Sabbath Deliveries

Much to the disappointment of my wife, we got two packages today from Amazon.  When she ordered both of them the delivery date was not supposed to be on Sunday, but that got changed and we were unable to stop a Sabbath delivery.  To us it seems not much different than going to the store to purchase something on the Sabbath; in either case we are contributing to the need for someone to be working on Sunday.  Amazon several years ago started delivering on Sundays by contracting with the US postal service to do the Sunday delivery.  When this happened the post office announced on their blog: “No More Day of Rest for Postal Package Delivery,” a clear reference to the Bible and their decision to not live by its teachings.  And why did they do it?  Of course it’s all about money: “With this latest move, the Postal Service is looking to strengthen its market position in business-to-consumer shipping.”  This is just one sign of the blatant disregard for the Sabbath Day among most of the country and evidence that in general we care far more about material wealth and possessions than we do about worshipping God.  My wife called Amazon to see how she could opt out of Sunday deliveries and the only option is to select no weekend delivery at each purchase—clearly it hasn’t been a concern of any significant number of people or they would have done more to address the desire to not receive things on Sunday. 

                I think it’s fair to say that much of the Sabbath breaking today, as evidenced by the Amazon/USPS example, is because of the desire to make more money and help businesses be more profitable.  What’s interesting to me, then, is that the Lord’s promises regarding the Sabbath are about how we will be more productive in our labors if we don’t labor on Sunday.  Isaiah seemed to give us this kind of promise in these words: “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight… then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father” (Isaiah 58:13-14).  While the language here is a bit vague, the language of being “fed” by the Lord and being upon the best earth certainly seems to imply temporal blessings.  The Lord confirmed this in our dispensation when the promises are clearer.  Describing what will happen if we honor the Sabbath, the Lord said, “Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth; Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards; Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul” (D&C 59:16-19).  Our temporal well-being is promised if we will honor the Sabbath, and certainly these blessings extend to our specific careers, whatever they may be.  On the other hand, Brigham Young spoke of the temporal consequences of breaking the Sabbath: “[He] informed the brethren … they must not work on Sunday, that [if they did] they would lose five times as much as they would gain by it.”  This idea that we will prosper by not doing work and not prosper by doing work on Sunday is a gospel paradox on par with “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33).  If we are worried that our business or work is in trouble or needs more of our attention or that we need to put in more hours, the first step to helping the situation is, if we have faith, to not do anything for work on Sundays.  Then we open the doors for the Lord to multiply the loaves and the fishes in our own life.  .