Sunday Mornings

Last Sunday, as I sat with the rest of the pagans in Starbucks, enjoying my Easter breakfast, I thought back to the days when I was on the other side of the counter on Easter Sunday (or any other Sunday, for that matter), and how I've tried to brainstorm ways to make my coffee shop different.

Just a few years back I would've said the solution was to just not be open on Sunday. To make the day sacred. To make it so that Christians, on their way to church, did not feel compelled to witness to the other Christians who were serving them their coffee (yes, ironically, tons of our Sunday morning customers were those on their way to church, and yes we were witnessed to all the time (not even just on Sundays....don't get me started)).

But as I sat and drank my coffee and ate my bagel sandwich, grateful that there was someplace that was open in the city, I wondered if being closed on Sunday was the answer. (I also wondered why I always consider myself to be on the side of the pagans...whether I'm a customer on Sunday, or whether I am working on Sunday).

Maybe people who wouldn't normally go to church would like to be able to go somewhere on Sunday morning that makes them feel welcome...that makes them feel like they are a part of a community? Should my coffee shop take a different day of the week off? What if all of my employees don't want to work on Sunday?

I am all for being closed one day a week (in the name of taking a Sabbath)...but now not so sure that it has to be on Sundays. Maybe Tuesdays or Wednesdays?

What do you think about businesses being open on Sundays? Do you shop on Sundays? Would you work on a Sunday? (If you work at a church or a hospital, or some other place that doesn't take a vacation just because it is Sunday, do you take a different day of the week off?) Do you think that a coffee shop that is closed on a Sunday speaks more volumes than a coffee shop that is open on Sunday? What about all those Christians who need their lattes on Sunday morning (and whose only tip is that "Jesus loves you")? Am I being too cynical or legalistic?