him seriously when it is not convenient. Christmas on a Sunday sets that opportunity up.

You get what you celebrate

If we want families and churches to be about Jesus, we need to celebrate Jesus. The purpose of church is not to raise healthy families. It is to point people to Jesus. Why? Because He showed up as a human like us, and He gave up his comfort & convenience to save us. In John 1 it talks about how the light showed up, but men didn’t want to receive the light. So on a holiday where it may not be convenient with the traditions our families have, show up and receive Christ by the breaking of bread and the cup. Treasure Jesus more this Christmas.

Hebrews says

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

Let us gather

I would challenge you that the day we celebrate Jesus coming down to us is a time we should not neglect. So let us light our candles in anticipation on Christmas Eve, and let us celebrate that Jesus showed up on Christmas morning. For Jesus is worth celebrating as a church, and we look forward to when He returns for His bride, the church.