It was noted in last week’s article that bad weather is usually the reason for canceling assemblies of the church. There are, however, other compelling reasons for doing so.

This year, for example, Christmas Eve falls on a Wednesday. Traditionally, no other night of the year is as oriented towards home and family. This being true, leadership here has decided to forego holding an assembly on Christmas Eve. Our hope is that each family will find a meaningful way to use this special time profitably.

It is good to meet on Wednesday nights as is our habit or tradition. With every good practice, however, there are always exceptions.

Jesus even pointed out a few exceptions from God’s law. He reminded us that David ate bread that was supposed to be only for the priests (Matthew 12:3-4). Our Lord then mentioned that the priests themselves were actually required to work on the Sabbath (12:5), but also that even a lowly sheep should be rescued from a pit if it falls in on the Sabbath (12:11-12).

We know that under normal circumstances all Jews living under the law were to keep the Sabbath holy by abstaining from work. As Jesus notes for us, however, there were appropriate times for them to temporarily set aside even from this God-given rule.

God has provided guidance in scripture directing us to meet on the first day of the week. In his wisdom, has also left it up to local congregational leadership to schedule any meeting times other than this. Our tradition has been to meet on Wednesday night for worship, fellowship, prayer and Bible study.

It is now the decision of the leadership here, that we break tradition on Christmas Eve to encourage families and loved ones to do something special with this time, even if it is simply to just hang out together.

So then, since being home on a Wednesday night is the exception to the rule, we encourage you to make it exceptional indeed!