Should we go to church on Saturday?
Sunday would seem to be an ideal time to go to church. Because you don’t have to get up to go to work, you can sleep late, have a leisurely breakfast, read the Sunday paper, and still get your family to church on time.
Except that surveys show that between 60 and 75 percent of Americans don’t attend church on a regular basis. Presumably, they have something better to do on Sunday. But don’t blame Sunday for this state of affairs. Blame Sunday morning.
Psychologically, a morning worship service is all wrong. This is especially true for our culture, because the mood of peace and quiet created by one hour of church on Sunday morning is soon broken by noisy crowds at the mall, impatient drivers on the highway, and excited football fans.
As long as people went home after church to spend a restful afternoon and evening, the good effects of the morning lingered. It is not so with the modern Sabbath. Much of the mood built up in the church in the morning is canceled by the way we spend the rest of Sunday.
But there is another reason why we should go back to evening services for our soul’s health, joining the few churches that have such services.
Public speakers have noted when they speak in the morning or afternoon, their remarks don’t make as great an impression on audiences as the same speech given in the evening. Psychologists explain this by saying that earlier in the day our mental faculties are keenest. We are more alert and not as likely to accept uncritically what a person speaking to us has to say.
But when we are tired and the darkness has its relaxing effect on us, our minds are more receptive to what is presented to us. The artificial darkness and the flickering candlelight in some churches can produce the same hypnotic effect.
Spiritual truths planted in our minds in such a setting will grow more easily. If we go to bed with these truths still fresh in our minds, they will reach deep into our subconscious while we sleep and find their way, as one writer puts it, “To the hidden hallways of the mind where powerful and silent and unseen forces gather. With the morning they will advance into the wakened mind, bringing pleasant moods, healthy thoughts and creative ideas.”
Most clergymen say there is no theological objection to choosing a day other than Sunday for worship, and an hour other than 10:30 or 11 a.m. Sunday is traditional because it is the day on which Christ rose.
The success of Saturday masses in the Catholic Church 40 years ago caused Protestant ministers to give serious thought to the idea of holding midweek services for those who preferred to keep Sunday free as a day of rest and relaxation. But the idea never really caught on.
The early Christians, like the Jews, met for worship in the evening. It was sometime later that Christian churches began worshipping on Sunday morning.
The earliest Scriptural reference to Sunday as a day of worship for Christians occurs in the Book of Acts. Speaking of Paul’s visit to Troas in Greece, the King James version says, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached to them.”
Most modern translations, however, substitute “on Saturday night” for “the first day of the week.” This could mean that the early Christians held their worship services on Saturday night.
Would we be wise to copy their lead?
George Plagenz is an ordained minister and veteran newsman based in Columbus, Ohio.