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.
About the AuthorQuinn G. Caldwell is a father, husband, homesteader and preacher living in rural upstate New York. His most recent book is a series of daily reflections for Advent and Christmas called All I Really Want: Readings for a Modern Christmas. Learn more about it and find him on Facebook at Quinn G. Caldwell.