Remembering the Day of the Week in this Wacky Time

The other day, Karen asked me “Why are you doing what you normally do on Saturday?” I responded, “It is Saturday!” Have you ever lost track of the days of the week? Do you need your phone to not only tell you the time of the day but what actual day it is? These past eight weeks have been the wackiest days, weeks, and months of our lives!

Dr. Howard Goodpaster said that if it were not for Livestream worship, he would not have any idea what day of the week it was! What a profound statement that is true historically and certainly Biblically.

Remembering the Sabbath is one of God’s big ten! The fourth commandment teaches us to “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). There is a Biblical tradition of remembering the days of the week based on beginning the Sabbath.

Through the years, I have heard church members say if they miss worship on Sunday, it throws their whole week out of whack. I do concur with such a statement! Beginning the week with worship is not only a good idea, it is also God’s idea and command!

In these wacky coronavirus times, I would invite us to “Remember the Sabbath” more than ever before. We need the rest, worship, and renewal all the more. Why not use this time to recalibrate the rest of our lives? God created us to maintain a rhythm of working six days instead of all seven. Have we forgotten to start each week worshipping God and resting on Sunday?

Could we make Sunday our reference point to know what day of the week it is? Could this be one takeaway from the coronavirus crisis-that we prioritize the Sabbath and reset our clocks on Sunday? Whenever our time of gathering publicly returns, the Sabbath remains the Sabbath! Or said another way, “You can take the people out of the church building on Sunday, but you cannot take the Sabbath out of the people!”

Hope to see you on Livestream this week at 8:00, 9:30, 11:00, and 11:07 am as we continue to learn from John 3:16.