Why not Sunday?

Starting a blog has been a long time coming.  I have a lot of things to say.  Most of them are foolish conjecture  some just plain wrong.  But every once in a while I have a little nugget of insight that has some merit and a desire to share it with someone besides my two year old daughter.  So here we are.

I always knew being a Christian was a seven day a week thing.  I really believed I lived that way four years ago.  But in reality my life, and especially my faith revolved around Sunday.  Sunday was my day to shine, as the worship leader in a small church.  Sunday was my day of feeding, drawing form the deep well of a commendable teaching pastor.  Sunday was my day to fellowship, the day I wold try to impress people into liking me and thinking me a spiritual, mature person.  Sunday was probably the day I sinned the most the whole week, because Sunday was the day I put on my veneer of godliness in order to worship myself.

Then I was whisked off, half-way around the world on an adventure I was sorely unprepared for.  I lived in the Sultinate of Oman for two and a half years.  The interesting thing about living in the Middle East, in a predominantly Muslim country, is that Sunday means nothing there.  The work week is either Saturday through Wednesday or Sunday through Thursday across the Muslim world.  On Sunday I resumed my normal duties as a student or an English teacher.  I lived in a town of 70,000 people and not a single church.  A handful of expatriates met together for worship in their homes, usually on Thursday or Friday, and that was our church for two and a half years.

I find it interesting how little in the Bible actually happened on a Sunday.  Jesus was resurrected from the dead on a Sunday.  That's a pretty big deal.  Seven weeks later, The holy Spirit came down and started the Jesus movement, likely on a Sunday.  Another time a guy fell out of a window, and that's pretty much it.  Every other event of Jesus life, and the life of the early church happened on Monday through Saturday (or the day it happened was inconsequential and not mentioned).

I have discovered that over 85% of the Christian life doesn't happen on Sunday.  A lot of people are talking about Sunday: sermons, music, seekers, church structure, church buildings, programs - the list goes on. When I read the Gospels, and the Bible in general, I see a lot more about issues like: how do I treat my neighbor?  How far should I go out of my way to help someone?  How should I handle my money?   What does God want me to give up in order to have a better relationship with Him and with those around me?

That is what Monday Through Saturday is about.  I want to take these revolutionary truths and lay them over the patchwork of our messy, complicated, everyday lives and see what happens.  Yes, it is a purposely vague theme that I can manipulate to address whatever rant I happen to be on. It will probably include some social issues, some scriptural analysis, a book review or two, and perhaps an occasional poem.  My goal is to get people thinking and talking and living these great truths in the nitty-gritty of everyday life.  Perhaps the fact that I am getting these ideas out into the public sphere of cyberspace will encourage me to live them out in the nitty-gritty of my everyday life.  That alone would be enough to make this worthwhile.