It’s Finally “THE DAY!”

Everyone has those “special days” that mean something to them. Birthdays bring memories of cakes, cards and presents. Thanksgiving makes us think of a huge turkey dinner followed by pumpkin pie and football. Maybe Memorial Day Weekend or the Fourth of July brings up thoughts of swimming, barbecues, and fireworks. Couples have “special days.” Steve and I still mention October 15 every year which was the anniversary of our first date, and hopefully this year, we’ll be on a cruise in December as we celebrate our 40th anniversary! We treasure our daughter’s birthdays, the day we became PaPaw and Gammy, and the anniversary of our time in Doniphan – it will be 25 years the first Sunday of April next year. It’s hard to believe! Also, a day that will live in infamy in our family is April 30, 2010 – that’s the day that I had bilateral knee replacement surgery! Whew! I’ll never forget that date. But, tonight, I’m a little melancholy for today was the one year anniversary of me working as the Care Coordinator Supervisor at Southeast Missouri Behavioral Health. It was a very special day to me.

Now, I didn’t expect everyone else to celebrate with me – as in all businesses, folks have come and gone in the past year, especially due to the Coronavirus. I’d be lying if I said that I knew the days that everyone else started. Most co-workers have to look on their own badge to remember their own starting day. LOL! But I got to wondering – how does Jesus feel when everyone forgets “His day.” Oh, He was not concerned that everyone remember His birthday – if He was, He would have told us when it was and what He wanted. No, the one day that God set apart is the first day of the week – the Lord’s Day. It was on this day that Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again. It was on this day that He appeared to His disciples twice, once when there were only 10 present and the next Sunday evening when Thomas was present. (John 20:22-28) The church was established on a Sunday, the Day of Pentecost. The New Testament church continued to meet on the first day of the week to give (I Corinthians 16:2). The apostle John explains how “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet (Revelation 1:10) Yes, the New Testament scriptures describe how the early church listened to the Word being preached, sang, prayed, gave of their means, and partook of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7) on that special day.

I wonder how the Lord feels when we decide that we’re too tired to get up to to go worship on Sunday morning. Maybe the weather is just right and the fish are biting or maybe there is a Nascar race or a ballgame on TV that we just can’t miss. Do you think Jesus gets melancholy by the way you honor “His” special day? Even the ones that do come to services are often dressed like they are on their way to the river. We tend to still “dress up” to attend funerals, but we don’t care what we wear in honor of “His day.” It’s sad that so many young people aren’t being taught to ‘honor the Lord.”

Does Sunday mean anything to you? As most congregations did during this COVID19 pandemic, we worshiped online at home for several weeks. I was so excited when we started having services again! We should not take worshiping our Lord on “the Lord’s Day” for granted. It is the most special day of all. Simply blessed, Courtney