This is from Olive:
“I hate Sundays!”
I remember being shocked when a young missionary in El Salvador said this. She was frustrated by trying to entertain and chase her two toddlers around during long church services with no child care. On the way home her toddlers would fall asleep in the car, only to wake up the minute her husband pulled into their driveway. Then the kids would be cranky and awake all afternoon, although she desperately needed a nap herself.
I could totally relate. When my kids were small, Sunday was anything but a Sabbath.
Come to think of it, now that I’m doing church planting in the Middle East, Sundays are anything but restful. I cook food, set out plates, rearrange the living room, make tea, answer the door, serve tea, talk to people, make sure they have everything they need, and sometimes lead worship. Fortunately my husband helps a lot, especially with clean-up afterwards.
Since Sunday is not a day of rest, I have to get creative. Monday, traditionally off for pastors, is not an option for me since I home school. I do attempt to have a quieter day by purposely making no plans on Monday besides school.
What do your Sundays look like? Stressful? Enjoyable? Busy? Relaxing? If Sunday is a work day for you, when do you take a day off?
(If you have a “Tuesday Topic” question, please email it to me at fylliska@gmail.com. Provide your blog address if you would like to be linked to, or specify if you would like to remain anonymous. Thanks!)
I can.totally.relate!
ReplyDeleteI have three-year old twins, and ever since they were born, Sundays have been the pits for us. And I used to love Sundays, and secretly criticized parents of small children for becoming non-servers in church after having children, or for not keeping their kids quiet during the services and all that. Well, payback's a .... slap in the face.
Where we work in West Africa, Sunday school is before church, and it is held in a room with two exits. My kids can not for the life of them sit still and one of us has to be there with them to make sure they don't take off out the back door and disappear into the African countryside. Then it's time for church. The service starts with a lot of singing, first sitting down (for the slower songs) and then dancing around for the faster songs. After that, all the African kids start trickling out of the building, since there is no child care for them. My kids just want to run and play, and being the only "white" family, I feel like everybody is looking at us and wondering why the missionaries can't get their kids to behave in church... I hate it!
How's that for missionary perfectness?
They always say "the preacher's kids are the naughtiest kids in the church!" I think you can substitute missionary for preacher there too.
DeleteSunday's do sound like a bit of a trial for you...May God give you lots of grace. I bet you no one's wondering why you can't get your kids to behave in church though. They probably have enough other things to think about! I know the feeling though...
After many years of Sunday stress, I finally like Sundays again. We've stopped doing the mandatory "local church" option and the elective "missionary community" gathering, and for this season we are just having a discovery Bible study with a few select friends. It is something I look forward to and really hate to miss. I totally relate to the problem of Sundays, though, having been there, done that, and even blogged about it once upon a time.
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear from you, Jamie Jo. I've missed you. Glad for your wonderful study on Sundays. I think sometimes about your post when I contemplate my church planting/house fellowship Sundays.
DeleteI can SO relate! By the time our youngest is old enough to start going to sunday school (age 3) it will have been 10 years since I was able to sit in church regularly for the sermon since all kids under 3 have to go to the "nursing moms' room" during the service. I love that we have a place that they can be loud and not interrupt, but it makes it so hard to be motivated to want to go since it feels like a bunch of work for little personal gain. But, my husband always encourages me to remember that going to church is not just for us. We go to bless others and we also go to model the value of being an active part of the church both to our children and to those that we are ministering to. We don't want our kids to think church is only about what we can get from it, but also about serving and being connected in fellowship.We aren't contributing members of our family only when it suits us, so since the body of Christ is family too, we should also not only seek what we can get from it. We also don't want our students in our college ministry to fall out of fellowship after they graduate, but to be rooted in life-long fellowship in the church. So, I guess right now I see going to church as an act of faith and service mostly during this season. I do very much look forward to receiving more via sermons and such at a time when it isn't so stressful, but for now I still think God has plenty of great reasons for me to be in church, as exhausting as it is.... but it still is a struggle!
ReplyDeleteAfter 12 years of exhausting Sundays, everything just changed for us. I'm loving the new quiet Sundays!
ReplyDeleteBut, a few things I learned from the crazy years:
1. We had specific traditional, easy Sunday meals. Pelmeni when we get home from church and popcorn for supper.
2. Monday was a slower day. Once we started homeschooling, we couldn't take it as a complete day off, but we just moved more slowly and did less. Even now, I don't expect much schoolwork on Mondays.
Oh, Littlest just woke up. More later. Maybe. :-)
Popcorn and fruit is our traditional Sunday supper as well!
DeleteThat is funny. WE used to do popcorn on Sunday nights too. (Now that church is Sunday evening, that changed things.) I love the idea of easy Sunday meals.
Deleteyep - hubby used to get frustrated with me when i told him i hated sundays. our churches always sat women and children on one side men on the other side - until boys hit the age of 10 or 11 and reliably sat without distracting the other men... then they could move over with the guys. sunday school was pretty much inconsisten or downright nonexistent until my biggers started teaching. And of course it was hot, the kids didn't get the language (I only barely followed parts when it was in one of the local languages instead of french), if they brought a book, it distracted local kids, i often spent most of my time sitting on a bench under the only tree right outside the pit toilets in the heat (and preggo a good part of that time). i hated sundays and i hated the african church service.
ReplyDeleteit did get better over the years and although i loved my african brothers and sisters and so appreciated their insights into God's Word as they look at it from a perspective/background different than mine, i will always be more comfortable in a more western service, with pews, a more orderly... sedate... dignified worship while growing to accept the value of the differences, particularly the spontaneity, liveliness and authentic unconcern with what others might be thinking.
Your hating Sundays is pretty understandable considering you were out watching the kids outside pit toilets!
DeleteI"m looking forward to January, when our cp will start meeting at a public place instead of at our house! I love hospitality, but it has gotten overwhelming...