Start your week in church for a better Monday

The sun is out, the birds are singing, the tree frogs are raising their hymn of joy. Spring is not far away, and as I sit at this desk, typing away, nature offers such a tantalizing view of what is to come. Spring brings hope and the promise of better times and brighter days. Soon we will change our clocks as the days get longer. It is something to look forward to.

Just like looking forward to going to church. (Please, don’t tell me you didn’t see that coming.) Yes, as we look forward to spring and all the possibilities that spring offers, we should look at church in a similar way.

My week begins on Sunday morning. For me, that is the first day of the week, and what better way to start than to share in worship of the Provider of All Things. When church is the first activity of the week, then I am ready to face whatever the week has in store. If I miss church, my week gets all wonky.

The fallacy of our weekend mindset is that we think Sunday is the last day of the weekend. It is the first day of the work week. Saturday was always meant to be the end of the week. Even in the Jewish calendar, Saturday was Sabbath and thus the 7th day, a day of rest. Christ arose on Sunday, (the first Easter Sunday) and the church, which was (at the time) made up predominantly of Jews, celebrated the day after Sabbath as a new beginning. The way they celebrated Sunday was to gather in the morning to worship, pray and break bread, and then off to work.

I guess technically you could say that Sunday worship is my work. It’s really a privilege. As the psalmist said, “I was glad when they said, “Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122). I cannot think of a better way to start the week than to be in Church on the 1st day of the week.

Think about it. You get to pray with folks, share concerns, hear good music and great preaching. You leave church filled with the hope that only Christ can give. Can you think of a better way to start your week? I can’t.

So, like the expectations and hopes that the promise of spring brings, church can bring that kind of hope. Worship can get you ready for whatever your job has in store. Keep in mind, if you are troubled, there is a bunch of believers at church that will pray for you.

So yeah, start your week off right, get to church on Sunday. Pray, worship, sing in the presence of Christ. Learn and grow as a follower of Christ, and then see how Monday looks for you. Stop seeing Sunday as the end of something and start seeing it as the beginning of something new.

Who knows, starting your week in church might just make Monday mornings fun.

Shalom my friends.

See you in church.

The Rev. Kent Wilfong is the pastor at the United Methodist Church, Doniphan/Neelyville.