The Sunday Grind

“I wake up early every day during the week. Why should I wake up early on Sundays too? My weekends are my time.”

For some reason, we have made Sundays another work day in our lives. We see it as more of that daily grind. Get up, get dressed in our “Sunday Uniform” and go to church. Church has become more of a hassle in the lives, rather than something we enjoy every week to attend. Church became more of a chore than a time of worship. What happened?

Church has become something that the older generations of our congregations have done because their parents did it, which makes it seem like a chore to the generations after them. When we put a lack of emphasis on the importance of church attendance and learning from the scriptures, those coming after us will put even less importance. People call this generation a post-modern generation, but it has become a post-church generation. We no longer see the life that being in church brings to us. This has gone so far as if the weather is nice outside then the pews are bare inside. A day on the porch swing is more important than a day in worship, because we find more joy in the beautiful sun than the Beautiful Son. We have lost our joy in our salvation, our joy in worship, and our joy in Christ. So, what do we do?

Fortunately, we are not the only group of people who have gone through this. Even the chosen nation of Israel had gone through a time of going through the motions.

Isaiah 1:11-14 (KJV)

¹¹ To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. ¹² When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? ¹³ Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. ¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

God called out the iniquities of the Israelites in the way they worshipped. There was no joy in their worship of God, rather a sense of duty to do so. The chosen nation of God went through their ceremonies since their parents did it. They had no reason or heart in the worship. They did not do any of their sacraments in remembrance of the God who was ever so present in their lives. It was a means to an end. Which also points people to verse 15.

¹⁵ And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

“Why do you go to church? So, when I pray God will answer me.” God told the Israelites that God was not going to give their wants to them since they are not following God. They Israelites had become sinful and vain in their worship and God refused to do anything for them. Our churches today seem to be following this trend. We lost our joy in our worship, we only go to church to see what “I can get out of it”, and we go on living our lives the way we want. We are heading to be like Sodom and Gamora, and it is coming soon. So, what do we do?

vv.16-20:

¹⁶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; ¹⁷ Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. ¹⁸ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ¹⁹ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: ²⁰ But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

God calls us to turn back. Come and reason together. Understand that we are sinful, and that we have a need for Christ. Maybe it is time for our generations to come back to God and find that joy in our worship. We need to put our heart back into our sacraments and worship with God, and see what we can do to serve God. Worship is not about us, it is only about God.