 |
Pastor · Sunday Schedule · FBC
News
2002
From the Pastor
A Sabbath Day Experience
On Sunday, September 8, I would like to challenge the congregation to step inside a different kind of world. For one day I would like the congregation to take a day off for twenty four hours let God be God.
It use to be that Sunday was such a day. People went to church, they visited, stores were closed and families spent the day together.
Although we now live in a different kind of world we still need that kind of day, a day apart from all the other days, a day that reminds us of paradise, a day that hints of heavens glory. As there should be a period in every day for prayer and reflection, so there needs to be a day in every week that is set apart as a day of rest.
I would suggest three parts to the day.
1. Begin with worship and Sunday school. Get up early enough so you are not rushed. Drive to church with a sense of anticipation, but don’t let that anticipation be on something of which you will later be critical such as a poor sermon. Remind yourself you are going to worship God who is taking over for the day. After worship stay for the luncheon and enjoy the fellowship.
2. Back at home. Do nothing that has to be done! Remember it is a Sabbath rest, a day off. Read the paper. Take a nap on the sofa. Sit in your backyard. Play a board game with your family. Go for a walk. Visit with friends. Day dream. Read a novel. Look at your vacation pictures. Anything is permissible so long as you receive enjoyment from it or it helps to relax you. It might mean you will want to spend some unhurried time in prayer or reading Scripture, meditating on the awesomeness of God’s beauty and grace, but, if this is not your thing don’t try to force it. The idea is not to try to live up to somebody’s expectation, but to begin to understand what it means to live in a world where God’s grace is sufficient and you are accepted.
3. The end of the day. We are very privileged on Sunday, September 8, to have the choir of Trinity Episcopal Church present a Compline Service in our sanctuary. It is a half hour service from 8:00 - 8:30 p.m. The service is an Anglican tradition and its purpose is to close out the day with God. It is a way of recognizing that the entire day belongs to God and we rest in God’s mercy as we prepare for sleep.
Sunday is like a revelation. We see the world as it really is with God at the beginning and God at the end and God sustaining our lives in between. In observing Sunday as a day of rest we are not only calmed for the week ahead, but we begin to carry a part of that day into the week and it is sustained as each day we find a time to rest and pray.
I firmly believe a part of our purpose here on earth is not just to do and labor, but it is to be and see, embrace and appreciate all the beauty and wonder of this life. God gave us consciousness so we can enjoy with God what God has created.
Sunday gets us back on track. To treat Sunday like any other day or to fill it with errands and chores is to take a diamond and treat it like a rhinestone. It devalues something so beautiful and cheapens the Love of The Giver.
From the beginning to the end, make Sunday, September 8, what every Sunday is made for us to be, a Sabbath day of rest.
Dr. David W. Andersen
            
|
