The Commerce of Christ at Christmas?

 In just under a month, Christians will gather in crowded, candlelit churches on Christmas Eve to celebrate the great feast of our Savior's birth.  Recently, some clergy friends of mine have directed me to an interesting little thing that the Episcopal Church's National Cathedral in DC has decided to do for Christmas Eve this year.  

Are they going to bring in the homeless so that they have a warm place to sleep that night?  No.

Are they going to actually preach the Christ whom they are obliged to by the book of common prayer?  No.

Are they going to charge people to attend Christmas Eve Mass and receive Christ?  YES!

You heard that correctly, the National Cathedral in Washington, DC; has decided to CHARGE people to attend a worship service on Christmas Eve.  Now some will defend this move as an attempt to control crowd levels or such; but that goes against the very essence of the Christian faith and the nature of cathedrals themselves.  The very reason why we build great churches and cathedrals is so that we can bring in ever more people to know the wonder and greatness of Almighty God.  To fill our churches until they burst at the seams with faithful who are on fire with the desire for Christ in word and in sacrament. 

With how much soap-boxing the Episcopal church has been giving on "gate-keeping" the sacraments of late, it seems a bone of contention that they should institute a paid-ticket reservation system on the Holiest Night of the year to, quite literally; gate-keep the sacraments.  

It's as if the blasted Reformation had never occurred; that we go back to John Tetzel preaching in the marketplace- As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul to heaven springs!        

Of course he would have a new rhyme to add for this one:  As soon as the coin buys your ticket and pass; then welcome you are to Christmas Eve Mass!

Seriously folks, don't buy tickets to church.  Encouraging people to do so cheapens the message of God's grace for all mankind, and puts it into the pocketbooks of the wealthy rather than the hands of the poor in Christ. 

Feed the poor; walk humbly before God; do whatever good you can, whenever you can, wherever you can.  And friends don't let friends buy tickets to Jesus. 




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