Sunday.

there are two kinds of "Sunday" people.

first (and how most Christians are stereotyped) are those who believe and religiously follow the Mosaic Sabbath. this is the implication that all activity separate from worshiping Jesus Christ with fellow believers or in individual quiet is unacceptable and considered a sin. in short, according to God via Moses:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8-11 (NASB).

sounds very reasonable. there is nothing wrong with this view. the only danger, however, is taking it too far into legalism land. for instance, the Jews had long lists of dos and don'ts for the Sabbath day. don't walk more than fifteen steps. don't buy or prepare your food, instead preparing it the day before and eating the leftovers on the Sabbath. in fact, don't even prepare your animals food. don't send them out to pasture, because, well, that requires labor. just make sure you have a day's worth of food for them saved up from the day before. eventually, the Sabbath became more of a ritual instead of a day of celebration among the saints.*

the second are those who basically blend in with everyone else who treats Sunday just like another day of the week. they explain that we, in the new covenant, don't need to follow the intense law of "keeping" a certain day of the week. instead, we worship Christ every day, since He is now the Lord of the Sabbath. we only pick Sunday as a day of worship because it's the "day off" for Christians who have to work during the week and students.

"Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. But some of the Pharisees said, 'Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?' And Jesus answering them said, 'Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?' And He was saying to them, 'The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.'" Luke 6:1-5 (NASB).

"But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain." Galatians 4:9-11 (NASB).

again, more biblical backing to this view. however, this view also has to be taken with a grain of salt. after a while, after feeling "liberated" from the burdens of observing the Lord's day, most Christians consider worship in a church setting on Sunday mornings as an option. hey, if you don't make it on Sunday, just go next week. or to a Bible study. or to Sunday evening.

while there is nothing openly or directly wrong with this, there is again a danger. we begin to rearrange our priorities. it's more fun going to Kennywood with my coworkers on a "work outing", but what witness would I be if I chose to skip out on church just to ride a few rides, get nice and sweaty, walk around aimlessly with people I see and joke with at work, and talk about silly, empty, stupid things?

I really wanted to run the Great Race down town. for some insane reason, I like to run, especially with other people. it would have been fun. I would have done a miserable job and come in around 300th place, but still. and then I found out it was on a Sunday morning. 8:00. about an hour and a half before church. if I had lived in Pittsburgh, right down town where it started, this wouldn't have been much of an issue. I run for half an hour, go home, shower, go to church. but I don't live down town. it would have been impossible for me to go to church. what witness would I be if I decided running with a few hundred people I didn't know was more important than fellowship with the two dozen I do know at church?

granted, I would do that on a Tuesday or Thursday or Saturday instead of sitting and reading my Bible, but there is only one day a week that I can actually find 3 to 4 free hours to spend with the people of God. as Christians, we need to be aware of not only the impression it leaves with those who watch us, but also on our walk with Christ. if we spend our normal time with the church, the body of Christ, doing unedifying activities, we will be affected.

what is your priority? or, a more appropriate question, who is your priority? yourself with your personal interests or desires for the day? your family and what they want to do that day? your preconceived ideas of what is important on a Sunday morning instead of church? or is it God and His believers, His church?

"'For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.'" Matthew 18:20 (NASB).