A few years ago the Huffington Post featured an article on the 12 dangers of Christmas.  The article focused on fire safety during the holiday season.  They covered everything from your Christmas tree drying out and catching the drapes on fire to burning down your home while preparing your roast beast. The article had me thinking, what if there were other dangers during Christmas?  What if, aside from falling off your roof while working on your light display and over roasting your chestnuts, there were hidden dangers during the season of advent that most of us overlook. So I decided to write about the dangers of Christmas we often ignore.

Now, a few years later, I want look at a few more dangers of Christmas we might ignore or be unaware of. So here we go, another 12 Dangers of Christmas.

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Pastors Fighting Pastors

With Christmas Day falling on Sunday pastors and church leaders have been debating arguing with one another for the past 6 months on whether or not to have worship services on Christmas Day.  The debate argument stems from the opinion of some that canceling services on Christmas Day signals that Jesus is losing the culture war between Christendom and a Post-Christendom world.

As I see it, here are the two arguments:

To Have Services:

To Not Have Services:

I highlight these 2 views because I think most pastors would not argue the idea of worshiping Christ in all we do. That can be anything from opening gifts to sitting in a physical church.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. - Colossians 3:17

The larger problem I see with the Christmas morning debate is that pastors have turned this argument into a pissing contest with one another, measuring their 'pastorhood' and worthiness to lead a congregation based on their chose to hold or not hold worship services at a time when it will more than likely be a service attended by paid musicians, staff members, and their families.

This isn't the first nor the last time a debate will turn to argument. 

Pastors have enough on their plates this time or year, and throughout the year for that matter. Pastors and church leaders need to resist the urge to beat the crap out of one another.

One of the dangers this Christmas is pastors beating each other up on ticky-tack issues. Rather than beating each other up, let's start working together to strengthen our community ties, make disciples for the transformation of the world, and reverse the slide towards decline. It's just a thought.