I love going to the markets.  Whether it is the Southbank markets on the Brisbane River, the Lawnton or Petrie Village markets near our home, or the iconic Eumundi markets on the Sunshine Coast, these markets are a wonderful way to spend a day, get a good bargain, buy some fresh produce, and mingle with crowds of people.  If you are in Melbourne you can also visit the Soul Market.  There you will find more than 140 stalls where you can enjoy detox juices, warm broths, indulge in some vegan & gluten free tasty treats, sample yummy healthy whole food, browse health food products, books, crystals, immunity shots, spiritual cards, candles, jewellery, healing plants, yoga attire, have an energy balance, a psychic reading. And there are lots of activities for your children too!

A soul market!  The world knows what we as Christians have always known.   As human beings we are a spirit, we live in a body, and we have a soul.  And our souls long for a connection with spiritual powers and forces that are greater than us.  Our souls, in fact, long for a connection with God, as the Psalmist tells us:  "Our soul thirsts for God, for the living God." (Psalm 42:2)  The world and the spiritual forces of darkness know we have this thirst for meaning, purpose, and life.  A thirst for God!  And they try to pursuade us to 'buy' their goods in the marketplace of life.  Much of it is trickery and deception.   We are led to believe that the stuff of this world will satisfy our thirsts, but nothing the world offers will satisfy the deepest longings of our souls.  The Soul Market in Melbourne will leave your soul unsatisfied.  Only the LORD God can restore our souls (Psalm 23:3).   His Word is what will revive our souls, and unlike the 'goods' the world offers, what God supplies can be trusted, and they provide hope, meaning, purpose in life, and eternal security(Psalm 19:7; 23:3-6; 62:1,5).  Simply put, in God "my soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods." (Psalm 63:5)

The idea of a 'soul market' is not new.   The Puritans referred to Sunday as "the market day of the soul."   Six days a week we buy and sell for the sake of the body.  But on Sunday we are to "trade" in spiritual commodities for the sake of our souls.  Sunday is the Lord's Day.  This is the day when we set aside the 'secular' and engage in the 'sacred.'   This is the day to be marked with rest from the busyness of the week and find our rest in God through the public and private exercise of worship and the clearing of our schedules of our "own works, words, and thoughts about [our] worldly employments and recreations." (Westminster Confession of Faith, XXI.7)

In my discussions with church leaders in the CRCA I hear the lament from many that regular attendance at Sunday worship is less and less a priority among church members.   All kinds of things interfere with gathering with God's people for public worship.  We have crammed our schedules full of activity seven days a week. Things come up.  Two out of five Sundays we will be in church.   The other three (or more) we will be out town, bringing our children to sporting events, travelling, entertaining out of town guests, feeling slightly under the weather, preparing for a busy Monday, out too late on a Saturday, doing chores around the house, and so on.  The trend is that if people attend only one service a month they are considered regular attenders and members in good standing.   More of our churches have only one gathering on Sunday.  In the process we have robbed the Lord's Day from the rest we need.   And our souls are impoverished as a result.

As churches we desire to grow healthy churches.   But our churches will never be healthy until we address the needs of our souls.  Is it possible for us as 21 century Christians to recapture the Puritan idea of Sunday being "the market day of our soul"?  And at the heart of recapturing this idea is the priority of gathering together in public worship.   Every Sunday!   As we gather in worship we are 'trading' in spiritual commodities:  we humble ourselves as we offer to God our praise and adoration.   We are cleansed as we confess our sins.   We are built up, torn down, and rebuilt again as we submit ourselves to the preaching of God's Word (Eph 4:11ff).   We are fed and united to the whole body of Christ as we fellowship around the Lord's Supper.  Through this contact with God and his Word, coupled with the fellowship of God's people, we will be made into the kind of people God wants us to be.  What we do on the Lord's Day affects the rest of our days.

One of the most formative parts of my coming to believe in Jesus Christ and now serving in full-time gospel work was the practice of weekly Sunday worship.   Sunday after Sunday, as I matured through childhood, I would go to church, sit with my family, and engage in worship.   Some of my earliest and warmest memories are the times sitting close to my parents in church, following along with the various elements of the service, putting money in the offering plate, and bowing my head in prayer.  During the sermon I recall often looking at my father's large hands, and would at times entwine my fingers in his, wondering what I would be like when I grew up.  This all had a cumulative effect over those years, nurturing and maturing my faith.  At this 'soul market' my soul found rest in God alone and in God I found salvation (Psalm 62:1). 

Studies have shown and the church scene bears it out, if you only attend weekly Sunday worship occassionally, your children most likely will drop out of church completely.  In many ways, weekly worship attendance is a litmus test for measuring one's commitment to Christ.  If you make time for the Lord's Day, to keep this day aside as "a market for the soul", you will also find time for all the things that really count -- time for your soul, time for rest, time for family, and time throughout the week for all the others things you need to do.   Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and the rest will take care of itself. (Matthew 6:33) 

See you at the markets!   There you will find the richest of foods.  Great music will be played.  You can mingle with all kinds of people.  And there's lots of activities for the children as well.   A wonderful way to spend the Lord's Day by replenishing your soul -- at the soul market.