Choosing a Day for Worship Services

There is never a bad time to worship the Lord. Through the ages, special days have been set aside as the day for worship and honoring God.

In the Genesis 1 account of creation, God creates the world in six days and rests on the seventh day. This account gave rise to the Hebrew practice of setting aside the seventh and final day of the week as a day of rest, during which it was appropriate to worship the Lord. This continues to be the practice for our Jewish brothers and sisters into the modern age. This day was and is referred to as the Sabbath day.

With the resurrection of the Christ, which we understand to have taken place on the first day of the week, those who came to be called Christians began to celebrate their worship of God on a new day, on a day when they could specifically celebrate the resurrection. This day came to be referred to as the Lord's Day.

This distinction of the Lord's Day and the Sabbath is recorded in The Westminster Confession.

"(God) appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him; which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week; andfrom the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which Scripture is called the Lord's Day." Westminster Confession.( 6.118)

Through most of its history, the Christian church has held formal, corporate worship on the Lord's Day. While this is a day upon which it makes obvious sense to worship God, it is certainly not the only day on which such a worship service can take place, which The Second Helvetic Confession makes clear when it states that no one day is any holier than any other.

"Although religion is not bound to time, yet it cannot be cultivated and exercised without a proper distribution and arrangement of time...(5.223) For we do not believe that one day is any holier than another, or think that rest in itself is acceptable to God. (5.225) The Second Helvetic Confession.

As stated here, though, the Confession does make clear that the worship of the Lord should be done according to a proper distribution and arrangement of time. The Presbyterian Church(USA) Directory of Worship clearly states that worship services should be regularly scheduled and that such a schedule should be readily available to God's people, so that they are able to join with their brothers and sisters in celebrating the Lord. I personally have been a part of regularly scheduled church worship services on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays - held at various times of the day and evening. In each case, the Directory of Worship's guidance was adhered to in that we gathered around the Word, heard the Word proclaimed, sealed the Word in our hearts and responded to the Word in our midst. Each of these services, regardless of their specific time or day, glorified God and strengthened his people. I once was a member of a church hat had a large number of police and firefighters as members. At the request of a number of these individuals, a Monday evening worship was created, to accommodate those who performed their duties on Sundays as police and fire personnel. God was indeed glorified that these individuals hungered for the opportunity to gather at a special time to worship.

While these services all serve a role, there is a special place in our calendar for worship on the Lord's Day. This is highlighted in the Heidelberg Catechism in a commentary on the Fourth Commandment.

"...that I diligently attend church, especially on the Lord's Day, to hear the Word of God"( etc.) The Heidelberg Catechism (4.103)

The Sunday worship service should continue to be the focal point of the life of the church. As the Lord's Day marks the day in which we celebrate the resurrection, it must always have a cherished place in the church calendar. It should never be, however, the only day in which God is worship and His Word proclaimed to His people.