i'll be home for christmas

I remember knowing, as a kid, that people who weren't really involved in churches went to church twice a year: at Christmas and Easter. Shortly before my childhood we stopped having Christmas services on weekdays, but whenever it happened on Sunday the church would be packed, as it always was on the Sunday nearest Christmas.

Several years ago, it fell on a Sunday again, and this time there was much worry about whether to even have church on Christmas day, because it might interfere with people's family celebrations. You know, people want to celebrate at home for Christmas, not go to church. We finally decided to have no Sunday school and only one service, at a special time, with kids invited to wear pajamas. This year, we did the same thing, only with civvies.

The whole bit about people wanting to stay home and be with their families was snapped into its proper place when we got home from today's service (well-populated but hardly crowded, at either our church or the Episcopal one down the street). The television was on, and we observed seventy thousand people cheering as the Spurs played Detroit.

With all the talk recently about taking the Christ out of Christmas, we've hardly noticed the real phenomenon: we've taken the Mass out.