Tuesday, July 12, 2005

When Sunday used to be Sunday

I've noticed something lately.
Disturbing trends that have impacted our lives, our country, probably within the past five to ten years.
Remember when Sunday used to be special. It was the Holy Day. It was so different that you knew it was Sunday because it felt different, it looked different, it was one day set aside for the Lord.
Years ago the only thing we did on Sunday was go to church. There was Sunday School, eleven o'clock service, then probably a one o'clock, four o'clock, then an evening service. We didn't play cards, didn't listen to secular music. In Toronto, malls would be shut down, and no liquor sold (I'm not sure if that's still true for Toronto but it isn't true in Houston).
People would dress up to go to church. Church would come first.
Fast forward to now. Where in American can anyone attend Sunday School? Now people go to church on Saturday nights or Wednesday nights? Why? Because churches have decided to work around the lives of the people, instead of the people rearranging their lives for the Lord. It's like God now serves us; we don't serve him anymore, at least not the way that he has declared. Recently I heard someone say if you tried to keep people in church past two hours, or all days like we used to do in the past, the preacher may find himself by himself. Even the pastor's wife might not be there. Why? We got thangs to do. We gotta wash our car; get our hair and nails done. Mow the lawn. Eat a fancy dinner. Go to a baby shower. Ride out to the beach and catch some rays of the sun. We have to do anything and everything that has NOTHING to do with God. It's scary. It's like we've fallen asleep. These little selfish habits have slipped upon us so subtly that we barely notice how bad things have become. And I am in the guilty party. I am, I am. I can't believe it sometimes. It's a me-me-me generation. Everything is about what we got to do. And I wonder what God thinks about all of this. Actually, I'm SCARED to know what he thinks.

Am I the only one who has noticed these things? Are we all asleep? Are there any faithful few remaining that really know how to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Or does holy have a new definition now that we're in a new millenium?

1 comment:

The Humanity Critic said...

Just passing through, I'm liking the blog by the way.