Reflections on the Christian Sabbath: Part Three

This piece first appeared in Presbyterian Polity (https://pcapolity.com/2026/09/15/reflections-on-the-christian-sabbath-part-three/) It is published here with permission from the author and Presbyterian Polity.

In the previous two articles, we provided a biblical and theological justification for why we believe in the Christian Sabbath or Lord’s Day. In this article, we will consider some ways to practically honor the Lord’s Day.

How to Honor the Christian Sabbath

A question that often plagues modern Reformed Christians is how they can practically honor the Christian Sabbath. It is a difficult pastoral question. We live in a culture with a general populace that treats Sunday like any other day. Most stores are open. Professional football dominates the day for many people (sadly, even for Christians). One way to work on sanctifying the Lord’s Day in our own family is to look to our spiritual fathers in the faith. These men were active writers and left much practical advice for their spiritual children, much of which is unknown to their spiritual progeny. While these men lived in a different world, much of their advice is still useful to how we, as individuals and families, observe the day.

Ashbel Green (1762-1848) was a Presbyterian minister who served as the third chaplain of the United States House of Representatives, as well as the eighth president of Princeton University. In his two-volume work Lectures on the Shorter Catechism, he provided some practical advice on suitable activities for the Lord’s Day.

Green’s most obvious exhortation is to attend the public worship of God. Some, however, neglect this important duty. In 2020, due to COVID, many churches unintentionally created the perception that “online worship” was acceptable worship. What the church spent years emphasizing in the age of the internet—online worship is not corporate worship—was undermined in a few months’ time, with many leaving church and never returning. Sadly, the Reformed churches were not immune—including PCA churches, some of which “worshipped online” for months on end. We must strongly emphasize that corporate worship is vital in the life of the Christian, and it is essential to rightly honoring the Lord’s Day. Green said, “In religion, the blessing of God is everything, and he will not confer it on those who disobey his command.”[1] He went on to say that it wasn’t just the formal attending, but the devout attention given to the worship of God. God uses means to bless and sanctify His people, and the corporate reading and preaching of the Word, along with corporate prayer and the Sacraments, are the means of grace He uses. So, if you want to grow in your walk with the Lord, then do not forsake His corporate assembly.

Green also drew attention to appropriate public conversation on the Lord’s Day. Even in corporate worship, we can find ourselves talking about politics, news, sports, and other secular affairs. We need to be careful that we do not take away from the day by muddying it with secular life. Green said: “Conversation on news, or politics, or other secular subjects, though mournfully common, is a real profanation of the day, in any part of it, and peculiarly so, immediately before, or after, the services of the sanctuary. By this evil practice, all serious thought and good impressions are often prevented; or banished or effaced, after they have been received.”^[2] Instead, “Christian families,” while having meals together or in other conversation, should focus on “religious subjects” such as the sermons they heard.^[3] It could even be on topics of their Bible reading or Christian literature. The goal is to not taint the day with discussions of our common affairs.

While Green taught on the importance of public worship, he did not think the entire day should be spent in public. Much of the time on the Lord’s Day should be spent in the private exercises of religion. The first being that of meditation. According to Green, this was a practice rarely done in his day, and how much more could we say of our own?^[4] The culture we live in is always busy and with access to constant visual stimulation from television, video games, IPhones, and the like, it is nearly impossible for us to sit still and meditate on the word of God. Yet, the psalms are filled with examples of meditation. The psalmist meditated on the word of God day and night (Ps. 1:2) and so should we. According to Green, some of the things we ought to meditate on consist of “the works, government, and the providence of God, his providence in relation to our own lot in life particularly, and more than all, the glorious plan of redemption, as a whole, and in its various parts and aspects.”^[5] We need to discipline ourselves to drown out the noise on the Lord’s Day and meditate on the truths about God revealed to us in Scripture.

Another private exercise on the Lord’s Day is that of self-examination. While other days of the week may require this, the Lord’s Day should be a special time where we examine our lives in light of the word of God. Green writes:

This is a duty which no Christian should neglect on the Lord’s day. He should, if I may so speak, settle his spiritual account with himself, on the regular return of this day. He should examine, generally, whether he is in a gracious state, consider whether he is gaining or losing in religion; and should particularly go over the past week, to make his defects, to observe the temper he has been in, the example he has set, to repent of what was wrong, and to form good resolutions for the future.^[6]

Another practice Green emphasized was of private devotion on the Lord’s Day—that is, private prayer and praise. While we should be praying daily—we ought to set aside some time in our schedule on God’s day to spend in private prayer. These prayers can include petition, but certainly should include praise. Our meditations on the Lord and His work should result in prayers of praise extolling His attributes. Green said this kind of exercise of prayer “so fully antedates heaven, the sabbatical “rest which remaineth for the people of God.’”^[7]

A fourth exercise is to spend time reading the Holy Scripture and other good Christian books. Green said:

Let me advise you, my young friends, to confine yourselves principally, if not wholly to reading, studying, and meditating, on the word of God, in the former part of his day; to read some sound doctrinal and practical writer in the latter part; and to leave sacred poetry (except psalms and hyms [sic]) with religious periodicals, to the evening.^[8]

Green feared in his own day that the rising generation was neglecting sound doctrinal books which would produce a younger generation greatly deficient in sound doctrine.^[9] Yet whether you take his scheduling advice, it is important to set aside some time on the Lord’s Day for Bible study and the reading of good theological literature. In my own practice, I set aside doctrinal and devotional reading for the Lord’s Day. That allows me to get through other reading during the week while looking forward to spending my time in sound doctrine on God’s Day. Sadly, what Green feared has come to fruition as many in the Christian church (even the Reformed Church) do not read doctrinal works on the Lord’s Day—or even any other day for that matter. Sound doctrinal knowledge is important—as Green said—it is “the only sure basis of consistent, stable and exemplary piety.”^[10]

Lastly, Green emphasized the importance of family devotion and catechetical exercise. This is vital for families. The Lord’s Day is a great time to spend as a family reading Scripture and practicing catechism with the children. By catechetical instruction, Green said, “I mean especially a due attention to the Shorter Catechism of our church, which every member of the family should be able accurately to repeat without book, and which the younger members should recite, and hear a portion of it explained by the head of the family. It will be well, if they can add the scripture proofs, and better still, if they can add to both the Larger Catechism.”^[11]

Green bemoaned the fact that this was once commonplace in the church, and whatever replaced it, had only made things worse. Catechizing the children was necessary, and adequate attention must be given to it. He concluded: “It is this family instruction, which must, in most cases, be principally communicated and acquired on the Lord’s Day, and which more than anything—I had almost said, more than everything besides, contributes to raise up a generation of well informed and steadfast Christians. It was this which long distinguished the best reformed churches, and for it, I am persuaded, no adequate substitute ever has been, or will be found.”^[12]

Conclusion

The practical advice from Green should not overwhelm you. We must remember that the culture he lived in was much more friendly to the Christian Sabbath and thus required less effort to swim against the cultural tide. At the same time, that reality should not be an excuse to ignore Green’s advice. Even implementing one or two of these at a time, slowly, will go a long way in blessing you, in sanctifying you in your walk with Christ, in honoring the Lord’s Day, and growing your family in the love and knowledge of Jesus Christ. May we seek to heed Green’s words, by the grace of God.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

[1] Ashbel Green, Lectures on the Shorter Catechism of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1841), 137.

[2] Ibid., 137

[3] Ibid., 137.

[4] Ibid., 134.

[5] Ibid., 135.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid., 135–136.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid., 136.

[11] Ibid., 136.

[12] Ibid., 136–137.