DAYS, HOLY DAYS, AND HOLIDAYS
Romans 14:5-13

A sermon given by the Rev. Richard H. Taylor
May 29, 2005 / 2nd Sunday of Pentecost

“This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
(Psalm 118:24)

Well, what are your plans for this holiday weekend? After all this rain that we have had, do you have some plans to enjoy a little sunshine? I suspect some of our good friends are off on holiday this morning. My experience has been that Memorial Day weekend often has the lowest Sunday School attendance of the year. Oh how we love holidays!

How do you think of holidays? Do you plan trips? Do you plan to just lounge around home and do nothing? Do you plan to catch up on household chores?

Do you love holidays? Do you wish that we had more of them? How do you measure your days? What are your favorite holidays? What are your holy days? How do they compare to your average day days?

St. Paul says “Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord, . . . while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.” “Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike.” Which category do you fall in?

The early Christian Church was concerned about Sabbath. Jews marked Sabbath on Saturday. But it was hard to get Saturday off in the Greek-speaking cities Paul visited. Were Christians required to take Saturday off, even if it meant losing their job? Or could they honor God on some other day?

In our time we not only have the Sabbath question; in our time people argue about holidays as well. I'll bet that many of us have been part of families that have Christmas traditions, and Thanksgiving traditions, and Easter traditions. The wrath of the family will fall upon you if you don't go to the right house on Thanksgiving! Sometimes we are more strict about keeping up our holiday traditions than we are about telling the truth, or caring for the poor. The really strict things have to do with holidays.

And then we have expanded this religious fervor to secular holidays. Some secular holidays have more rules and expectations than some religions! So we have Mother's Day, and Memorial Day weekend, and July 4th, and they are all filled with expectations.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike.

Our forebears, the early New England Puritans, eliminated Christmas. There was no Christmas is early New England. That fact has contributed to a myth that says those old-Puritans were sour, serious, soulless spoil sports. We are often ashamed of them.

But its not like they didn't believe in Christmas, and the angels, and the incarnation. They did. But they had been scandalized by the drunken parties, the unruly crowds, the people vomiting in the streets, the rampant materialism that they had seen in English Christmases. They wanted something more Christ-like. So they had parties. But they had parties when something good happened – like a good harvest. They took time to reflect and pray when something bad happened. Generally, they responded more to the moment than the calendar.

O true, they kept the Sabbath. That's in the Ten Commandments. And religious people want to have some regular time to get together and worship, and Sabbath was as good a time as any, perhaps better. So they had Sabbath. But they tended to treat other days, any day, as holy. “This is the day that our God has made, let us rejoice.”

I bring up the way we treat holidays, because I think it really effects the way we live. I have seen families have battle royals when one partner's relatives have one set of Christmas expectations, and the other partner's relatives have a different set. Holidays often get turned into annual family feuds.

And something also happens if you move from one place to another. Holidays are rooted in local tradition. For example, I would encourage you to think about what July 4th means to you if you are considering moving to Bristol .

I think I am kind of like the early Puritans. I like Sabbath. I like having a regular day to get together to worship with others. But I really don't get into too many other holidays. I am not a big holiday person.

Paul says he wrote to us about this so that we will “no longer pass judgment on one another.” Each of us is accountable to God. We shouldn't condemn the person who, to feed their family, works at the power station on the Sabbath. We shouldn't keep our family or neighborhood feuds over Christmas or party holidays alive. Why do we pass judgment on our brother or sister? Why do we despise our brother or sister? Let us stop telling each other how to act on a holiday. Judge not.

When I was young my family made a big deal of Christmas. I was told when I got out of school in June how to act over the summer, or Santa wouldn't come at Christmas. Santa's shadow spread even over the summer.

But when I was six or seven I came down with a childhood disease – chicken pox or measles, I don't remember which one – on Christmas morning. I didn't want to get out of bed. Can you imagine buying gifts for six months for your son that age, and then he doesn't want to get up? My mother was beside herself. I had no energy or interest in unwrapping the presents. I merely sat in the living room in a daze staring at the tree. Perhaps that is when my mother began to change her view on holidays. My change came a little later.

I have told some of you this before, but I will repeat it. When I was a youngster perhaps the most important person to me was my grand mother. She lived with us from when I was five. When I was fourteen, and sitting at the breakfast table on my birthday, my mother found my grand mother dead in her room. That changed the birthday party plans.

In 1964, when I was 20 and home from college for Christmas vacation, my father became very sick on Christmas day. He refused to go to the hospital until 12:10 AM on December 26. He never came home again. To me the day he got sick unto death was Christmas.

In 1978, my mother lived with me in my parsonage in the Berkshires. On Christmas day we tried to call my older brother's house to wish them “Merry Christmas,” and no one answered. We wondered where they had gone. Late in the afternoon my sister-in-law called. We said “Merry Christmas” over the phone and started to sing a carol to her. My sister-in-law started to cry. She was at the hospital. My brother had died on Christmas.

Just a few years later, in March, 1982, I was woken up by strange noises coming from my mother's bedroom down the hall. I called 9-1-1 and the help squad came and rushed her to the hospital. But when the doctor came he said he was pretty sure she wouldn't live. I had to call my younger brother and tell him. Then I remembered it was March 8, my younger brother's birthday.

In 1987, less than two hours before I was to lead a Christmas Eve service I opened a letter from the parents of one of my best friends. It was the news that he had died of AIDS. And it was my job to make everyone feel “Merry” and “Happy.”

So you see, I don't have too high expectations for holidays – birthdays – Christmas. To me its take the joy whenever you can get it. Don't put your joy off, to plan it, or wait on it, the day may never come.

So if someone is sending you a birthday card or throwing you a party – I would recommend, take it. Enjoy it. The next one might not be so good. So if today has a reason to be happy, be happy. Don't put it off.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike.

Well I think they are all Holy Days, so in that way good. But better than another? I don't know.

But if you know someone who does not celebrate Christmas, or who has Sabbath on Friday, or who misses your party, don't pass judgment. Don't judge. We are each accountable to God.

Instead let us find in each day what is Holy, and give thanks. A happy holiday to you.

Amen.