Lord's Day

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. My church likes to call it the Lord's Day, and it is. Before I became a Christian, I didn't know anybody who genuinely loved going to church -- little alone somebody my age. But right now, I honestly have to say I love church.

My wife, Heather, and I are members of a small Reformed Presbyterian church called Providence. There are maybe 100 members at our church, plus the additional guests and attendants that join us on Sunday. So it's a small community. Our church is not a fancy place. It's small, plain, with wooden benches and few decorations. I've been to megachurches that seat thousands of people and look more like ampitheaters than places of worship.

Pride is always a dangerous thing, and I don't mean to suggest that I pride in my church because it's small. The reason why I love Sundays is because our pastor and elders do a phenominal job in preaching the Word. Almost every sermon I've listend to at Providence has been a re-awakening and a refresher as to why we worship God.

Recently, Pastor Rut started a series of sermons about the 10 commandments. Nothing revolutionary there. Nothing out of this world. Nothing but the good old basics. And that's what reformed theology does, it sticks to the basics. It grounds itself in the Bible's teachings. It's straightforward and honest about who we are and who God is. He is the Creator. We are the creatures. We worship Him. He doesn't worship us.

Too often I've run into churches where Sundays are treated more as the People's Day, rather than the Lord's. Yes, Sunday is our day of rest, but more importantly it's a day of Worship.

Of course I know that originally the Sabbath was on Saturday, which is the day God took to rest after His creation. But we, as Christians, worship on Sundays because that's the day Christ rose from the dead as a sign for his sacrifice and our salvation. There are a lot of churches that wish to worship at the people's terms, but what we tend to forget is that God doesn't need our opinion in the matter of worship. He sets the rules. And that's tough to accept sometimes.

The reason I love Sundays is because it gives me and my wife an opportunity to spend the day glorifying God. The sermons we receive at providence are always excellent. Pastor Rut is phenomenal, and he says the trick for him is to preach the Word and get himself out of the way. The sermons at Providence are often pretty long, anywhere from 30-45 minutes. But there is always so much depth. I never feel like I just walked away from a motivational-speaking seminar or a pity party about the sad condition of our society. Rut's sermons teach and dig deeply into the Word of God, often giving substantial reference from other parts of the Bible (Old and New Testament, for the two are inseparable).

There are many struggles in the Christian faith -- whether presented from other religions, from the world of atheism, or from the church itself. Regardless of where the struggles come from, the core is always the same: self worship. Any time we place anything before God, we are acting in self worship because WE are then deciding what is more important, ultimately serving our own desires instead of God's.

So here is one of my personal struggles this Fall Semester... the NFL season begins once again and the Steelers return to defend their title after winning their sixth Lombardi Trophy. It's not enough that I have a full semester at Pitt, working two days a week and interning with the Post-Gazette three more. On top of it all, I'll be distracted with trying to keep up with Steelers news and cheering for them to win.

Unfortunately, most games they play are on Sundays: The Lord's Day. Already I've made myself, my wife and God a promise that I would honor the Sabbath. We shall see how it goes. The first Sunday game is Sept. 20.

Until then, at least I'll enjoy this Thursday night's kick-off as the Steelers open up the NFL season at home against the Tennessee Titans.

Oh, do I have some choice words to say about the Titans and their desecration of the Terrible Towel.

Well, at least it wasn't the Bible...

But we shall discuss it all in due time.