Sunday, June 2, 2013

Why is Sunday now the new Saturday? Do we really live in a post-Christian America?.......Why?

I was watching a preacher on the TV and he said that he had heard someone say that Sunday was the new Saturday.  His statement spoke to me, I didn't actually listen to all of the rest of his sermon, his question made me think.  I think that maybe it was supposed to but maybe not so much I wasn't supposed to stop listening to him but.... What does that mean?  What does that mean to you?  Less than a hundred years ago a store could not legally be opened on Sunday because it would interfere with Church services.  Now every thing is open on Sunday and who cares about those people going to Church is the current attitude.  Church used to be the important event that took place on Sunday, now Sunday is more than just a day to rest and worshiping the Lord; it is a day to rest and do your own thing.  We are too busy gratifying ourselves to take any time to worship the Lord.  It is a day to get the stuff we couldn't fit into our Saturday done.  Is it really just a day to enjoy sports,  movies,  running,  camping, sleeping late and any number of things that we want to do with "our" time?  What about the time we are supposed to give to our Lord, what about communing with fellow Christians and giving them support.  What about taking a minute to give of yourself to someone else who needs some support from their brother or sister in Christ.  Why do we not take time to give time to others that might be floundering but for our encouragement and brotherly love in their lives?   Why is it so hard to take time away from our social networks and really stay connected with people, people who might really need our physical presence in their lives?  What of the 80 year old lady who sits alone in her home, day in and day out and only gets to see people on Sunday, because all of her young people have "lives to live".  Your spending time with her on a pew might be the only human contact she has in her life.  Worshipping with her could be of real importance to her.  The Lord has a job for you on this earth or you would have already been called home.  Have you ever thought of that, why am I still here?  Really if our only job in this earthly life is to be saved, and it is only about our own salvation, we would have been called home soon after our salvation, but most of us are not so what does that mean?  Are we here for God's purpose, do we have a job to do?  God designed us with a purpose in this life and it is not all about self.  Yes, salvation is number one, but what then?  What is our purpose?  God knows, he made us with a purpose in mind for us, we just have to find our purpose. 

How do we find our purpose in this life?  How do we determine what God made us to do in this life? What makes your passion come out?  What makes you angry?  Really what does make you anger?  Quite often what stirs your emotions is a clue to what God wants you do in this life.  Does seeing a starving child make you want to help him? Does that make you angry? Maybe that is where you calling lies.  Some of us find our calling as a young person and some wander for years until we find our earthly purpose, what God designed us to do in this life.  Some never find their salvation or their purpose on earth, sadly.  Do you like what you are doing? Do you like your life and job? if not you probably haven't found the passion God gave you.  Maybe your passion is sitting next to an 80 year old lady at Church and spending time with her, but you will never know because sleeping late was more important on Sunday.  Maybe spending time with children? maybe giving service to others? have you ever thought that your happiness maybe doesn't live in what you can acquire, what you can get for you and what you can do for yourself but maybe in what you can give of yourself to others?  Maybe assembling with others to praise God is what Sundays are all about?  Maybe spending time praising that Lord would give you solace you have not yet found.  Maybe Sundays are........

Do we really live in a post-Christian America?  Do less and less people feel the need to seek God on Sunday,   maybe it is true, maybe that loss of worship is more and more apparent in our society.  Maybe the destruction of our moral fiber as American has an easy fix, maybe it is as simple as worshipping our Lord on Sunday, wouldn't it be wondrous if we could try something so simple to fix our crumbling society?

I heard a joke from one of the preachers this morning in one of their sermons, I think the same one that said that Sunday was the new Saturday.  He said some one had emailed him a joke comparing sporting events to Church attendance.

I don't got to Sporting events anymore because they are always asking me for money, the seats are too hard, I have to sit next to people I don't like, I could be doing something else, I don't want to influence my kids opinions about what team they should be on, I was made to go to too many sporting events as a kids when I didn't want to so I am not doing that to my kids....... Sound familiar, yes, I have heard all of these as reasons not to go to Church but they do sound much funnier when we think of them as reasons not to go to sporting events rather than reasons not to worship our Lord on Sunday........ tomorrow.

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