Changing Time

Last Sunday was the semi-annual changing of the clocks. If your choir singers and church members remembered to set their clocks back one hour, they will have enjoyed an extra hour of sleep and showed up on time for choir and worship. If they forgot, they didn't lose any sleep; and they showed up for church an hour early. This fall, fiddling with the clock is probably okay with most of us.

It's the springtime change that has always aggravated me. If you remember to change your clock, you go to bed agreeing to give up one hour of precious sleep so that you can show up at church on time. If you forget to change the clock, you don't lose any sleep; but you show up for church an hour late.

I always wondered why we in the church were so ready to go along with our government's decree to play such havoc with our people's lives and our schedules. Please understand: I am not opposed to changing the clocks. I enjoy those extra daylight hours in the summer, and I'm happy to spend less on electricity during those months.

But here's my question and suggestion: Do we have to accept the government's decree that the clocks will change at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning? Since we like the extra hour of sleep in the fall, let's go along with that one. But in the spring, why not ignore the 2:00 a.m. time change, remain on Standard Time through the Sunday morning schedule, and then have our congregation change their clocks following the benediction? We wouldn't lose that hour of sleep; we wouldn't show up for church an hour late; and we'd rejoin the rest of the nation without any disruption to anyone's schedule. There is nothing compelling about the 2:00 a.m. point of change other than the fact that the government has decided that it's the best time to make the change. The church should decide for itself and its worshipers that a better point of change would be when its people head for the parking lot following morning worship.

There are churches that have adopted this alternate plan, although I believe they are few. The major objection seems to be that visitors who don't know of the church's alternate time will show up late for worship. That's true, but couldn't this also be an opportunity for the church to appeal to newcomers and visitors in the community with a newspaper, radio, or TV ad informing them of it? Churches could say, "You don't have to lose an hour of sleep tonight in order to worship at our church." It will generate some publicity for your church in your community. If the idea ever caught on, I can see us adopting and publicizing our own "Church Saving Time" schedule for that Sunday.