Sunday

Our Sunday Best

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Perhaps the younger generation has missed out on the experience of Sunday best, so I’ll recap briefly. Even when I was just seven or eight I had to put on dress pants, a shirt and tie and last but not least : black leather shoes. I say last because the Sunday morning ritual given me meant shining those shoes until they gleamed brightly enough to pass my stepfather’s inspection. I’m pretty sure that none of this made us any holier than folks who troop into church with shorts and T-shirts but it did speak volumes about how special the day was to us.

The Bible also lays out a Sunday going to meeting outfit for us to wear. In The third chapter of Colossians Paul tells us to put on compassion, kindness, patience and love. That inspired me this morning to share a little verse. If you are getting dressed for church it is full of fashion advice that just might help coordinate your outfit.

Getting dressed for church on Sunday
There's some clothing we must choose
And an outfit we must pick out
Before slipping on our shoes

Now the Bible points out kindness
And forgiveness are in fashion
And gentleness and patience
Should be worn with God's compassion

But designer jeans of selfish pride
And envy just don't make it
And bitterness should not be put on
Nor the golden chains of gossip

Then over all our Sunday best
What brings it all together
Is the wedding gown of God's own love
That He gives to wear forever!

Wearing Our Sunday Best
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2021
All rights reserved

Did you ever Wonder Whatever Happened to Sunday?

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

In this busy angry confused world I sometimes wonder: whatever happened to Sunday.  I fondly remember walks I took with my Grandfather early on Sunday mornings. He would hold my small hand as we walked the two blocks from his house to pick up his paper at the drug store which in those times was the only establishment open on Sundays.

It was always such an amazingly quiet morning with hardly a car passing even on Main Street. Even though I was so small I felt a wonderful sense of awe in that quiet pause between Saturday and Monday. It felt strangely comforting to know that no one’s affairs were so urgent that they couldn’t be put on hold for a day. Usually after church my grandmother would make us a lunch of pancakes and sausage followed by a whole afternoon of doing nothing but playing in the back yard with my cousins. The Bible talks about the Sabbath but I am afraid that today even within the church we have forgotten it.

Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Isaiah 58:13

Today in most states in the U.S. there is a chain of convenience stores called 7/11. The store was so named because it used to be open from 7 AM to 11 PM. But, today those stores are open 24/7 and 365 days per year. The 23rd Psalm tells us why God gives us rest, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.” In the beginning God didn’t rest on the seventh day because He was tired. No! God rested to paint us a picture of His restoring grace!

It was as if when God finished creating the world He just took time to enjoy it and then He blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. God rested because He was finished and spending time resting with us was the most important thing He could do. But according to the world’s way of thinking all that matters is work – work – work. But God heart is all about quiet delight, and rest. We all need that moment when like the dove that Noah sent out from the ark, we also find a place to rest. Only then will we will be able to carry in our hearts the Olive branch of God’s  peace and find again what happened to Sunday!