Why you shouldn't play the Christian card.

"will you be at Church on Sunday?" a friend and fellow church member asked me today as I was nearly finishing my shift at work. he had come in for something that we sell in the shop I work in and couldn't find it so asked me.

I shook my head, no I wouldn't be at church. I have had retail jobs before and whilst I worked for a church I always worked Sundays. If Church starts at 11 I have to be at work for 1 and between the 30 min walk and getting dinner it wasn't going to happen.

"you do know by law you don't have to work Sundays, you can say no." He told me.

I knew that and I had used that before. When I worked in Cheltenham I was working in a shop part time and for a church part time therefore I had to have Sundays off to do ministry. So I knew that, you could play the Christian card.

But how would it help to do so especially amongst my colleagues. We are lucky in this country there are a few remnants of privilege left for Christians and the right to opt out of Sundays is one of them because the state is Christian after all. ( We have an established state religion.)

Choosing to work Sundays was a carefully considered response. I thought about Jesus and what he said about privilege and about the Sabbath.

Was the Sabbath made for man or man for the Sabbath? Mark 2:27

Whoever wants to be greatest amongst you must be the lowest slave of all. Matthew 20:26-27

There is nothing in the gospels about the privileges of being a Christian nor in the whole of the new testament because Christians weren't privileged then. I think we are so used to living a privileged Christian life that we forget that the church started out persecuted I have seen a persecuted church and believe me those people are on fire for Jesus. The only instance we see about privilege is St. Paul's use of his Roman citizenship and of course Jesus being the son of God laid aside his majesty to be our saviour.but let's just stick to St. Paul as he is an ordinary bloke.

Being a Roman citizen was a pretty big deal back then it was like saying you are royalty or aristocracy now it was really rare for people to be citizens. Paul doesn't use his citizenship unless there is no other way out or past something. Being privileged and laying it down is powerful. choosing not to take advantage of privilege is eye catching to people and using privilege divides people.

My character is worth more than my pay packet. I try to work differently when I knock something over I admit it, where some of my colleagues might say it was a customer./Before April ( when the Living wage came in) we got time and half on Sundays but now we don't. So I let them be an act of worship, I pray who to bless with the money then I bless someone with it. Simple, it might be as money or in another way but God shows me who and I bless.

I do take a Sabbath don't get me wrong but mine is whatever day happens to be my day off and sometimes it is Sundays but others it is Monday or a Wednesday. When I worked for the Church I did that, why should it matter that I am now in a shop, is it any less God's work. After all Jesus took his Sabbath Friday night to Saturday night. So why does it matter if it is Sunday?

But if  I had played the Christian card would I have been any better off other than to put their backs up and make them think I thought myself better than working Sundays. No. When I work on Sundays I give God glory it is a quiet act of worship to him and I show my colleagues that I will not choose privilege because that is not the kind of Christian I am. For most people I know - non christian - who work retail are not that big a fan of working Sundays for many reasons - usually because they too would like to be home with their families.

There is a time and a place to play the Christian card but to get a privilege and more than someone else is not it because that is not being a good witness or even a good person. Also if you honestly believe that shops shouldn't be open on Sundays - don't go to them on Sundays! there are 6 other days you can shop on. because if no one came in on a Sunday - it wouldn't be profitable and no one would have to work Sundays and the christian card wouldn't be an issue.