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This Week’s Newsletter

Here is this week’s newsletter: St Stephen’s News XXVIII No 5

1 comment to This Week’s Newsletter

  • The Reverend Peter Hawkins

    In the article by Mr.Hawtin, he writes about the Shops being closed on the Sabbath as a result of the “Blue Laws”. I know nothing of the “Blue Laws”.
    The Sabbath, the word is from Sabbatu, in Sumerian of the Sixth Century BC, and means “rest”, is the seventh day of the week that is the rest day, and was dedicated to the Moon, which has a twenty eight day cycle, divisible by four. This was adopted by the Exilic Jews in the Sixth Century whilst they were in Babylon. It was edited into the texts that were being produced at the time and occurs in the Second Creation Myth, also from Babylon, Genesis 2.2, and is what nowadays we call “Saturday” in English. It is a sort of rest day for many Gentiles and used for sport, but is still kept carefully without work by many Jews who attend Synagogue on that day, at the least.
    Shops are usually open on Saturdays in Europe and India, to my personal knowledge. My time in the USA was only a weekend in the forest area of New York State, so I did not see any shops and am uncertain as to what happens in the USA generally.
    For Christians, the special day “is the Lord’s Day, commonly called Sunday, is ever to be celebrated as a weekly memorial of our Lord’s resurrection and kept according to God’s holy will and pleasure, particularly by attendence at divine service, by deeds of charity, and by abstention from all unnecessary labour and business” English Law Canon B 6. From the nineteenth century there has been an admirable mmovement to protect shopworkers’ leisure time, and that has often meant many shops are closed on Sundays. Here in France it means that Supermarchés may be open in the morning, but will usually be closed in the afternoon. Other shops are usually closed.