Sunday

At first glance, a recent trip to the mall on a Sunday didn’t seem any different from any other day of the week.  There were hundreds of shoppers, browsing, buying and bargain-hunting.

But, in one corner of the food court sat a darkened fast food restaurant.  Chick-fil-A has been closed on Sundays since the chain first opened in 1946.  Founder Truett Cathy believes that employees should have the day free to rest, enjoy their families and worship if they so choose.

These days, most people use Sundays as a catch-up on all the work that didn’t get done the rest of the week.  Sundays have become filled with scheduled school and sporting activities, leaving little time to observe the special nature of Sunday, as directed in the book of Deuteronomy:

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.  Six days you may labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God.  No work may be done then, whether by you, or your son or daughter.  Deuteronomy 5:12-13

Scholars of the Talmud say the reason the Sabbath was created was not because God needed rest but in order to make rest holy, to demand rest of us so that by regularly resting in God, we could ourselves become new people.   The Church calls Sunday the first holy day of all, because the first time Christians began to gather on a regular basis happened on Sunday.   We are encouraged to keep the day by setting aside weekly routines, and giving ourselves permission to relax, be still, and partake in only those things which refresh our spirits.   Our work, after all, will never be complete.   As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says, “Labor is a craft, but perfect rest is an art—The Sabbath teaches all beings whom to praise.”  Amen!