Here is way our local orthodox church turns out people both for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Christmas Vigil (Vespers and Matins) 75 minutes
During the last part of the service, they bless oil, and cake like bread soaked in wine and oil
They each approach the priest are anointed with oil as an expression of gladness, and
then receive one of the little cake breads. Lot of socializing as people work their way up to and back from being anointed.
They each approach the priest are anointed with oil as an expression of gladness, and
then receive one of the little cake breads. Lot of socializing as people work their way up to and back from being anointed.
Divine Liturgy on Christmas Day (1 hour, 40 minutes)
No, not because of the snow, ice and wind, but because Christmas Day falls on a Sunday.
These are Protestant Church who like many of our Catholic Churches have highly attended services on Christmas Eve.
Many churches cancel services on Christmas day: Enjoy some 'time with your family'
An increased number of churches are canceling Christmas day services in anticipation of low attendance, given the holiday falls on a Sunday this year.
With the pandemic impacting the way people worship, Only 84 percent of pastors plan on holding services this year, down from 89 percent in 2016, which was the last time Christmas Day fell on a Sunday, according to surveys conducted by Lifeway Research. Only 60 percent of pastors plan to have church services on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
"Families have many traditions on Christmas morning, and most pastors acknowledge not as many of their members will be present compared to Christmas Eve and services earlier in the month," Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, said in the report. "However, churches not holding services on Christmas Day are still the exception."
This year, 85 percent of Protestant pastors plan to hold services on New Year’s Day, which is the same as six years ago when the holiday last fell on Sunday, according to the report.
Some pastors took to Twitter to voice their opposition to churches canceling Christmas Day services, seeing it an affront to the reason for the season.
"Canceling church to celebrate ‘Christ’mas — that should not make sense to any believer," Nathaniel Jolly, pastor of Homer Reformed Baptist Church in Homer, Alaska tweeted.
In my parish bulletin last week, the Pastor pointed out to everyone how crowded the Christmas Eve Masses are. There are two masses at 4pm the most popular time (one in the annex), a standing room only crowd at the 6pm Mass. The 8pm and midnight Masses are less attended as are the 7am, 9:00am and 11am Christmas morning Masses.
ReplyDeleteWe are being influenced by the same culture pressures to make Christmas day a family day.
That could also apply to Sunday for Catholics. Betty and I have a very comfortable pattern on Sunday morning of listening to Heart and Voice choral music, followed by Mass at Notre Dame, then noon Mass at the basilica. If the pandemic every lets us return to parish Masses, we have decided it will be on Saturday evening.
It is not like we are not fitting worship into our life; we just prefer virtual worship on Sunday mornings.
I know of no Catholic parishes which are cancelling Christmas eve or Christmas day Masses. However from observing my Protestant relatives and in-laws, that isn't a new thing. A lot of Evangelicals never have put a priority on Christmas services. Lutherans and Episcopalians are a different story.
ReplyDeletePersonally speaking, it wouldn't make any sense to cancel Christmas Mass celebrations because the holy day fell on Sunday. In fact it's a "two-fer". Ever since Vatican II Catholics have adopted Saturday evening as part of our sabbath, also the holy day vigils. What is increasingly rare nowadays are Sunday evening Masses. When I was growing up they used to be called the bartender's Mass.
I think churches need to be open on Christmas. Not everyone has around-the-clock family obligations on Christmas. And extended families can go to church together.
ReplyDeleteNot having to hold Christmas services is a break for the pastor and the choir director. These decisions have the whiff of self-interest.
I did two Christmas services this afternoon. One was the fullest pews we've had since Covid. The other was smaller and more quiet. Both have their appeals. One more tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWe had a crowd for our 4:00 pm yesterday with some overflow in the school cafeteria where there was livestreaming set up. The 7:00 pm was lighter attendance, and the two this morning easily fit into the church. I'm getting that from hearsay, I was only at the 10:00 one this morning. We were very thankful for our choir director's speedy recovery from a scary medical event.
DeleteOur church is being renovated and the renovations, big surprise, took longer than expected. Masses have been held in the church basement but Christmas Eve masses were in the local Catholic High School's auditorium. I attended last night at 10PM.
ReplyDeleteHave a Happy Holy Christmas, everyone.
Happy Christmas, everyone! Looks like there may be a break from the frigid weather this week
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas all. My Christmas present this morning was no fever. We both got the flu. Postponed getting flu shots too long. Next year we will be smarter! A bout of influenza A puts a definite damper on the holiday.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you have been sick, Anne! I hope you are on the mend now.
DeleteI’m glad that you were over your Covid in time to enjoy Christmas !
DeleteI think sometimes flu can actually feel worse than Covid!
DeleteChrist is born! Glorify him!
ReplyDeleteThat is the greetings that Orthodox exchange during the Christmas season. I'm ending up having a very Orthodox Christmas. Last night they livestreamed the Christmas vigil which is a combination of evening prayer and morning prayer. And then this morning we did the livestream of their Divine Liturgy rather than the Notre Dame Livestream at 10am. (The college students have all gone home) Both of them were well attended. I posted them above in case anyone
Of course, we still viewed the National Shrine Mass at noon for its excellent choir and Cardinal Gregory as celebrant.
For the musicians here - The Chord in O Come All Ye Faithful
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/arts/music/o-come-all-ye-faithful-christmas-chord.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Yes. it's a very nice chord. (Or, I might say, chord progression.) I didn't know there was that much hoopla about it, but we live in an age in which there is no end of talk - and writing, and disputing - about virtually everything.
DeleteI don't blame people who are into that sort of thing - interesting chord sequences - from contemplating it, but talking about music can be like talking about a spiritual experience: we keep trying, harder and harder, piling words atop words, to convey verbally what we have experienced, but at some point, we come to the realization that words fail. Or at least our words fail; maybe somewhere there is a poet who is sufficiently skilled at using words to burrow closer to the heart of the experience.
I know a person who was wont to say, "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." I.e., it's using one art to describe another art.
FWIW, that chord doesn't appear in the hymnal we use at church. But our hymnal presents the same harmonies for all the verses of O Come All Ye Faithful. The same is true of the little carolers' booklets we used to use when we used to go Christmas caroling. (I don't doubt we annoyed half the neighborhood. One of the many pleasures of the film "Love Actually":
Peter : Who is it?
[Mark's sign reads "say it's carol singers"]
Juliet : It's carol singers.
Peter : Well, give them a quid and tell them to bugger off!)
Agree - can’t explain some experiences. Maybe it’s time for another viewing of Love Actually. Need some laughs after having such a bad bout of Christmas flu. I had forgotten about that movie.
DeleteIt made me think of the poem, "The Lost Chord", by Adelaide Ann Proctor:
DeleteI was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys;
I know not what I was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then,
But I struck one chord of music,
Like the sound of a great Amen,
Like the sound of a great Amen.
Like the close of an angel's psalm,
And it lay on my fevered spirit,
With a touch of infinite calm,
It quieted pain and sorrow,
Like love overcoming strife,
It seemed the harmonious echo
From our discordant life,
Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away into silence,
As if it were loth to cease;
I have sought but I seek it vainly,
That one lost chord divine,
Which came from the soul of the organ,
And entered into mine.
Will speak in that chord again;
It may be that only in Heav'n
I shall hear that great Amen.
It may be that death's bright angel
Will speak in that chord again;
It may be that only in Heav'n
I shall hear that great Amen.
I was paywalled out of the NYT article, so still haven't figured out what the chord actually was. I probably played it on Sunday, but it was just a standard key of G major accompaniment to "O Come All Ye Faithful". None of us were doing fancy descants or anything. Seemed like everyone was recovering from something, and our voices weren't at 100%.