Human Again

When I was in my late teens, my grandfather invited me to bring my girlfriend over for “Sunday Dinner.” He was going to grill us steaks and sit down with this young lady he’d heard about. I loved my Pop and was proud to show off this gorgeous girl I’d snagged. So, we went to worship in the morning, grabbed a light lunch, and hung out for a bit before making the drive down to the farm in Germantown. We planned to get there around 4pm since we knew old people like to eat a bit early and we didn’t want to be rude. Allie and I were bewildered by his unusually gruff greeting. Honestly, he seemed a little put out to see us! It didn’t take long for us to realize that he had finished his cold “dinner” hours ago without us. He must have really leaned into his Silent Generation status by stewing instead of following up when we failed to appear at what was to him a clearly appointed hour! We apologized and explained the confusion, that we were used to the word “dinner” meaning the evening meal. Pop wasn’t one to hold a grudge against his grandchildren, so it was quickly forgiven. But I haven’t forgotten. We do something similar with the word “Sabbath.” We’ve adopted the word from another generation and culture and adapted it to serve our own ends. For all practical purposes, a Jewish Sabbath and a Christian Lord’s Day have very little in common. So, it can be a bit of a feat for us to connect the dots between Biblical teaching on the weekly sundown rituals and what we do with our Sunday morning worship. A lot of assumptions are being made that might make us miss our precious appointment. Hopefully, Psalm 92 can help us bridge the gap this Sunday morning at 10:30am.