Festival and spiritual

 An issue that frequently crops up especially in pre-festive seasons involves shopping on Sunday which pits one segment in favour of and another against it. Sunday shopping refers to the ability of retailers to operate stores on Sundays, especially in countries where Christian tradition typically requires a "day of rest". Reacting to the directives issued by one organisation and later DCCI on shops and business establishments, to remain open on Sundays in lieu of the advent of Christmas shopping , two apex church organisations- Nagaland Baptist Church Council(NBCC) and the Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang(ABAM)-have expressed their objections. The two apex church organisations based their objections crucially on the premise of the Ten Commandments (written in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5) where believers are asked to observe the Sabbath day as a day of rest and to keep it holy for worshipping God. The two organisations have stated that asking or allowing shops to open on Sundays was pandering to the whims of retailers who want to sell more during festive seasons. It may also be that some people find it convenient to shop on Sunday since it is a general holiday and also possibly because there is less rush of shoppers. Also, with trade and tourism expanding, traders and business establishments feel that restrictions on Sunday shopping would be unwise. On the other hand and as pointed out by NBCC, while the pandemic has brought measures to prevent spread of COVID-19 by restrictions imposed on weddings and especially church gatherings to 30% of capacity; the directives for opening shops and business establishments on Sunday to facilitated Christmas shopping is totally contradictory. The point is that under the plea of preventing spread of COVID-19, while churches are being restricted only to 30% of seating capacity, on the other hand, public are encouraged to gather in large numbers in market places on Sundays. Rules governing shopping hours, such as Sunday shopping, vary around the world but some European nations continue to ban Sunday shopping. Sunday shopping banned in Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Poland, Vatican City, large parts of Italy, USA and Canada. In other countries, Sunday shopping is partial for some hours such as England and Wales, Northern Ireland, tourist cities in France, Netherlands. There are Christians in various professions who have little choice but work even on Sunday. It must be accepted, that observance can never be total as there is bound to be some unavoidable exceptions but these exceptions cannot become the rule.However as far as Sunday shopping is concerned, the choice is to Christians. Unfortunately, when Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of a ‘weekend,’ it can happen that people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see ‘the heavens’. Christians cannot ignore their responsibility in obeying the commandments of their faith. However, merely following the Sabbatical commandment would also be pharisaical. If all Christians voluntarily choose to obey the Biblical commandments, Sunday shopping would cease to be an issue. After all, obedience to the Biblical teachings form an integral part of the faith.