Changing face of Sunday

Good Morning
News that the National Theatre in London will start Sunday matinees later this year has had a mixed reception. Many Londoners will welcome the news. Actors and support staff might have a different view. The feeling is that many theatres in the West End and larger cities might follow suit.

Radical changes to what we can and can’t do on a Sunday has impacted seriously and sociologically on British life. During the 1980’s, I backed the Keep Sunday Special campaign. Against a tide of sheer consumerism and the market forces, it was pretty obvious that more and more shops would open and the nature of Sunday would change.

Indeed, the issue is no longer just about Sunday; it is about the pace of life and living and the need to protect personal and family time from the rat run of work and stress partly induced by a communications revolution.

From a Christian perspective, based on the Jewish notion of Sabbath, rooted in the creation narratives, the day of rest commemorates the resurrection. Sunday is a special day for worship and prayer: for relaxation and self discovery.

The fact that Muslims observe Fridays and that today is the Jewish Sabbath underlines the larger point that a healthy spiritual disposition embraces the notion of reflection and rest as part of life and living.

But maybe, without being thoroughly radical, we now need to be more flexible about sabbath space without diluting its importance. Church going trends, for instance, are changing. Many churches are experiencing large attendances at midweek services and Mass on a Saturday evening is increasingly attractive. These statistics rarely appear.

And Sunday may have changed, there has been something of a self correction going on for those who can still observe Sunday as Sunday: all over Britain is seems that people are finding new and natural ways of ensuring that Sunday is indeed a different day: going out to share a meal, visiting a farmer’s market, enjoying spectator sports or just being with the children.

Which means that as long as those people who are providing recreational enjoyment and facilities which encourage relaxation and refreshment have time off in lieu, religious groups should surely encourage activities and creativity which encourages relaxation, enjoyment and refreshment.

A friend of mine lent me a tiny book this week. Written as if for children it is aimed at us insecure and frantic adults. It tells the story of how Jesus, exhausted by all the miracles, healings and all the teaching he had been doing, decided to go off for the day and do absolutely nothing. Like most of us, his first reaction was to panic; his next was to seek reassurance; only then did he let go and offer up this time of restoration and relaxation to God himself. But the result was magnificent and God was delighted.

Going to the Theatre after Mass on a Sunday afternoon is no longer something I find difficult or wrong. I have come to realise that the need to take time out and restore the soul is what is most important; it’s just a question of when.