Public and Private Worship

Sunday Observance

The idea of a Sabbath or holy day or day of rest comes from the creation story with God resting on the seventh day. This is also the 7th of the 10 commandments. The early Christians took Sunday as their Sabbath to remember Christ's resurrection. Most Christians will try to attend a public service on Sunday, as Christianity is a community faith, so to be a Christian means to meet with other Christians in shared worship. At church Christians receive a weekly lesson from Scripture and the sermon which helps them to develop as Christians. On Sabbath Christians are expected to spend time with their families and not to work. The purpose of this is to allow people to live fully human lives. If they work seven days a week their lives are not fully human. No society can be healthy unless its people are healthy in mind and body, so a day of rest is very important for the wellbeing of society. Also, a day for the family helps to strengthen family relationships which Christians value very greatly. Christians believe that the family is the fundamental unit of society, and that healthy families make for healthy societies. Hence a special day for the family is important for society as a whole.

Read Mark chapter 2:23 to chapter 3:6.

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

This summarises what Christians believe about the Sabbath.

Some people say that we should keep Sunday special and not allow shops to open. Others say that shops should be free to open at will. Others are concerned that Sunday trading will harm shop workers, who will be forced to work seven days a week. What are your views on Sunday trading?

Prayer

Without prayer no religious life is possible. Christianity is about loving God and others. Clearly, when you love someone you wish to spend time with them, and the more time you spend together the closer you become. This is so with prayer. In prayer you spend time with God, and thus your relationship with God develops. When you love someone you want to know them better and love them more, so in prayer Christians try to develop their love and understanding of God. However, when Christians pray they do not always set out with the explicit intention of understanding God more. They simply want to spend time with God. Their relationship with God, their love and understanding of God, grows simply from turning their minds to God.

The best way to explain the effects of prayer in our lives is to compare it to the influence which people have on us. There are some people in whose company we feel unhappy. They have an unpleasant emotional impact on us; there are others in whose company we feel uplifted. We enjoy being with them. God is like the second kind. Simply making God part of your life is to allow in a power for goodness.

• to grow in closer to God
• to be freed from sin and strengthened in goodness
• to be guided through life's problems.

Many Christians turn to God when they are facing difficulties in life to ask for guidance as to which way to go. They do not believe that they will hear voices from Heaven, but they are confident that God will enlighten them as to what is the right path for them.

Study

Many Christians will spend some time during the week studying and reading the bible or other books about Christianity and Christian belief. They will do this to learn more about their faith and to deepen and strengthen their faith.