It may be only the 3rd of July where you live, but in Utah, Independence Day is in full force. We’ve already come home from the neighborhood parade where fresh faced kids on streamer trimmed bicycles tossed candy to an adoring crowd; our fingers are sticky from the community pancake breakfast and our ears are burning with the latest neighborhood gossip. Soon, I’ll be taking my kids to the fireworks stand for spinning flowers and fire-spitting tanks and tonight we’ll lie under the star strewn sky as massive explosions of red, blue and gold bloom across the sky.
In our Mormon dominated state Sunday holidays are unquestionably shifted to the preceding Saturday. No one debates or decides, it just IS. Similarly, running races and triathlons in the Beehive State are almost always on Saturday rather than the traditional Sunday race day. But we are certainly less pious than Texas, where most stores and businesses close on the Sabbath. Grocery stores and malls do a nice brisk business seven days of the week in Utah; Lagoon and our ski resorts are filled with Sunday revelers.
I found it interesting when traveling in Europe last year that commerce shuts DOWN on the Sabbath. Stores begin closing early on Saturday, public transportation runs limited routes and by Sunday afternoon only a few restaurants will feed customers. An inexperienced traveler can be seriously stranded. Despite Europe’s growing reputation as an almost Godless society, they’ve preserved Sunday as a sacred day of rest.
How is the Sabbath observed where you live?
How is it observed in your family? Are you comfortable with eating out on the Sabbath? With traveling? Watching the Super Bowl?
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