Gongs and Cymbals

Something surprising showed up today.  A business had a sign on the window which read, "Closed for Good Friday."  It took me on a trip down memory lane when many businesses closed on Good Friday.  It was, of course, a different era.  It was a time when the church and its ministries had a more central role in the community than in our current day.  We are certainly at a different place now as it has been business as usual in most places on Good Friday and when Easter Sunday comes, it will hardly be noticed in the places where commerce is done.     

While no one is out there advocating for a return to those days of old when store closings were normal every Sunday, it did encourage some to be more faithful about worship while it infuriated others to have to abide by a law based on a religious observance.  Actually, what the law has to say about Sunday life ought not really have any bearing on what Christian believers do with keeping Sabbath.  What we do in response to God is more a matter of the heart than adherence to a rule or law.    

Long years ago I remember a District Superintendent who had gathered all the preachers under his supervision together to encourage them in some program of the larger church.  The name of the program is long forgotten, but not the conversation which was heard in the room.  One of the preachers said, "Brother Carruth, just tell us to do it and we will do it," to which the Superintendent said, "If that is the only reason for doing it, then don't bother."   We can do all the right looking things for God, but for all the wrong reasons and when such happens, our life ends up looking like a "noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.'  (I Corinthians 13:1)