What?

The other day my husband brought home a flyer that had been displayed at his workplace. He works for an organization that deems itself christian, therefore they had been targeted for a particular marketing plan from a local restaurant. Here is how the marketing scheme goes:

All church goers were encouraged to organize group lunches at this local restaurant. When the lunch was completed, the restaurant would calculate the bill for all church goers meals and then write and deliver a cheque for 10% of the amount of the lunch and donate that back to the individual churches.

So, the more people that attended from a single church, the more money that would be donated back to the church. Sounds great - accept that the deal was only for Sunday lunches. I know that in today's culture, the whole idea of keeping the Lord's Day holy has fallen into the 'antiquated' realm. The restaurants in our town are packed after morning services. Shopping on Sunday is 'normal' - but then again so are STDs and I'm not interested in taking part of them either!

For our family, keeping the Lord's Day holy includes not working on that day AND not causing someone else to work that day either. We attend church both in the morning and evening. It means we do not shop for anything - a standard which requires only a small bit of planning and organizing on Saturday to ensure that we can maintain it. Outside of unforseen emergencies, we feel convicted by the commandment.

This however, is not the cultural thing to do, even among christian groups. Which is why I have no doubt that the local restaurant will make out quite well with its plan. Church groups will flock to lunch all for the purposes of 'supporting our church financially'.

Hmmm...maybe a post on tithing would be good to do. Another day, though...Good Monday morning to you all!