Well, I've been busy (again) so haven't posted in a while. But over the last few weeks something has been on my heart. That is Sunday being a day for Worship. This comes about for several reasons.
Firstly, I believe that Sunday should be set aside as a day of worship and rest from your work. Sunday as the day of worship is a tradition that was followed in the early Church, which was likely due to several early events in the Church. The resurrection (Easter) and Pentacost both occured on Sundays. After the resurrection Christ typically appeared on Sundays. Paul himself carried on this practice:
Acts 20:7 (ESV)
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. Lately I have talked to a number of Christians who don't seem to have issue working or causing others to work on Sunday. Clearly from Christs example, necessary work on the Sabbath was allowed -- this would include medical, security, and Church related work. I also feel it is improper to cause others to work on Sunday (whether Christian or not). For this reason I don't shop, go out to eat, to see a movie, etc on Sunday (There have been exceptions, but I'm not perfect). I try to do everything in my power to allow others not to work. Why? If I want to share the Gospel with someone and they see me at a restuarant on Sunday what does that imply? Perhaps, well they won't work but it's okay for others or that they must not be real serious about their faith so why should I. In any case if I would go out to eat after Church, doesn't that mean someone was at the restuarant working while I was in Church? Shouldn't I be encouraging them to go to Church on Sunday?
The second thing that bugged me is related to this. A well known popular Christian singer is coming to the Baltimore area and perfoming on a Sunday evening at a public venue. I suppose you could consider it a worship event, but there are still a number of Churches with both morning and evening worship service. My Church has both and when possible my wife and I go to both. Doesn't this Christian singer realize this? What about all the people that work for him that will be selling T-Shirts and CDs afterward--it's a stretch to call that ministry. And how about the people who work for the concert venue are they all Christians trying to help minister the Gospel -- I would hope so, but most of them are probably just there to earn a paycheck.
Growing up, this wasn't really an issue for me. The town where I lived had mandatory Sunday closing laws, perhaps that is why I feel as strongly about it as I do. Ultimately, we all decide for ourselves clearly salvation doesn't come by keeping the sabbath.
