Why Do Presbyterians Observe Holy Days?

By Andrew Webb

Puritans desired that only those elements directly instituted by God were present in their worship.

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Dr. Samuel Miller, Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government at Princeton Seminary wrote confidently in 1835, "Presbyterians do not observe Holy Days."¹ Yet some 164 years after the book in which Miller made that bold declaration was published, an informal survey of 30 churches in the Presbyterian Church in America, the largest of the theologically conservative Presbyterian bodies in the United States, indicated that 83% of the churches do regularly celebrate Holy Days.

What happened in those intervening 164 years? Did the practice of Presbyterians change significantly in that time or was Miller’s declaration inaccurate when he made it? What might have brought about such a radical change if it did in fact occur? This essay will seek to answer these questions. Because of space constraints, considerably more time will be spent examining the history of the development of Presbyterian practice in the United States regarding Holy Days than in examining the theological foundations for that practice. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to begin by discussing the theological reasoning behind Dr. Miller’s declaration.

Presbyterians, and indeed most Christians, who describe their theology as distinctively "Reformed," believe that the worship of the Church is one of the most important aspects of the faith. Furthermore, they believe that this worship must be guided by the theology of the Bible. What makes the worship of those whose theological roots are in the Puritan wing of the Reformation distinctive, is their belief that the only worship that is acceptable before God, is that worship which is expressly commanded in his word, the Bible. This Puritan belief is succinctly summed up in the most important of the Puritan creedal documents, The Westminster Confession of Faith, in the first section of the twenty-first chapter:

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Note:  This is offered to those who may have an interest in the topic from a Presbyterian view point.