I love Sundays for two very simple reasons. And if you think it’s because I go to a church on Sundays to praise and worship, hear preaching, hug my buddies, pay my tithes, and get to hang out with my brothers and sisters in Christ, you’re wrong. In fact, I don’t go to church on Sundays at all. How’s that for shocking for the founder and director of Walk by Faith Ministry who dedicates her heart and life to the Lord seven days a week? So guess why I love Sundays. Ready for the two reasons?
First, I take Sunday as a Sabbath Day. I try to stay off the Internet until night-time, I stay off the phone until night-time except if something super important comes up, and I spend plenty of time with the Lord, resting, relaxing, reading, sleeping, and sitting in the sun. Now that’s pretty much of a miracle for someone who rarely slows down. On Sundays, I slow down. It wasn’t easy when I first started. In fact, I hated it. Now I love my Sundays in part because I truly take them as a day of rest.
Ready for the second reason why I love Sundays? I’ve already told you I don’t go to church, not in the traditional sense of what humans often think of as church anyway. See, I am not a member of a church. I’ve yet to find in the Bible where it says I’m supposed to be a member of a “four walled” building. But I’m clearly a member of the Church – the Body of Christ. As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, I make sure I am fully immersed in Christ’s Body. I simply do not go to a church building to do this. In fact, what I do is as close as I’ve ever seen to “church” in the Book of Acts in the Bible.
Every Sunday, I head off to Savannah, GA, to join with a group of pastors, ministers, and just about anyone and everyone as a man called Samuel from People Helping People heads up a gathering, or outreach, for the homeless, the low-income, the needy, the desperate, the hopeless, the lost, the forgotten, the abandoned, the rejected, the hurting, the drunk, the addicted, the broken, the suicidal, the wandering, the searching, the seeking, the bruised, the battered, well, you get the picture.
Though not everyone serving is a follower of Jesus Christ, many of us gather there in the name of Jesus Christ to love and serve a world in need. There is preaching, food, clothing distribution, plenty of love and hugs, praying, ministering one-on-one to people, laughing, crying, sharing, catching up since the last week, and, yes, tough love, too. There is grieving when we learn someone has passed away, there is celebration when a homeless person gets a job or a home, there is a kick in the butt sometimes when someone needs to get off his or her butt, there is fellowship among the pastors and ministers from different churches and ministries, there are challenges, there are sometimes divisions, there is healing among us, the list goes on.
Let me tell you something. By the standards of the traditions of men, I am a failure in the sense I don’t hold “membership” at an ordinary church. Isn’t that something? I don’t fit the world’s standards, yet I do my very best to do as the Lord teaches in His Bible. The Bible is clear about Christian fellowship, and I am blessed each Saturday night to head up the brand new Walk by Faith Fellowship – a small, but strong, new group of pastors, ministers, people from the general public, anyone at all, who gather together in the name of Jesus Christ at a Wendy’s fast food restaurant for preaching, teaching, praise, prayer, fellowship, and anything the Lord leads us to do as best we are able to discern His will and follow Him.
Though I don’t meet the religious standards set by men, I follow Jesus Christ and the Bible. I simply do not park my butt in a church pew every Sunday in a church building. I go outside the human church walls to meet with the Body of Jesus Christ to do what we are called to do in the world around us.
Why do I love Sundays? Because I get to do exactly what the Lord teaches in the Bible. I get to love the Lord with all my heart, and I get to love my neighbor as myself. I get to to out and preach the Gospel and demonstrate God’s love to a world in need.
Please visit Walk by Faith Ministry at https://www.walkbyfaithministry.com.