The lady was checking her mail, I think, or perhaps picking up her morning paper. There was nothing unusual about her, or what she was doing. She was dressed casually, the way you would be on a warm summer morning when you have no particular plans for the next few hours, and if she was in a hurry, it was only to get back to the house and maybe finish her coffee. A very ordinary and harmless act. And yet it caught my attention as I drove by, and made me wonder.

It was Sunday morning, you see, and I was on my way to church, and obviously, this lady wasn't, just like the majority of folks in America. But that's just what made me wonder; What makes this day any different for her and the 150 million others, most of whom profess to believe in God, but don't attend church regularly? For this lady in particular, who, by virtue of her age, was probably not resting up for the beginning of another work week, what makes Sunday morning any different from last Tuesday, or next Friday? And for those who do work, if weekends are simply made for Michelob, or cutting your grass, or doing nothing, what breaks the tedious cycle of work, play, recover, work? How tedious life must be if there's never a special day, a day that is suffused with holiness, that somehow opens the door to God's presence in our otherwise ordinary lives.

Of all the "Ten Best Ways for Living" which God gave us to order our lives, the fourth commandment is the easiest to excuse ourselves from. "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy." It seems so legalistic to insist on "keeping the Sabbath," and what's the harm if you don't? Or if you miss a Sunday or three every once in a while? But God knew what he was doing and when he wrote into the very fabric of creation a sacred rhythm of work and worship "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:11).

I like how Karen Burton Mains expresses God's gift in ordaining one day a week that is meant to be different from all the rest.

"The purpose of Sabbath rest is physical and emotional renewal, but it also fellowship; a delightful space on the weekly calendar reserved for becoming better acquainted with ourselves, others, and God; it is a time for good talk, holy laughter, serious ideas, and shared intimacies between Creator and creature. Our souls are replenished, nurtured, caressed. Rest without spiritual rest is incomplete. One of the reasons for the frantic search for leisure activities in our culture (the rushing off to one weekend event or another, then breathlessly returning when Sunday is ended) is that we cannot find true renewal when we deny the spiritual" (Making Sunday Special, p. 115).

I'll admit that "going to church on Sunday" is not the only way or sum total of hallowing the Sabbath. But the simple act of ordering one day around gathering with God's people for worship and fellowship does mark off this one day of the week as being different. And that difference is enough to show us that in fact all our days, and all of life is special and holy.

This Sunday, as we gather to worship God, our focus will be on holiness; God's and ours, and how that relates to being a Fully Devoted Follower of Christ. Don't miss the opportunity this week for a good "holy-day."

Following Christ with you,

Pastor Erwin