No, not the usual kind we talk about around here, but the Christmas kind. Via a comment in a Get Religion thread, this blogpost from a Canadian Presbyterian dismayed that his church will not be having Christmas day services.
If you haven't checked out the comments below, they have transformed into a discussion of the slow disappearance of the Christmas morning Mass in Catholic Churches, in favor of the Christmas Eve liturgy. One later poster says that her parish is having a 3pm vigil Mass! 3!
Of course the Vigil Mass is an important part of traditional Christian liturgical practice, but the shift away from Christmas Day Mass really has nothing theological about it - it seems to me it's all about "getting it over with" so we don't have to rouse ourselves from the wrapping paper and breakfast of Christmas morn. Parishes then give in to this by scheduling the Children's Christmas Liturgy for Christmas Eve - is there a law that demands this? No, of course not. It could be scheduled for Christmas morning.
Personally, I would love to go to Midnight Mass, but I don't think I've been in years - you have to go so early to get a seat, and with two little ones who need to be asleep anyway - that's not going to happen. Christmas morning for us - not so crowded, and a moment in time, that is sorely needed, as we are forced to rise and leave our material gifts and go celebrate, with the entire Church, what those gifts point to - or, to whom, rather.
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