Save the Date?

One topic at the table in our last poker tournament was running. We played on the day of the city's biggest marathon - and we even had to allow extra time to reach the poker room, because of detours set up for the runners.

One player indicated some downtown churches don't support the marathon, because the course goes past their buildings and makes it hard for worshipers to attend. He noted those churches have "Sunday services."

This led us to openly suggest an alternative. "They could try having services on other days of the week."

Some large Christian churches actually do that. They've added meetings on Saturday afternoons and evenings. We've attended some of them, and a few draw a good crowd. But regular readers know we recommend that for another reason....

Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. - Deuteronomy 5:12

Which day is meant here as the "Sabbath"? If you think it's Sunday, think again.

And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. - Genesis 2:3

The "seventh day" on most calendars actually is Saturday. In fact, that day of the week in Spanish is Sabado - with a "Sab-" in front, like Sabbath.

If Sunday-keeping churches had to make a change for whatever reason, Saturday would be a perfect alternative. In fact, it would be God's.... well, not alternative, but His first choice all along. It was Jesus's first choice as well.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. - Luke 4:16

Jesus kept the Saturday Sabbath. Trouble is, people who go into synagogues on the Sabbath and try to promote Jesus today might be asked to leave in a hurry. So both mainstream Christians and Jews have issues with God here.

We don't play poker on the Sabbath, because we use the time to focus on God and Jesus through Bible study, worship and prayer. We also use the time to rest -- and our life is so busy these days we need all the extra rest we can get.

So think it over. Is it time to change your worship habit, the way some poker players change their approach to hands to avoid becoming too predictable?  If you do, you might get closer to what God envisioned in the first place.