Daily Devotional for Small Group Discussion: Lazy Sundays are the Worst

by Quinn Caldwell | published on May 20, 2019

Discussion Questions:

  1. Have you experienced the kind of unmoored day that Caldwell describes? Do you find it relaxing or does it, as the author put it, “suck”? What do you think accounts for the paradox of a busier day being more restful than an aimless one?

  2. Have you ever read the UCC’s Statement of Faith? Go look it up and (re)read it. Many understand the idea of Jesus saving people from sin, but what about aimlessness? What do you think it might mean to be saved from aimlessness?

Lazy Sundays are the Worst

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! – Psalm 133:1 (NRSV)

During the period between me becoming a stay-at-home dad and our family finding a church that fit our needs, we often had nothing to do on Sunday mornings.

“We can sleep in!” we’d say with glee. “We’ll make breakfast and stay in our jammies all day!” After long years of high-pressure Sundays, a lazy Sabbath was about the best thing we could imagine.

In reality, one or both kids would get up ungodly early. We might make a special breakfast, but then one of the kids wouldn’t eat it, and the problem with special breakfasts is the mountain of dishes they create that somebody has to wash. Someone would get bored and beg for screen time until they got in trouble. Somebody else would be mean to the dog for no reason. Somewhere between one and four people would end up yelling through unbrushed teeth at somewhere between one and three other people with uncombed hair. Lazy Sundays sucked.

Then we found the right church. Now we have a reason to get up, something to do. We have to set an alarm again. We have more to do than we did in our lazy Sunday days, yet somehow the whole day ends up being more restful than those utterly empty days we used to think we wanted. Lord knows we’re in better moods.

The UCC Statement of Faith claims that God seeks to save people “from aimlessness and sin.” I don’t know about sin, but I’m here in the flesh to tell you that going to church has most definitely saved our Sundays from our aimless selves.

Prayer

For the life of meaning, for Sundays with a point, for busy days that are truly restful, thank you. Amen.