We have come today to a time of very special observance - Sunday! This is the Lord's Day, the sabbath. And here is how it came to be:

It was on this day of the week, Sunday, that Jesus, having been crucified, arose from the dead. His disciples and friends began immediately, on the first day of each week, to celebrate his resurrection and his continuing presence with them.

With only a few exceptions, those people were Jewish, worshiping in their synagogues on the seventh day, Saturday. After Jesus' resurrection, his followers continued to take part in the synagogue worship; and then on Sunday they would meet again, just the disciples themselves, for their own special celebration of the resurrection of their Lord.

Persecutions began, and as these increased, these Jewish followers of Jesus were more and more unwelcome in the synagogues, and the synagogue experience was less and less satisfying to them. Gradually, as their Saturday worship diminished in its importance to them, the importance of their Sunday experience increased immensely. At last, instead of having two days of worship, they had only one, the only remaining one, Sunday - and they called it the Lord's Day.

On this day each week they arranged to meet in small groups somewhere - in their homes, in caves or catacombs - wherever they could. In Antioch they were first called Christ Followers, or Christians. Ostracized and maligned by many of their own countrymen and hounded and hunted by Roman authorities, and later, under whatever conditions prevailed at the time, the "Christians" have, without interruption, maintained this practice of Lord's Day assembly from those first days until now.

It is a magnificent tradition in which we stand, you and I, as we meet here today.