[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2023]
Do you attach any significance to first days? Philatelists certainly do; stamp collectors place a premium on envelopes carrying postmarks issued on the first day on which a set of new stamps is put into circulation. The world’s first self-adhesive pre-payment postage stamp was issued in Britain in 1840; unused examples of this stamp can be extremely valuable.[1]
Can you remember your first day at school? At some point in the middle of the previous century I was led by the hand into a strange building and then left to the mercies of a group of children similarly abandoned. Fortunately there was an adult present who prevented the situation developing into a mixture of ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘Lord of the Flies’. Significantly, I can still remember the name of that teacher some 6+ decades later.
How about your first day at a new school, where you are the new kid and everyone else is well established. Did anyone bother to tell you the rules, the routine or even which room you should be in? It can be a very confusing and lonely experience. Do we recognise that first-time visitors to our church might have similar feelings?
For Noah it was the first day in a new world, all clean and freshly washed. After 40 days of listening to the rhythm of the falling rain and another 3 months of mucking out his floating menagerie, all Noah wanted was to feel something solid under his feet. Instead he received a solid promise from God and then the whole cycle of night following day and season following season started over again.[2]
Inevitably we are led into consideration of the first day of the week, but which day is it? In the Americas many people consider Sunday to be the first day of the week but in Europe and the antipodes Monday is more common. Leaving aside those communities who start their week on Saturday, the rest of the world is well balanced between Sunday and Monday.[3]
In the times of the Old Testament Israelites the days were generally known numerically: Day1, Day2, etc. By contrast many of the surrounding nations named the days after various gods or celestial entities. From the Babylonians, through the Greeks and then the Romans this system persisted and, with localisation of the names, eventually we received those names that we use today.
Given the idolatrous origin of the day-names it is not surprising that the New Testament writers avoided using them. Instead, there are numerous references to ‘the first day of the week’ and, with Easter approaching, we will doubtless be reminded of the historical events of one particular first day.
Luke the historian records a cautionary event that occurred on the first day of a week. A young man who was listening to the apostle Paul preaching fell asleep and fell to his death out of a window. He was brought back to life but the incident reminds preachers and listeners alike that long sermons can be an effective cure for insomnia.[4]
Resources:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black
[2] Genesis 8 v22
[3] https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/days/first-day-of-the-week.html
[4] Acts 20 v7-12
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys
Our day names show that we are a mix of peoples. Italian, German, French, Norwegian, Serbian, Polish, Greek, etc. and that sticking our heads in the sand and saying we are not part of Europe is a stupid idea!