Sermon for December 26, 2010

Last Sunday evening, after the amazing and powerful "Feast of Carols" here at 1st Presbyterian, I went up to Bill Dickinson and told him that he and the choir really knew how to fill this sanctuary--the two choirs, the orchestra and brass section, the organ, piano, bells, and percussion, all filled this room with resplendent and majestic music, praising God in the Highest. But they also managed to fill the sanctuary with people, too, and not just here up front. I was grateful to have been one of those people filling the sanctuary. But I'm also grateful that it isn't quite so full this Sunday morning after Christmas, because that would have just ruined my sermon this morning!

I wasn't too worried, though. In churches across the nation, this morning marks an event that has a name, although you won't find it in any liturgical calendar: The Sunday after Christmas is often referred to as "Low Sunday." As in, "low attendance" Sunday. A friend of mine, who is the youth director at a large, multi-staff church in Dallas, refers to it as "Associate Pastor Sunday" or "Guest Preacher Sunday," reflecting the fact that often even the pastor doesn't show up. Don't put Dr. Bob on the hook too much, though--I actually volunteered to preach this Sunday way back at the end of the summer, when I knew this would be my only Sunday here in El Paso.

I can understand, though, why attendance usually drops of the chart on Low Sunday -- the Advent Season leading up to Christmas is kind of like the "playoffs" for most churches, with events like the "Feast of Carols" as the Superbowl, or the Christmas Eve Service as the "All Star Game" (pun intended -- get it? All-Star, Star of Bethlehem?). By the time Christmas rolls around, the congregation--and especially its leaders--are just worn out on worship services. Add to that the craziness of our consumer-shopping-cookie-baking-gift-wrapping-photo-taking-wallet-breaking-picture-perfect Christmas culture. Everybody's exhausted by now. Which is interesting, considering that in the church calendar (unlike the shopping calendar), December 25th doesn't mark the end of the Christmas season, it marks the very beginning! I've also heard often that attendance is low because people are out of town, with family in other places. I've always thought that one was a little shaky: If people leave *this* town, they're still in some other town, and people from other towns come here to visit family--so attendance should stay the same, but out-of-town visitors should be way up. And if you are one of those out-of-town visitors with us today, welcome! You get a gold-star and some cookies after the service for being so faithful.

But whatever the reasons, good or bad, the Sunday after Christmas remains one of the most poorly attended Sundays of the year. Low Sunday. Look around you...you are the few, the proud, the real "Christmas Christians." I'll come back to this idea of Low Sunday in just a bit, but first I want to backtrack through today's scripture reading in the Psalms.