Amidst overseas media reports of US "mega-churches' shutting down Sunday services at Christmas, Sydney Anglicans have offered their own explanation for reduced gatherings this year.
The rector of St Paul's, Castle Hill, the Rev John Gray, who leads one of the biggest congregations in the Diocese says there are practical reasons for not offering evening services on Christmas Day.
"We will not be offering evening services on Christmas Day because people will have come to one of our five services over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning," he says.
This year’s doubling up of Christmas and Sunday has given rise to obvious complications.
"I am doing five services over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and preaching at three of them. We will have two to two and a half thousand people here. By the time we have finished all our services I'm pretty much wiped."
The rector of Christ Church, St Laurence, the Rev Adrian Stephens, will be leading five services in the space of thirteen hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and admits that by the evening of Christmas Day he will "probably be asleep'.
"There will be loud snoring coming from the master bedroom," he says.
"We normally do offer an evening service on a Sunday but we have curtailed it. The difficulty with a service on Christmas Day evening is lots of volunteers celebrate Christmas with family and friends and so staffing the service would have been very difficult."
However, Mr Stephens believes the celebration of the birth of Jesus is "one of the major celebrations in the life of the church'.
"To celebrate Christmas as a major event in the life of the church is right, proper and credible. The nativity always has the shadow of the cross behind it" he says.
The Bishop of North Sydney, the Rt Rev Glenn Davies, suggests that what many Australian Christians see as "normal and almost necessary to have church on Christmas Day' is not a worldwide Christian practice and has no biblical sanction.
"Attending church on Christmas day is an English tradition, or western in terms of the Catholics," he says.
"When I was in America in 1977, I was speaking at a Presbyterian church in Atlanta and it was a Christmas Day and a Sunday. I said to the minister that there was a good number and asked "What would you have had if Christmas wasn't on a Sunday?'"
"He said "What do you mean? We wouldn't have church if it wasn't a Sunday'."
Bishop Davies says the cultural trend of families celebrating Christmas Day evening together and the lack of biblical precept for a Christmas Day church meeting makes holding evening services unwise.
"When I have been in parish ministry, I have argued that it's ridiculous to have church on a Sunday night," he says.
"To hold a service for the sake of it when we know it's a family day is intrusive and anti- family. And for what purpose? Because we have always had a service on a Sunday night? So what? I imagine any normal Christian would have gone to a service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day already."
Mr Gray shares Bishop Davies's view.
"My observation is [our] culture sees Christmas Day as a day for families. No churches open Christmas Day [evening]. Even if it falls on a Sunday you don't do anything because you have already celebrated Christmas in a church the night before."
"If I was to say to the staff let's do services on Sunday night this Christmas, you would have to come to my funeral by the end of this week."
St George North's assistant minister, the Rev Phil Colgan says their rector, the Rev Zac Veron did an "anecdotal survey' to gauge what other ministers were doing regarding this year's Christmas services.
"Zac rang up ten other ministers asking them what they were doing and found that being Christmas Day, they weren't doing evening services," he says.
However, Mr Colgan says the Christmas Day period is still a valuable time for getting newcomers.
"Last year we ran Boxing Day services in the evening and found we actually got some newcomers in," he says.
"But instead of two normal evening services this year, we are having them on Christmas Eve, Saturday night. We are saying to those evening congregation members that the Christmas Eve services are your services for the week."
One member of St George North is holding an "open house' on Christmas night so those who are connected with the church and want some company can drop in. The 5pm Chinese congregation will also hold a service Christmas Day evening.
