Monday, September 3, 2018

JOHN Good Morning! I’m John Branning, the Lead Pastor of Central United Methodist Church. Did you know that the Labor Day holiday originally started in the late 1800’s? I can only imagine how excited the people were to take a day off from work. Some may have thought, “What a wonderful and new idea!” Created and implemented as a day of rest by those hardworking, blue-collar laborers in New York City, this day continues to be one, that we as a nation, look forward to every September. To put it rather loosely, Labor Day has become a man-made American Sabbath day. A yearly day of rest from our labor, to say goodbye to Summer, to go camping, to gather the family for a barbecue, and boy how do we Americans look forward to our Labor Day weekend! If you think about it, God has already created a special day for those of us who labor. As Christians, our very own Labor Day doesn’t come only once a year and it doesn’t only come on the first Monday of each September— that special day for us comes every seventh day of the week. If we are smart, we try very hard to honor it. Our bodies were made with Sabbath DNA. You need rest and spiritual renewal. Maybe today is a good start to becoming a person of Sabbath. I invite you to be a person of Sabbath with our Central community where life is better connected.