It is Sunday

This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Ps. 118: 24).  With these prophetical words the Psalmist welcomes the Day of the Lord. Every day is made by the Lord, and each day we should be glad and give Him thanks. He is the Giver of time, of daylight, of everything on earth, and of our lives. He made everything for us and our joy, but one day of the week is His day. That is Sunday, the Day of the Lord.

Every Sunday is a commemoration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Resurrection, as Saint Paul says, is the essence of our faith (I Cor.15:4). It is the hope for our own resurrection (I Peter 1:3). We rejoice in the Resurrection of our Lord and are glad for it, for it is indeed, together with the creation, God’s greatest gift to us.

In addition to the Resurrection of the Lord, on Sundays we remember the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and on His Church (see Acts, chapter 2). The physical Church —  as a body of faithful people — was established on Pentecost Sunday, after the preaching of the Apostles (Acts 2:41). The Revelation which St. John received on the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10) suggests that the Second Coming of our Lord will also take place on Sunday.

Keeping Sunday holy is one of the tenants of our faith. We are known as Christians because we keep Sunday as our holy day. Therefore, dear Christian, if you understand the importance and the meaning of Sunday for your faith, for your church, and for your salvation, then I am sure your conscience will ask you this inevitable question: It is Sunday morning. What do you plan to do with the Day of the Lord?

Are you going to use His day to talk — to have a chat —   with the Lord?  Will you plan to take time and pray this day?  The best way to pray is together with God’s children in His house.  In the Church our God makes Himself available to us. He listens to our petitions, answers our requests, and rejoices in our faith, our thanksgiving, and love for Him. The Lord is in his holy temple, says the Psalmist, the Lord is on his heavenly throne (Ps. 12: 4).

Are you going to visit with the Lord on His Day, and worship Him in His church?  Are you just going to choose to ignore Him, or, even worse, not even remember Him at all? Do you think you have better things to do:  cutting the grass, perhaps, or fixing the house, or sleeping away your salvation?  Let’s remember, we have seven days given to us by Him in which we can do all these other things.  Why would we steal His day away from Him?

Are you going to partake of a meal with Him?  The meal is provided by Him, and it is Himself.  When we partake of this meal, Holy Communion, we partake of Christ Himself. There is no excuse to refuse Him and the invitation to the banquet which He gives at the Divine Liturgy every Sunday in honor of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

In one of the parables told by our Lord (Matthew 22:1-14) we hear that a King issued an invitation to attend a wedding banquet, but many refused to come.  The King (who represents God in the parable ) became very angry with those who refused His invitation to the banquet: “The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city” (Matthew 22: 7).  If we do not respect Sundays, God’s Day, by refusing His invitation to honor His Son, should we then wonder and ask why our cities are destroyed by fire, by floods, and by earthquakes?

Let us not make light of the Lord’s Day, for by doing so we make light of our God who gives us life, health, wealth, and everything we have. Let’s not take Sundays for granted, for by doing so, we in fact take for granted as well as risk our own salvation and our everlasting life.

The acceptable answer to our Sunday morning question can be only one: Since today is Sunday, I plan to give this day to my Lord and God. I will sing praises to Him in His church. I will ask Him, in my close talk with Him, to have mercy on me, on my family, on my church, on my country, and on the whole world.