Eight Days a Week

No, this is not a post about the Beatles, though their hit with the same title is nice little sing along (lyrics here). BTW, this was a single release only in the US, but enough about the Fab Four. I've decided I want a new calendar. Contrary to popular belief, the 365 day calendar we so enjoy with its quadrennial leap year is not the only calendar in use today. We may have clocked it "perfectly" in terms of our position relative to the sun and other stars, but some cultures and other parts of nature refuse to abide by such constraints. For instance, I learned yesterday that Muslims utilize a 354 day calendar to mark their religious celebrations. The moon, and many women with it, operate on a 28 day month.

So, I've decided I will start utilizing an eight day week. This will accomplish two things. It will give me an extra day on the weekend and it will give me an extra day each week to think of something to post here, assuming I keep to a regular Monday morning posting schedule. Now the logistics of such a change have to be worked through.

First, I have to decide what I will call my eighth day. I'm thinking about something totally boring and mathematical like Octoday. Or I can go with something more creative and relate it to Roman mythology and call it Neptunesday (after Neptune). That's actually not a bad idea because Neptune is the eighth planet and Octoday makes me think about an octopus which lives in the sea and Neptune was the god of the sea. Okay, Neptunesday it is.

Second, where do I place this eighth day? Do I insert it between Saturday & Sunday OR after Sunday. We still consider Sunday the first day of the week, but when you look at work calendars, at least in western society, many times, Saturday and Sunday are squished together in one block at the end of the week, making Monday the first day on the far left.

Third, how will this affect my interactions with the rest of society? My church expects me to show up on the first day of their old-fashioned seven day week and give a sermon. And what if I want to get a Chick-Fil-A sandwich on Neptunesday, but it just happens to fall on the Sunday of a seven-day week? They'll be closed. Extended family gatherings during the holidays might become an issue too unless they realize how much better the eight day week with Neptunesday really is.

Looks like the world will have to be changed. What do you think? Is it worth the headache? I'm pretty certain that an eight day week won't catch on. Maybe Neptunesday isn't worth the headache, but some things are. Matters of faith and how a faith journey shapes your life certainly are. Even how we do church is worth changing if it means we will grow in our relationships with God and it allows us to connect more people to a faith journey.

What are the things relating to our faith and church in particular that are worth changing, but might create a little havoc initially as you try to coordinate with the old way of doing things?