Kyla has two good friends, the "Megans". Last week I thought it would be nice to invite them both over for a sleepover on Saturday. One had company in town for the weekend and couldn't come. The other couldn't come because she had to go to church at 9am on Sunday. I held my tongue while speaking to the mother, so I'll vent on it here :-)

Why can't a 7 year old miss a day of church to have a sleepover with a friend? Will she burn in hell? Will she be scorned, stoned, put on the rack or in any other way harmed? I don't think so. I really don't get it. I bet God wouldn't get it either. Kids (should) have few sins to repent for, and surely God would want them to have sleepovers or otherwise do things fun on a Sunday morning once in a while. Why does she have to go to the 9am service? Even if there isn't a later one to go to, she can still be taken to the church to pray, light a candle, dance with snakes or do whatever she needs to in order to stay in the good graces of the Lord.

Can someone more familiar with Christian traditions explain to me how a 7 year old can't miss a 9am service to have fun? Or, is this just a case that the parents don't think they can/should miss it and aren't flexible with fun and religion? What if she was sick.. would she still have to go? How about if they were on vacation... do they need to find a church to go to? How about a blizzard? Well, I guess that would be Gods way of saying not to go... or a test to see who is the most committed, depending on how you look at it.

Anyways.. I don't get it. Seems something like this can make a child miss out on something for no reason I'd expect anyones God to not understand.

Now.. for what I know, or think I know.

* The New Testiment does not denote any particular day for worship
* Sunday was originally used as the Sabbath by early Christians, which took cues from the Torah.
* Paul didn't teach people to keep the Sabbath, and instead taught that Christians shouldn't be judged on this.
* In the 2nd century, most Christians used Sunday as the day of worship (not Sabbath). It became known as "The Lords Day" during this time.
* The last and first day of the week were considered for a day of worship, but since Jesus rose on a Sunday, it seemed like an obvious day.
* Bacchiocchi argued that Sunday became accepted because it was what the Roman Catholic church said to do.. and you didn't go against the Roman Catholic church :-) But, the 2nd century RCC may not have had the power to change it everywhere, but did have significant influence.
* An Adventist theory is that because both Easter and Pentecost are on Sundays, the weeks between were considered holy. Christians began meeting on the Sundays during those weeks, and Sunday sort of stuck.
* Anti-Jewish sentiments brought about Sunday to be different from the Sabbath (Saturday).
* The popularity and influence that the sun worship of the pagan Romans accorded Sunday undoubtedly contributed to its growing acceptance as a day of worship.

I could keep going on with the arbitrary reasons which Sunday is the day of worship. But, nothing suggests God or Christ made the rule. And, I'm not aware of either explaining sin or hardship if it's not done. It seems to be more of a tradition, and something that can be skipped without making Satan smile.

In summary, she should let the kid have a sleepover!