We invite our parents to the devotional broadcast and they always enjoy it. On Christmas Eve, we will be joining my in-laws at their Presbyterian midnight service. They have a GREAT handbell choir.

Historically, it is my understanding that Mormons had no Christmas celebrations at all until Nauvoo. Christmas was not a Puritan holiday, and various forms of post-Puritanism formed the background of most American Latter-day Saints. However, as the British Mission began sending converts to Nauvoo, the demographic of the Church changed. The English Saints came mostly out of groups like the United Bretheren that had broken with Methodism, which of course had broken with the High Church C. of E. Still, they had a Christmas tradition, and that tradition got carried into Nauvoo society. To my knowledge, neither Joseph or any of the other leaders had any anti-High Church reaction to this development. It would be interesting to imagine what would have happened to Mormonism had the bulk of English converts come from from Anglicanism rather than extreme Methodism.

Mormons would be much better missionaries (full-time, ward and member) if they were more familiar with other churches. Most missionaries have a very poor sense of what people think about, what they know about God and the scriptures. This ignorance can hurt their ability to resolve concerns (they don’t know the meaning of various terms, or how the Mormon definitions are sometimes particular), but mostly it cripples their ability to relate to the people they’ve been called to teach.

Shortly after my mission I decided to begin remedying the problem. My family was on the 2:00 p.m. block schedule, so I planned to take my younger brothers and sisters, once a month, to the morning services of a different church. Even though we only ended up doing it twice, it gave them and me a better feel for what kinds of sermons the people hear, what their churches look like, and what they care about. Most importantly, because it can feel in Utah as though everyone who is non-Mormon is non-religious, seeing non-Mormons worshipping and singing praises to God helped my teenage brothers and sisters begin to appreciate non-Mormon religiosity.

If I ever teach Young Men in a Utah ward, I plan to take them to different churches to help prepare them for their missions. I’ll do the same thing with my own kids.

Nate, I’m sure your history is basically correct. Christmas was celebrated in 19th-century America in the Southern and some Mid-Atlantic states, but the legacy of Puritanism informed a lot of the northern “Freewill” Baptist and Congregationalist groups that Joseph Smith was familiar with, as well as inspiring many of the various “restorationist” churches (Christian Church, the “Campbellites,” etc.) which arose during his lifetime. That influence extended (as did Mormonism) into the Midwest, and remained strong for many years. Some parts of our country weren’t firmly “converted” to Christmas until after the Civil War, when the influx of immigrants and the new Victorian economy of the cities finally overwhelmed neo-Puritan opposition. I didn’t know most of the English Saints came out of the United Brethren movement, but that makes sense.

I’m sorry you didn’t feel much connection to the Trinity Church service. One of the highlights of my life was attending Christmas Eve services in old Christ Church in Alexandria, VA (George Washington’s parish; they still have his pew marked out), several years ago. Maybe I’m just a Protestant at heart.

When I go to Trinity Church’s Christmas eve service (I got to sing with the choir one year when half their alto section was down with flu–amazing!!) or to Lessons and Carols at Harvard, I feel like I’ve come home. Maybe it matters that I didn’t grow up in Utah and so never had any association with the Christmas Devotional or being in entirely Mormon crowds at Christmas. Or maybe some people have the misfortune of being born with high-church souls into low-church Mormon families. Not complaining; I’ll take true doctrine over form any day (well, OK, any day but Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday!)

It isn’t up on their archive site yet but is being rebroadcast tonight at 7:00.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuer/news/news.newsmain?action=section&SECTION_ID=184

One of the interesting comments was how Santa Claus was really a symbol for workers and how close economic changes in America were with Christmas. For instance it was to get people to stop partying and be more productive. A lot of
interesting facts.

The biggest point was how, in America, Christmas became much more of a personal home celebration whereas at one time it was much more of a public and civic holiday. More akin to New Years.

I promptly emailed both pastors on the 26th praising the handbell choir and stating that since the congregation knew how the soldiers got overseas and God knows as well, the motivation to say that must have been to vocalize dissent and it was not appropriate in a prayer offered on behalf of all of us.