How does your family spend your Sabbath day? (Obvious CC)

[HappyGrace]

I'm trying to figure out what feels right for Sundays, and I know it differs for everyone, so I'm interested in seeing what others do (besides church, of course.)

 

Growing up, we were church-on-Sunday Christians, so the rest of the day (and week) was not set aside in any way. I'd like to do better with this with my family now, but it's hard to know where to draw lines-I keep questioning myself as to what's biblically acceptable because so many things come up now on Sundays, such as bday parties of close friends, etc. It's also tempting sometimes to use it as a catch-up day, and I'd like to have it more as a day of rest. I'm in deep prayer about this lately, and I'm curious to see how others interpret their Sabbath. You don't hear people talk much about this, at least I don't!

[Julpost]

I should also be in prayer about this, I've become lazy about it. Right now, we barely make it to church but I know we need to be taking this more seriously. Thank you for reminding me to consider this prayerfully and I am looking forward to hearing other replies.

[Plucky]

Hmmm, we are Church-on-Sunday Christians. Actually, often we are family-devotional-at-home Christians, too. I think anything you do to bring you into a closer relationship with God is wonderful. Its really all about relationship with God and it doesn't have to be a formal tradition, but those are good, too, so don't think those of us that only go once a week are any less for it. I've found a closer walk from actually pulling away some from a lot of organized meetings.

[Jean in Newcastle]

A lot of it depends on your theology. We believe that for church-age believers the Lord's Day is set aside as a day for Christian fellowship but it doesn't have the restrictions that came with the Jewish Sabbath. So, we don't have a ban on doing chores, or work on Sunday. But besides the fellowship with other believers in God's Word, we do like to have a day to really recharge in a way that you can't on a busy Saturday with all of its chores and errands. So we take Sun. afternoon naps, and read, and go to the library (this is a treat - not a chore!) Practically speaking that's all the time we have for rest on Sunday because we are at church for 2 hours in the am (Sunday school and then the worship service) and then 2 hours in the evening (evening church and then a prayer meeting).

[Tutor]

We go to Sunday School and church in the morning and Bible Study in the evening. In the afternoons we either have people over for lunch or stay home and rest. We have interpreted the second commandment to mean that we have six days in which to do our normal, daily routine and the seventh day should be set aside as different in purpose with a focus on worship. We observe a sundown to sundown Lord's Day, so we don't do any "work for pay" or studying beginning sundown Saturday and ending sundown Sunday. We also do not participate in commerce and we swap chores so that no one is doing their normal chores on Sunday. The people and animals still need to eat on Sunday, so since I do most of the cooking during the week, dh takes care of it on Sunday and I help clean up; my 7yo usually feeds the cat and the 9yo usually feeds the dog, so on Sunday, they switch.

 

I would by no means attribute our interpretation as hard and fast rules for everyone, but I feel they align with commandment. Romans 14:22-23 has been very helpful to us when attempting to determine how to act out our faith in a practical way.

[KIN]

We go to church on Sunday mornings and almost always meet my folks & my brother's family for dinner. Then, home to rest and play for the afternoon. I love a nap on Sunday afternoon! We have small group 2 Sunday evenings a month, the other Sunday evenings we are at home or over at one of our folks, have popcorn and milkshakes! In the summer we often take bike rides or go out to our family farm for fishing with my extended family in the afternoon/evening. No work, except picking up the house Sunday evening and getting the dishes washed up. We believe Sundays are a day of rest and fellowship.

 

Sundays are my favorite day of the week! It is wonderful to have a family day of refreshment, I would encourage you to try it!

[6packofun]

we worship and serve our buns off and then take the rest of the day to do pretty much nothing but hang out together. I rarely cook and we only play games if we feel it won't be too much work. :D We watch a movie or some t.v., read, etc.

 

We have always been a no-sports-commitments-on-Sunday family, but we will do parties if we feel we'll be up to it and it's not on a busy week.

 

I think that the one area I need to practice "resting in" on the Sabbath is school planning! I often leave it until Sunday evening for practical reasons but need to really pray and think about whether or not that's an exception I am truly willing to continue making!

[Brenda in FL]

Besides worship at church, we avoid eating out at restaurants or going shopping (sometimes we fudge on the eating out if we are traveling or there is a particular circumstance with visitors or friends).

 

I don't ask my dh to do any work around the house! Likewise I wouldn't have the kids do any homework.

 

I'd like to work on my hospitality skills and have my home and kitchen ready to invite people over on Sunday afternoons - but that hasn't happened yet.

 

The best thing my kids like about the Sabbath is Sundaes on Sunday - for dinner!! We have evening worship at 6pm - and I am just not ready to try to prepare a supper and get everyone ready to go - at 5pm I'm just about ready for some ice cream!! So we pull out all the toppings and the kids get sundaes before going to church! If anyone is still hungry when we get home, they have a bowl of cereal!

[Chris in VA]

We are similar in our outlook to Jean. Dh is a priest, so we do a lot at the church during the week. But Sunday afternoons are our time as a family, and our time to rest. I often nap, and sometimes we go somewhere fun, but our homelife has been different lately because of Sky's needs.

 

I like the idea of preparing on Saturday night for Sunday. So often, families are rushing to church on Sunday morning, with no time to prepare their hearts for worship. I think of all the times I've had to get the kids ready alone (Daddy was working! lol), and lost my patience. We just had so many Sunday mornings that were not helpful to our preparation to meet the Lord in the Eucharist.

 

I really appreciate the Jewish practice of making the Challah on Friday, cleaning up, and preparing for the sundown, Sabbath time. I think it's lovely to put that much into it.

[Tracey in TX]

Sunday is family bonding time. This includes sports, cleaning, reading, watching a movie, etc. We just try to spend it as a family!

eta: We don't have family nearby or it would be the mandatory big Italian dinner each Sunday. Instead we compensate by spending quality time as our own family unit.

[Philothea]

We go to mass, which takes up a lot of the day.

 

However, we spend the rest of the day in accordance with Church law, i.e. no servile labor, and only work that is necessary for the day. So we do get together with friends if we are invited, but mostly we have a quiet day at home to rest and relax.

[klmama]

When we go Sunday morning, that takes up half the day. When we go Saturday night, we pretty much rest all morning on Sunday. (At least, I like to! Dh usually has lots of things he wants to catch up on because he's gone during the week.) Some basic chores get done, but nothing really huge. Afternoons are for naps, playing with the kids, watching football (if in season), and visiting with friends. We don't shop or do anything that will be really strenuous, either physically or emotionally. It's a great way to get rested up for the week. I am very thankful that God, in His wisdom, told us to rest! I feel much better throughout the week if I do. In the hour before bedtime, we do a quick clean up around the house - everything gets straightened, vacuuming is done. We can start the week with a clean house and a clean heart.

[Mama Bear]

Setting aside the Sabbath as a time to be in worship/connection mode, doing things that further our relationships with God and family. Most of our activities center around church, some service-oriented things, lots of hiking/walking/being immersed in His Creation with friends/family when weather permits. For us, this is a time for the "world" to recede, to experience refreshment in the presence of the Lord. When I was little, my mom always made fruit soup (German) and we ate by candlelight on Friday nights. It elevated the whole experience, you know? Sometimes a little ritual contributes greatly to feeling the Divine. Methinks I should get out the candles for my children. :)

[jmgconner]

Normally, DH cooks breakfast, we leave for church at 10:30, get home around 1:00. Have lunch. Make our menu and shopping list for the week. Go grocery shopping. Take a nap somewhere in there. And hang out with the family. :001_smile:

 

Oh, and then get Sunday night blues 'cuz DH has to go back to work Monday morning and we wonder what happened to the weekend.

[Carolyn]

We are Sabbath keepers, not Jewish, just following the directions, keep the Lords day holy. No t.v., shopping, anything we do on any other day. We go to church, hang out with our church family, relax, read, mostly rest.

[Harriet Vane]

I'm trying to figure out what feels right for Sundays, and I know it differs for everyone, so I'm interested in seeing what others do (besides church, of course.)

 

Growing up, we were church-on-Sunday Christians, so the rest of the day (and week) was not set aside in any way. I'd like to do better with this with my family now, but it's hard to know where to draw lines-I keep questioning myself as to what's biblically acceptable because so many things come up now on Sundays, such as bday parties of close friends, etc. It's also tempting sometimes to use it as a catch-up day, and I'd like to have it more as a day of rest. I'm in deep prayer about this lately, and I'm curious to see how others interpret their Sabbath. You don't hear people talk much about this, at least I don't!

 

We go to church, after which we goof off. This might be at home playing board games or we may head to a museum of take a walk or whatever. It's rarely planned in advance.

 

We do not participate in "work" events like soccer practices, but we do socialize. Generally we are together as a family, but if someone is invited to a party that's acceptable. The general principle is rest and refreshment.

[Alice]

We go to church in the am. Every 1st and 3rd Sunday we have a small group that meets at either home or a friend's home for lunch. This often takes up much of the day when we have it. We've been doing this for 8yrs and the people in it are absolutely our closest friends. We like having it after church because it also gives us an easy way to invite visitors to church to our homes for lunch on those weeks.

 

On the non-small group weeks we usually do something as a family. About once a month we go downtown into DC and go to a museum or something. Sometimes it's the park, or the rec center for swimming.

 

We don't have hard and fast rules but in general we don't do cleaning or chores. I don't do laundry. We try not to shop or go on errands.

 

Our kids are young so we haven't yet run into issues like sports on Sundays or other events.

[~Tara~]

We go to church, come home and rest, then just spend the rest of the evening together as a family. Often watching a movie or show on tv together. Something simple for meals. I actually try to prepare something on Saturday to just warm in the crock pot while at church Sunday. Then we just snack on something light that evening. No real cooking.

 

At times we will go out for lunch with a family from church, as we don't like to turn down an opportunity for fellowship.

 

Our church recently did away with their Sunday afternoon praise band practice (PTL!!) so that has been REALLY nice. Before we would get home, have lunch, rest, then hub was off to practice for a few hours. (time to practice songs for next week AND tear down the equipment (we're a church plant in a rented facility, aka, the local high school, now)). That really disrupted our relaxing/family Sundays.

 

We just try to keep things low key, family-oriented. We get together with friends from church either for lunch or after, to just hang out, fellowship. Going over there in about an hour actually. We're having a church-wide fellowship this afternoon.

 

Basically, I guess we just chill. We don't shop, we don't clean, we don't do any work we don't *have* to do (and no, that 3" of dust on the tables that you CANNOT stand a moment longer, does not count as a *have* to :snort: ) and just hang with family and friends.

[HappyGrace]

It helped me get some ideas for what would feel right for us too. Thank you so much! I'm grateful the Lord in His wisdom has us set aside a day for refreshment.

[Kay in Cal]

Well, we definitely go to church ;)... then come home after fellowship time and classes, if I'm teaching any. On the way home sometimes we have a family lunch out. When we get home I take a nap. And the evening is all family time--playing games, watching movies. Today we have a friend over (to play games and watch movies), but usually it is just us.

 

We decline birthday parties and the like.

 

When I was growing up we always went to see a matinee as a family on Sundays. I really enjoyed that... but now we see our matinee movies on Fridays.

[mktkcb]

Well, we go to Sunday School (fellowship groups is the new name), then church. We have never signed on to any major activities that would necessitate participation on a Sunday. A couple exceptions to that are that occasionally (1-3x a year) my son will have a piano recital on a Sun. afternoon, and twice a year there is a dress rehearsal for the musicals my kids do with their theater group. Most Sundays afternoons are spent doing whatever sounds relaxing. My husband likes to go for hikes on Sun. afternoon when the weather is nice. I like to take a nap, or go to the bookstore for awhile on rare occasions. Sometimes I'll do some cleaning. We just don't usually have scheduled things going on. We go to evening service as well, which goes from 5-6:30, and then we'll spend time with my Mom and Dad, go get a hamburger, watch Extreme Home makeover/Big Give, watch a movie....family time in general.