DAYS OF COMMEMORATION
(Written in 1994)
Introduction
Do you go to church on Christmas Day, Good Friday, New Year's Eve? Does your congregation hold a worship service on Ascension Day, Thanksgiving Day? Why? Why not? Should we add more of these "special services"? Are they good? Are they important?
In article 53 of the Church Order of the Canadian Reformed Churches adopted by General Synod, 1983, we have agreed that we shall commemorate the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as His outpouring of the Holy Spirit; however, how each local church does commemorate these is left in the freedom of the local church.
History of Days of Commemoration
The question of church festivals and special days of commemoration has quite a history. In the very early church there was only one special day—the Lord's day. The first day of the week was the special day. In Acts 20:7 we read about the church in Troas gathering together to celebrate the Lord's supper and to listen to the preaching of the apostle Paul. In 1 Cor. 16:2 Paul told the church in Corinth to gather alms for the poor on the first day of the week. By the time John received the Revelation, this day had come to be known as "the Lord's day" (Rev. 1:10). This was the day of Christ's victory. On it the church celebrated the resurrection of Christ.
Easter
However, quite early already, in the latter part of the second century, the church began paying special attention to the resurrection of Christ on one special day each year in addition to the weekly celebration. Easter is the oldest of the church festivals. Originally it was a single night celebration which recalled both the death and the resurrection of Christ. Communion was celebrated. Because of the association with new life, it was seen as the ideal occasion for baptisms of converts.
As time went on a brief preparatory period was observed. This was lengthened to forty days. And so the season of Lent emerged. For forty days the church entered into a period of fasting and doing works of penitence. These forty days were meant as a reminder of the forty day fast of Christ in the wilderness.
After the fourth century, the fifty days after Easter came to be observed as well. These seven weeks were called Eastertide. The various redemptive-historical events were given special attention: the death of Christ; his resurrection; his ascension to heaven (forty days after Easter); and finally Pentecost on the fiftieth day.
From commemoration the church went to dramatization. Religious plays became very popular. The events leading up to the death and resurrection of Christ were dramatized. There were religious plays about the raising of Lazarus, the anointing of the feet of Jesus with expensive ointment by Mary, the royal entry of Christ on Palm Sunday, the footwashing, and the passion of Christ. All of these were acted out. These ninety days of Lent and Eastertide formed the centre of the church year.
Over the centuries, many popular customs were added reflecting pagan spring folklore and superstition. For example, the egg and the rabbit were added to Easter. The egg and the rabbit are symbols of fertility. In fact, the term "Easter" probably comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Eostre," the name of the goddess of spring and fertility.
Christmas
The other great church festival was Christmas. The earliest evidence of the birth of Christ being celebrated as a special festival is from the year 336. The feast of Christmas was developed by the church to combat a pagan feast honouring the Roman Sun god which was celebrated yearly on December 25. The Roman festival included the exchange of gifts, drunkenness, gorging on food, dancing, gambling, and orgiastic partying. The church thought it might be good to celebrate the birth of Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, on December 25th to counteract the pagan festival honouring the Roman Sun god.
The church has not been very successful. Much of the Roman excess still lives on in our day in our culture. North Americans eat and drink to great excess around Christmas. And they spend an ungodly amount of money on material things.
As well, we have picked up some more baggage and included it in our Christmas celebrations. From medieval Germany we have inherited the winter festival called Yuletide. Yuletide emphasized light. Hence we have the lighting of the Yule log, the decoration of evergreen trees, and Christmas lights.
The church has not been successful in counteracting the world by celebrating Christmas. Today the church celebrates the birth of Christ at Christmas and participates with the world in its lavish excess. And the church and the world do it all under the name of Christ. Even the world calls it Christ-mas. A typical Christmas display can consist of a manger scene, some wise men on camels, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, and a Christmas tree with presents.
By the beginning of the Medieval period, around the year 500, Easter and Christmas had been established as the two great Church festivals. Then the period of Advent was added—the four weeks before Christmas. The Christmas cycle and the Easter cycle defined the church year.
Feasts of the saints
During the next 500 years other holy days were added which fell here and there throughout the year. These were mainly days commemorating the death of martyrs (called their "birthdays"). The church ended up with 120 feasts of martyrs. A whole series of feasts celebrating various aspects of the life of the Virgin Mary developed.
Celebrating the birth, death and resurrection of Christ as well as observing various other holy days associated with the deaths of martyrs and the life of the Virgin Mary became almost a full time preoccupation. The church had placed a terrible burden upon the shoulders of God's people. The pious were kept busy worshipping. The impious, however, abused these days by idling about, drinking, carousing, and indulging in immoral behaviour.
Reformation
The Reformers cut through all of this. They abolished—or at least they tried to abolish—the many feasts and festivals. They put forward three grounds:
1. The apostles wrote against the observing of all sorts of special days—Gal. 4:10.
2. Sunday, the Lord's day, is the church's special day. It is the one God-given day upon which we worship the Lord.
3. Having so many holidays led the people into idleness, and the idle man is the devil's cushion.
As Richard Baxter said: "Idleness is the hot-bed of temptation, the cradle of disease, the waster of time.... Idleness is the devil's home for temptation and for unprofitable, distracting musings."
The Reformers wanted to abolish totally all the special days. The acts of the early synods reflect this. However, the governments did not allow this. The civil authorities insisted that certain holidays be kept in order to please the citizens. The people wanted holidays. They loved their free days. The church, in order to keep the people from passing the days in complete laziness and worldliness, grudgingly decided to organize worship services. The church did this by way of concession. The church resigned itself to having special worship services beside the Lord's day in order to counteract idleness and immorality.
The Church Order of Dort
In the early 1600's, in Holland, the following days were declared public holidays: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, plus the day after these feast days, Ascension day and New Year's day. At the Synod of Dort, 1618-19, the synod which produced the Church Order of Dort, the Dutch churches agreed that these days would be observed in the churches. An article was placed in the Church Order stating as much; however, this was, again, by way of concession and resignation. These were civil holidays. The church thought it would be good to call the people to worship as an antidote to worldliness.
The churches of the Secession, 1834, tried to return to the simplicity of worshipping on the Lord's day only. They said that ideally the church would have no "special days" except Sunday. But even their first Synod, Amsterdam, 1836, while affirming the freedom with which Christ has set us free regarding the observance of special days, said that since these days are public holidays, it would be good for the congregation to come together to be edified by the Word of God. The Secession churches adopted a Church Order in 1837 in which they said:
... since the observance of the feast days is not prescribed in God's Word, no one shall ever be burdened with the need to observe them; much less shall they be put on a level with the day of rest. However, where no work is being done on those days it shall be tried as much as possible to pass them in an edifying manner.
The article in the Church Order about the commemoration of festival days varied from generation to generation. In article 67 of the Church Order appended to the Acts of our 1968 General Synod you will read the following:
The Churches shall observe, in addition to the Sunday, also Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. The observance of second feast-days and of Ascension Day is left in the freedom of the Churches.
In article 53 of our present Church Order, entitled "Days of Commemoration," we have agreed upon the following:
Each year the churches shall, in the manner decided upon by the consistory, commemorate the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as His outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
As churches, we have, by way of this article of the CO, agreed to commemorate the various redemptive historical facts of salvation. By common consent we have said that we will remember the special moments in the work our Lord Jesus Christ did for our salvation; however, we have left each other free in the matter of how this should be done. The churches shall do so "... in the manner decided upon by the consistory." We have left how this shall be done in the freedom of each local church.
If a church decided that it would have no week day services whatsoever, neither on Christmas Day nor Good Friday, and that it would gather for worship only on the Lord's day because that is the only day that God has commanded us to observe, no one could say anything. If that church decided that it would pay special attention to the great redemptive-historical moments of the life and work of Christ when it came to them on Sunday afternoons by way of the Heidelberg Catechism, that would be well and good.
It is rather typical in our churches to have services on Christmas Day, Good Friday and New Year's Eve or Day. What is the rationale? There is a certain arbitrariness involved.
The Reformers took a wise course in this matter. We should follow them. They considered it to be wise to call the congregation together for worship on public holidays in order to deter idleness and worldliness. If we use this as a criterion, we can begin to make some responsible decisions as to what might be appropriate.
Christmas is a public holiday. The season is characterized by much excess, drinking, and worldliness. It is good to spend part of Christmas day being edified by the Word of God so that we do not lose sight of what we, as Christians, want to remember at Christmas—the birth of Christ. We so easily bury Christ underneath the tinsel. The Christmas lights quickly outshine the Light of the world.
Good Friday is also a statutory holiday. Realizing that there is some subjectivity involved, it seems appropriate to gather for worship on this day to remember the crucifixion of our Lord. We remember the day which stands in the center of history, this day upon which Christ canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands by nailing it to the cross, the day upon which he disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them.
Our Church Order says nothing about New Year's eve. In the world, New Year's eve is characterized by drinking and carousing until the wee hours of the morning. It's good for God's people to be admonished and edified by the Word in order to keep a good perspective on things as they live and strive to obey God in the midst of a world gone mad. As well, it is good to meditate upon the movement of time, the fleeting nature of life with a view to the coming of Christ. Usually we think about that on New Year's eve. It is good to do so.
In Canada, Ascension Day is not a public holiday. The tradition of congregations gathering together on days of commemoration that are also statutory holidays does not apply.
Lately, some have been pleading for Thanksgiving Day services. Why should we not have a special service on Thanksgiving Day? The holiday originated in 1621 with the Pilgrim Fathers after their first successful harvest. Shortly after Confederation the second Monday of October was declared a holiday in Canada. It was called "Thanksgiving Day." The holiday has religious roots. Its purpose is to express thanks to God for material blessings.
However, the question should be asked whether it would be a good move to have a special service on that day? Thanksgiving Day has to do with the fourth petition: "Give us this day our daily bread." Why single out this one petition and have a special service centred around that theme? Why should we elevate the concern about daily bread? Are we more concerned about our daily bread than about hallowing the holy Name of God? Is our daily bread more important than the coming of God's kingdom, doing the will of God, the forgiveness of our sins and the forgiving of the sins of others? Why single out the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer?
The question of daily bread, of labour, of seeding and harvesting, is a family matter. It would be best to treat it as a family matter. We can have a beautiful and meaningful hour of worship as we celebrate the generosity of God at our supper table on Thanksgiving Day as we enjoy the fruits of the field.
Of course the church has something to say about daily bread. That can easily be remembered on the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day. And it is remembered when our ministers preach on Lord's Days 9, 10, and 50 of the Heidelberg Catechism.
Conclusion
We would do well to keep our "special" services to a minimum. There is only one God-given special day—the Lord's day. The German and the Latin of Lord's Day 38 of our catechism call Sunday the feast day. Yes, the Lord's day is our festival day. Let us not exalt the days of commemoration, let alone days which do not celebrate redemptive-historical moments—such as Thanksgiving Day—over the Lord's day, the one and only true Christian festival. We would do well to remember that the days of commemoration and the other statutory holidays are human inventions. Let not the human invention push aside the glory of the Lord's day.
History shows that when the church is in decline, there is an increase in special services. Is the church trying to compensate for a lack of true obedient service and worship of God by adding extra worship services? Is it trying to hide its disobedience under a veneer of religiosity? This was the case in the middle ages. And it is very interesting to note that after the Liberation in Holland in the 1940's, the synodical churches (the GKN churches that remained bound to the synod) prescribed in their new Church Order the observation of Good Friday, Ascension day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Prayer Day for Labour in Spring and Thanksgiving Day in the Fall.
Let us keep in view that there is only one holy day—the Lord's day. Let's keep the Lord's day, Sunday, as the special day. That is the day upon which Christ calls his people together to worship him. Let's not undermine the beauty of this special day which we can observe every week. Every first day of the week we may celebrate the resurrection of Christ and his victory over the devil, sin and death. Every Sunday we confess that we are safely in Father's hands. Every Lord's day we gather in His presence to worship Him, and to sing to Him our praise and adoration. It's enough.
