Sunday: First Day of the Week, or Last Day of the Weekend?

Look closely.

Notice anything odd about this calendar? Yeah, a couple things; for me, at least. First of all, the days are vertical, not horizontal. And then, look at the order. Where is Sunday?

That made me think. What day of the week is Sunday? First, or last?

What the world says.

To me, this is obvious. In practice, the world says Monday is the first day of the week, and Sunday the last day of the weekend. To the world, Sunday is the last (and for many the only) day away from the grind of work, school, whatever. Sunday evening, then, signals the end of the weekend and Monday the beginning of the work week.

The calendar above has done away with tradition and gone practical. That's not always bad. It depends on what traditions are being scrapped.

So why have our calendars traditionally listed Sunday as the first day of the week, when in practice the world sees it as the last?

What the Bible says.

This is not a Biblical review of the history of the Sabbath. Let it suffice to say that after creating everything in six days, God rested on the seventh. We call that seventh, or last day of the week, Saturday. That is the traditional Jewish Sabbath.

Sunday, then, is the first day of the week. Sunday is also the day Christ rose from the grave. He was crucified on Friday, and rose on day three (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). That is why Sunday is sometimes called The Lord's Day, as in Revelation 1:10.

Sunday, the first day of the week, is also when the early Church gathered to worship and break bread together (Acts 20:7), and to collect offerings (I Corinthians 16:2). What we today call going to church.

So what?

Does it matter if we consider Sunday the first day of the week or the last? I believe it does.

How do you define your life? Are you defined by your work, your school, your Monday to Friday obligations? Or are you defined by your beliefs, your convictions, your God? I know what I want to define my life, and that's why it is important to me to recognize that Sunday starts the week, instead of ending it.

I think it matters. I want to start every week right. For me, that means starting the week with God (not that we shouldn't be spending time every day with God).

And besides . . . When you realize Monday is the second day of the week, getting up tomorrow morning won't be quite so hard!

God bless you all. Have a great Sunday afternoon, the first day of the week!