Today's Favorite Verse: Acts 20:7

Today's Favorite Verse: Acts 20:7

"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."

I wondered if this was the first mention of holding the Sabbath on the first day of the week? I knew the change came in remembrance of the Lord's resurrection.

"Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognize Sunday as the Sabbath in commemoration of the fact that Christ came forth from the grave on Sunday, and the Apostles commenced meeting thereafter on the first day of the week."

(Earl C. Tingey, "The Sabbath Day and Sunday Shopping", Apr 1996)

I also know that not all members of our church observe the Sabbath on the first day of the week. This change was authorized by President Harold B. Lee in 1972 after visiting the Holy Land. Among Jews we will meet on Saturdays, and in Muslim lands on Friday. This is only with permission of the First Presidency that changes were made on the day of the week. Members observe the Sabbath designated for their area.

"One of the first things we asked, in a simple way, was, “Can we meet on the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) for worship services instead of Sunday?” And as we might have expected, he said no. He said there was no precedent for this, and clearly Sunday is the Lord’s day. But before he left, President Lee asked, “Would you please write a letter and address it to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve and explain why you made that request?” President Lee continued, “I have felt in the course of our visit to this land that that question was too important to answer on the spur of the moment.” We explained to him that for investigators to come to church on a Sunday was nigh unto impossible because Sunday is a normal workday and they would have to miss work. To bring their children to Sunday School or Primary they would have to take them out of school. Also, we all had obligations on Sunday. It was a normal school day for us at the university or wherever we were engaged."

"It took a couple months to get a response to that letter, but it came back positive authorizing us to meet on Saturdays instead of Sundays and allowing the small Church community in Egypt and other Muslim lands to meet on Fridays at the same time, because they too were struggling with similar problems (Friday being the Muslim holy day). In the letter, President Lee referred us to Doctrine and Covenants 124:49, indicating that we were freed from the obligation to meet on Sunday. Even more to the point, he referred us to Romans 14, the entire chapter. That was exciting because it speaks of the Sabbath day and our dietary preferences and that we must not destroy someone’s faith over things that are not paramount to our personal righteousness. It is a nice way to look at ourselves. So we were formally authorized to worship on Saturday, and for us that authorization was a big thing."

(David B. Galbraith, "The Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies: Reflections of a Modern Pioneer", Religious Educator Vol.9 No. 1-2008)

Day 3197