I Am Thankful For Sunday
I am thankful every Sunday we gather in the morning to give thanks for the greatest event ever to hit planet earth – the coming of Jesus and His death and resurrection which brought salvation to the world. We sing praises about this, we thank God in prayer. We joyfully declare our faith and humbly confess our sin. We open His word and seek to learn about Him and His ways and to grow closer to Him.
As the Psalmist puts it, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:4) On Sunday mornings we do just that.
When I was young growing up, there was more to my Sunday experience than ‘going to church’. Sunday was the one day where the family planned to spend it together and having a good meal after church was always part of the plan.
In our home, Mom took it upon herself to try to make every Sunday special and for some reason she decided to do this through the Sunday Dinner. This after church meal was the one meal of the week where Mom pulled out all the stops. I don’t know how she did it (probably prepared a lot of it on Saturday) I just know that after church on Sunday there was this huge formal dinner with either chicken or roast as the main course. It was one of those meals where the cloth napkin had to be on your lap as you sat in front of a place setting with two forks, a salad plate and a glass with a stem. We ate on the best china (that you had better not break) all on a beautiful lace tablecloth (spilling gravy over it).
One reason I remember this meal so clearly is because we kids had to clean up afterwards. I remember thinking that maybe the salad plate, the extra fork, and the all the serving dishes were unnecessary – it just makes for more cleanup! I liked the lace tablecloth however, as all we had to do with it was roll it up and throw it in the laundry …. leaving the dining table clean as a whistle.
After dinner and clean up, no one in the family ever went anywhere on Sunday afternoons. There was very little to do as most stores and activities were closed on Sunday There seemed to be a sense among most people that Sunday was a day of rest and everybody just slowed down. Although there was an occasional Sunday drive to a relative or friend, mostly after a full morning of Sunday School, Worship, and a full stomach of great food we just took it easy playing games and hanging out as a family. Dad like to unwind watching football games on Sunday afternoons. I’m sure this was where I started my love for football and especially the Vikings. The Vikings became a team in 1961. This was the year I was born. Since we were ‘born’ together, I thought it was best the Vikings and I should grow up and grow old together.
Times have changed and talking to Mom today about those Sunday Dinners makes her wonder what ever got into her and how she had the energy to pull them off. But there was something right and good about Mom putting the effort to make Sundays a special day.
At the beginning of time after God created the world we read:
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Genesis 2:2–3)
God set aside a day in the week to be ‘holy’ or separate – even special from the other days of the week. Sunday is to be a special day to slow down and rest and worship the Lord … even to the point of enjoying a feast with the family.
I’m sure many have their own ways to make Sunday the special day of the week. It’s a good and right thing to do.
Aren’t We Thankful For Sunday!
Pastor Mark
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