The Old Testament Sabbath Law required rest on the seventh day (Saturday). The Sabbath rest was to foreshadow the true and complete rest that we have in Christ (Hebrews 4). New Testament Christians are not required to rest on the Sabbath Day. So what does the Third Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy,” say to us? Luther explains: “We should fear and love God that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but regard it as holy, and gladly hear and learn it.” Luther’s explanation says that our worship is important.

Two recent articles in one of our local newspapers questioned the importance of coming together to worship. One was titled, “Whatever happened to the Sabbath?” The other was subtitled, “Sabbath and sports: Religious observances can take a back seat to children’s games.” Among other things, these articles exposed the fact that many who used to set aside Sunday morning to worship no longer consider that to be more important than sports games, home projects, grocery shopping, and other activities. They also made it clear that while our society once tried to reserve Sunday morning for worship, now more and more public events and sports activities are being scheduled on Sunday mornings. One of the articles confessed, “If stores have become the new cathedrals of today’s manic society, youth sports are the new god . . .” (“Vying in unholy competition,” New Hampshire Union Leader, April 4, 2008).

Does this secular censure cause us to pause and ponder? First, let’s be clear that Scripture no longer dictates a specific time and day of the week that we must worship. We worship our Lord in Christian freedom. But let’s also be honest and recognize that when we have set a time to worship and the world begins to schedule its events at the same time, then what we choose says something about what we believe is most important. Our choices are difficult—especially since our children are often victims of a world that sees little use for Jesus and has no qualms about scheduling a senior prom on Good Friday evening. Yet if we sit back and let the world continue to schedule without voicing our protest, then soon there will be no time that is sacred for worship.

I think it’s time for Christians to take back Sunday. When we hear about events scheduled on Sunday mornings we might write a letter asking for this to be changed. Perhaps the reason the world keeps scheduling on Sundays is because we keep on letting them. Now is the time for us to speak up. But more importantly, now is the time for us to act. We need to make choices that show our children that worship time is important.