Why Sunday Nights, Part 1?
Over the past couple of days, I’ve encountered a few folks that disagree with me in an area that has probably been a debate in every church across America at some point–at least the ones with more than 1 instrument on stage. During a discussion on Facebook this afternoon, it was even suggested that I was bitter. I found that pretty humorous (you’ll see why, later), and those that know me pretty well will know why. So I thought I would discuss it in a little more detail here. I’m going to divide this into three posts, because I tend to be wordy, and I don’t want this to go too long.
So, what am I talking about? Well, by the title of the post, you’ve probably already figured it out: Why Sunday Nights–why have another church service a few hours after you just had one.
For as long as anyone still alive can remember, churches typically have had two services (excluding churches who have reached their capacity and have had to add a few in the mornings). They have one in the morning and one at night. Considering this isn’t found anywhere in the Bible, one might ask why churches do that. The answer is pretty straightforward, and not as stupid as many folks of my generation tend to think.
Back in the day, church used to start sometime in the morning, and they would just go till they were done. Now, for some people, usually of the evangelical/pentecostal variety, that could be a long, long time. Sometimes all day long and into the evening. Well needless to say, folks tended to get a bit hungry after a while. So they decided to start taking a lunch break. Lunch break turned into lunch and a nap (cutting this short), and eventually it became just two separate services, one in the morning, and one in the evening.
I have a lot of respect for that history. It makes sense. It’s straightforward and practical. At least it was back in its day.
Now, here’s the caveat: for the folks that I was “debating” with (over Facebook of all places…I’m such a geek…) the Sunday Night Service model works for them. And I was too quick to interject my opinion on that, an action that I regret. As usual, my mouth (or thumbs, because I typed it on my Blackberry) was ahead of my brain. So to those folks, I apologize for attacking what works for you.
Thus endeth part 1. In part 2 I’ll discuss why I disagree with the Sunday Night tradition, and in part 3, I’ll conclude with a real world example: my very own church.