Reflections
MAKING SUNDAY WORK FOR ME
By Pete Hammond
How can I make Sunday (or any weekly break day) work for me? What are some Sabbathoptions that honor the Lord and restore my mind, spirit and body?
Here are a variety of experiments or change options to make Sunday a more significant ormeaningful factor in our faith walk:
- Continue to Pray with a variety of methods and subjects:
- Read the prayers of others, e.g.: in the Bible, prayer books from different traditions, early church fathers, etc.
- Do a study of the subject of prayer, using a Bible dictionary and a concordance.
- Pray for your congregational leaders, seeking God's help in understanding more about who they are as you reflect on them.
- Pray through your extended family , by selecting a few members for each Sunday of the year.
- Use the entries in your checkbook for the last month or quarter, for a time of prayer about values, choices, people, time etc..
- Pray through last week's relationships . What do you remember positively or negatively? What is unclear? What should you do next week to follow through?
- Use the major entries in your Bible index to prayerfully reflect on the nature of God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit.
- Use your church directory to pray for members. Select one person from each page. See them, or call them that week.
- Pray for the people covered in your Sunday newspaper .
- Read the prayers of others, e.g.: in the Bible, prayer books from different traditions, early church fathers, etc.
- Find a way to Serve someone near you:
- Find out what would be most appreciated or enjoyed by s omeone close to you, and either do it or get it done (spouse, child, neighbor, relative, co-worker, etc.).
- Visit someone in a different place in life than you--single or married, widowed, living alone, orphaned, elderly or youthful, institutionalized, homeless, etc.
- Clean out your attic, chest of drawers, basement or closest, and donate unused possessions to a family, an agency, or your church missionary or deacons closet.
- Walk around your neighborhood and meet someone you do not know.
- Volunteer to help in a Sunday task through your church office.
- Call a relative and inquire about their world, and then listen actively with more questions.
- Find out what would be most appreciated or enjoyed by s omeone close to you, and either do it or get it done (spouse, child, neighbor, relative, co-worker, etc.).
- Take some time to Reflect on various dimensions of life, faith and work so that you can live into the area more thoughtfully the next few weeks:
- Study the Christian liturgical year as followed by some churches. Learn why there are various seasons with specific names, featured colors and Scripture selections.
- Evaluate your patterns, values, and habits, such as diet, dress, hobbies, fears, daily routine, entertainment, etc. How old are they? Why did they start? Is it time for a change? What benefits or losses do they cause?
- Begin reading through the Psalms in a year of Sundays (average of three chapters a day) or the Proverbs in a month (one chapter a day).
- Journal your hopes, fears, concerns, interests and needs. Read older personal writings to note change, growth or neglect (old journals, letters, reports, or ask long-time friends for their reflections on areas of your life).
- Experiment with brief periods of absolute silence . Expand it slowly.
- Read Christian history or a biography to enter another experience of faith.
- Focus on someone who is personally inconvenient to you in your workplace (bosses, customers, co-workers, venders, supervisees, competitors etc), neighborhood, or extended family. Explore why you feel this way. Attempt to grasp their condition, experience or motivation. Seek options for responding or acting differently.
- Analyze your expenditures for the past quarter to see where your money goes. Any surprises? Are there any changes you should invoke? How are you doing with savings and charitable giving?
- Reflect on whether you have changed in areas like humor, habits, friends, fears, hopes or attitudes in the past year.
- Study the Christian liturgical year as followed by some churches. Learn why there are various seasons with specific names, featured colors and Scripture selections.
- Connect with others.
- Take someone whom you do not see regularly or know well to worship, lunch or breakfast from your neighborhood or church.
- Write letters of support, affirmation and thanksgiving, to family members, church leaders, government leaders, a missionary, civic or public servants (mail carrier, legislators, garbage collector, police, etc.)
- Call an old friend, a former classmate, or a seldom seen family member and catch-up.
- Write a letter about where you are in life, work and faith, and send it to family, friends and acquaintances.
- Develop a letter of thanksgiving to send to your parents (even if they are deceased share it with a sibling or family member) or a mentor in school or in your work. Tell them how they helped you and why you appreciate it.
- Visit one of your neighbors just to chat.
- Call or visit someone new to you in your congregation. Explore why they are part of the church, or their work or family background.
- Take someone whom you do not see regularly or know well to worship, lunch or breakfast from your neighborhood or church.
- Explore change or new ways to use your Sabbath.
- Change your regular Sunday pattern for a month. Attend a different service in your congregation, another church or synagogue; break your routine of Sabbath reading or viewing television; or spend the day in prayer, fasting and refection.
- Experiment with unfamiliar spiritual disciplines , such as reading Christian literature from another tradition; or try a fast.
- Change the way you worship in your regular church, such as where you sit; who you meet or avoid; find out why your church has its hymnal or worship book; learn about the sanctuary's history, symbols and art; use a different Bible translation; change the way you engage the sermon; join a group within worship, such as the choir, communion servers, ushers, planning team, etc.
- Attend a church of another tradition or ethnic group.
- Focus a few Sundays on learning about another nation or culture (study in the encyclopedia, read news publications in a library, communicate with a missionary, or friend working there.)
- Explore perceptions of God among other believers. Evaluate how your understanding of God has changed over the years.
- Freshen up your personal world by cleaning a closet, chest of drawers, desk, car trunk or glove box, purse or briefcase.
- Change your regular Sunday pattern for a month. Attend a different service in your congregation, another church or synagogue; break your routine of Sabbath reading or viewing television; or spend the day in prayer, fasting and refection.
Habits can be too safe if they lead to dull routine. Break out and try new ways to freshen up yourlife, relationships, faith and work. Change can bring new perspective and vitality if it is not fickleand just thrill seeking.
Let's find ways to make Sunday work for us as followers of God.
The Lord be with you.
Pete Hammond is a PCUSA elder, a veteran InterVarsity staff member who directs the Marketplace® Division, and is the creative developer, team leader and chief contributor to the Word in Life Study Bible. He and his wife, Shirley, live in Madison, WI., and commute to Chicago regularly to see their five grandchildren
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