From the Wall Street Journal:
For many Americans, Sunday is unlike any other day of the week. They spend its luxurious hours curled up in bed with the paper, meeting friends for brunch, working off hangovers, watching golf, running errands and preparing themselves for the workweek ahead. But Sunday is also, for many, the Sabbath–a special day for religious reasons. Not that you would notice.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” we are told in Exodus. Of all the gifts Jews gave the world, that of a weekly day of rest is certainly one to be cherished. And yet the Sabbath is now marked more by its neglect than its keeping. Or so says Christopher Ringwald in his new book “A Day Apart.”
Mr. Ringwald notes that in the late 18th century, states banned entertainment, hunting or unnecessary travel on Sundays. The Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s spread Sabbath-keeping to the frontiers. Church membership doubled, Sunday schools proliferated and long sermons dominated the morning. It was unthinkable that the general store would remain open on the Sabbath. “Nothing strikes a foreigner on his arrival in America more forcibly than the regard paid to the Sabbath,” Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in 1840. “Not only have all ceased to work, but they appear to have ceased to exist.” The so-called blue laws that were a part of American culture–closing down bars and preventing the sale of liquor on Sunday–were commonplace well into the 20th century.
But the Sabbath today is at odds with commercial culture. To generalize shamelessly from personal experience: My brother-in-law, who manages a national retail store in Colorado, works on Sundays, following church. He was shocked recently to find out he is now required to open the store on Easter Sunday. Easter used to be the one Sunday each year when retail stores closed. No longer.
We get the same in the UK. Sunday trading only became legal here in 1994 and it has tremendously increased the marginalisation of Christianity.
Everyone benefits from a public religious holiday like Christmas Day or Easter Day (and Good Friday and Easter Monday, which are public holidays too), and is thereby reminded of the nation’s historic faith however little they have to do with it. The Sunday closedown was a regular reminder that “Sunday is special” and of the Christian tradition that made it so. Now Sunday is no more special than Saturday, and the religious link has been broken.
In fact, the Church of England has started to move its focus away from Sunday worship in places, because it finds many people more interested in weekday services than in using up their precious weekends.
Thank you so much for posting this. I did an indepth Biblical study on this subject several years ago. I was contemplating employee issues at my business. After 4 months of praying, reading, studying and digesting, I began closing on Sundays. One of the amazing things God did was to cover the loss of sales on Sunday by an increase on the other days. I have heard all of the excuses as to why in cannot be done, and as Christians we are called to take Sunday as a Sabbath. One of the the most important lesson I learned was not that I rest and not work, but that I not ask others to work for me. What that meant was that I NOT go shopping, or eat out, but that it be used to serve God and the unsaved among us. I do not like to stand and preach on it, all I ask is that you read, pray and learn. Perhaps God will speak to you, and who knows what may happen.
In one of Herman Wouk’s non-Fiction books (“My God”) he recounts how he would be rehearsing a play (as the playwrite) and just before sundown on Friday, he would put on his hat and leave the theater to observe the Sabbath.
One director remarked later in the book:
“Herman, I don’t envy you your religion, but I do envy you your Sabbath!”
One fast food chain that I try to frequent is Chick-Fil-A (www.chick-fil-a.com). I worked there for three years in college and I still love their food. But more than that, their stores are required to close on Sunday – even the stores in the malls close on Sundays. While there are times I would love to grab a chicken sandwich after church on Sunday, I will gladly put it off to Monday so as to give the people who work at CFA some rest and time with their families.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Phil,
I believe that Hobby Lobby (the craft store) also is closed on Sunday to observe the Sabbath.
sj engelhardt
snow,
Not only is the Hobby Lobby chain closed on Sunday, but their ‘elevator music’ is soft comtempory Christian music, with a few tried and true hymns added in.
Christians don’t keep the Sabbath (Saturday); they commemorate the Lord’s Day (Sunday). Note this passage in Genesis: “And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it: because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made” (RV).
Under these circumstances, it would seem illogical to maintain legalistic blue laws. However, if one wishes to maintain a day of rest (either on Saturday or on Sunday) they shouldn’t be prohibited from doing so by their jobs in commercial establishments.
Virgil in Tacoma is entirely correct. In the beginning, God blessed the seventh day (which we now call Saturday) and called it holy. He has never un-blessed it, even though we of the New Covenant are not under the rigid restrictions of the Fourth Commandment in the Law of Moses.
From the beginning of Christianity, followers of the Way have met and worshipped on the Lord’s Day–the first day of the week. Yet I have always found it uplifting and appropriate to attend worship service or Bible study on Friday evenings–the beginning of the Sabbath. In this way I feel that I am honoring the Seventh Day.
Of course, the other spiritual principle to be honored is the principle of rest. God rested on the seventh day, and we are called to rest also. If that day of rest comes on a day other than Saturday, as it must for some of us, we can still honor the principle of rest.
It is hard to keep a day of rest when those around you do not. Like MBIC, Phil notes above, it is very easy to stop somewhere after church, but then someone else is working.
And what is work? I actually like mowing the lawn, but I feel guilty doing so on a Sunday, even though, to a certain degree, it could be “restful.”
Is blogging “work?” Should Kendall and others refrain from blogging one day a week?
And at what point do we cross into legalism? “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
This is actually the commandment I struggle with the most…
As a side note, I was in Pago Pago, AS, on Palm Sunday this year and was amazed at the difference in the Island on Sunday. Everything came to a stop. The one road on the island, which was jammed every other day of the week, was deserted and empty. The noise had ceased. I felt guilty driving to church — I met some acquaintances at the Roman Catholic Cathedral for Mass. Everyone goes to a church service in their own village (or perhaps, a neighboring one). All shops are closed. It was lovely. It was truly restful — I did not feel a need to shop or put anyone out.
ironically, secularized Europe does a much better job observing the Lord’s day with regard to store closings. Sadly few take advatantage of the opportunity to go to church.
A story from real life:
When I worked at B. Dalton in the mall, we had a rotating Sunday schedule so no one would have to work EVERY Sunday.
One day when I was on duty, we had just opened and a very sour-looking man came in.
“You shouldn’t be open on Sundays! It’s against the Bible!”
(we don’t argue with customers re: Virgil’s and Br_er’s comments above on Sabbath vs. Lord’s Day)
“Yes, sir, and I’d love to have the day off, but as long as people shop, the stores will be open. If people stop shopping on Sunday’s the stores will find they lose money and will close.”
“It’s still wrong! Now, where do you keep the Tom Clancy novels?”
He bought a book and left.
My unspoken comment was that if he wanted to make a ‘sabbath issue’ out of it, he was just as guilty of breaking the injunction as the store manager. That is,
But of course, I couldn’t say that to him with my boss standing right there! 😉
About 19 years ago, I took a job selling cars to see what a hard-core sales job was like. My scheduled work week was 50 hours, which didn’t include additional time spent to meet clients who were picking up cars, going for another test drive, etc. By law, dealerships were closed on Sundays. Whenever some legislator got the bright idea to change that, the first lobbying group to fight against it was the state automobile dealers’ association; they understood there was no economic benefit, just longer hours. I think car dealerships and liquor stores are the only places here still closed on Sundays by law.
Glad to see this article on T19. Out of coincidence, we put up last week a “quicky poll” about keeping the sabbath up on the home page of http://sandiegoanglicans.com/ (vote to see results). There are quite a range of opinions among the faithful regarding what makes a proper sabbath for today’s Christian. Generally speaking, I’d like to see Christians, starting with business folks, take more of a stand here out of love and respect, not legalism. Easier said than done, I realize.
When it’s fast food for dinner, we take the kids to Chic Filet because they close on Sundays – doesn’t seem to hurt their bottom line too much (the company that is. ‘Probably doesn’t help the kid’s bottom line…)
The more insidious threat is kids’ sports leagues that now routinely schedule practices and games on Sundays, forcing families to choose between supporting their kids’ activities and church.
I can’t speak for all Christian book store chains, but I know that Zondervan’s (Family Christian Stores) are open Sunday afternoons while the Baptist’s (LifeWay) are closed all day.
A subject so near and dear to my heart. When I began my career 20 or so years ago, I worked for a family owned department store. The family members who were the primary owners at the time, were deeply comitted to remaining closed on Sundays; even as court cases were concluding that the blue laws in Virginia were unconstitutional. The corporate leaders at the time stated that while they may make a bit more money by opening on Sunday, they would not no matter what the law was. As that generation slowly died, the younger owners worked hard to change the policy. When the younger ones finally had enough ownership to push the changed, the older guys sold out, rather than own a company that would open on Sunday.
I had, by then taken a job with a national department store company who was open on Sundays. I never got used to working on Sundays. I committed myself then that no one would ever work on Sunday as a result of my actions. I vowed to never eat out, shop, or do anything where the result of my actions required someone else to work that day.
Today, I am an administrator for a hospital. Unfortunately, that is a service that really must continue 24/7. However, I still never eat out, go to the movies, buy a paper, quart of milk, etc. on Sundays. I just feel it would be hypocritical to do otherwise.
Not sure if anyone will still be reading here. But I was very challenged by an article I found online recently about the importance of rest and sabbath-keeping, regardless of what day of the week it is.
http://www.canadianchristianity.com/christianliving/070524rest.html
I know my own spiritual life is MUCH healthier when I do truly take a day to rest and build up my relationship with God and others and set aside the busyness and all the demands of work and blogging…
This is a very nice thread. I entirely agree that it’s profoundly dispiriting that Sunday is now just like any other day – and very unfair that so many are forced to work on Sundays. Of course, I also think that for non-religious people it’s right that Sunday should be like any other day: it’s the generalisation which is wrong.