The Victorian Sunday

I saw this book (The rise and fall of the Victorian Sunday by John Wigley) in the Evangelical Library recently and brought it home to read. It is an academic study dealing with a huge influence on nineteenth century English life. It begins with the history of Sunday before the Victorian period before dealing with the period itself, which it argues was hugely influenced by English Sabbatarianism, an idea deeply rooted in history, as well as other factors.

Wrigley argues that the Anglican LDOS did not enjoy Sundays themselves and sought to stop others enjoying it too. This is a pejorative way to state the case but it is done with some justification as we survey various attempts to curb what was allowed and what was not allowed on a Sunday, especially when church services were taking place.

Among his surprising conclusions are that the Sabbatarians were not chiefly Nonconformists or part of the temperance movement. It was a movement rooted in Scripture but it is clear that many decisions made regarding Sunday laws are not easily traced back to that source. The claim that a desire to suppress Sunday entertainment rather than Sunday labour predominated in LDOS circles is probably a fair one.

The book deals with England only (appendices talk about Scotland and Wales) and carries the story on only as far as 1980. I am Sabbatarian rather than Dominical in my understanding but this book makes often uncomfortable reading and only strengthened my view that trying to impose Sabbath rules on the general populace is hard to justify or make work. 

Babington Macaulay on the Sabbath

Man, man is the great instrument that produces wealth. The natural difference between Campania and Spitzbergen is trifling when compared with the difference between a country inhabited by men full of bodily and mental vigour, and a country inhabited by men sunk in bodily and mental decrepitude. Therefore it is that we are not poorer but richer, because we have, through many ages, rested from our labour one day in seven. That day is not lost. While industry is suspended, while the plough lies in the furrow, while the Exchange is silent, while no smoke ascends from the factory, a process is going on quite as important to the wealth of nations as any process which is performed on more busy days. Man, the machine of machines, the machine compared with which all the contrivances of the Watts and the Arkwrights are worthless, is repairing and winding up, so that he returns to his labours on the Monday with clearer intellect, with livelier spirits, with renewed corporal vigour. Never will I believe that what makes a population stronger, and healthier, and wiser, and better, can ultimately make it poorer.

Part of a speech given on May 22, 1846, in the House of Commons

Rest in God student offer

George Taylor has recently died at the age of hundred. He was a school teacher and head whose father, a Yorkshire miner, died in a mining accident when George was 18. It was at that time that George came to faith. He was a member of Wycliffe Chapel, Sheffield and a great encourager, especially of young people. According to the new Banner mag, a few weeks before his death, his son, Stephen, read him Iain Murray’s booklet, Rest in God. He so valued its defence of the abiding authority of the Fourth Command that he wished a portion of his estate to go to Banner to provide a copy to every student for gospel ministry who applies to Banner for one. Banner's details can be found at the foot of this page here.

Mitchley Hill Evangelical

It was my privilege to head 20 miles south into stockbroker country yesterday to preach for the first time in Mitchely Hill Evangelical Church in Sanderstead.

An independent evangelical church with a nice sixties building, the fellowship started in the late fifties and has Brethren roots (I spotted an exclusive Brethren "fortification" nearby, there is also a Catholic Church, etc but this is the only evangelical witness for some way). Despite the roots, it has had ministers in the past and is seeking one at present. We were about 40 in the morning 20 in the evening, rather on the elderly side and generally white and middle class in make up, but trying to reach children and young people and all who will come in. That morning there were around 5 or 6 younger ones there and I took opportunity to speak to them before they went off for Sunday School.

I preached on the young girl in 2 Kings 5 in the morning and Romans 10:1-13 in the evening. The morning sermon on "A pointless life" was well appreciated as I think we all to get to feeling at some point we are wasting our time. (I think you can hear them on the mhec website or on our own chbc one). See our website here). I hardly know anyone in the congregation but inevitably there were a number of points of contact with at least some as we talked, I was very well looked after for the afternoon by Mr and Mrs West, the senior members of the church. Lovely day.

A Special Day

The current edition of ET includes this Guest Column article by yours truly

A Special Day

 

Dash: You always say, "Do your best" but you don't really mean it. Why can't I do the best that I can do?

Helen: Right now, honey, the world just wants us to fit in, and to fit in, we just gotta be like everybody else.

Dash: Dad always said our powers were nothing to be ashamed of. Our powers made us special.

Helen: Everyone's special, Dash.

Dash: [sullenly] Which is another way of saying no one is.

This mother and son dialogue is from Pixar's critically acclaimed animation The Incredibles, about a super-hero family living at a time when super-heroes are not fashionable. The dialogue perceptively highlights an issue in western society today.

Specialisation is receiving a negative press. People fear that in the academic and business worlds, for example, it is causing harm.

Another negative influence on perception is the way young people, influenced by phrases such as special education and Special Olympics use the word in a pejorative way.

Besides all this, some evangelicals have had bad experiences when special people, days and times have been held in high esteem and are rather wary of such talk.

Growing numbers of evangelicals are not at all keen on the idea of special people, special days or special times.

Yet surely fear of specialisation should hardly characterise people who serve a God who has singled out one special planet in this vast universe, earth, to be inhabited; one special creature, humankind, to be his focus; and one special people, believers in Jesus Christ, to redeem.

*

There was a time when most evangelicals accepted that not all days are the same. There are seven days in a week but the first is special, the “day of rest and gladness” when “Christ rose from depths of earth”, a special day to celebrate.

In more recent years, however, more and more are shying away from the idea. It is usually put in terms of every day being special rather than no day being special but, as Dash would say, saying every day is special is another way of saying no day is.

Such people often quote Romans 14:5, 6a and Colossians 2:16, 17. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honour of the Lord. ... let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. It is clear, they say, keeping a day special is fine but it is not an obligation. Certainly no-one can say “keep the Sabbath” as it is only an Old Testament shadow anyway.

On the face of it, the verses seem to say that. Seasoned Bible students, however, know that first impressions can be wrong. Rather than simply assume Paul is talking about Sundays, wisdom suggests considering other possibilities. Albert Barnes' commentary points out that Sabbath in Colossians 2:16 is plural and highly unlikely to refer to the Lord's Day. “There is no evidence from this passage that he would teach that there was no obligation to observe any holy time, for there is not the slightest reason to believe that he meant to teach that one of the ten commandments had ceased to be binding.” In 1971 Paul Jewett similarly remarked that “it is unconvincing ... to press Paul’s statement in Romans 14:5 so absolutely as to have considered John a Judaiser for having called one day in the week the Lord’s Day, thus giving it the pre-eminence.” Such statements should give pause.

If no day is special, why did God allocate seven days to creation, deliberately making one different?

If no day is special, why does Moses make the point that one day in seven is specially blessed and set apart to God?

If no day is special, why, in John 20, having met with his disciples on the evening of his resurrection in Thomas' absence, is it only eight days later (John 20:26), the following Sunday, that Jesus meets with them again? Did he not know that all days are now equal?

If no day is special, why was the Spirit poured out on the Lord's Day? Is it simply coincidence?

If no day is special, given that Acts 20:6 says Paul spent seven days in Troas, why wait until Sunday to break bread and preach, especially given that Paul's sermon went on until midnight? If only he had realised there are no special days any more!

If no day is special, why did Paul tell the Corinthians to put gifts aside and store them up as God prospered on the first day of every week not just any day? Did he not know that all days are now equal?

If no day is special, why, in Revelation, does John speak about the Lord's Day? Did he not know that every day is the Lord's day?

One is not naïve enough to think that the Sabbath question is easy to settle but if we can at least agree that the first day of the week is special we will at least make some progress in the right direction.

Celebrating Sundays

Day One have just brought out an excellently produced magazine style booklet Celebrating Sundays. The author is Jonathan Holdt from South Africa. Son of Martin, when Jonathan and Adele were at LTS they worshipped here with us. I've bought several for the congregation here and would like to commend it to others too.

Why two Sunday services?

Alan D picked up on this here. Thanks Alan.

Busy weekend

It's been a busy weekend. Eleri went away (a very rare thing) with friends Friday and Saturday on the Eurostar to Cologne and so I was left in charge. First duty was lunch boxes and taking the two youngest to school. In the afternoon I was in Covent Garden for a Grace Publications Committee. Someone else kindly picked them up. I took a few minutes to look round a second hand bookshop in Charing Cross Road. Anne Fadiman had me thinking about them with one of her essays. Back home I prepared an haute cuisine tea - pizza! - before heading off to our children's meetings.

Saturday the two youngest were at a party in Gulliver's Kingdom, Milton Keynes, all day, so duties were minimal. They were home in time for Robin Hood after a really good day. In the evening Rhodri had organised a quiz night for 15 and overs. That was a fun time. I spoke on the ultimate questions, using John Blanchard's book as a basis. Eleri was back pretty late and had really enjoyed the time. On Sunday I preached from Mark 10:13 and 14 (am) and Matthew 4:10 (pm). It was the Korean pastor's last Sunday so we marked that briefly. He's off to Pusan. We're always saying goodbye here.

Monday I thought I was dying from a cold but I wasn't. We had a committee meeting for the London Inreach Project down at the London City Mission HQ in Tower Bridge Road. I got there early and had a wander and a cafe at a very nice Caffe Nero they have there. I'm rarely in that part of town.

Archive 9b Why twice?

Continued

4. At most churches the two meetings are quite distinctive. Failure to attend both may create an imbalance. In many places one meeting features teaching for ‘saints’ and the other a gospel message for ‘sinners’. Anyone receiving only one of these is getting an imbalanced diet. Even where this is not strictly followed there is usually a commitment to expository preaching morning and evening. Rarely will a minister preach on a book of the Bible in the later meeting that he has already expounded in the morning and vice-versa. Oncers are likely never to hear some parts of Scripture expounded even though a little effort would give them the opportunity. Listening to the message on tape is hardly the same thing as being there under the Word and worshipping with the people.
5. By coming to both meetings you may avoid the ‘Service’ mentality. Perhaps it is the word ‘service’ that gives the wrong impression. Undoubtedly some look on the church as providing a service for the public’s convenience. Services at different times of the day mean that one can come when it best suits. If you are a late riser or you like to have an elaborate Sunday lunch, fear not, you can always catch ‘the late show’. Or if you like to stop in on Sunday evenings watching TV or you go to see friends or family after lunch ‘the first sitting’ should be enough to keep you up to the mark. Full involvement in all the meetings of the Lord’s people should help to dispel that sort of consumer mentality which does so much harm to Christians.
6. Paradoxically it will enable you to be aware of everyone in the church orbit, even the Oncers. I have a friend whose church had a large number of Oncers, some the morning sort and some the evening type. Thus the morning and evening congregations were quite different. Some never met even though they went to the same church and heard the same men preach! While Oncers continue to exist the only way to know all those who attend the same place of worship, you cannot do the same.
7. You will be a great encouragement to your pastor and the rest of the congregation who have no doubt put as much effort into the earlier meeting as the later one if you will make the effort to come to both. The super-spiritual will reply that they do not come to church to please men but to please God. However, in Hebrews 10:25 the writer has no embarrassment in urging the people to meet more often in order to encourage one another. What an encouragement it might be, under God, if you decided to give up your lie in, your walk in the countryside, your cosy evenings in or whatever and started coming twice on Sundays. It will do you some good too if you stay humble. What about it?

Archive 9a Why twice?

This article appeared in Grace magazine some years ago. Similar points are made in the opening article in the latest Banner mag.

Sadly, we hear increasingly of churches giving up having two preaching meetings on the Lord’s Day. Thankfully most Grace churches continue to have two meetings and sometimes more. Yet not everyone wants to be at both meetings. Let me introduce you to that exotic but hardly rare species of churchgoer sometimes known as The Oncer.
Oncers come in 3 main varieties. Most common are Morning Oncers. They are very faithful on a Lord’s Day morning, never miss. But as for any later meetings they are nowhere to be seen. Of course, sometimes older people are a little weary or wary of venturing out at night. Legitimate duties keep some away but, sad to say, even when a lift is arranged or circumstances change the Morning Oncer often still refuses to venture out a second time. Evening Oncers are rarer but, especially in some parts of the country where the tradition is strong, you will see such people without fail in the evening or afternoon meeting though they hardly ever come in the morning. Most exotic of all are Random Oncers. With these you never know quite what will happen until the day is over. If they are not there in the morning they may be there in the evening, but then again, you may not see them at all.
Such people are often unbelievers but plenty of men and women who profess faith in Christ almost never think of coming along to church twice on the Lord’s Day, even though there are always two meetings and they are well able to come to both. The idea of coming twice on the Lord’s Day is a form of fanaticism they dare not contemplate. When I was converted as a teenager, no-one told me to come to both Sunday meetings I just assumed it was the right thing to do. Not everyone finds it so simple. What arguments might induce them to come more often?

1. Remember, each meeting is a ‘public means of grace’. Therefore all healthy believers will want to be at both. At church the Word of God is read and expounded, the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism are often administered, there is prayer and praise and fellowship. All these are means of receiving blessing from God. How odd that any serious believer should deliberately throw up half the opportunities they have for such things each Lord’s Day.
2. It is a Scriptural command to meet often with God’s people. Hebrews 10:25 shows us that there were problems with attendance even in the earliest days. However, the writer urges his readers not to give up meeting together as some have done but to do so more and more as you see the Day approaching. The nearer we get to the Day of Judgment and the Lord’s Return the more eager we ought to be to meet with God’s people.
3. Coming to both meetings will greatly help you to honour the Lord’s Day. Christians certainly differ in their understanding of the Lord’s Day but there is a general recognition that Sunday should be different, separate from the other days of the week. Surely this should be so not merely for part of the day but for the whole day. If you properly prepare yourself for and properly take part in the two meetings, you will find that most of your day has been wisely filled. One sometimes wonders what Oncers do with the rest of their day.

To be continued

Archive 4 Sunday Afternoons

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