Work on Sunday? « Even the Almighty needs a break »
Pastor Beba, how bad is Sunday work?
It depends on how to define « bad ». Sunday work is certainly not life -threatening. But it is not good – not good for the individual and not good for society. From a Christian point of view, there is a creator god that provides and receives his creation. God wants his creatures to be fine. He doesn’t want them to lie in the corner exhausted and can no longer. Think of the history of the biblical prophet Elia, to whom God sends bread and water on his way through the desert.
For the good coexistence of people, God gave them rules: the ten commandments. These commandments have not been forced, they have been made our well -being – just as state laws are not there to tie people, but so that we know that we have to stop at red so that others can continue at green.
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The ten commandments say that one should sail the holiday. God justifies this by creating the world himself in six days and resting on the seventh day. If even the Almighty God needs a break, then it applies even more to us humans.
Of course you can interpret it differently. It does not mean that every work is prohibited on Sunday. I don’t want to lie in the hospital either and the doctor says: « Today is Sunday, I’m going home » – even though the blood is running out of my wound. That’s not the point. But what is not necessary or vital, you can also leave that on Sunday.
How the Grand Derzes became Catholic
Protestants in a Catholic country: Pictures in the Trinity Church are commemorating the Großherzöge Adolphe (left) and Wilhelm IV. Photo: Chris Karaba
The « Église Protestante du Luxembourg » is a small community of faith with around 1,100 members. Their origins go back to the former Prussian garrison in Luxembourg city. Thanks to immigration, the Evangelical Community is growing slowly but steadily – a counter trend to many other churches in Europe.
About half of the believers are Germans who live in Luxembourg. « The rest is totally mixed: Luxembourg, French -speaking, Sweden, Canadian, Croatians, » says Pastor Volker Beba.
Archive image from 1979: Grand Duke Jean visits the Trinity Church in Rue de la Congrégation. Photo: Lé Sibenaler
The multilingual services take place in the Trinity Church in Rue de la Congrégation, very close to the office of Premier Luc Frieden. On a white wall inside the church, pictures are reminiscent of the Prussian Grand Derzes from Prussia Adolphe (1817–1905) and his son Wilhelm IV (1852-1912). Adolphe even had a box built for the regent family. The court marshal usually takes a seat here for the national holiday of the Grand Duke.
Wilhelm IV was with the Catholic and later governor Maria Anna von Portugal (1861–1942) married. The young spouses are said to have agreed that their sons should be brought up Protestant and their daughters Catholic. However, Maria Anna does not gave birth to a single male descendant. The pair of six daughters, including the later Grand Duke Marie Adelheid (1894–1924) and Charlotte (1896–1985), were therefore baptized Catholic.
I think it is better if we as a society have a common day – not just so that everyone has a break. You can also take it on different days. I have free on Thursdays because I work on Sundays and keep the service. But if we all have free on different days, then society as a whole never has this rest, this relaxation. If everyone is free on Sunday, there is simply less traffic, everything is closed, society is resting.
In theory, we could also move the day of rest to Tuesday. Or keep the service on another day of the week – but why should we? We already have it on Sunday. This does not really help the individual or society if we move the shopping and other activities that could be done during the week.
It is about the insight that this day of rest is good for us – for the individual and for society. It would be good for us if we as a society would take a little pace.
The Sunday rest is considered to be outdated. We live in a « higher, faster, further » thinking, want to use every minute and now do it on Sunday as if there was no Sunday. You only have to add up two and two: If the shops are allowed to open longer on Sundaysmaybe the ministry will soon open. If the supermarkets are open, the factories will soon run their machines because they have to be productive. That won’t stop. It’s just a first step on a path that will change the whole society.
To person
The sporty pastor pleads for a collective air fetching on Sunday – for himself the work on the day of the Lord is « Part of the Job ». Photo: Chris Karaba
Pastor Volker Beba, born in 1966 in Lüdenscheid (D), has been working in the Protestant church in Luxembourg since 1999. Even his parents were very committed to church. After studying theology and exams in the Westphalian State Church, he completed a community internship in Brazil before he came to Luxembourg.
Beba is the father of three children. In his free time, the clergyman passionately runs curling. His other passions apply to football and running.
