Today's Scripture Reading (December 1, 2024): Exodus 31
Sunday's growing up were interesting days. They began with church in the morning, or more precisely, Sunday School. After Sunday School finished, the actual worship service began. I don't think we had even thought of children's church, at least not when I was really young. As an older child, I remember that there was a children's missions meeting once a month, but we spent the rest of the time in the adult worship service.
I loved the song portion of the service, at least most of the time. We sang hymns; again, the idea of contemporary worship was still a few years away. The message portion of the service was a little more challenging. However, I invented a game to pass the time. It involved trying to guess how a minute would pass in the service. It worked best once I had a digital watch. To be successful, I had to look at my watch within the last five seconds of the minute. And I gave myself three tries to hit the correct time. Each look had to be quick; I wouldn't let my gaze linger. And, before I knew it, the service had ended.
When I was young, the end of the church service meant going over to my grandmother's house for a big meal. And then, after the meal, a forced rest. Once again, the forced rest was a time that tried my ability to stay still. Later, there would be a short time for play before we would have a snack; I remember cheese sandwiches with sliced cheese between two pieces of toast, some Sun Up, an orange powdered drink, and Sun Wheat biscuits, and then back to church for the evening service. Finally, the day ended, and my family headed home to bed. For a kid, the day was long and often very dull. But it was the expectation of the day. Throughout my childhood, this was my image of the Sabbath.
Of course, it wasn't the Sabbath. Technically, it was the Lord's Day, a celebration of the day that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. It was the eighth day that for Christians had replaced the seventh. It may not have been the Jewish Sabbath, but it was the Christian Sabbath, and growing up, most of the old Jewish Sabbath rules still applied.
We still argue about what the right day for worship is. Some fall firmly into the Saturday Jewish Sabbath category. Others are just as strongly in support of the Christian Sabbath, with most of the former rules still applying. Some even advocate that we should observe both days. Personally, I am not sure which day we celebrate really matters. I am also not sure that all of the old rules apply. The truth that Jesus recognized during his ministry was that the Sabbath had been one of the most misunderstood and abused of all of the Big Ten rules. We don't get it. It is not that the Sabbath is tied to one day or even one set of activities. Yes, it is a day when we focus on God, but it is also a time when we get to do different things. The biblical imperative is that this day is a day to spend time with God and with something that rejuvenates us. It is a day of recreation, or more precisely, re-creation, a day when God gets to perform the miracle of creation all over again in our lives, making us ready for the week that is to come.
Science agrees with the Bible on this fact. To be healthy, we need one day in seven where we do something different. It is essential for our physical and psychological well-being. If you want to live a long life, one day in seven has to be lived differently. God needs to perform his miracle of re-creation in us once every week.
So, celebrate Sunday, or Saturday, or Thursday, for that matter. I have tried to celebrate Fridays as my Sabbath for the past few years. It gives me a different meaning to TGIF. But celebrate a day and give God the chance to perform his miracle of creation in you one more time.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 32
No comments:
Post a Comment