Meyu Changkiri
Every Easter season, and often throughout the year, an old discussion quietly returns in many churches: should Christians travel on Sunday or Resurrection Day?
Some believers feel that travelling on the Lord’s Day dishonours God. Others see no problem in travelling for worship, ministry, family needs, emergencies, or returning home after church.
Sadly, this sometimes leads Christians to judge one another. One person feels spiritually stronger because he stayed at home. Another feels criticised because she travelled to attend worship, preach in another church, visit a sick relative, or return to her family.
For many believers in the North East, this is not merely a theoretical question. Churches are often separated by long distances. Pastors may preach in more than one place. Choirs, youth groups, evangelists, and church leaders frequently travel from village to village. Some believers worship in one place and then must return home before dark because roads are difficult and transport is limited.
So what is the real issue?
The deeper question is not simply whether we travelled, but whether we honoured Christ on the Lord’s Day.
God’s Gift of a Holy Day
The story begins in Genesis. After creating the heavens and the earth in six days, God rested on the seventh day:
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.”
God did not rest because He was tired. He never becomes weary. He rested to give humanity a pattern. Life is not meant to be endless work and pressure. God created us to pause, worship, and remember Him.
Later, God told Israel:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”
The Sabbath was given to people who had lived as slaves in Egypt. They had known hard labour without rest. God taught them that they no longer belonged to Pharaoh. They belonged to Him.
The Sabbath therefore helped them remember God, rest from ordinary labour, and draw near to Him in worship and gratitude.
The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day
At this point, we should make an important distinction. The Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Lord’s Day are not exactly the same.
The Sabbath in the Old Testament was the seventh day and was given to Israel under the Old Covenant. Christians gather on Sunday, the first day of the week, because Jesus rose from the dead on that day.
Sunday is therefore not simply “the Sabbath moved to another day.” Christians do not honour Sunday by trying to follow every Old Testament Sabbath regulation. We honour the Lord’s Day by worshipping the risen Christ, resting from unnecessary work where possible, showing mercy, and giving ourselves to God.
By the time of Jesus, many religious leaders had surrounded the Sabbath with countless rules. They argued about how far a person could walk, what could be carried, and what kind of activity was allowed. In trying to protect the day, they slowly turned it into a burden.
That is why Jesus said:
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Jesus was not saying that a holy day no longer mattered. He was reminding people that God gave the day as a blessing, not as a heavy burden. Again and again Jesus healed people on the Sabbath. He showed that doing good, showing mercy, and helping those in need are never wrong on a day devoted to God.
Why Christians Gather on Sunday
Christians gather on Sunday because Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week.
The early church also met on that day:
“On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.”
“On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money.”
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.”
These passages show that Sunday became the weekly celebration of Christ’s victory over sin and death.
At the same time, the New Testament warns believers not to judge one another harshly:
“One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.”
“Do not let anyone judge you … with regard to a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”
Christians may not agree on every detail about Sunday observance, but Scripture is clear that what matters most is honouring Christ rather than judging one another by outward rules.
The First Easter Was Full of Movement
This becomes even clearer when we think about the first Easter Sunday. The women travelled to the tomb. Peter and John ran there. Two disciples walked to Emmaus. Later that same day, the risen Jesus met His followers and sent them out.
The first Resurrection Day was full of movement, worship, urgency, and joy. None of these people dishonoured the day by travelling. Their journeys were not away from God, but toward Him.
That is what made the day holy.
Real-Life Situations in the North East
In many parts of the North East, believers may worship in one place and then travel several hours by bus, sumo, motorcycle, or shared taxi to return home.
A pastor may preach in one church in the morning and another in the afternoon. A choir may leave before sunrise to sing in another village. A family may need to travel because an elderly parent is ill.
Students and government employees may attend worship in their home village and then return to town before work or classes begin. In such situations, travel is not a rejection of the Lord’s Day. Often it is part of serving Christ on that day.
In North East India, we rightly respect our elders, church leaders, and missionaries. Many of them taught us to value the Lord’s Day and not to treat Sunday carelessly. We should be grateful for their example and sacrifice.
At the same time, respect does not mean that we should accept every tradition without reflection. Sometimes customs become stronger than Scripture. We may continue doing certain things simply because “this is how it has always been,” without asking why.
The Holy Bible calls us to return again and again to its basic teaching. We should ask not only what others expect of us, but what God’s Word actually says. If we travel, why are we travelling? If we stay, why are we staying? Are we trying to honour Christ, worship faithfully, and serve others? Or are we acting mainly out of habit, pressure, convenience, or fear of criticism?
When we return to Scripture, we become less judgmental and more gracious. We begin to understand that sincere believers may make different decisions for good reasons.
But Sunday Should Not Be Taken Lightly
At the same time, we must be honest: travel can become an excuse.
There is a difference between travelling for worship, ministry, mercy, or genuine necessity and travelling merely for business, shopping, entertainment, or personal convenience. Isaiah warned against treating God’s holy day as simply another day for our own pleasure:
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day … then you will find your joy in the Lord.”
If someone regularly neglects worship in order to pursue business, shopping, sports, entertainment, or selfish plans, then the problem is not travel itself but misplaced priorities.
The Lord’s Day should never become a day in which Christ is pushed to the edge of our lives. Even when we must travel, worship should remain central. Scripture says:
“Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.”
The Lord’s Day is meant to draw us closer to God through worship, Scripture, prayer, fellowship, and acts of mercy. A person may stay at home all day and still give little thought to God, while another may travel many miles and spend the day worshipping, serving, and encouraging others.
God sees not only what we do, but why we do it.
Conclusion
Let us therefore be careful not to create a new legalism about Sunday travel.
At the same time, let us not treat the Lord’s Day lightly. Whether we stay or travel, let us use the day for worship, gratitude, fellowship, mercy, and service.
The risen Christ is not asking merely where we were on Sunday. He is asking whether we loved Him, honoured Him, and gave Him first place in our day. Some will honour Him while travelling many miles, while others will honour Him by remaining quietly at home. But none of us honour Him when our hearts are far from Him.
On the first Easter morning, the followers of Jesus were moving toward the empty tomb, toward one another, and toward the risen Lord.
May our Sunday journeys do the same.
