Luke 6:1-11
Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?
Is is right to work on Sunday (or Saturday if you are Hebrew or Muslim)? I’ve asked this a bunch of times with mixed responses. I remember the days when all stores were closed on Sundays except a few pharmacists and the Perette’s (now I am showing how old I am). In that day, Sunday was a day to do not much, by act of law (you couldn’t do much else).
In the past 15 years, the advent of Sunday shopping has caused every day to be a shopping day, and Sunday’s “day of rest” tag seems to have gone by the wayside, but is it wrong to shop on Sunday? I don’t think it’s a wrong thing in the spiritual side of things, as long as you have time to meditate or observe your sabbath in some way, so that you feel renewed.
Do I work on Sundays? Yes, I have and do usually doing things around the house, some shopping and maybe even career work as well, but I try not to do it too often, I like the idea of one day where you try to relax and contemplate about life.
Do you work on Sundays (or on your sabbath)?
I am not legalistic about Sundays — I shudder to think of the days when children were forbidden from any kind of noisy play, not allowed to play with toys other than their Noah’s Ark, forbidden from reading anything but the Bible and Sunday School magazines, etc. So I am not stringent about following “rules”.
However, I do feel that keeping Sunday as a true day of rest is very beneficial to me. I do miss the days when everything was closed on Sundays, but even now that I have to choose rest for myself I still value it highly. I love having Sunday as a day that is “set apart”. We have special meals on Sundays, I go to church, we do relaxing things like picnics and hikes and afternoon naps. I try to avoid all housework, shopping, etc. I should try to avoid Internet too. I feel much more refreshed when I treat Sunday as a day of rest rather than a day to run around and catch up on stuff before the week begins.
There’s a great book on the subject called “Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting” by Marva Dawn.
I prefer to take Saturday as my Sabbath. After a long week at work I need the day, and it lets me keep Friday as a “last day of the week” day rather than a “second last day of the week” day.
Saturdays are for relaxing, catching up on my rss feeds from the week, maybe dinner out & a movie. Sundays I usually sleep in until 10 and then get back to work (whether it’s house chores or career work).