This is a slightly expanded version of an article that originally appeared in Grace Magazine
40 Good things to do on a Sunday afternoon
The plot of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the madding crowd turns partly on an idle Sunday afternoon when the heroine Bathsheba Everdene, not knowing what to do with herself, engages in a foolish piece of teasing. There seems to be a number of good Christian people today who do not know what to do with themselves on the Lord’s Day. So here is a series of suggestions as to how to use such time wisely. Even if you are involved in meetings or you take a nap there will still be time to do one or two things. It would certainly be impossible to do all of them. Of course, they can be done on any day but for most of us, if they are not done on a Sunday they never will be done. If you have no time for any of them then perhaps you need to take a fresh look at how you organise your week. May they be a help to you, or at the very least set you thinking.
1 Have an extended time of family worship
2 Listen to a sermon or something similar on mp3, downloaded podcast, CD, tape, etc, eg a Sunday sermon you have missed or an old one you have forgotten
3 Read the Bible, perhaps a whole book or section at one sitting
4 Go over (or catch up on) your weekday Bible readings or prepare for your daily Bible readings in the week ahead, eg reading introductory materials
5 Do some Scripture memory work, eg using Navigator aids
6 Compose a picture or a poem arising out of some biblical theme that is on your mind
7 Spend some time in prayer with others or alone. Concentrate on a particular area, eg mission or the family
8 Revise your prayer list
9 Sing some hymns with others, with a CD or on your own
10 Learn a new hymn or teach one to others
11 Listen to some hymns on your i-pod or on a CD
12 Have a Bible quiz or work through Bible puzzles with the children
13 Read a good Christian biography or church history, eg one of the volumes in Nick Needham’s 2000 Years of Christ’s Power or Arnold Dallimore on George Whitefield
14 Read a good commentary or doctrinal book. Perhaps you could read through something like Matthew Henry’s Commentary or Grudem or Reymond’s Systematic Theology Sunday by Sunday. How about working through the 1689 Confession?
15 Read a Christian classic with others (use a children’s edition if youngsters are involved) eg Pilgrim s Progress
16 Read from a good Christian coffee-table book such as a book of maps and charts or a pictorial encyclopaedia
17 Read a good Christian magazine
18 Read something from a good Christian website downloaded earlier in the week
19 Talk about the things of God with other Christians indoors or out
20 Share your testimony with someone or listen to theirs - again or for the first time
21 Discuss the sermon you have heard or share it with someone who has not. How much can you remember?
22 With children, discuss the Sunday School lesson or children’s address. Help them with memory work or catechise them. Even work through one for yourself, eg The Shorter Catechism or the Baptist versions of Keach or Spurgeon. This can be done while out walking
23 Visit someone who is in hospital or sick at home
24 Check that all is well with your neighbour next door, especially if they are elderly
25 Show hospitality to someone - a stranger or someone who would otherwise be on their own
26 Engage formally in self-examination using questions for your soul, eg go through The Ten Commandments or The Beatitudes27 Meditate on God’s goodness to you, especially in recent days. Keep a weekly diary of God’s providences
28 Write a journal entry concerning God’s dealings with you over the last week
29 Write a pithy sentence summing up some lesson you have learned in the last week
30 Write down one way in which you have related to God’s Word over the past week in an alphabetically arranged book. Soon you will have your own uninspired but personal Psalm 119
31 Write a letter or an e-mail to a missionary
32 Write a letter or e-mail or telephone to encourage a fellow believer, someone recently bereaved perhaps
33 Write a letter or e-mail on behalf of a persecuted believer
34 Write a letter or e-mail or telephone to an unbeliever pointing them to Christ
35 Telephone someone who was absent from church and see how they are
36 If you know what the passage will be in the evening look over it in preparation
37 Telephone someone to invite them to the evening meeting
38 Go out evangelising with tracts, door to door or something similar
39 Did the minister suggest something in his morning sermon to look at or did something come to mind as he preached - a passage to look up, a subject to investigate? Start on it
40 Take a walk in the park or countryside and see how many things you see to give thanks for
The plot of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the madding crowd turns partly on an idle Sunday afternoon when the heroine Bathsheba Everdene, not knowing what to do with herself, engages in a foolish piece of teasing. There seems to be a number of good Christian people today who do not know what to do with themselves on the Lord’s Day. So here is a series of suggestions as to how to use such time wisely. Even if you are involved in meetings or you take a nap there will still be time to do one or two things. It would certainly be impossible to do all of them. Of course, they can be done on any day but for most of us, if they are not done on a Sunday they never will be done. If you have no time for any of them then perhaps you need to take a fresh look at how you organise your week. May they be a help to you, or at the very least set you thinking.1 Have an extended time of family worship
2 Listen to a sermon or something similar on mp3, downloaded podcast, CD, tape, etc, eg a Sunday sermon you have missed or an old one you have forgotten
3 Read the Bible, perhaps a whole book or section at one sitting
4 Go over (or catch up on) your weekday Bible readings or prepare for your daily Bible readings in the week ahead, eg reading introductory materials
5 Do some Scripture memory work, eg using Navigator aids
6 Compose a picture or a poem arising out of some biblical theme that is on your mind
7 Spend some time in prayer with others or alone. Concentrate on a particular area, eg mission or the family
8 Revise your prayer list
9 Sing some hymns with others, with a CD or on your own
10 Learn a new hymn or teach one to others
11 Listen to some hymns on your i-pod or on a CD
12 Have a Bible quiz or work through Bible puzzles with the children
13 Read a good Christian biography or church history, eg one of the volumes in Nick Needham’s 2000 Years of Christ’s Power or Arnold Dallimore on George Whitefield
14 Read a good commentary or doctrinal book. Perhaps you could read through something like Matthew Henry’s Commentary or Grudem or Reymond’s Systematic Theology Sunday by Sunday. How about working through the 1689 Confession?
15 Read a Christian classic with others (use a children’s edition if youngsters are involved) eg Pilgrim s Progress
16 Read from a good Christian coffee-table book such as a book of maps and charts or a pictorial encyclopaedia
17 Read a good Christian magazine
18 Read something from a good Christian website downloaded earlier in the week
19 Talk about the things of God with other Christians indoors or out
20 Share your testimony with someone or listen to theirs - again or for the first time
21 Discuss the sermon you have heard or share it with someone who has not. How much can you remember?
22 With children, discuss the Sunday School lesson or children’s address. Help them with memory work or catechise them. Even work through one for yourself, eg The Shorter Catechism or the Baptist versions of Keach or Spurgeon. This can be done while out walking
23 Visit someone who is in hospital or sick at home
24 Check that all is well with your neighbour next door, especially if they are elderly
25 Show hospitality to someone - a stranger or someone who would otherwise be on their own
26 Engage formally in self-examination using questions for your soul, eg go through The Ten Commandments or The Beatitudes27 Meditate on God’s goodness to you, especially in recent days. Keep a weekly diary of God’s providences
28 Write a journal entry concerning God’s dealings with you over the last week
29 Write a pithy sentence summing up some lesson you have learned in the last week
30 Write down one way in which you have related to God’s Word over the past week in an alphabetically arranged book. Soon you will have your own uninspired but personal Psalm 119
31 Write a letter or an e-mail to a missionary
32 Write a letter or e-mail or telephone to encourage a fellow believer, someone recently bereaved perhaps
33 Write a letter or e-mail on behalf of a persecuted believer
34 Write a letter or e-mail or telephone to an unbeliever pointing them to Christ
35 Telephone someone who was absent from church and see how they are
36 If you know what the passage will be in the evening look over it in preparation
37 Telephone someone to invite them to the evening meeting
38 Go out evangelising with tracts, door to door or something similar
39 Did the minister suggest something in his morning sermon to look at or did something come to mind as he preached - a passage to look up, a subject to investigate? Start on it
40 Take a walk in the park or countryside and see how many things you see to give thanks for
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