Many people call family members on Sunday afternoons or have a big Sunday night dinner with a full table.
There is something about Sunday afternoon that has a different pace than the rest of the week. Even if you have to work on Sundays, it still somehow feels different.
I spent part of Sunday afternoon with a congregation member recently. The television was on quietly in the background, family members came in and out of the room, kids joked and others showed pictures on a computer. In many ways it was a typical Sunday afternoon.
Only we were in the hospital.
I sat there near a hospital bed and watched the scene unfold before me. The setting mattered little. It was just so beautifully a Sunday afternoon.
Hospitals can be like casinos - you never know what day or time it is. Days run together in an endless stream of visits, IVs, pokes and tests. Sunday afternoon might pass you by like any other time.
But on this occasion, I saw Sunday afternoon come to the hospital and descend with the same relaxed and laid back feeling it always has. This time love and care took center stage though the script was the same.