Sunday services

Anymore, it is a rarity to find churches that have two services a day, as in morning and evening. Many large churches have more than one morning service. It used to be more common to have Sunday morning and evening services. I'm not sure why and when that changed. Or if it is a good thing or not.

When I worked at the Christian bookstore near me back in 1999-2004, most churches we did business with had no Sunday evening service. One that did, a Friends church, had a lot of people go on Sunday nights from churches that had no Sunday evening service, so apparently some do want it.

My church does. Sunday school, morning worship service, then the evening services: Youth "focus", Children's service, and a Bible study/prayer time for everyone else at 6:15-7:00, and evening worship service at 7:00. That is how it has always been, morning and evening services on Sunday.

I was raised with very strict Sabbath observance. We don't shop or eat out on Sunday, no housework, no noisy or extra physical activities..... and I'm fine with that. I believe Sunday shouldn't be like the rest of the week. Most of the things we do through the week don't need done on Sunday. Why shouldn't we give God all of Sunday? Should we go to church Sunday morning, then live the rest of the day like any other day of he week? God has relaxed His rules for Sunday from what they had in the Old Testament, but unless we toss out that one commandment and make it the 9 commandments, the Bible still says to do all your labor in 6 days, and to keep the Sabbath holy. How to keep it holy will differ a lot, but there are a lot of things too many people do on Sunday that isn't keeping it holy..... but I'm not going into that now.

The thing is, if we are to take that commandment at face value, if we are to do all our work on the other days, and if we are to keep the Sabbath day holy..... then shouldn't our focus be on God and on resting on Sunday? And if our primary focus is that, then why not go to church on Sunday night? What else are we going to do? What else should we do? Shouldn't we want to bask in that atmosphere all day long? Have two worship services to prepare us for the week ahead? Have two chances to fellowship with other believers on Sunday? What could be more important - a TV show we don't want to miss?

And yet, there is the other side of the coin. Rest. With two Sunday services, are we really getting rest from the day? God didn't just say to keep the day holy, He also said to rest. Check out the schedule of a Sunday at my church:
Morning men's prayer meeting: 6:30am (I think)
Sunday school: 9:30 am
Worship service: 10:30 am
Youth "focus", children's service, Bible study/prayer: 6:15 pm
Evening worship service: 7:00 pm

Now that is the every week schedule. Once a month, we have this:
Morning men's prayer meeting: 6:30am (I think)
Sunday school: 9:30 am
Worship service: 10:30 am
Rest home service: 2:00 pm
Youth "focus", children's service, Bible study/prayer: 6:15 pm
Evening worship service: 7:00 pm

And from late September or early October, we have this:
Morning men's prayer meeting: 6:30am (I think)
Sunday school: 9:30 am
Worship service: 10:30 am
Rest home service: 2:00 pm (once a month)
Cantata practice: 5:00 pm-6:15pm
Youth "focus", children's service, Bible study/prayer: 6:15 pm
Evening worship service: 7:00 pm

There is also a weekly jail service some time in the afternoon every week, not sure of the time, and only a few guys go to that. But do you see my point? If a person went to every service on Sunday we have (and I don't), how on earth can you call that a day of rest? Is it OK to wear ourselves out and run ourselves ragged on Sunday if it is all about church and God? Is it OK to not get rest on the Sabbath as long as its all about God's work?

Here is my Sunday schedule:
Sunday school: 9:30 am
Morning worship service: 10:30 am
Sunday dinner
Nap and/or reading
Evening worship service: 7:00 pm

Am I a bad person for not going to all of the other services? Am I less of a Christian? Are people who hit them all a better Christian? I don't believe so. Being a Christian is not all about church, or how many services you attend. It can be legalistic to go to church to keep up appearances and because it is expected. There have been many times in my life when I would rather have stayed home and relaxed, instead of getting dressed up and going to church. Sound bad, un-Christian of me? Sounds judgemental of you ;-)

Why do we go to church? It should be to worship God... but we can do that at home, so why go at all? We need fellowship with other believers. We can't "home church", we need people who believe like us, people to worship with. We need teaching, preaching, discussion - or we could easily go astray and be like a ship on the ocean with no sail. I believe it is Biblical to go to church and God wants us to. God is everywhere, but being in a church full of others worshipping Him is so much better than being at home. Usually.

Why do we stay home from church? We are sick, we don't feel like it, we are tired. I grew up in a church where everyone knew every one's business. If my family missed church, someone called to see why. Concern? Maybe, sometimes. Other times, and more often: busybodies. I will never forget the time we missed a service - we went away - and a lady called to see where we were and why we missed. The funny part: she hadn't been there either!

I grew up in bondage to other people. Afraid if I missed a Sunday service, I'd be judged, people would disapprove. Afraid if I didn't make it to every revival service, I'd be looked down on. Afraid if I missed Wednesday night service, people would assume I was having spiritual problems. There have been times I went to church purely to keep up appearances. I didn't want people to doubt my Christianity. I didn't want people asking me why I wasn't there. I may as well have stayed home, for my reasons for going had nothing to do with God or worshipping Him. I went out of duty, to do what was expected of me, and to keep people happy with me. I would have been better off at home, and the chances of being closer to God, a real possibility.

We should want to be in church. It should be rare that we stay home because we are tired and don't feel like going. If we all stayed home every time we felt like it, the pastor would have empty pews to preach to, and if we never want to be there, we do need to take our spiritual temperature. But....... if we are in bondage so much to what people think of us, that we can't stay home to get a break and rest, then that is wrong also.

I can find nowhere in the Bible how often we should be in church. I get the idea they met weekly, but for how many services? How many times a week? On the Sabbath only, or on Wednesday, or Tuesday? Do we have to be there every time the doors are opened? Are we a bad Christian if we are not?

A while back, I stayed home on a Sunday night. I read some, listened to Christian music, and relaxed. My best friend was harassing me about it and I told him that I did got more out of worshipping God that night by staying home, than if I had gone to church. And I mean that. I was wore out emotionally, and did not feel like being around people. I needed to be by myself. And I enjoyed it.

Back to Sunday evening church. Necessary, or not? I don't think it is necessary, but why not have it? What else are we going to do on a Sunday night if we don't go to church? And why have a church building if you only meet on Sunday morning? I can see both sides of the coin. It can help us to be in another service on Sunday, and will not hurt us in most cases. And if everything is as it should be between us and God, we should want to be in church, but we can carry that too far. I have heard of families who attended every revival service in their area.... going to church every night for weeks at a time, and thought "their poor kids!" It is noble to want to be in as much church as we can get into, but family is important, rest is important, "down time" is important, time to relax and do something fun. We can have too much church. It has been said that too much of a good thing can be bad, and the same with church. If it is wearing us out, keeping us from family and responsibilities, we have too much church.

Granted, most of us don't have that problem. Most of us go just enough...... but enough for what, or who? And why do we go?

If my church had a vote on whether to keep Sunday night church or not, and I was allowed to vote (I'm not a member), I'd vote to keep it. Like I said, what else are we going to do on Sunday nights, and it is good to be in church. I'd change things though :-)

When I lived in the state of Indiana, I attended a church where Sunday nights were totally different. There were no extra services before the evening worship service, and I liked it that way. Church started at 6:00 pm, was out early, could fellowship and still get home and to bed at a decent hour. So if I was in charge at my church, I'd move all of those extra services to Wednesday night and start Sunday evening worship an hour earlier. But I'm not in charge. We have a church boss for that :-)

None of us are the same. We all have different temperaments, things make us tick differently. Some of us can go to 5 or 6 services a day and keep running on full. Others need to use Sunday for that often overlooked intended use: rest. And you know what? God knows the heart. People don't. So if your church has services on Sunday night, and you just need to stay home on a Sunday night - do it, but don't do it all the time.

At my job I just quit a couple of months ago, I had to work a couple of Sundays a month. I hated it. It rushed me on Sunday morning leaving church, I missed resting - no Sunday afternoon nap, and had me missing evening services. Granted, I could have gone and been late, but I hate being late, and would it have done me any good anyway? I doubt much. Instead, I came home and relaxed. Bad? I don't think so.

One of my heart's desires is to get to the point where what people think doesn't matter. My religion has been too performance-based, too set on what people might think of me if I did that, changed that, missed that church service..... but is that any way to serve God?

I shall continue to attend the services I attend, but will not be in bondage to attending them. I don't plan on attending any of the others that are there regularly, or monthly though. I shall use Sunday to rest. We all need that.