5/16/65

Scripture: Read Isaiah 58: 6-14.

Text: Exodus 20: 8-11.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” These four verses of scripture are from the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus in the Old Testament. The wording is that of the Revised Standard Version translation into English. This is the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue (or Ten Commandments). It is “spelled out” at more length than any other of the Ten. It is worth some study.

The observance of rest days was fairly common among many primitive peoples. The four quarters of the moon mark an obvious division of time. The new moon and the full moon were looked upon by some as sacred signs. Thus a cycle of 14 or 15 days is established, of which a week of 7 or 8 days is the half. Older parts of the Hebrew scriptures usually mention the new moon and the Sabbath together.

The Sabbath, as defined in the book of Exodus, is distinctively a Jewish institution. The Lord’s Day of the Christians can be compared to it by analogy, but it is not the same. The early leaders of the Christian church did not sanction the idea that Sunday was the heir of the Sabbath. But lay minds felt there was a connection, and in 789, Charlemagne issued a decree which forbade all ordinary labor on Sunday as a breach of the 4th commandment. Still, human nature does require a day of rest from labor. So 16th century reformers felt that we can not do better than to follow the tradition that among Christians sets apart the first day of the week for worship and rest.

Jesus, in his day, was accused of breaking the Sabbath. He enunciated the principle that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. [Mark 2: 27]. Perhaps this fact is sufficient for us to let Sunday, as the Lord’s Day among Christians, rest on its own merits. For the Jew, the Sabbath was the sign of a covenant between God and His people. It was a day of rest, in remembrance of the rest of God after the creation. It was, perhaps, less “that the Israelite should rest himself, than that he should give others rest.” It was a day of thanksgiving for deliverance from Egypt. It was a day of sanctification, of prophecy. It was a day of joy. It was, for the orthodox Jew, a mark of distinction between the Hebrews and the other peoples among whom they lived.

A modern scholar, going over these verses of the 4th commandment, points out that the list of those who are to rest on the Sabbath is interesting. When mother protests that, after washing, dressing, feeding the children, getting her husband’s Sunday shirt ready, preparing the Sunday dinner, and arriving at church herself nearly on time, she objects to hearing the service opened with the hymn, “O Day of Rest and Gladness,” her attention may be called to the fact that the 4th commandment says nothing at all about mother resting on the Sabbath! Is the Bible asking here for the impossible? Probably not. But it is still worthwhile to study this ancient commandment for the light which its value may shed on our living today.

It is said, by some, that the religion of our day is too mild. It does not make the demand, and put the impress, upon our life that we should expect of it. Elton Trueblood says that the most common form of this mild religion, in our time, is individual religion, with little or no reference to the church or to public worship or to any established religious observances at set times. There are many who suppose that this is an advance over regular church-going. The characteristic modern man of this persuasion is proud of his relative detachment, and supposes that he has gone on to something higher. He may be tolerant of his friend or neighbor who supports and cherishes what seems to him an outworn institution, but he is not tempted to follow his quaint example. In his supposition that he has graduated from churchly, or ecclesiastical religion, with its demand for corporate worship at least one day a week, he has adopted what he may call “spiritual religion.” This spiritual religion is independent of organization, of places or times of worship, and of course of all creeds. “I get closer to God,” reasons this solid citizen, “on the golf course than I ever do in the church.”

This supposed emancipation from forms and ceremonials sounds noble as well as advanced and modern. It gets most of its plausibility from a superficial resemblance to the great teaching of the gospel that God can be known and loved in any situation. What need has one for external supports? But the pathetic truth is that most of the people who pass off the wretched cliché about their devotion to Christianity being greater than “churchianity” are no spiritual giants! A man may have a great experience of God’s presence, and an awareness of his own moral need, while getting out of the rough by the seventh hole --- for nothing is impossible with God --- but such an experience is not likely to occur!

One result of the modern notion that individual religion is better than institutional religion is the contemporary estimate of the 4th commandment. There are many who really believe that the commandment about the Sabbath is trivial and anachronistic and obsolete. It may have been applicable once, but is now outmoded, in our enlightened day. It is too narrowly religious, in this view, to be ethical. But it is worthwhile to examine a bit of the history of this command about the Sabbath. For it does hold a place of vast importance in the Bible. It is not considered trivial there. It is the longest in the decalogue. It holds a great place both in the Hebrew law, and in the works of the prophets. The reason for the great emphasis on the Sabbath in ancient Judah was that this institution was a major element of cultural survival. When, in 586 BC, Jerusalem fell, the temple was wantonly destroyed, and the leaders were taken captive to Babylon, their chance of survival was slight. The northern kingdom of the Hebrews had fallen more than a hundred earlier, and had never been revived. It has not been revived to this day.

The southern kingdom of the Hebrews would have gone the same way, and thus the whole of Western Civilization would have been impoverished, if prophets like Ezekiel, and others like him, had not placed great emphasis on the Sabbath. The Sabbath observance became an external badge which held people together as by a public witness. Once a week, those people stood up to be counted in their alien environment. Weaklings fell away, but the faithful were greatly strengthened. Along with this emphasis on the Sabbath, came the invention of the synagogue. These people had no temple -- it had been destroyed. But they invented the practice of coming together to listen to the reading of the moral law, and thus not only to worship God but to strengthen their personal lives. Thus, the observance of the Sabbath was combined with the meeting house. We of the West are more indebted to this fact than most of us realize.

The institution of the Sabbath congregational worship saved a precious heritage from extinction. If the refugees in Mesopotamia had had only individual religion, they would not have survived as a people; and we in the Western world would not have had the Bible or the great teachings that, combined with Greek philosophy, have been formative in our culture. Mere individual religion may seem to serve rather well in prosperity. But something stronger is needed in a genuine crisis. Our civilization can best be rebuilt by reviving, strengthening, and supporting institutional religion. Human nature, weak without it, is reassured and strengthened by it. This is one reason why our church has determined on a more adequate house for the study and practice of corporate religion. We need all the support we can find to live up to the high purposes of our faith.

It is a common human experience to need to be reminded of what we know to be true. To provide these needed reminders is one of the chief functions of the glorious rhythm of the week, which a Sabbath makes possible; and of the services of public worship which a Sabbath facilitates. Our dedication to the right way is greatly enhanced when we hear again the great words of the Bible, and join with others in singing the classic hymns which have supported the resolves of persons like ourselves for hundreds of years.

I may have heard it many times before, but I am wonderfully helped by hearing again: “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” [Psalm 34: 18]. Or, “The Lord is my shepherd; --- he leads me.” [Psalm 23: 1,2]. Or “The Lord is my strength.” [Psalm 28: 7]. Or, “God is love.” [I John 4: 16]. Or, “Fear not, I am with thee.” [Isaiah 43: 5].

Even with the help of such magnificent reminders and supports, we are poor enough in character. Even those who have separated themselves from public worship, and still show some evidence of good lives, obviously owe part of their character to the effect of these supports in their youth. A great many of the people in public life who feel superior to the church, were, in the first 15 or 20 years of their life, greatly influenced by the external influence of the church upon them. Would they really prefer a society in which the rhythm of the week, which the Sabbath makes possible, were unknown or nonexistent?

The actual situation is made evident by a single crucial case -- that of marriage. If the upholder of a churchless religion were consistent, he would arrange for his daughter’s wedding before a judge, since that is the alternative to the kind of marriage which the church alone makes possible. If each person were to follow his own practice -- and his alone --- there would be no such marriage service as that which most of us seek --- no place provided to celebrate it, and no one to perform or solemnize it. Most persons seek to arrange for the greatest events in their family life so as to take advantage of a surprisingly beautiful thing, whether they have earned it or not, or have provided for it by participation and support.

Part of the difficulty involved with those who are parasites on the Christian community is that many do not ask of themselves the right question -- what would the world be like if everyone adopted his own practice as standard practice. It is silly to be governed solely by the question, “Do I want, personally, to attend worship on the day of rest?” No real culture can be built if this is the real question. The real, pertinent question is more like this: “What does life require of me as a responsible citizen of this place? What is my part in keeping alive the continuity of culture that helps to save the world from being a worse place than it is?” We and our fellows are not a breed of perfect beings, like theoretical angels; we are people. It is characteristic of mankind that we need to be reminded of our duty; we have fierce temptations of the flesh and fiercer temptations of the mind. We do not happen to be made so that we can truly worship at the seaside or among the hot-dog stands or along the highway as we can in the sanctuary. And we need the experience of worshipping together.

It is not a fallacy of numbers that brings the lift of spirit when a large portion of our membership and friends and visitors gather here for worship. There is great assurance in the experience that a goodly portion of our membership have gathered, on a day regularly set aside to worship God, to make ourselves aware of His righteous purpose in our lives, to praise him in the beauty of holiness, to find him in fine music, feel His re-direction in our experience. And this is not alone an experience to be regularly sought for ourselves, but it should be available to all others. We tend to make it less possible for others when we expect commercial services from others during significant parts of the day which we set aside for worship and rest.

Many of you are aware that, during this past week, some 23 clergymen of many of the churches in our community worked upon, and issued, a statement of appeal to the conscience of our neighborhood. We have become aware that there soon may be more of the tendency to keep open on Sunday the commercial establishments of our city in order to serve all of us who might wish to do our shopping on Sunday. We feel that we have already gone far in the direction of minimizing, rather than emphasizing, a Sabbath day of worship, rest and renewal of spirit. Probably none of us comes to this statement with “clean hands,” for all of us appear to have used the services of stores, filling stations, eating establishments, travel accommodations and other facilities which require the service to us of others who must work on Sunday to provide for our desire. But we feel, keenly, that something good will be lost from our common life, if we drift farther toward the general opening of more business life on Sunday that characterizes some of the cities of our nation and state. We recommend that the tendency be arrested, and even reversed.

We clergymen have made a statement that does not “single out” our community’s service stations, taverns, manufacturing establishments, restaurants, drug stores, transportation stations, or merchandising establishments for condemnation. We do not find ourselves in a position to condemn. But we do find a common concern over the use of a day which we feel is a right and essential part of the kind of life we think our nation and community should have. The expression of concern is triggered by reports that more store operators, than hitherto, may open for business on Sunday in the near future. If this were to be the case, it would tend to force the hand of still more. Since the desire of customers for service on Sunday is the key to a merchant’s ability to serve, we have urged the people of our community to plan their shopping for the six days of the week other than Sunday --- not only as a testimony of our regard for our Sabbath, but so that store employees may also have a Sabbath. We would like to see this pattern and temper become more and more prevalent in our city and neighborhood, as contributing to high morale and building the kind of community life in which we believe.

Many of you have read the statement to which I refer, for it was published in last Wednesday’s Wisconsin Rapids Tribune. This is the statement:

The undersigned clergy of the Wisconsin Rapids area are concerned over the reported prospect of increased Sunday opening for business on the part of stores in this neighborhood. We believe that the traditional observance of Sunday as a day of worship and rest is worth preserving for the benefit and morale of the entire community.

We urge our congregations to make their weekly purchases on the six days of the week other than Sunday. We commend those merchants who have hitherto closed their places of business on Sunday and those families who have avoided Sunday shopping. We urge others, who may have not done so, to adopt this practice, since it is the “Sunday shopper” who is at the root of Sunday opening.

We are not in this statement advocating the so-called “blue laws” of bygone days in some states; nor a return to the severity of Sunday observance that characterized some earlier periods of Christian history and the Saturday observance of legalistic Hebrew tradition. The primary purpose is not that of restricting the Sabbath. The primary purpose is that of trying to make a decent life for all people on this planet in our day. We believe that the encouragement of corporate worship, and the wider provision for a day of rest and genuine renewal for all, is an important ingredient of that decent life.

The voice of the church should be heard in testimony for the good life, for its training and effort is in the direction of what its Lord and Savior called “The Kingdom of God.” Not by our own whim, but in Christ’s name, we appeal to the thought, the purpose, the conscience of the entire community.

Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, May 16, 1965.