Holiday Time in the CoC

[Ramblin' Jack]

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[agricola]

IN the coc - we celebrated all the holidays, but absolutely NONE of them was 'religious'. Not a single holiday showed up at church. Christmas came closest to getting its nose in the door. Once in a while in December, if the song leader was very very daring, we just MIGHT sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing, or Joy to the World (accompanied, generally, by the obligatory sermon mention of how we celebrate DEATH every week, and we don't really know exactly when he was BORN yada yada yada). There were certainly no special services right AT Christmas day, and if that fell on a Sunday, church services didn't change significantly and OF COURSE you turned up both Sunday morning and Sunday night as usual.

Red poinsettia sometimes showed up on the podium for the month of December - not when I was younger, but by the time I was in high school it was routine.

The next holiday that ALMOST made an appearance at church was Easter, which was mostly bunnies and candy and egg hunts at home, but ALSO all new clothes for church and the ladies wore hats too, which wasn't that common otherwise. Plus quite often when I was a teen, LILIES would show up on the podium. The silly thing about all that was that NOBODY MENTIONED IT. It just sort of spontaneously happened that all the people at church had new clothes and there were lilies down front. You know what I think? I think the majority of coc members WANTED to celebrate Easter, but thought it was probably a Slippery Slope leading to Catholicism or something.


However, currently, I celebrate only Jewish religious holidays, and common American secular-ish ones, like the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Halloween - I'm not so big on Columbus Day or Labor Day or even Memorial Day, although I do go to the parades when we have them!

[musicman]

We were always told that we should "remember the Lord's birth" every day..not just one day of the year. Same for his death and resurrection.

I don't recall ever hearing any Christmas hymns/carols sung during worship services. Same for some which might fit Easter(like "Christ, the Lord is Risen Today."). We did sing "Low in the Grave He Lay" before the "Lawrd's Supper" many times.

Since leaving C o C over 40 years ago I've been able to enjoy the Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter seasons as part of the church year..and really learn the meaning behind them.

These seasons focus our minds on events in the life of Christ. The hymns for each Sunday during the season do the same. Much better than listening to the C o C drivel about why it doesn't observe these days/seasons!

[agricola]

You want to know the truth? The coc is BORING! Same old, same old, every week of the year, week in and week out, with not even a puny ATTEMPT at organization or narrative sequence, or you know, like GROWTH....

the Stepford of churches.

[Grace]

I always thought the CoC spent so much energy on not mentioning Jesus birth at Christmas or death at Easter.
My family wouldn't have Mary and baby Jesus on cards, stamps or wrapping paper. A nativity scene would have been sacrilegious. Makes no sense! I was not allowed at our City's tree lighting because the grade school kids sang Christmas carols about Jesus birth. I too have enjoyed Christmas and Easter in the Catholic church.

[musicman]

The coc is BORING! Same old, same old, every week of the year, week in and week out, with not even a puny ATTEMPT at organization or narrative sequence, or you know, like GROWTH....

So true. C o C service is nothing but the "5 Acts of Worship," which it has made from some texts taken completely out of context.

Since leaving C o C over 40 years ago I have been regular or substitute/interim organist in many churches. Most of my work has been in the Lutheran Church(have been organist of LCMS parish for many years now). I was also organist of a Presbyterian Church in past; have done a good bit of subbing in Episcopal as well.

The above mentioned churches all observe the church year. Scripture readings are selected to correlate with the season and focus our minds on them. In such churches the pastor usually tries to choose hymns which coincide with or reinforce the theme of the day.

C o C services usually have no continuity..just a repetition of the "5 Acts" to make sure it's done correctly.

[Lev]

Agricola, it's like you and I went to the same COC or something.

IN the coc - we celebrated all the holidays, but absolutely NONE of them was 'religious'. Not a single holiday showed up at church. Christmas came closest to getting its nose in the door. Once in a while in December, if the song leader was very very daring, we just MIGHT sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing, or Joy to the World (accompanied, generally, by the obligatory sermon mention of how we celebrate DEATH every week, and we don't really know exactly when he was BORN yada yada yada).

We once had a song leader go on a months-long "quest" to lead a Christmas song at Christmastime. He started by leading songs about Jesus' birth during the summer because, hey, we celebrate his birth all year long. He kept it up through fall, almost every time he would lead singing. When December came around it was already established that this guy led Christmas songs so he kind of had the cred to be able to do it then too. Brilliant. The reaction was quite split though: biddies and bubbas were mad, of course, but a lot of us appreciated 'getting' to sing these songs at the right time of year with a clean conscience. I still think about that guy and silently thank him for his foresight.

The next holiday that ALMOST made an appearance at church was Easter, which was mostly bunnies and candy and egg hunts at home, but ALSO all new clothes for church and the ladies wore hats too, which wasn't that common otherwise. Plus quite often when I was a teen, LILIES would show up on the podium. The silly thing about all that was that NOBODY MENTIONED IT. It just sort of spontaneously happened that all the people at church had new clothes and there were lilies down front. You know what I think? I think the majority of coc members WANTED to celebrate Easter, but thought it was probably a Slippery Slope leading to Catholicism or something.

Exactly. What a rip off to be a Christian but to not get any of the holidays. I remember a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses that came to my door once and tried to justify their non-celebration of birthdays. I don't get it. Why would I want less celebration? I think there's a cultural memory in the COC. It wasn't that long ago that the people who founded it were members of denominations that all celebrated the main Christian holidays and seasons. Giving up advent, easter, lent, etc. is a hard thing to do. Obviously most people want to keep them.

Lev

[Lev]

...and we don't really know exactly when he was BORN yada yada yada).

It was embarrassingly recent that I discovered that very few Christians from "the denominations" actually believe Jesus was born on December 25th, or that we can possibly know when he was born. I've heard it mentioned directly from the speaker in Christmas services that "we don't know when Jesus was born," in all kinds of denominations.

Lev

[zeek]

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[musicman]

[quote][/quote] there were lilies down front[quote]

I don't recall seeing that in C o C!