Usually we use this saying somewhat negatively, you’re not doing anything and you receive an invite and respond, ‘Sure, I don’t have anything better to do!’ (i.e. if you did you might not go!). However, we could also use it less facetiously and in a positive sense to mean, I’m doing such and such because I really don’t have anything better to do—this is the very best and highest thing I could be doing and so I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

In this latter sense we may use the phrase to speak of the Lord’s Day. Here at MBC we believe it is ‘the divinely appointed day of worship’ by Christ’s command (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:22; c.f. Gen 2:1-4; Ex 20:8–11). As our greatest weekly appointment with the greatest of all Beings we really oughtn’t have anything better to do!

I always remind people that I’m attend worship every Lord’s Day, not because I am the pastor, but because I’m a Christian. This has been the case throughout my life and will always remain so. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.[1] Gathering each Lord’s Day is part of mere Christianity and a basic expression of Christian discipleship.

I love John the apostle for many reasons. One was that he loved Jesus so much that he worshipped the Lord on His Day and in His way (as he wants to be worshipped). John even gave us the term ‘the Lord’s Day.’ It is a possessive phrase, it’s Jesus’ day, and it’s definitive (‘the’)—it is actually a one in seven appointment. What is fascinating is that, like Daniel who though in exile was still thinking on God-time (Dan 9:21), John, though he was exiled in the island of Patmos by Emperor Domitian and physically couldn’t attend worship in Ephesus because of intense persecution, still measured the time of his vision by ‘the Lord’s Day’ and what other believers were doing (Rev 1:10). If he could have been with them he would have been. Does your time revolve around God’s time or pleasure, work, family and friends?

While not in the Bible I love a story of John told by Jerome (AD c.347–420). In John’s extreme old age, he was carried into church so as to be there, such was His love for the Lord’s Day and people![2] I could tell other similar stories of faithfulness by God’s people throughout history and in my own experience, like Muriel who still came to morning and evening worship in her late 90s or Sylvia who came to church as the best place for her soul the day after her husband died. I’ve always sought to be that faithful leading example to God’s people too, evening coming on crutches the day after knee surgery as a teenager.

My prayer is that, like John, we’d all have nothing better to do each and every Lord’s Day.



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[1] Grave illness and great emergencies excepted. When I’m not at my church I’m either preaching or visiting another.

[2] The original says, “The blessed John the Evangelist lived in Ephesus until extreme old age. His disciples could barely carry him to church and he could not muster the voice to speak many words.” (Andrew Cain (translator), ‘Commentary on Galatians 6:10,’ The Fathers of the Church, St. Jerome, Commentary on Galatians. [Catholic University of America, 2010], p. 260). Cain suggests the source of the story was possibly Hegesippus's Memoirs via either Clement of Alexandria or Origen.

 ​*This blog seeks to speak into a conversations I’ve heard many Christians wrestle with in our post-Christian age.

For most secular Canadians today, Easter is a nice spring holiday to eat chocolate while enjoying time off work. Its imagery of bunnies and chicks speak of spring and new life (themselves pagan symbols). This is a far cry from conjuring up images of the cross and empty tomb, which alone offer true life. Because Easter and Easter don’t mean the same thing anymore, perhaps it is time for a change, to rename Easter? We have further warrant. Easter itself, or Eostre, was a Germanic pagan fertility goddess.* Her worship was popular in Northern Europe to mark the spring equinox. When Christianity came to the now countries of England and Germany, the pagan festival was subsumed into the Christian festival that remembered Jesus’ death and resurrection. However, the name Eostre was retained (a form of evangelistic rebranding).  Wherever German or English has gone in the world the name for the season has remained Easter for some 1000+ years.
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However, the non-Germanic Christian world (i.e. Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Greek, etc) calls the season Pascha or Passover in continuity with the Old Covenant feast when Jesus died and rose. This was the wording of the Church Fathers. While Good Friday, Holy/Passion[1] Week or Lent wasn’t developed in early Christianity until c. 4th century, Passover (Easter) has been celebrated the first Lord’s Day after the lunar Old Covenant Passover since the earliest church period; officially standardized since AD 325.[2] This all makes perfect sense. Jesus was the Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7), fulfilling the Old Covenant festival of Passover, giving it new meaning for believers and simplifying it under the New Covenant as the Lord’s Supper (Mk 14:22–25; 1 Cor 11:17–34). The weeklong Passover in the Old Testament wasn’t just about remembering God's judgement upon the firstborn passing over those with the blood of a lamb (i.e. Good Friday)  but the Exodus from slavery to new life in the Promised Land. Likewise, the New Covenant Passover remembers the believers' rescue from slavery to sin (Cross) and into new spiritual life (Resurrection).[3]

 To distinguish ourselves from secular and medieval paganism, and unite ourselves to the flow of Scripture, the witness of tradition, we ought to join the rest of the Christian world in calling the season of Easter ‘Passover.’ Passover would then be broken into the two pillar days:

* https://www.etymonline.com/word/Easter​

[1] Passion means suffering.

[2] Prior to the Council of Nicea there were two traditions: the churches in Asian Minor followed the Jewish pattern of the 14th of Nissan (lunar), whereas the churches in Palestine, Egypt and Italy followed the first Lord’s Day after the 14th of Nissan (weekly). (Nick Needham, 2000 Years of  Christ's Power, vol. 1 [2016], 80).  As such it is the day of the week and not day of the month that is commemorated. 

[3] Egypt=sin; Passover lamb= Jesus; Red Sea= baptism; wilderness= our life before glory; the Promised Land= the New Heavens and New Earth.

[4] I call it a season vs. a festival or a holiday (holy day) because there is only one holy day commanded under the New Covenant and that is the Lord’s Day.

[5] We are not commanded to observe Good Friday under the New Covenant as we are the weekly Lord’s Day, however, given the weight allotted to the event in Scripture and its integral part in the establishment of the New Covenant, it is warranted.

[6] It is difficult to escape paganism entirely as even our days of the week are named after Roman gods. Good is in the sense of holy or special, because of what is remembered.  

[7] Tertullian, in the 3rd century, said something like, ‘not to be ashamed of calling it Sunday for it was the Day of the Son.’ ​

Christmas day is a wonderful cultural event, the summation of expectation. It is a day like none other too. Listen to the lonely car drive down the highway. See, with astonishment, Tim Horton’s CLOSED (yes, it is a Christmas miracle, the one day its workers find rest). Find the many who gather for worship at their local church. Observe how many driveways are filled with family visitors. It is the one day of the year where Canadian society stops. If you paused to notice this, it is something truly amazing. However, this same delight is ours each and every week.
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When God created the world He established time, time that would revolve around dependence upon Him through the creation of His special day. The Sabbath, or Lord’s Day, is a day to do all that we do on Christmas day, rest from work and regular activities, worship and spend time with family. Every week we can experience this delight. Every week we can experience the rejuvenation God has offered in this gift. The Sabbath was made for man, Jesus said (Mk 2:27). Will we accept this gift in faithful obedience and so find blessing week after week? 

…on a Sunday. (I seldom eat out otherwise because food is so expensive!)

I don’t eat out on the Lord’s Day, and haven’t since I came of age in high school, because it is God’s special day of rest built into the fabric of the universe at Creation. This includes not causing others to work. Ex 20:10b tells us, “On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.” This includes restaurants, pizza, Tim Horton’s drive through, [online] grocery shopping, etc.

And even if someone is not a Sabbatarian in a classic Christian sense, even if you only believe the Lord’s Day is a New Covenant ordinance for worship, does not the principle of Ex 20:10b compel you? I mean, isn’t it hypocritical for you to have the day off and to go to church but by purchasing one small thing or eating out, rob the employee of that same blessing? (Here I find it ironic that in England it is the socialist parties that still favour Sunday trading laws because they protects workers!).

Things never used to be open on Sunday and shouldn’t be open today. Alas, we live in a post-Christian world, and like most ethical area’s, we don’t have the godly law of the land to guide us. Everything is a test. Everything is an opportunity to trust the Lord’s ways and be a witness in the darkness, including keeping one day in seven as special.
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Instead of eating out, plan ahead, make freeing others to worship part of your worship, invite brothers and sisters or an unbeliever or a new couple at church over for a meal—show Christian hospitality. Enjoy the freedom that the gift of rest brings.

The Lord’s Day (secular. Sunday) is an elementary act of Christian devotion. It is the chief public means of grace that is oft neglect, misunderstood and even despised in contemporary church culture. A means of grace is something we do in faith that is the channel for experiencing God’s undeserved favour in our lives. When we pause from our regular routine to worship God is pleased to bless.

Our national statement of faith on the subject says:[1]

We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord’s day and that, in a special sense, it is the divinely appointed day for worship and spiritual exercise.
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How are we to understand “unique”? The statement was crafted in 1953, a time when the classic Creation Ordinance (Sabbatarian) view[2] was eroding and a view that it was a New Covenant ordinance was gaining an ascendency. Here are the two possible ways “unique” could be understood:


[1] Sadly, in our present national review of this item, it has been suggested removing it. This is a case in point to my first paragraph. The LD is such a basic tenant of the Christian faith it is unfathomable why we wouldn’t declare it.

[2] C.f. the 1689 and New Hampshire Baptist confessions.

However, while different, devotionally the end of both is very similar. Let’s consider the positive and negative aspects of the LD as a means of grace that any Christian should cherish:
Positive

• It is the highest expression of faith in and love for God. It shows He is greater than anything else.
• We remember the basis of our new creation in Christ
• The Lord’s day is our great appointment, something to look forward to.
• Since it is His day and we delight in Him we enjoy honouring Him through it.
• Is an expression that our life/week is rooted in Him; our lives are ordered around Him.
• It is an expression of our humble dependence; life is not all about us or work or family or play.
• It is how we experience the Lord’s special presence amongst His people; how we spend time with Christ.
• We access other means of grace such as public worship, preaching, communal prayer, the ordinances, fellowship, etc.
• We remember that God’s commands are for our good always; we ascend to that which is good when we obey.
• It is a form of witness (non-believers watch how we spend our time)
• We set a positive example for others to follow in doing what is right.

Negative (Creation-an absolute; New Covenant- to persist in)

1. It exposes our idols (i.e. what we are worshipping/serving other than the Lord).
   • If you could pause to worship but decide to do ______ instead there is your idol.
     • E.g. my mother’s family gathering always used to be held on Sunday at lunch time. The Christians in the family were always late because we prioritized the Lord before family.
2. To disobey a command does not demonstrate faith for to believe is to obey.
   • Sometimes people fear what family might think or loosing a job by saying you are unavailable because of worship. We ought to care what the Lord thinks and trust He will provide something better (besides, in Canada Christians are legally protected in the workplace to practice our faith, as unbelieving Jews are [Saturday] and Muslims [Friday]).
3. Disobedience, or sin, has consequences.
4. It has a deadening effect upon our heart.
5. It cuts us off from other means of grace that develop our spiritual life.
6. Our example can lead others astray, whether people in the community or in our own family.
7. It robs the church of the blessing of your presence and even causes them to be concerned for you.
8. It hampers witness (non-Christians know Christians are supposed to worship on the LD).

Let us not neglect this great means of grace, this great act of devotion called the Lord’s Day. Let us say with Ignatius it is “the queen of the days” and with Wilberforce that to him it has been “invaluable.”

The Lord’s Day (LD) is one of the most vital means of grace the Lord has given to His people. A Lord’s Day well spent is therefore essential for spiritual vitality. To this end, and also to learn how a pastor spends the LD, allow me to share how I spend the LD.

Firstly, my week looks forward to the LD and each week begins with the LD. This is the major rhythm in my life, not because I’m a pastor but because I’m a Christian.

Essential to a profitable LD is preparing for the LD by planning your week. I very seldom try to plan much of anything for a Saturday night. I want to make sure I’m well rested to spend the day well. (This includes sermon preparation, which I generally have completed during the week. Only occasionally am I writing vs. reviewing a sermon on Saturday night. I always appreciate God’s people’s prayers for me on this night).

I wake grateful that the Lord has given a day of rest and worship and family. I look forward to the morning and evening worship services that will prove an integral part in spending the LD well, of our corporate worship and discipleship. There is nothing planned for the day apart from rest, worship and family. No shopping (online or otherwise), no special events, no projects, no recreational activities, no travel, etc. The Lord’s Day is His appointment with me and so I give the day wholly to the Lord; it is His. While I do seek to usually take Monday as a day off for projects, family or writing the LD is my/the Sabbath. My service is part of my worship.

I’m usually up before anyone else in my home on the LD. After a time of general prayer I review my message and pray for the services and the day. We have breakfast and do my son’s devotional and then get ready to go to church. I try to make this as hassle free as possible so going to church doesn’t become a stressful affair.

As a pastoral family we’re normally there early (often first to arrive and last to leave). I don’t count the very act of being at church on the LD as contributing to ‘my week’s work’—I’m a Christian first, I’d be there anyway. However, I do try to take the extra time into consideration of my wider week’s ministry. After getting any last minute things ready (missing music pages, anything for the sermon) and helping ‘open things up’ those involved in the morning service meet together for prayer. We then fellowship and welcome people to the service (As we don’t presently have greeters I try to do this). One sacrifice in the service, since I often assist with the leading of singing is that I’m not able to help parent in the pew like other fathers. After the service I usually greet people and hopefully engage in relevant ministry conversations.

On the way home we usually take a short scenic drive and then have a light lunch. Occasionally we’ll have guest speakers or members/visitors over for a meal, though my wife’s health doesn’t always allow for this. In the afternoon there will quite likely be a nap, some p.m. sermon review, reading a Christian book, taking some quiet time to pray, a short family walk, etc.

We often will have a small snack before heading off the evening service. This service is the true highlight of my week. I love beginning the week on the Lord’s Day in worship but I love crowning the day with the p.m. service. With minimal set up we look forward to an informal service. After the service we have refreshments, which is a great time to catch up with people and speak about the things of the Lord.

After the p.m. service, which has been part of my life now for a decade, we return home for a tradition of crackers, cheese and jelly. Following this we call some family members to check in. Then we retire for the evening with a story, a devotional reading and a reading from the Bible followed by prayers. After a busy yet restful day we all seek to get a good night’s sleep.

Many ask how I can do as much as I do. The simple answer is by seeking to spend the LD well. I still have room to grow in spending the day well and hope you will likewise contemplate how you will grow in spending a profitable Lord’s Day.

Christmas of 2022 was unusual for many congregations, we had a blizzard that closed roads and forced many churches to suspend their Christmas Day services. The second thing that was unusual was that Christmas Day and the Lord’s Day coincided, something that only happens every few years.
For our culture Christmas (without the Christ) is the high holy day of the year. On Christmas even the shops are closed, family is a focus (which in itself is good), the pagan myths are brought out and of course there is the worship of self through materialism. For our culture Christmas is paramount.
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For Christians, it is not wrong to remember the Incarnation, but our high holy day, a New Testament ordinance, is the Lord’s Day. It is the day we remember the Resurrection. It is the day we express our dependence upon the Lord, and that our lives revolve around Him. It is His day through which we honour and worship Him in a special way. It is the day on which the church gathers. Every Sunday, including when it is Christmas Day, we do not neglect to meet together (Heb 10:25). This is because Christians believe God’s will for the church is set forth in the New Testament. We do not get to choose how to live and worship, He does. 

I love the Lord’s Day (Sunday). In the midst of the busyness of life, it is an anchor in the storm, a gift from the Lord to pause for worship, rest and family. As a Christian it is at the centre of my week and schedule; that which everything else revolves around. On it we declare Christ in a unique way and benefit from all its blessings.

Summertime, vacations, etc, even business travel, can throw our weekly rythme off, but I’d encourage you to build the Lord’s Day into all of your travels, whether they be for pleasure or business. This is what I do. I hope in sharing these that they may help you spend a profitable Lord’s Day this summer, or any time.

1. Travel (work, pleasure, education)
   1. I research and structure into my time away a visit to a likeminded local church of in the morning, and if I can find one, in the evening too (I’ve likewise profited from meeting Christians at mid-week meetings too when time allows). The whole day takes on a tenor of rest. It is an amazing gift to meet with Christians outside of your home church, which reminds us that our church is not an island. Such visits can inspire us with ideas of what might be possible at our church from the good ideas we see at others.. In ideal situations, as nice as it is to visit, it also causes us to appreciate our home church.
2. Camping or Canoeing
   1. I still try to find a local church if the campsite is not too remote
   2. Sometimes campgrounds will hold, or Christians will organize, a worship service
   3. If these options are not possible (like when canoeing remotely) I always hold personal or family worship, including songs, Scripture, Bible study, listening to a recorded sermon, reading a sermon or devotional, etc.

*If travelling with non-Christians I always let them know my values about worship and rest ahead of time so this accommodation can be built in and avoid any unnecessary awkwardness. It can be a great Gospel opportunity, that Jesus’ Resurrection and His word are so important that they are worth pausing to honour.
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If one has the inclination, the Lord’s Day will always be profitable, even when you’re away. So have a safe and happy summer, and don’t forget to pack Jesus when you go.

The highest church building in England is that of Brentor, Devon. Build atop a large Tor on the edge of Dartmoor the church rises hundreds of feet above the village below. Until a new church was built in the village in the 1800s worshippers literally had to “go up” to the house of the Lord.
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Such was the case in ancient Israel with the Temple. The Temple Mount actually sits atop Mount Moriah which itself is overshadowed by higher hills around it. It is a sort of hill within a ring of hills. It is this image of having to ascend from the valley below to the Temple that the pilgrim had in mind in Psalm 122:1 when he said:

I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go up to the house of the LORD!’

Under the Old Covenant the Temple was the centre of the sacrificial system for making atonement for sins and the presence of the LORD on earth. His public worship, as prescribed by countless commandments, was therefore centred around the Temple where the Israelites were “to go up” to benefit from these two primary functions. Though under the New Covenant the function of the Temple has been replaced by the Cross and the Holy Spirit, “to go up” is still relevant for it refers to the act of Christians gathering together for public worship.

Whilst Christians are to worship the Lord through every aspect of their lives, and can also do so privately, to gather together for the public worship of the Lord on His appointed day is a chief form among them all. To enter into His presence, sing His praises, hear from His Word, have the ordinances (baptism and communion) administered and fellowship with other believers; these are all reasons to attend public worship (duty) and do so with gladness (delight). “To go up” means the process can be demanding of us in some way, but that any ardours melt away when we consider the end of our worship, the LORD, and when are efforts, or rather our faith in this means of grace, is rewarded with untold spiritual blessings. The Lord and not the location or building, the pastor or the people, is the object of this act of worship and the reason for going. He is the centre and spring of all of our gladness along with our desire to go. If we love Him, we’ll love “to go up.”
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The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings,
Chris

Even in our day and age when people don’t keep their commitments as much as they used to (or ought to); when we have a big appointment—a really big appointment—all other appointments become second place to that big appointment. Time centres around it.

As a Christian my entire week’s structure revolves around the worship of our Triune God each Lord’s Day (Sunday). Each week is spent in expectation of this big appointment as I prepare to worship my Lord, and each new week is grounded in the rest it affords. Failing ill health or a grave emergency, I never miss this appointment with my God and my brothers and sisters in Christ; vacation, family, work, nothing. It is my number one weekly priority which governs all others.

Hebrews 10:25 says as much,
Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

The Lord’s Day is our big appointment, the Divinely appointed day for rest and worship and family. It is a passion of mine to encourage others to order their lives accordingly and receives its blessings.
Church tradition tells of John, the apostle, being bed ridden in his old age (he live until his late 80s or early 90s) and yet his desire to worship His Lord and be with his people was such that he requested to be brought to worship on a stretcher! I’ve know many dear saints who’ve done likewise, whose great desire it was to make this big appointment.

Our statement of faith expresses this sentiment: We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day, and that, in a special sense, it is divinely appointed day for worship and spiritual exercise.

The evangelical Anglican and abolitionist, William Wilberforce, summarized what my own experience has testified to be true: I can truly declare that to me the Sabbath has been invaluable.
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The Lord’s Day is my big appointment, is it yours?

The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings,
Pastor Chris