Seventy years ago it was a wide spread practice to ban most Sunday commerce by state statute or local ordinance. These limitations were commonly known as Blue Laws. If you needed carrots for your pot roast, you either borrowed a bunch from a neighbor or went without. Yes, neighbors looked to each other for needed resources.
Thinking back, the closing of businesses on Sunday promoted interaction among the family, friends and relatives. There were sit down Sunday dinners each week. Once the weather warmed, these meals occurred under the pear trees in the side yard. After the dishes were washed, dried and put away, families often loaded everyone in the automobile for a leisurely ride or a visit with relatives. All physical work was avoided.
I can only recall one exception to this Sunday ritual. With most husbands working a half day on Saturday, there was little opportunity for Mom and Dad to shop together. Seldom, and I mean rarely, my parents would visit the Jewish clothing merchants in the wholesale district of Cincinnati. Vividly I can see the shop owners standing in front of their businesses waiting for customers. Frankly, I cannot recall many purchases actually being made. It could have been a way to break up the typical Sunday routine.
Like wage earners, business owners maintained a five and half day schedule. Typically, stores were open from 8AM until 6PM Monday through Saturday but the front door was locked at noon on Wednesday. Some even closed an hour for lunch. Opportunities for commerce were severely limited by the owners’ choice. Gradually there were demands to modify, and eventually overturn, the Blue Law restrictions completely. What corporations gained in sales, families, including the families of proprietors, lost in solidarity. Now for carrots you drove to the IGA rather than walk next door to the neighbor.
What was once a Sunday limit to trade has morphed into volumes of regulations seven days a week- the twenty-first century version of Blue Laws. For me, it is best to continue observing the sacredness of Sunday. Before starting a project I determine whether the activity is truly recreation or work. There are distinct advantages to spending the day quieting your mind, listening for His whisper in the turmoil of society.
