Some of you might be aware that alongside my placement here at West Epping, I am also undertaking a subject towards a Bachelor of Theology (Honours) course at the United Theological College. In my years of formation, academic study was a strength and joy for me, so I am choosing to continue to expand my mind in this way.

A paper I recently submitted was on the nature and function of Sundays; that is: in a post-Christendom, multi-faith, western context, is it still necessary to consider Sunday a holiday (holy day) in a society that increasingly sees it as just another day to be productive?

The concept of Sunday has had a mixed history. On one hand, Sunday has been a Christian Sabbath day: a day to rest from work, and to remember God’s acts of love in the past (creation, liberation from Egypt, the cross). In this light, Sunday is the end or crux of the week. On the other, Sunday has been considered the first day of the new week, the Eighth Day, the day on which our Lord Jesus Christ inaugurated a new creation. As such, Sunday is a day of celebration and recreation, a day on which the Church comes together in worship.

There are a number of reasons as to why these two concepts have been blurred over the Church’s history, and are still blurred today. My argument in my paper was that today’s western church tends to focus too much on remembering what has past, including Jesus’ passion and death, while forgetting to celebrate the event that changed the course of the world: the resurrection.

The truth is that we would not be gathering had it not been for the miracle of the resurrection. We are not a Good Friday people, nor are we a Saturday Sabbath people. We are an Easter Sunday people, an Eighth Day people, a Resurrection people, a people of God’s new creation.

Friends, in our local context of busyness, frantic-ness, cynicism and fear of the unknown, don’t be afraid to consider Sunday to be a day set aside for joy and celebration! Every Sunday is Easter Sunday! Here are some ways to do so:

When we pass the Peace, remember that it was the risen Christ that proclaimed peace to those who would follow him. When we light the Christ candle, remember that Christ’s light was not overcome by the darkness of death. When we pass the baptism font, remember that you are already living life after death, since through Baptism, you were re-born.

What’s the point of going to church on Sunday? Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!