I'll bet that title got your attention.

I'll also bet some of you are ready to fight over the subject.

I have been a pastor now since 1972 and have watched the erosion of our Sundays over the years. As a young man going to my first entry level job and many jobs following my first one, I remember telling my employer how much I appreciated working there, but that Sunday was the day I couldn't work because of the fact that I went to church on that day.

I know we have all heard the arguments that the Sundays many of us worship on are actually not really the “Sabbath” anyway so what difference does it make. Many a theological battle has been fought over this issue and truthfully the Jewish Sabbath is from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday anyway, so what is the big beef?

Well, as I see it as a pastor of a church trying to present before God and our congregations a viable worship opportunity for our people, it creates several problems.

First of all, I have noticed that if you ever attempt to involve anyone in their Christian service to God on Sunday, such as teaching a Sunday School class or working with the youth group or any activity involving them on Sunday — usher, greeter, hospitality, musician, choir member, or someone to help set up or break down — you are given a quick “Oh, pastor I'd love to, but you see I have the greatest reason and that is I work on Sundays.”

Well, as a pastor, I just need to vent here a little because I feel our priorities are really just a little bit out of out of whack. I am fully aware that there are certainly jobs that are 24/7, as the kids of today say. These are jobs that are of an emergency nature that certainly require 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These are life-essential ones like firemen, policemen and policewomen, nurses, doctors, etc. The list is long and getting longer.

I realize that, but the ones I am speaking of are 95 percent of a personal nature that are just for the appeasement of an employer who says, “I need someone to work on Sundays,” and the hands fly into the air with a total disregard of what God's Word says about the issue. Could it just be possible that an infinite God who was smart enough to create a human being and a universe just might know that you needed a day of rest and a day to honor him?

On a daily basis, I witness a stressed-out society with more money being made than any time in our history, and yet men and women have chosen to work right through their worship day.

I remember my mother telling us the story of being a young 16-year-old girl in Oklahoma following the Great Depression when a job meant whether you would eat or have anything decent to wear as a teenager. She had secured a job with South Western Bell as a telephone operator and she had also just become a Christian when they told her she would have to work on Sundays and miss church. She very politely told them that she would be happy to work any shift, but they had to get her Sundays off to attend church.

They accommodated her with giving her the grave yard shift, which severely cut into her free time to be with her friends.

First things first, my friends. If your job is keeping you out of church for any reason, stand up for your God and your faith and God and your faith will stand up for you! To God be the glory!

The Rev. Dr. Knox Herndon is the pastor of His House Community Church (SBC) and a substitute school teacher in the Fayette County school system, and a former Army chaplain. The church is currently meeting in the American Legion Log Cabin across from the fountain on the Square in Fayetteville. Prayer line 770-719-2365; e-mail Khern2365@aol.com

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