Friday, September 30, 2016

Sunday: The First and Eighth Day



The story of creation is an important one. Not only does it establish God as the Creator and Giver of all things, it also establishes time as a way to frame the experience of all humankind. God has made us to be creatures of rhythm and pattern. And Sunday is the lynch-pin in viewing time as God does. This is a crucially important aspect of worship, so consider a few ideas we find in Genesis 1.

The Bible opens with the earth being a formless expanse, with the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. Verses 3-5 describe the first of God's creative acts: "Let there be light." I wonder sometimes what that first light looked like. God separated it from the darkness and created what? Day and night. The first day of creation was spent creating day, which is kind of mind-blowing. This is the Lord's Day, Sunday. It is the first day of creation.

The Bible tells us that God took a full six days to create everything: sky, land, seas, vegetation, sun, moon, stars, fish, birds, beasts and finally humans. Then on the seventh day, seeing that all He had made was good, God observed sabbath: rest. A seven-day week can be found in the heritage of several Mideastern cultures, but this day of rest is unique to the Jewish and later Christian tradition.

But what comes after day seven? Day one, right? Well, yes... and no. The week starts again, true. In a sense, we are back to day one. But early Christian thinkers (second and third centuries) were fond of talking about the "eighth day." In ancient numerology, seven represented completion, but eight represented redemption. Fitting, isn't it: because Jesus rose from the grave on the Lord's Day. Sunday represents creation (as the first day of the week), but it also represents new creation, redemption from sin, resurrection of Jesus and the coming resurrection of the dead. Sunday is the center of it all.

That's why we gather on Sunday to worship. It wraps into one day concepts of God's goodness, His creativity, Jesus' victory, the disciples' joy, the meetings of the newborn church. There's no better day to gather as the body of Christ, to celebrate and cry out to God for what He has done and what He continues to do. I like to think of the worship service along these lines, too. Our week, filled with heartache and celebration, blessings and anxiety, leads up to the worship service. So we bring our offerings of joy, our prayers for hope, our lament: everything we have experienced we lay at Jesus' feet. But the worship service also initiates the new week, full of possibility, opportunity, and chances to give God glory. So we take from the worship service the assurance that God is with us and loves us, that He washes us by the word, that He equips us by His Holy Spirit, that Jesus has accomplished everything necessary for our salvation, that we have hope and a future.

May Sunday be the first day and the eighth day for us, a constant reminder that God created, and God is recreating us. Make worship at New Cov a priority, prepare your heart for worship, arrive early, and experience God's creation and recreation with brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, who makes us one.

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